Character Description

[Zhaxor]

Hmm, had an interesting experience today with a character called (**removed**) I met in Hydlaa. Now I always call people who I have only just met "friend", if I meet them a number of times then I start calling them by name, it seems to me a good compromise between automatically knowing a characters name and never actually having anybody say "Hi, my name is Rumplestiltskin". I do usually look at a chracters description to get an idea of their physical appearance.

When I looked at (**removed**) description it was about 3 A4 pages long, so I didn't read it, it was to much in depth for my roleplay taste. When I called (**removed**) "friend" he was annoyed and said very pointedly, "DON'T CALL ME FRIEND" [read my character description I am a well known evil character]. So of course I apologised for calling him friend and explained that I couldn't know that just from looking at thim. To which he replied that I would have known if I had read his character description.

To me good Roleplay is rather spoiled if everything you need to know about the character is presented as a written biography in his description and reveals details of his past life that you couldn't possibly know at first meeting. If it had been a short description along the lines of "You see a somewhat shady character, his eyes dart about  as if watching out for the guards and he regards you in a surly manner" I would have read it and certainly not addressed him as "friend".

So (**removed**), if you read this I hope you understand the reason for my mistake in calling you friend, however merely declaring yourself as a well known evil character in your description doesn't make it immediately obvious to everyone, I am in fact much happier with your first reaction, "DON'T CALL ME FRIEND" was nicely in character and gave me a good idea of your character, having to read 3 pages of text to find out not to call you friend is simply to much to be expected of everyone.

Hmm, perhaps we should have a better way of telling good from evil roleplayers than having to read their full description. How do other people feel about this? have you ever offended an evil player by calling them friend? Should I always call people friend at first no matter what it says in their description, unless it is something that is obvious in the first line of the description?

[Zan]

I never met this guy but I do know that he thinks himself to be the daddy of big badasses .. without having built that reputation up in the game.

Good point about character descriptions though, keep them structured, brief and to the point. I'd say keep them restricted to physical appearances as well. This means no character description should say anything like "I'm pure evil." or "I'm a goody two shoes." ... being good or evil are personal opinions. There is only one way to find out who is good and who is bad ... get to know them.

Archeron had every right to be offended by being called a "friend" but he shouldn't have gotten OOC about it, he should have stayed IC and responded along the lines of "Who says I want to be your friend?"

So Archeron, some extra advice ... you shouldn't go around forcing everyone [OOCly] to treat you like you're some evil overlord. Become an evil overlord by your actions and reactions. Earn the reputation. ... oh and next time you claim to be the boss of the Black Flame religion, keep in mind that they're secretive and don't publically reveal their religion. Worshipping the Black Flame is against the law.

These are just some friendly tips and if you have any more issues or trouble I'd gladly try to help.

[bilbous]

Well instead of making this big thread you could have just said "whatever you say chump" and gone on your merry way. Posting complaints about specific players on the forum is generally frowned upon.

[ThomPhoenix]

I never read descriptions at all, they're mostly useless and don't aid roleplay even if they're actually good. Learn to know a character by talking. Spread your reputation by actions, don't tell everyone they should know you because you're evil, so they should know you.

[Zhaxor]

Well instead of making this big thread you could have just said "whatever you say chump" and gone on your merry way. Posting complaints about specific players on the forum is generally frowned upon.

Not really a complaint, just a discussion about roleplay and the character description. Now that I know him I shall treat him as a deserves (whether that is as a big baddy or just a minnow acting like a big baddie I haven't yet decided). But this is really about roleplay, I was quite happy with his response and it didn't need the extra suggestion that I read his description, he came across as a meany and that's how it should, characters should develop by interaction not by ooc description. If a person can't pull of a particular character type in his roleplay maybe he shoud think twice about roleplaying that particular character type.

Oh yes sorry if I boobed by identifying a character, but it wasn't intended to be a complaint about him, more to provoke discussion about how to better RP an evil character. While he can RP as an evil character no problem, expecting everybody to know your character by reading your description is not really going to work.

[Parallo]

I never read descriptions at all, they're mostly useless and don't aid roleplay even if they're actually good. Learn to know a character by talking. Spread your reputation by actions, don't tell everyone they should know you because you're evil, so they should know you.

I have to disagree. A description is meant to allow you to visualise the character as that is impossible with game mechanics. It is only useless if your character is blind.

[Garile]

I agree with Parallo. A description is great. Only problem is that some people write it full with poems and things you would need to be a mindreader for to know.

That makes me dislike reading several of them. I mean imagine joining a group of people you haven't met yet and they all have four pages of stuff that is 99% OOC and you can't actually use in RP. That is what makes descriptions worth a lot less then they could be.

[Liadan]

A show of hands, how many people have signed up for some sort of website and there's that annoying little box entitled 'About Me' ?


Okay, now, what do you normally write in there?


A description? of who? Yourself?


Now, what do you see when you go to type in what your character is like? Description? Very good.

Do you write a description 'about me' for your character? Or do you write a description about what they look like?

That's the confusing part. You don't write that you have blonde hair and blue eyes for the 'About Me' section, now do you? No, instead you have something cute that gives an insight to your life so people can understand you. That is where we get the life stories in the character description.

Now, what if we called if something like Physical Appearance...how  would that effect what people write in it?

[Leama]

I commend you Zhaxor for your post. You bring up a good point. I think the character description is very important to the game. The question of course is what to put there. If we think of it as what it is called a ‘description’ then almost anything can be allowable. Though for role play purposes it might be easier to have it written short and sweet. Then the role play can begin. The person can be mean or nice and other people will know this because it is how the character is played and not because of his character description.

How does this sound? (I am currently trying to improve upon my own character description) a small female dwarf stands before you with bright blue eyes and long dark wavy hair. She is meek and frightened often, but wants to learn to be strong and brave. She hopes one day to be able to wear a beautiful suit of leather armor but for now wears torn old clothes because that is all she can afford.

So that leaves many things open for role play, her eye color, her clothes, and her lack of money and of course how very frightened she always is of being hurt by others.

I think that this feature in game is important because of the role play possibilities that come from it. Then again I do not think it should be a long written history of the player because that is where the real role play comes in.

Your point is well taken also Liadan. So is what I wrote about my description acceptable? Which is correct? A description of one’s self or of the person’s personality?   

[Zan]

Leama, to comment on your description ...

I think it's heading in the right direction but there is one thing that still strikes me as out of place.

, but wants to learn to be strong and brave. She hopes one day to be able to wear a beautiful suit of leather armor but for now wears torn old clothes because that is all she can afford.

That part is something I wouldn't know when I looked at someone. When I'd see your character I would see a weak little female dwarf with blue eyes and dark hair, dressed in old torn clothes. Whether she wants to change all that or not is something I can only find out by getting to know her.

Now I'm not saying you can't put a few little personal details in there but I would like to suggest that you group those things that you can't see on first sight somewhere separate. For example start a new paragraph at the bottom with something like "After you get to know X a bit better you realize that she hopes to become strong and brave like a warrior ..." That way it's separated from the rest and mistakes from other people are better avoided.

Be odd running into someone you've never even talked to and they're like: "Hey! I wanna get strong too!"

That's my view on the best use for descriptions of course ... I'm sure a lot of people will disagree with me.

[Suno_Regin]

Heheh, I had a run-in with the person mentioned.

I've never heard of him before in my life, and his description says that I'd know him, and fear him apparently. I don't even know what he looks like, he just makes a story out of it. He seems to have removed the story part, only now having a quote, but it's still not a real description.

[Phinehas]

I agree with Parallo and Zan... A description is meant to be what your character sees when they look at the person, not what they might discover about that individual's character or personality over time through interaction... because they should discover that over time through interaction...

So you might say I disagree with Liadan.

[Colinb]

Only point I see the description for is clothing and appearance...

It would be nice if they removed all the extra stuff like stories and OOC stuff.

 

[Zhaxor]

My character description includes a basic description, clothes, weapons etc and what you might observe about his manner when looking at him. I mean how many people make a judgement about a person on meeting them but niot actually talking. The way a person moves, the way they react when another person approaches them, do you see them suddenly turn away down a dark alley when a guard approaches, all things that can be seen and judgements made from. However some characters have description that include family history, how many brothers they have, where they lived before coming to Hydlaa, what religion they follow etc, all stuff that should be found out by talking.

But consider, how many evil people actually spread about information of themselves, they are much more likely to be mysterious than your average wandering warrior/trader like my character, thei background shady, their past cloaked in mystery. An evil chracter who wandered around telling people how evil he was and evreything would likely just end up arrested and imprisoned by the guards.

However the problem is also, playing an evil characters in PS, in fact in any online RP game, is going to be difficult and less rewarding than other types of characters. In traditional D&D RP it was much easier because you generally introduced characters that would already know each other, or at least had a common background, then you developed the character in your small group. So how to introduce a character as evil in PS is difficult, but I don't think it should be introduced in the character description.

I have no doubt that as the game develops more methods will be available for playing evil characters, but it is limited at the moment so players who do choose to play evil charater should keep that in mind.

[Phinehas]

The way a person moves, the way they react when another person approaches them, do you see them suddenly turn away down a dark alley when a guard approaches, all things that can be seen and judgements made from.

Eh, I still think that's something you'd pick up as you got to know the person... If I only ever saw you in the tavern, how would I know how you react when a guard approaches?

I think much of the problem with this is that people tend to minimize RP... even people who are into RP don't usually do more than the absolutely necessary for getting their point across.

When I RP, on the other hand, I include facial expressions, what I'm looking at, whether I'm shifting around in my chair, etc. etc. I RP things even if I'm in a room and no one is "RPing with me..." If I'm in Kada's staring at the fire, I may smile wistfully... not because it's the beginning of "an RP" or because I'm trying to draw others into interaction with my character, but because it's something that Phinehas does... So I wouldn't need to include "He tends to smile wistfully when staring at fires," in my description, because I actually do it.