Why are Copy-Paste characters allowed?

[Ketamine Kowboy]

1 hour ago, HerpToTheDerp said:

Who're you to judge if it wasn't good the first time? Honestly it can only improve over time just like our roleplay. Maybe someone could portray their character better than they did before on a previous server on here. 

 

If I'm honest here, if you don't seem attached to a character I don't think you're doing it right. Your character is probably going to seem very dull no matter how many descriptive details you throw into your roleplay. If your character gets CKed and you don't cry over it for feel sad you're not getting into your roleplay. 

Crying over loosing your character is going too far, sure, some level of attachment is fine, but claiming "Oh if you're not attached to your character you're not good at roleplay" is complete bullshit, people get attached to their characters to the point of obsession, that isn't healthy. If you don't like the fact that your character can get CKed, tough luck, not being able to "take an L" is the worst kind of mindset you can come to on an RP server. People who are attached to their characters too much, A, become self inserts or B, become Mr. Perfect who has no flaws, and can take meth recreationally. 

Not getting attached to your character doesn't make it dull, that's a false statement, what does make characters dull is self-insertion and Mr.Perfect, criminals/cops/civilians who don't get attached to their characters are from what I've seen are normally better, since they can actually think as the character instead of thinking of what they themselves do. 

Edited October 28, 2020 by Свето

[MickeyO]

7 minutes ago, arkan said:

everytime i look back on my old characters.... i shed a tear for all those ck'd.

 

@MickeyO can agree.

When my char get's ck'd

 

[Marksman]

24 minutes ago, HerpToTheDerp said:

If your character gets CKed and you don't cry over it for feel sad you're not getting into your roleplay. 

[Declan]

only thing im crying about when i get cked is the £5 i need to spend to namechange 

[Exploits]

1 hour ago, SaintBatemanofWallStreet said:

It just never made sense to me to have a character that you run for years. He climbs in status be it illegal or legal RP. Or they don't.

 

Why start over? To me it seems you have to connect some dots as to why your character was a Sergeant in the PD and now has to go through the academy again. 

 

There's very rarely that disconnect between these characters and I hate to see that.

 

Okay, so. It seems we can break things down into two broad categories: People who role-play to create a story, and people who role-play a character. No, one is not exclusive of the other. If you role-play a character, you'll also have role-played a story, and if you're role-playing a story, then you're still going to be doing that through a character. I am only identifying two base motives that we've come across in this thread.

 

If you are in the 'story' category, then it would indeed seem absurd for somebody who has spent perhaps years on a 'story' look to replay that exact same 'story'. But that's not the case if those people are in the 'character' category. They aren't playing the same story over at all, because there's no expectation of a story in the first place. They aren't transposing a story (although they may make it a part of their character's history), they're transposing a character.

 

If I were to make a new character on GTA:W today, and make that exact same character on another server as well, and played them out simultaneously (somehow), both of these characters will experience entirely different lives and should, after a month, two months, half a year, etc., come out very, very different people -- not necessarily in terms of personality, but in terms of their literal story. It simply cannot be the exact same story because the medium of role-play isn't conducive to doing that. You're going to have different social circles, different factions, and most importantly, different role-players, which is always going to change outcomes. But of course, if you're playing to create a story ... then none of these variances or nuances should matter. The outcomes will always be the same because 'that's my character's story'.

 

Full disclosure, I used to be in the 'story' camp. I look back on that period of my role-play as a time where I had many opportunities to grow into a better role-player but did not. I was of the opinion that what made role-play great wasn't even the role-play itself, but the total accumulation of all the things your character did, ie., the story. I literally cringe when I look back at a street gang character I had made because, with the benefit of hindsight, I realize how absurdly obstinate I myself was. My character was given many opportunities and met many understanding and amazing people, but because I was determined as a player, not as a character, to have this character be a gang member, I conducted in role-play that was barely in keeping with my representation and which was quite frankly poor because 'the ends justified the means', I guess? To say the least, it was not very organic. I eventually got into the gang, but quit a few weeks later because my character felt awkward, dissonant, slapped together, and fake. Like farts and friendships, good role-plays aren't forced.

 

Again, nobody can be the 'protagonist' of 'their story' in a role-play environment, because that would mean everybody is a protagonist of their story ... but wait, who is the protagonist? It can't be everybody. If your 'story' is to live a rich and successful life and die old, but mine is to be a serial killer who targets the rich, then we're at an impasse. Something has to give. Somebody's 'story' isn't going to follow what was originally intended. This conflict is where role-play actually occurs. The problem comes not from that conflict or the incompatibility of these intersecting stories: the problem comes when the player, whichever, perhaps both, believe that their story takes precedence over somebody else's. Again, something has to give. This refusal to accept an outcome or possibility which you never actually had control over to begin with is where rule breaking mostly comes from, in my opinion.

 

Most of the complaints outlined about 'recycled characters' seem to fundamentally misunderstand that, no, not everybody who reuses a name or character is attempting to replay the same story. Conversely, you really should not assume that players who make new names and characters aren't attempting to replay the same story, as I could openly name and shame a few people I've met over decade who always have new characters ... but they always seem to be exactly the same, and do the exact same things, and end in the exact same way ... Again, new =/= original.

 

I do at least agree that I am not a fan of your example of the 'returning officer who for some reason is now a rookie'. It is forced, and trite, and lazy, because it should be abundantly clear from the moment of creation that such a concept isn't really realistic or feasible. But again, if the role-play is done believably, and the character is well-executed, then I don't think boring onto specific details simply to find fault is necessary or productive. Ultimately we're here to role-play, and presumptions of purity aren't conducive to that goal most of the time.

 

A 'story' concept of role-play just does not jive with what role-play actually entails, and I think this thread is a great example of how believing this or misunderstanding role-play concepts as 'just a story' is mostly harmful and at best restrictive.

Edited October 29, 2020 by Exploits

[onefortyseven]

I don't have that big of a problem with people just re-using their names, to be honest. What I don't like is people using that to justify their (bad) character development or lack of any thereof. "Hey, my character developed into a cold blooded killer on LSRP, there's no need to develop him into one here." or something as bad -  "Hey my character was a Lieutenant on RCRP, now they've decided to resign and they've moved to the city where they'll start fresh and go to the police academy!" That makes no sense and it's just bad. I personally look at it this way - I'm not a fan of re-using name, but if I do it I'll start my character's development fresh on this server and whatever the other character with that name did on my previous communities, doesn't matter here. Even if they'll end up working in the same field of work, or be involved in the similar type of crime, it's a new different character with their own development, their own traits and their own outlook on life.

Edited October 29, 2020 by Brian

[eTaylor]

1 hour ago, Exploits said:

Again, nobody can be the 'protagonist' of 'their story' in a role-play environment, because that would mean everybody is a protagonist of their story ... but wait, who is the protagonist? It can't be everybody. If your 'story' is to live a rich and successful life and die old, but mine is to be a serial killer who targets the rich, then we're at an impasse. Something has to give. Somebody's 'story' isn't going to follow what was originally intended. This conflict is where role-play actually occurs. The problem comes not from that conflict or the incompatibility of these intersecting stories: the problem comes when the player, whichever, perhaps both, believe that their story takes precedence over somebody else's. Again, something has to give. This refusal to accept an outcome or possibility which you never actually had control over to begin with is where rule breaking mostly comes from, in my opinion.

This bit confused me. My character is my protagonist, whatever other players see is not my concern nor does it bare any relevance to me. I care very little what people are concerned with OOC. I don’t get the impasse or conflict you mentioned. 

[Exploits]

3 minutes ago, eTaylor said:

This bit confused me. My character is my protagonist, whatever other players see is not my concern nor does it bare any relevance to me. I care very little what people are concerned with OOC. I don’t get the impasse or conflict you mentioned. 

I mean, you can call yourself that. A protagonist is the leading character or narrative force of a story, right? Setting aside the whole 'story' thing, it's still counter intuitive to claim you are even your own protagonist in a role-play server. You legitimately do not control what can happen to your character unless you up and quit the game, and there can't be multiple leading characters and forces simultaneously, else the distinction loses all meaning. You're in control of your criminal character until the cops are called. Cops are in control until they are decidedly not.

 

100 people are dancing in a room and they all think: "Everybody is looking at me".

[eTaylor]

11 minutes ago, Exploits said:

I mean, you can call yourself that. A protagonist is the leading character or narrative force of a story, right? Setting aside the whole 'story' thing, it's still counter intuitive to claim you are even your own protagonist in a role-play server. You legitimately do not control what can happen to your character unless you up and quit the game, and there can't be multiple leading characters and forces simultaneously, else the distinction loses all meaning. You're in control of your criminal character until the cops are called. Cops are in control until they are decidedly not.

 

100 people are dancing in a room and they all think: "Everybody is looking at me".

It’s about control now? Could you talk to me like I’m stupid because I’m not getting your point at all. If you see another character as the leading

force and yourself as an extra to their story that’s not a great way to play imo. I got my character, and my character gets through shit. People come and go, and people effect the narrative and events. Your own character is always the main character no matter what, it’s just perspective and nothing more. If you’re a criminal and you’re being arrested you’re still very much the protagonist lol, it’s not like your roleplay is suddenly about the cop that is arresting you.

Edited October 29, 2020 by eTaylor

[Exploits]

9 minutes ago, eTaylor said:

It’s about control now? Could you talk to me like I’m stupid because I’m not getting your point at all. If you see another character as the leading

force and yourself as an extra to their story that’s not a great way to play imo. I got my character, and my character gets through shit. People come and go, and people effect the narrative and events. Your own character is always the main character no matter what, it’s just perspective and nothing more. If you’re a criminal and you’re being arrested you’re still very much the protagonist lol, it’s not like your roleplay is suddenly about the cop that is arresting you.

 

You both are and are not. It's a cooperative dance. You're right, the perspective for yourself never does change, but at no point does the role-play revolve exclusively around yourself, nor exclusively around other people. I think you're doing just fine. This seems to me to be another example of needing to be cautious with equating role-play with story or narrative elements, since your confusion seems to be more on the definition of the word protagonist as it relates to role-play. I ostensibly argue that there is no relationship there at all -- we don't play out stories, we inhabit characters, and the 'story' is the events that transpire through that character. We are ultimately never in a position of real control, and it's folly to want to establish a 'narrative arc' through a 'story' when you can't dictate when, how, or even if those narrative elements occur.

 

So, you're the player character, but I'd avoid a term like 'protagonist'.

Edited October 29, 2020 by Exploits