Up for Adoption

[wulf]

What do you do when you've got some reasonably well established characters but now, in RL, you're a bit short of time and would rather trim down your stable. The options at the moment seem to be either to let them starve to death, maintain them working on the bare necessities without really interacting or seeking a situation in which they might be killed. However, for a lot of characters, none of these necessarily fit very well.

What about if there were some way of offering up characters for adoption? This wouldn't be for someone new to the game to get a character with loads of stuff but it might be ideal for someone who's recently lost a well-established character and doesn't neccessarily want to go all the way back to another newspawn.

Obviously, there would be some extra effort involved in giving the new player enough information about the character for the transition not to be too noticeable in game but it might provide a way of continuing characters even when players are distracted by other things.

Wulf

[Cookie]

Rubbish. Next!

[Nick]

XD man, you're even more blunt than I!
I like the idea in principle, but I don't think it could be implemented properly.

[wulf]

Why is it rubbish? Doesn't it frustrate you when established characters suddenly stop eating, keel over and die?

Wulf

[SekoETC]

Doesn't it frustrate you when established characters suddenly stop eating, keel over and die?

Yes, it is shitty. But it's a bit hard to move characters to other players, because not all knowledge gained by the old player could be moved on to the new one. The old character would suddenly be forgetting old friends and the behaviour would change. Sounds like Alzheimer disease...

Selling accounts/characters might be ok in other games where you just click buttons and gain levels, but this game is much about conversation and roleplaying. Getting a new player would be as lame as those actor changes in soap operas (though you get used to them...) (Not that I was watching soap operas anymore!)

If someone is planning to quit, instead of clicking the button they should agree on the deletion of characters one by one, figuring out an ingame reason for them to die. It could be fast, "I- i'm feeling a bit... blurry... I guess I'd better... lie.. down... *eyes roll over*" Or then a slow, wasting desease.

Hey, if someone is planning to kill off their characters, I can help you planning death scenes. Just pm me.

[Cookie]

Do I want my characters being played by someone else, no! Why? Because you can't play someone else. Like whaen you watch a film and can't imagina another actor playing a particular role.

So its rubbish, I'm sure I could get a bookmaker to give you some very long odds on this hpening. I'll gladly take it off you if you want, say 10000000 to 1 ON, meaining you pay me the quid and if you lose you owe me the ten million.

Next!

[wulf]

Actually, I'd be quite interested to see my characters being played by someone else, if I were to ever come across them again! Perhaps not if they seemed to have undergone a complete brain transplant it would be fascinating to see the seeds planted and observe how they'd grown under someone else's care.

Wulf

[west]

I think it's been done once or twice, but I agree...nobody else has the character in their MIND.

If I suddenly started playing, say, Nick Blackrock, if Bran was leaving for example and wanted Nick around, it wouldn't work out very well, because the only knowledge I have of Nick is my old chars' interactions with him, not his thoughts, motivation, personal history...it just wouldn't work. It'd be like you said, a brain transplant.

Not that Bran would quit, or want ME to play Nick Blackrock if he did

[Nixit]

Couldn't the player PM or somehow give the new player the thoughts and background that the character has?

[Surly]

Very, very dodgy area this. I think it best not to even discuss it.

It's more trouble than it's worth... believe me...

[ephiroll]

Couldn't the player PM or somehow give the new player the thoughts and background that the character has?

The basic problem is that a Cantr character isn't just "created", they evolve. Once a char is past 30 (or sooner depending on the char), it would be as easy to tell someone how to play that char, as it would be to tell someone how to act exactly like yourself.

[west]

Couldn't the player PM or somehow give the new player the thoughts and background that the character has?

The basic problem is that a Cantr character isn't just "created", they evolve. Once a char is past 30 (or sooner depending on the char), it would be as easy to tell someone how to play that char, as it would be to tell someone how to act exactly like yourself.

Agreed. The best you could hope for is a crude parody.

[wulf]

But the characters aren't myself. In order to play them as independent people, I've got a mental checklist of what makes them tick, the kind of things they might say and the people who've made a particular impression on them. I'm improvising round a reference point, even if that reference point isn't fixed but develops over time.

Wulf

[Nick]

Not only are you not getting any supporters in here, I can assure you the PD will shoot down this suggestion upon reading it.

[Cookie]

Funniest thing is, he actualy believes he's got a good idea.