Virtual Friends, Life, and Relationships: Part 3 -- In Character
Monday, April 02, 2007
It's probably no real secret that each of characters we create, whether it be for written fiction or game-based role-playing, carries at least a little bit of ourselves within them (intentionally or not).
I was recently informed that the personality of one of my characters was underdeveloped. Not entirely surprising, as she was originally created solely as a way for me to test out one of the City of Heroes character build types. I had a good sense of this character, but then I knew her thoughts and feelings, things that had not yet really had a chance to be played out either in story or game.
Recently, in the course of one of the written storylines, this character was forced to make a decision that potentially affects the fate of several other characters. Whoa! The reactions to that decision! (She has not yet had a chance to explain her rationale behind her choice, so a lot of it is reactions based solely on the decision itself.) But, wow! I was surprised at how personally I took these reactions. I guess there really is such a thing as getting a little too close to your characters—or putting too much of yourself in them.
It was just an interesting reminder for me of how my different characters reflect different parts of my personality and moods (nothing like dragging out a Tanker or Scrapper and beating the snot out of bad guys after a bad day! :-D ). And, even beyond that, they also seem to reflect certain hopes and dreams. I think that's part of why I might have taken some of the criticism personally—because there's a little too much of me in her character, a little too much of what I want to be. Don't know . . .
I was recently informed that the personality of one of my characters was underdeveloped. Not entirely surprising, as she was originally created solely as a way for me to test out one of the City of Heroes character build types. I had a good sense of this character, but then I knew her thoughts and feelings, things that had not yet really had a chance to be played out either in story or game.Recently, in the course of one of the written storylines, this character was forced to make a decision that potentially affects the fate of several other characters. Whoa! The reactions to that decision! (She has not yet had a chance to explain her rationale behind her choice, so a lot of it is reactions based solely on the decision itself.) But, wow! I was surprised at how personally I took these reactions. I guess there really is such a thing as getting a little too close to your characters—or putting too much of yourself in them.
It was just an interesting reminder for me of how my different characters reflect different parts of my personality and moods (nothing like dragging out a Tanker or Scrapper and beating the snot out of bad guys after a bad day! :-D ). And, even beyond that, they also seem to reflect certain hopes and dreams. I think that's part of why I might have taken some of the criticism personally—because there's a little too much of me in her character, a little too much of what I want to be. Don't know . . .
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