Community Debate: What does your character in an MMORPG mean to you? Do you care about their actions, whether they die or not, the back story or lore behind them or are they just coloured pixels you have no attachment to and log in and out of as you feel like it? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
Important note: When the lore and consequences influence how that character will face/discover the game in the future...
The more I invest into a character, the more "life" is put into it. And the more dept that character has. Which brings more attachement or increases the sense of connection and understanding of that specific character in the world with myself as player. What's it doing and why and how the world looks upon that specific character will become something to take into account by me as player.
In MMO's where it's one railroad for everyone and everyone consumes all the same content. That diversity or interest is lessened. In this case I'll try to come up with my own story for that character. If you understand what I'm saying.
Most characters will die in a MMORPG. A version of Diablo had a nice thing going when you could not ressurect your character ones it died. I found that interesting, challenging and you really feared for your life in there. At least if you ever wanted to complete that game.
Otherwise, in games that I play for a long time. I'll try to increase the challenge by creating characters/backstories where dead is not an option and I play that character in it's own specific way.
The death of your character is something, I find, you need to accept if you want a chance to do pick ups, raids or challenging content. How severe death is might influence me fearing for the number of deaths (if that were to matter). A lot depends on how connected my character is in the game, by design first and second by myself. If I'm paying for that game ressurection with ingame cash, amount being parallel with my level and the amount of times I consecutively die within a certain timeframe. It will matter aswel. (But I'm going into the whole death thing too much, my apologies.)
Overall, yes I want to care. Hopefully by game design. If not, I'll try to make my own. If the game does not permit me to diversify my toons a lot, then my interest in the toons and game will be decreasing.
Generic server? The PC has no meaning, choices are mechanical. The Player "me" is all that matters. There are games where I will die to fast travel across the map.
RP server? The PC is the main point of playing. They never have a backstory unless the world offers actual backstories to shape the dialogue. A backstory outside of the game world just doesn't fit for MMOs. Character creation is where the story starts. They follow a code I have set for them and see where that ends up. Death is only as meaningful as it is in game. There are reasons to dislike dying, but I won't grant it special meaning. The game world has our PCs escaping death.
That is an interesting question, as it's not really something I had ever given much thought.
I guess you could say that whatever toon I am playing (which is generally only ever one), it's simply just a reflection of myself, as I'm not really into pretending that my character is some sort of marionette that has its own independent feelings, personality, etc. that are different from who I am as a person.
It seems that for me, a character is just sort of an interface into the game world. The more time I invest into unlocking/broadening the interface (e.g. character stats), the greater the amount of aesthetically/emotionally stimulating content I am able to access.
My characters are a real reflection of who I'd like to be. They have a back story. Some are old, some young. That's why I tend to play a healer. I'd love to be able to cast a healing spell on random people. In some games, I give away healing potions as a way to RP my character. So if that's in Pantheon, I'll be doing that. Dying is part of the genres, but so is resurrection. So while death will hurt, but, there is hope. It's not real, but I let it seem real.
I will have multiple toons, one of which will end up being my main. But I'll play them all. I almost never delete a character once if I've played it to level ten.
There is a saying that has a hint of conceit behind it "If you are the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room". It's often associated with self-improvement and meant to be a positive motivator implying to seek out and associate with those from whom you can learn from or improve from. Often the misconception is, by mere proximity or through the magic of doing practicing the mundane habits that sucessfull people do, you too will become as successfull- like making your bed every morning and *poof* you're a fourtune 500 CEO. You can probably find such a book touting this very same idea on sale, right now. If wishes were horses, beggers would ride. If wishes were fishes we'd all be master baiters.
However, when it comes to the realm of the arts, I feel (not think) there is a broader acceptance of what is considered "good":subjective. There is also a strange, accepted, invisible barrier that is respected and obeyed between those who are great, and those who are not. Think of Movie A-listers, and every other actor. (consider the career of Mary Wickes, who?<- working actor, good work if you can get it). Before you form an opinion on the movie "Sharknado" just remember that an entire production process went into creating it, and there was competition among actors autitioning for all the roles. Think of the openiong number to "a chorus line"
So when it comes ro Role-play and character, I have to admit I am a follower to the spirit of the group and I am also goal oriented so I like taking the game seriously at times .I will get annoyed at dieing sometimes but I dont let that annoyance make it past the 4th wall.
I have been lucky to have had too few experiences where I have been in the right room in an MMO from an RP perspective. They were good players, but the game was just a backdrop to their interaction. I tried to keep up and afterwards thought hard about backstory and how the charactert should respond. Additionally, I was able to literally be "in the room" while someone was interacting and was amazed at the out-of-character asides they made on the other side of the fourth wall, predicting or anticipating what the other character in game would do.
TL:dr i'll be as serious or as casual as it comes.
On the one hand, I guess I do not care. Over the years I have deleted so many characters that I was hauled up on charges of mass toonicide and genocide. I would be doing hard time now if I hadn't deleted the judge.
On the other hand, I do care what they do. I will rarely do something with a character that I consider "evil". Though I slaughter poor animals without limit for drops and experience whereas in real life I would never do such. Telling myself that when an animal respawns in 5 minutes it isn't really death. It is ...paid time off.
For me, my characters/avatars in games are like the stars of my fantasy movie. I don't 'inhabit' them, but I care about how they are perceived/received like I'm the director of the film wanting to make their characters believable/popular/liked/whatever.
For example, I prefer having female characters because I find heroines more interesting and enjoyable, not because I want to 'play' females. Nothing wrong with that hehe, just saying. I find Red Sonja more interesting than Conan, for example ;^)
So, in character creation, I guess I'm like the casting director, taking great care that the character looks as much like the role I want it to play as it can. I take a while thinking of the name so it matches the role and the look of the character.
In game, I pay attention to what my gear looks like and if at all possible I will maintain a look that matches the character. I will even sacrifice some stats to get a good look. Not as far as not wearing epic pieces if I get them, but as far as being annoyed by epic pieces that *don't* match or specifically seeking out pieces that I know will match.
In most MMORPGs i've played my character is a conduit into the game world and not much more. In pen & paper, the character depth allows for more investment into the characters themselves and they aren't just a compilation of accomplishments I've had in the game. Generally the decisions you make with your character have to mean something for my character to mean something.
In an MMO world it can be difficult to make it believable that your character is THE hero to save the world...as we all share the same story in that scenario. Having one railroad arc that everyone must travel really feels more like a standard RPG with a lobby of other players, much like The Old Republic. You are invested in your character and their travels, but more as an outsider looking in, and that imersion is lost when you begin interacting with other players and attempt to share the experience.
That being said I do always seek imerssion into the world through my character and the choices I make with them. If I am roleplaying or not, I still enjoy feeling like part of the world and its lore. When the game lets my choices matter, I become more invested in my character that made thoise choices. Repuation changes that may make me hostile to once friendly cities (freeport I am looking at you), the option to attain rare or coveted items by multiple means (ie. why kill the dragon when you can befriend it and perform a quest for it?), or even experiencing an NPC I may have helped in the past mention me fondly at next meeting are small ways that increase that feeling.
It very much depends on what the game offers. If there is an engaging story/lore, differing factions which you can side with and plenty of quests and/or perception trails with choice/consequence attached then absolutely I will roleplay my char.
I do always find the first death of my character painful/regrettful. However after that first death I am less concerned about dying.
Kilsin said:Community Debate: What does your character in an MMORPG mean to you? Do you care about their actions, whether they die or not, the back story or lore behind them or are they just coloured pixels you have no attachment to and log in and out of as you feel like it? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
Its sad to say that the character doesn't mean anything to me. Never has. While I get attached to the character, it is more about the skill, abilities and overall capabilities of the charater. I do not care about its actions, specifically those tied to faction because having bad faction has never been that debilitating in any game I've played. More difficulty, but no MMO company would ever make their game unplayable if you have a lot of bad factions. When it comes to dying, it's more being upset about why I died, the reasons for it, not just that I died.
I consider my character an avatar of myself, so obviously he has opinions and behaviour that sort of mirror my own.
That said, I still try to fill the role of my character as a person in a different world. I love learning about the race I'm playing, however I don't attempt to build much a backstory for my character. If anything, I see myself as a "traveler between worlds" :) and this is also what drives my character: always traveling, finding new places, meeting new people.
As for death, of course I care about that, but usually in a "what could I have done differently" way, not in an "omg I died!" way.
My character is just a vessel to increase its power. I don't roleplay in mmos. This isn't a pen and paper game.
For MMOs that I can immerse myself into I will come up with a backstory. But those MMOs are few and far between (for me). I had two characters in EQ - a rogue and a bard and I had back stories for each of them. I even wove the aspect of dieing and coming back to life in my Bard's story. Being a wood elf with my home in Kelethin I had it very much attached to the orcs of Crushbone - so where I started in EQ played a significant factor in my character's backstory.
I change characters from game to game. I did create a backstory for my Minstrel in DAoC but when after playing through the three levels of the battlegrounds went to Midgard and then Hibernia I didn't care so much. I reused my Minstrel's name when I played an Undead Mage in WoW but no backstory. The name just seemed to fit an Undead Mage.
I like to have stories and I enjoy characters in stories. I first started doing that way way back with Wizardry (for those that remember that game and the sequels).
I doubt I'll retread any of my previous characters or names and will start from scratch. And the background story won't be written until I've played and leveled for a bit and can see and experience and find out about the world I am in.
I do not think I am overly attached to my characters, but when Pantheon launches I will create them all as level 1 even if I don't plan on playing them right away.
I’m a little sensitive about names though. I had a situation early on in my MMO career where a guy stole my name (changed 1 letter, but still sounded the same). I confronted him about it and he admitted to stealing it and agreed to change his name. I petitioned and the GM wouldn’t even talk to the guy about it. So I get embarrassed because my names are nothing special but I don’t even want to say what they are like during my Community Interview a couple years back.
Maybe that means I am overly attached.
I guess they are just pixels to me.
These pixels help me to interact with the game world, and the people in it. I show off with them and use them to achieve cool stuff.
I'ts not like I'm worried about death. It sucks, and it causes me to reflect, but rp-wise there's nothing.
While I tend to choose my personal morals where I can when it comes to character quests, these are my morals, not my character's.
What's more, I freely give up morals if there's some bit of content that requires me to do so. The evil guilds in Bethesda games, for example.
The rare time I do more for my character is when friends I'm playing with are doing it too. Even then, the backstory is built for the game character, rather than the game character being built for the back story.
Similar to disposalist, I've always found heroines and other female characters to be more compelling for one reason or another, from Nariko (Heavenly Sword) to Ripley (Alien) and Seven of Nine (Voyager). Still, there has been an even spread of male and female characters that I've played over the years, across different games, with the top three or four being remade whenever the character creation screen allows for it.
As for death, it depends on the game. But generally speaking it isn't insignificant, even when the mode doesn't make it final. This is especially true when nuked down in one shot by a caster or slaughtered by a named on the outskirts of the newbie yard. Being overtaken by the undead as a paladin or cleric only adds salt to the wound. Certain deaths just stand out more in memory than others, for reasons specific to the race, class, and/or level of the character.
Even on regular old servers where roleplaying is not expected or prevalent, I tend to enjoy working against self-imposed restrictions. Gear upgrades, quests, and camps are at the character's discretion; my playthrough sessions are merely about discovering new aspects about them and following what seems to be the natural course of action, though obviously there is a lot of the player in the player character, no different from the developers leaving their own imprint on the non-player characters. Whether intentional or inadvertant, I think most everyone derives meaning from and/or imbues it into their main character. This may be more true for premade characters, such as Link or Lara Croft, as we are aware of who they are and directed around by the environment to see their story to its end, but with MMOs there is more of a living world to explore, allowing for many more stories including ones that write themselves through our interactions.
But back to self-limitating gameplay, more important than any stat is whether the character, his or her self, would actually equip an item. That is determined as much by their personality and background as it is their aesthetic. Would it be as menacing to see Darth Vader with a blaster in hand or a jetpack strapped to his back? No, but somehow it works for Fett characters.
There are other considerations as well. A more reserved, introverted character might wield a polearm to fend off attackers, as its reach would put more distance between them and any perceived threat. Otherwise, they might instead resort to using a ranged weapon or solely rely on their spellbook. In contrast, an extrovert would be more inclined to throw themselves headlong into combat, much in the way one would expect a dire lord to, embracing the chaos.
I usually build an attachment to the character which I chose to main. I don't typically role play unless the game offers a meaningful choice or the illusion of choice for questing and factions.
My druid in WoW has been my main since BC, and I hold a sentimental attachment to him. I spend most of my time playing on that character and I take pride in how he looks and the achievements he has obtained. I'm not going to lie it's going to suck when I hopefully leave him behind for Pantheon, but at the end of the day it is just a character composed of pixles.
As for their actions, whether or not they die, and the lore behind them I do care to a degree. I typically try to remain on the good side of morality but it depends on the class I'm playing and again how the game facilitates that. I don't really care if they die provided there is not a prema-death feature. While I don't want my character to die, if it happens it happens. As for lore behind my character, I don't typically build a back story for my characters. However, I do take value in how my characters interact with the game lore and their place in the events that are taking place in the world.
I guess that overall my attachment to my character really depends on my attachment to the game they are in.
In EQ my character almost became my identitiy in a way. The amount of time invested in it, the friends associated with him, his gear and look everything. I had 1 or 2 low level alts but my main character WAS my character. His name became my nick name for awhile.
In WoW that all but vanished. Your character wasn't important. It didn't matter if you'd spent 2 years playing the same character, an expansion meant a gear reset which meant everyone would reroll to the new meta and often times abandon their old characters.
FF14 brought that EQ feeling back BECAUSE it allowed my character to be every job/class in the game. I was able to create an identity around that character again without it being tied to the class I wanted to play. I now consider this the best system in any MMO, for me personally, though I do understand from a lore perspective how that may not work in all MMOs.
EppE said:In EQ my character almost became my identitiy in a way. The amount of time invested in it, the friends associated with him, his gear and look everything. I had 1 or 2 low level alts but my main character WAS my character. His name became my nick name for awhile.
In WoW that all but vanished. Your character wasn't important. It didn't matter if you'd spent 2 years playing the same character, an expansion meant a gear reset which meant everyone would reroll to the new meta and often times abandon their old characters.
FF14 brought that EQ feeling back BECAUSE it allowed my character to be every job/class in the game. I was able to create an identity around that character again without it being tied to the class I wanted to play. I now consider this the best system in any MMO, for me personally, though I do understand from a lore perspective how that may not work in all MMOs.
I think what you said about characters in WoW is only partially true. I've mained my resto druid since BC which has been like 14 years. In all that time I only switched mains once and that was in the last expansion, however, that change didn't last long. I think that it is more accurate to say that characters in WoW don't hold the same value to the community at large like they do in other games. WoW's ever-shifting meta and E-sports like the gameplay has really hurt character/class value and has lead people into chasing the ever-shifting meta in an attempt to be seen as more desirable.
I think the leveling process and community aspects in WoW are other aspects that hurt the character value. In EQ the leveling process was longer and guilds/ groups of friends invested time into helping each other level. This forged bonds between not only the players but also their characters due to the time spent invested leveling these characters. In WoW you don't have this same type of community-driven aspect and the leveling process is so fast that you don't really have time to appreciate your character and their achievements.
As for FF14 I can understand where your coming from, but I personally found having access to everything really hurt my character's identity. Don't get me wrong the system was fun and it addresses issues with meta-based gameplay and class balance issues, but I didn't really feel like my character embodied a specific class fantasy. It was more like "Yes, my name is ________ and I can be whatever you want/ need" Vs "Yes, my name is ________ and I am a member of X class and that is my identity."