Cantr II Discussion Forum

Anyone ever get so lost in one of your own characters that you find yourself actually trying to figure out what the heck is going on inside their head for a while, before you realize how absurd that very concept seems?

Or really... just any kind of experience with the game that you can't make any kind of rational sense out of?

OMG, yes! All the freakin' time!

I thought everyone played their fav chars this way. I know several players that say things like I dont know its not me, I have no idea what she/he was thinking, I cannot believe XXXX did that and they are the one writing it. Although I do write my chars, I like to think they have their own personalities which is why one char cant hate another and then another of mine can be so in love with that same one it makes me cry to even write it.

Conclusion, you are normal

I have a few characters that constantly do things against my expectations.

Most of my chars have a bit of me in them, two or three have a lot of me in them but display those traits in a larger-than-life way... and while I have a long history in RP, and as such could be expected to be "on top" of my chars... in Cantr, my chars sometimes do stuff or make stuff happen in ways that I just never saw coming.
One of those things, ironically, is how a few have actually gotten involved with the very type of characters that piss me as a player off... yeah, that's right, some of my chars turned into the suckers that fell for the needy girls that expect a lasting romantic relationship simply based on a "hello" or on them and my char having made some trivial move on the same day.

"Hey, I hunted at 3121-2:1, and you dropped some small bones at 3121-5:6, that means we must get married!"
YECH.... if I could get a battle axe and transfer my RL self into Cantr to take it out on those chars of mine, there'd be a few swift executions...

Wolf wrote:Most of my chars have a bit of me in them, two or three have a lot of me in them but display those traits in a larger-than-life way.

I know what you mean there, most of mine are an exaggeration of some particular aspect of my own personality. I can usually relate to them on some level at least. I have a really, REALLY hard time playing any character that isn't at least a little bit sarcastic though, for that reason. Out of all the chars I've played I've had very few, or at least very few that I played a lot, that were deeply serious, whether good, evil, or other.

A short summary of each of my characters and how they relate to me, in no particular order.

• One thinks he's funny sometimes. He has a sense of humor, but not much sarcasm; he likes a good joke here and there. So do I. He has crushes a lot, but they usually never amount to anything, and he gets jealous easily, but is too nice to show it. Like me.
• I dunno what to say about this one. He's....warm and friendly and likes giving bear hugs and apparently has a thing for shovels. My gentle giant, I suppose, though that phrase could also apply to the first one I mentioned. Not very much like me.
• I've one who's really sweet and innocent....and overreacts to a lot of things and a bit childish. She's probably the least like me, except that my OOC mood influences her IC mannerisms for the day. She picks up on people's emotions well, but also gets frustrated when she doesn't understand her own emotions.
• One had a boyfriend (DEFINITELY not like me!) and has an enormous quantity of patience, but she tends to judge herself too harshly (both of which I possess). She is a lot more vocal than I am and closer to F than T on the Myers-Briggs scale (yes, I was bored enough one day that I actually took the Myers-Briggs in the mindset of my characters) whereas I'm hard T. And she, while generally courteous, allows her emotions to get to her sometimes.
• My character who had a potential boyfriend but turned him down when he made it clear he only wanted sex...is my failure of a character. She was supposed to be a Cantriian reincarnation of me with some defects added in to make roleplaying a bit more interesting, but she's since gone and thrown her life away for a new one, which she likes better, but she still feels guilty. And I'm guilty of being a terrible roleplayer with her. I meant to kill her off IG-years ago, but she somehow keeps finding a reason to live.
• Snick is my bluntest, least emotional-while-still-human/Cantriian, probably most realistic character. At least, the Snick everybody knows is. But there's more that only two other people know about her, and they know because I told them OOCly. No, you don't get to find out what it is. :p
• I've a character with the same level of confidence as Snick, but a bit more courteous and diplomatic. I don't really know what else to say about this character other than don't piss her off.
• It wouldn't mattered if you pissed off this character, not like he could do anything anyway. I forget why I even made this character other than to end up on the "Chars who irritate" thread (which is locked now), but he irritates me so much now I can't be bothered to roleplay him correctly. I have a few moments where I make statements that sound like something he'd say, but they're rare.
• And finally, she's a sleeper who's easily intimidated by crowds. I myself don't like big crowds.

Sometimes I wonder where I get these ideas.

The google logo is celebrating the birthday of Jules Verne today. As I read it, the primary identification to come to my mind was "Oh, wasn't he a Chief Senetor?" Classic fiction be damned!!

Might not fit the theme exactly, but it's close enough.

DylPickle wrote:The google logo is celebrating the birthday of Jules Verne today. As I read it, the primary identification to come to my mind was "Oh, wasn't he a Chief Senetor?"

That's what I thought too. That's probably where the name came from.

I also find it a little weird when I wind up learning things from my characters. One's reminded me to stop thinking so much all the time, one's constantly got me pulling out the thesaurus, and another has gotten caught up in such a twisted mess of moral gray ground and soul-searching that I feel sorrow even looking at his name on the character list.

I like to think that each of my chars is a chance for my multiple personalities to come out in play.

I think having multiple, or even one, Cantr character helps me figure out my mind and my personality. I know that I've learned a lot from Cantr, especially with how to deal with people.
With both real life and Cantr, I have an unusual pull toward those who are generally not as well liked by others, both for good or bad reasons. Such people seem to be more relaxed about things, indirectly or not, and often humble or take suggestions/help well. Of course, I often get along with people who generally get along with others too.
This works well with Cantr, because active characters are very valuable, for work or otherwise, and even very rude characters can be thankful for saving them from death by those who don't take insult as well.

i'm suprised you had to ask this question

It does raise an interesting question in itself though.
Do people play Cantr, because they already have an inherent (rl) capacity to invoke the surreal in themselves... or because they don't?

I'm sure you could find Cantr interesting and get by without having much of an imagination but I think it helps a lot if you have that sort of creative thinking. I have a couple friends who I would never suggest they try Cantr because I know they don't have that type of imagination. One of them cannot play Mario Kart because of the unrealistic scenery/theme - she'd play a nascar racing game, though.