I've decided I want to try an RP server after doing basic PVE for my past few years on WoW. As I started to write out my character, I realized she was a lot like me in personality, and that her history reminds me a lot of how I would behave in the situations. Do any of you find large similarities between yourselves and your characters? Do you think it makes for better gameplay? Worse? No difference?
How much does your character reflect you?
I think it is quite natural to have similarities between yourself and your character. In my mind, those things actually enhance the role-playing experience.
In real life, I cannot shoot bolts of lightning from my fingertips, and I am not a 72 year-old Orc.
However, I have my own beliefs and experiences that I can apply to my character in the context or the world he is in. Hopefully, that leads to more truthful and believable interactions with other players.
When I try playing someone totally different from me, I either end up playing it too cartoonish, or I slip out of character far too easily. I enjoy playing a character with personality traits that I can relate to in a number of ways.
The more of yourself you can bring to the character, the better (in my humble opinion). That does not mean an exact copy of you, but traces of your personality and experiences that you identify with. It helps make the character more multi-dimensional.
In real life, I cannot shoot bolts of lightning from my fingertips, and I am not a 72 year-old Orc.
However, I have my own beliefs and experiences that I can apply to my character in the context or the world he is in. Hopefully, that leads to more truthful and believable interactions with other players.
When I try playing someone totally different from me, I either end up playing it too cartoonish, or I slip out of character far too easily. I enjoy playing a character with personality traits that I can relate to in a number of ways.
The more of yourself you can bring to the character, the better (in my humble opinion). That does not mean an exact copy of you, but traces of your personality and experiences that you identify with. It helps make the character more multi-dimensional.
07/07/2011 08:33 PMPosted by RongarI enjoy playing a character with personality traits that I can relate to in a number of ways.
Pretty much this! I think of my arsenal of characters as my personality broken down into bits and pieces. Typically I take one of my personality traits, exaggerate it, and make a personality around it. For example, Hiccup here has my stubborn streak and the guarded nature I get when in new situations. My warrior is my flirtatious, always needing to prove herself bit. My paladin is the part of me that is easily amused AND confused. My mage shares my love of learning new things. The list goes on. The fun part for me is taking those shared traits with my characters, and making them into a whole different monster!
It's a challenge too. Especially when I use parts of my personality that people rarely see. Hiccup has always been a challenge for me to play - as I tend to throw aside that voice in my head telling me to be stubborn for the sake of it and be pretty easy-going irl. Hiccup in this case is the personification of what happens when I dig my heels in about something XD
Generally they reflect a part of my personality. My gnomes are generally happy and helpful, my real self is like that too.
My Nelfs are generally spiritual and concerned with nature , as my real self is.
I'm not sure that I could RP something that isn't at least some of what I am.
My Nelfs are generally spiritual and concerned with nature , as my real self is.
I'm not sure that I could RP something that isn't at least some of what I am.
Thanks to everyone for your answers! I'm used to checking for "mary-sue" characters (basically you but better/with qualities you wants to have) in fiction writing, but I suppose in a fantasy RP, that would really be fine. Not that the character I'm writing is perfect by any means haha. Anyway, thanks again!
I, too, am completely functionless without rage.
I'll be honest, I've never really gotten into the RP here, but when I used to play Whitewolf games, I was like my characters in that I would tend to be stand offish, only speaking in groups to play devil's advocate, and only really speaking my own opinion in more personal setting, because I find it's best to speak to each individual with the language that they best understand... in front of a lot of people, I tend to reiterate excessively because of this.
Whether it's like me or not, I stay away from true paragon characters, it's the nature of RPGs to play characters larger than life, I use those tools, but RP-wise am rather self destructive.
There's no real "winning" when the RP is > than the G, so I've usually succeeded in building up my characters to be higher when they fall. Ironically, other players assume they're being setup and assume my character is the one pretending to have an obvious fault or opening, and taking way too long to take advantage of it... Silly meta-gamers. (Not sure if it's common lingo, meta-gamers are akin to god-modders, the difference is meta-gamers play their characters as they they know information that they, in the game reality, would not actually know, but the player does. Such as reading wowpedia and suddenly your character is a scholar of all things that have ever happened in Azeroth.
I'll be honest, I've never really gotten into the RP here, but when I used to play Whitewolf games, I was like my characters in that I would tend to be stand offish, only speaking in groups to play devil's advocate, and only really speaking my own opinion in more personal setting, because I find it's best to speak to each individual with the language that they best understand... in front of a lot of people, I tend to reiterate excessively because of this.
Whether it's like me or not, I stay away from true paragon characters, it's the nature of RPGs to play characters larger than life, I use those tools, but RP-wise am rather self destructive.
There's no real "winning" when the RP is > than the G, so I've usually succeeded in building up my characters to be higher when they fall. Ironically, other players assume they're being setup and assume my character is the one pretending to have an obvious fault or opening, and taking way too long to take advantage of it... Silly meta-gamers. (Not sure if it's common lingo, meta-gamers are akin to god-modders, the difference is meta-gamers play their characters as they they know information that they, in the game reality, would not actually know, but the player does. Such as reading wowpedia and suddenly your character is a scholar of all things that have ever happened in Azeroth.
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