Ramblings about character development

[SekoETC]

I started thinking out scenarios what would happen if some of my dead characters had met. The imagined results were pretty stereotypical when anything would happen at all, and it made me think how many of my characters actually had personalities and weren't just an embodiment of their occupation, an extension of myself or based on some physical or visual quirk?

I've played 5 tailors over the years. When I thought about two of them, they seemed to be separated only by gender and visual appearance. Towards the end they were both depressed, even though they started out hopeful and imaginative. So I wonder how often do I end up playing the same things through several of my characters?

I also noticed this development that after Jaina Valjean died, Coventina started acting more like how Jaina used to act, maybe because I no longer had an outlet for those feelings. Her personality changed gradually and some people didn't like that. She used to be very diplomatic, not telling people even when she felt they had insulted her. She just smiled and finished the conversation like nothing happened, turning her heart into stone. Later she started getting snarky at people when they offended her.

I've overall had a hard time playing positive characters. It's usually bound to a certain level of naivety. It's hard to play a character who understands everything and still maintains a positive outlook on life. I used to have Bessie Rae Gardner who started out very childish and cheerful. That took a blow when her mentor was accused of planning a coup and later executed for fleeing from her trial. Also before this happened, said mentor and her boyfriend had once locked the door and started making out in front of my character, then one of them kissed her. My character was mortified and couldn't tell them she didn't want it. After she got out, she was in shock and went through a period of mutism, just like that boy in the movie The Client.

Another initially positive character was Offering. She had a similar experience of unwanted intimacy, that went even further, but she didn't let that get her down. She went through a lot of tough stuff but I don't think she ever lost her innocence. When she amputated Marble's foot as a punishment for trying to steal her ship, she honestly believed she was doing the right thing. She felt a bit disgusted doing it but she saw it as something necessary. The ironic thing is that she had originally stolen the ship herself together with Tyr, but justified it to herself by thinking the owner had said she was moving to an inland location, so she no longer needed a ship. What she didn't know is that the ship actually belonged to another person who was planning to return and go sailing. She never went back or found out about this. For decades she never visited the same island twice.

Then I had Chiumbo, who spawned believing he used to have a mother and they got separated when he spawned. He spawned pre-pubercent and went through puberty around the age of 30. He later realized he was gay. It's the only time I've played a fully gay male character, so it was a new experience. Some of my other characters have been bi. Overall they're generally open-minded and not limited to extremes.

I've played two bad guys who started out as good guys, and one rude guy who later thought he was fighting for justice. I also played one guy who took a gamble after coming upon the keys dropped by a recently dead leader and lost his life over it. I've never felt comfortable killing people who weren't clearly acting like they didn't care about their lives. In the other hand I feel like Cantr needs bad guys and part of why it's so lame nowadays is that nobody wants to take the risk of losing their life over hurting other people. Part of that is not wanting to be a jerk to other players. In the past there were a lot of massacres, back when it was common for towns to have 50 people. Then tiredness got implemented and suddenly people couldn't hit every single person in a town with the same efficiency. Also in the past there were a lot of note thieves, and people would kill them off without thinking because they knew the player wanted the character to die. Nowadays some characters just stand out and starve to death without saying a word, often after "mysteriously" gaining a slightest bit of tiredness without visibly moving on their first day. Some people don't want to take the risk of investing in a character that could be dragged off and locked up by a single strong character, regardless of that people rarely do stuff like that nowadays.

I think that a lot of character building comes from interacting with other people. Characters might start out with a basic personality but it changes based on how people react to them and how they react to people.

I wasn't really going anywhere with this but I hope someone gets something out of it.

[Hedgedhogst]

Thank you for sharing this, Seko. I've definitely got something out of it. It's contributed towards changing my perception on certain characters, in very positive ways.

[Mafia Salad]

I've made it a point this time around to start the majority of my characters in generally positive moods. They are light, eager, happy, idealistic. It much easier for a character to take a dark turn, particularly after a traumatic event, then to go the other way and take a moody, cynical, mean, or depressed character into a lighter place. Not that it isn't possible, and it would likely be one of the best story arches for a character if it were to happen, but it requires a lot more aid from other characters around them for it to make sense.

[ObsessedWithCats]

I've made it a point this time around to start the majority of my characters in generally positive moods. They are light, eager, happy, idealistic. It much easier for a character to take a dark turn, particularly after a traumatic event, then to go the other way and take a moody, cynical, mean, or depressed character into a lighter place. Not that it isn't possible, and it would likely be one of the best story arches for a character if it were to happen, but it requires a lot more aid from other characters around them for it to make sense.

I agree so much with this. Recently, having looked back on which of my characters have been most enjoyable or interesting to play, I start my characters with at worst neutral outlooks, and at best positive outlooks with features that help them shed the effects of negative events. It makes the experience of playing them so much less emotionally draining and since I don't have loads of characters I still get plenty of wriggle-room for individuality even before they 'evolve' significantly. If one or two get dark later it's not so likely to suck all the energy out of me and drive me to kill a bunch off, and it'll still be exciting because it wont be something I've done over and over. I've found a lot of my characters remain somewhat naive longer than I expected but it's not necessarily linked to positive or negative outlooks particularly.

A major feature also for me is willingness to communicate. My last batch of characters were people who were driven to communicate in whatever way they could with the people around them. It meant a lot less getting stuck in negative unprogressing spirals in their own heads than my first batch and a lot more interacting with other players which in my experience is very often a driver for interesting life and character changes.