1. What do you think is a main character?
If someone asked me who my main is, I'd point to the character I play the most.
In a more technical sense, a main character is defined by the ammount of effort placed in it. With that in mind, you can have a lot of main characters as long as you invest enough effort in all of them.
2. What do you think makes a character an alternate character?
Any character you don't play as much as. However, an alt can become a main if the previous main falls into less use than the alt.
3. Do people have a responsibility to make certain "mains pair with mains" if you sense an interesting relationship (friends/rivals/lovers/enemies/long-lost relatives) forming or is it okay that someone's just not going to be around at random or for long periods of time?
Pairing 'mains with mains' kills any sense of organic character growth, since you would be choosing social relationships for your character specifically for meta-game reasons. Nobody can stop you from doing so, of course, but your character might (or might not!) end up having a ton of relationships that feel artificial.
There's also the very real possibility that a player will get tired of their main for a long period of time and move to an alt. In that case, pairing his main with your main was the same as if you had paired it with an alt.
So at the end it kind of doesn't matter.
4. Have you ever discovered that your main was paired off in one of those situations with someone's alt? They just didn't play them at all or played other characters? Did it stall out your story? What did you do?
I don't think this has happened to me. I can understand how a plot critical character could stall a story by not being on but, really, if the player is just playing some other character it's just a matter of contacting them and letting them know that you need them to move the story forward. If they are not consistently available (for whatever reason), then plotting must be discussed to make them non-critical. That way, you can follow the story and they won't feel like they must participate when they don't feel like it.
5. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who only have one main character?
That somehow having one single character inherently makes his story better, more complex or more interesting.
6. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who suffer alt-itis and swap characters often?
That their character's have an underdeveloped backstory.
7. Which are you? A single or two main characters? 5 main characters? A bunch of alts?
In the past few games I have consistently stuck to one or two main characters along with a plethora of alts. Sometimes those alts don't get used ever.
8. How did you usually break up your time between your main characters? Play on demand? Always on one, demand for the other? One with one group and when they all sign off switch to the other?
I level up one character for gameplay purposes, who is always the class I like the most. I switch to alts on demand until I reach max level. Once I do, I ussually level up other two to fill the MMO-triad of tank-healer-dd, but I keep playing my previous main for running dungeons or when I feel like using him in RP. So I guess I'm basically a 'on demand' guy.
If someone asked me who my main is, I'd point to the character I play the most.
In a more technical sense, a main character is defined by the ammount of effort placed in it. With that in mind, you can have a lot of main characters as long as you invest enough effort in all of them.
2. What do you think makes a character an alternate character?
Any character you don't play as much as. However, an alt can become a main if the previous main falls into less use than the alt.
3. Do people have a responsibility to make certain "mains pair with mains" if you sense an interesting relationship (friends/rivals/lovers/enemies/long-lost relatives) forming or is it okay that someone's just not going to be around at random or for long periods of time?
Pairing 'mains with mains' kills any sense of organic character growth, since you would be choosing social relationships for your character specifically for meta-game reasons. Nobody can stop you from doing so, of course, but your character might (or might not!) end up having a ton of relationships that feel artificial.
There's also the very real possibility that a player will get tired of their main for a long period of time and move to an alt. In that case, pairing his main with your main was the same as if you had paired it with an alt.
So at the end it kind of doesn't matter.
4. Have you ever discovered that your main was paired off in one of those situations with someone's alt? They just didn't play them at all or played other characters? Did it stall out your story? What did you do?
I don't think this has happened to me. I can understand how a plot critical character could stall a story by not being on but, really, if the player is just playing some other character it's just a matter of contacting them and letting them know that you need them to move the story forward. If they are not consistently available (for whatever reason), then plotting must be discussed to make them non-critical. That way, you can follow the story and they won't feel like they must participate when they don't feel like it.
5. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who only have one main character?
That somehow having one single character inherently makes his story better, more complex or more interesting.
6. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who suffer alt-itis and swap characters often?
That their character's have an underdeveloped backstory.
7. Which are you? A single or two main characters? 5 main characters? A bunch of alts?
In the past few games I have consistently stuck to one or two main characters along with a plethora of alts. Sometimes those alts don't get used ever.
8. How did you usually break up your time between your main characters? Play on demand? Always on one, demand for the other? One with one group and when they all sign off switch to the other?
I level up one character for gameplay purposes, who is always the class I like the most. I switch to alts on demand until I reach max level. Once I do, I ussually level up other two to fill the MMO-triad of tank-healer-dd, but I keep playing my previous main for running dungeons or when I feel like using him in RP. So I guess I'm basically a 'on demand' guy.
![[Image: DWv3oGi.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/DWv3oGi.jpg)
