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Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 8:57 pm
by Phalynx
This will have to be revisited if the making babies thing actually happens tho...
Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2006 11:09 pm
by Leo Luncid
west wrote:I really disagree with Icy about the parent thing; there's nothing in Cantr to suggest that any sort of 'parents' should exist; even animals just appear. There's no ingame precedent for it. There's also nothing in cantr to indicate that people don't just appear, or that 20 isn't just an arbitrary value assigned to a newspawn. They've never seen the outside world, there's no reason they should see any discrepancy. I have at least one person who's convinced people grow on special spawn trees and appear when the pods are ripe. There's also no reason they can't be born with what Lumera and the Soc refer to as common sense; knowing what an oven is for is different than being born knowing exactly how to refine steel or what bauxite does.
I prefer that characters start out as close to a blank slate as possible and let events in their lives determine how they are; in the beginning it's not uncommon for your characters to seem very similar, but they do develop personalities on their own fairly quickly.
I think any attempt to preform a personality for your characters (other than very basic tendencies) is stupid, either through the creation of an elaborate backstory or by modeling them after a RL person or character from other fiction. Characters CREATE their own backstories by living their lives. There are scores of beautifully articulated characters that started off with no preconceived notions of how they'd act, no ambitions necessarily, and still are some of the most nuanced people in the game--as opposed to Johnny Newspawn who is born, announces he's a Doctor and is setting up an Apothecary. (a who? a what?).
If I am to agree with this opinion, would that mean that the "Realistic Character Development" webzine article is useless now, since it's preforming a personality?
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 12:29 pm
by dryn
Personally I tend to go for organic development, with a little bit of preconception personality wise (normally derived from the name).
I find that starting out with some orientation as to your characters personality, tendancies, interests does help when you have to decide what influence the envioment has. A bit of a kick start so to speak.
(When I say 'some' I mean very little really. Actually having a backstory just doesn't really mesh with the game. I don't care if it never gets mentioned but to me, talking about your parents or pre-20 past is as bad as building Hogwarts. They never existed in Cantr.)
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 10:40 pm
by Leo Luncid
So you wouldn't mind using the "Realistic Character Development" webzine article in your case, would you?
Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 10:52 pm
by Pie
man, saying that there is life before 20 years old is like saying theres life on mars.
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 12:22 am
by Nixit
man, saying that there is life before 20 years old is like saying theres life on mars.
*bites his tongue*
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 1:03 am
by Mafia Salad
I did a lot of experimenting when I spawned. Some were complete blank slates, some had very basic personalities, one had a speaking disorder or accent. I gave some goals, some a drive without goals, some dispositions to religion or military. But I find that it's better to give them dispositions to religion or military after you spawn and find out they are in a militaristic or religions town.
The ones who picked up the most traits from the people around them after they spawned are my favorites to play and the most interesting. A while back I was thinking of trimming down my account, and of the seven I was for sure not going to delete, five developed their personalities in the game based on their surroundings. The other two could easily have turned into less favored characters if it weren't for spawning in a good town for their personalities.
Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 2:11 am
by Nalaris
I give my characters basic traits (I experimented in doing things otherwise, it didn't work very well). For example, one is generally good-hearted and compassionate. Another is generally power hungry and deceptive. Another might have a nearly insatiable thirst for knowledge. None of these are completely set in stone, just some basic personalities that are difficult to change.
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 3:18 am
by west
Leo Luncid wrote:west wrote:I really disagree with Icy about the parent thing; there's nothing in Cantr to suggest that any sort of 'parents' should exist; even animals just appear. There's no ingame precedent for it. There's also nothing in cantr to indicate that people don't just appear, or that 20 isn't just an arbitrary value assigned to a newspawn. They've never seen the outside world, there's no reason they should see any discrepancy. I have at least one person who's convinced people grow on special spawn trees and appear when the pods are ripe. There's also no reason they can't be born with what Lumera and the Soc refer to as common sense; knowing what an oven is for is different than being born knowing exactly how to refine steel or what bauxite does.
I prefer that characters start out as close to a blank slate as possible and let events in their lives determine how they are; in the beginning it's not uncommon for your characters to seem very similar, but they do develop personalities on their own fairly quickly.
I think any attempt to preform a personality for your characters (other than very basic tendencies) is stupid, either through the creation of an elaborate backstory or by modeling them after a RL person or character from other fiction. Characters CREATE their own backstories by living their lives. There are scores of beautifully articulated characters that started off with no preconceived notions of how they'd act, no ambitions necessarily, and still are some of the most nuanced people in the game--as opposed to Johnny Newspawn who is born, announces he's a Doctor and is setting up an Apothecary. (a who? a what?).
If I am to agree with this opinion, would that mean that the "Realistic Character Development" webzine article is useless now, since it's preforming a personality?
Please note the date on the post you are quoting.
Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2006 8:49 am
by Leo Luncid
Oh, from 2004. Sorry I didn't noticed that. You're saying your opinion has changed since then? Or is it that that quote was made before the webzine? Should I ignore the quote?