Okay. Buckle up kiddies, cuz this birdie's had an epiphany. It's no surprise that roleplay in Council Space has gotten stale as cold dog turds, and I know exactly why. It's because we form cliques and surround ourselves with the same boring attitudes we're used to, shy away from conflict we can't 'win', and because- and this is the MOST IMPORTANT AND PROFOUND REASON: Everyone knows who everyone else plays. That's right. You all form your cliques with the other players you know out of character. I'm guilty of it too, no doubt. I remember when I first came to Antares. My first week was filled with some like... Christmas Magic bullshit because I was playing a character that was a fresh set of eyes. When I came across another character, I had no idea who they were or what they were like. My character had to legit make relationships with that person. Later on, after spending some time with you fine folks, I started to notice patterns and figure out who was behind the mask, so to speak. This led to some meta treating folks as if they were their alts, and it's been done to me and my alts. It's not our fault though. We're part of a small community; we're bound to bump into each other and figure out who's who. We all Skype to each other, have our own steam chats, and we chat on the forums. So to put things in perspective: When was the last time you asked 'who plays that character?' Why does it matter? Are you going to treat them differently based on who plays them? Absolutely. That sucks. Stop it. I've got your attention now. Awesome. Listen up, because we've just reached the top of the ride, and this is where it gets fun. What if you didn't know who played who? All your favorite characters are still in Council Space wandering around, but... what if they're not played by their original player? Oh shit. Oh man, he can't possibly be talking about- CHAAAAANGE PLACES! Yep. Everyone puts their name in the hat and draws a name for themselves. The name you draw is the character you play. It's a serious exercise in the practice of Role play, since you'll no longer be playing your own self-insert. You'll be playing the role of an already-established character created by someone else, portraying their character traits. This comes with a load of stipulations. Event duration is up for debate, though I'm adamant that time spent in this event is canon. If there were no consequences, nobody would take it seriously. This is a real opportunity to practice your roleplay finesse. The goal is to play your role so well that nobody will know who you are underneath the character. A similar event might be arranged where you create an entirely new character with some basic traits and a general backstory, then put their name into a hat. Everyone draws a name, and plays that character without telling any other player who you are underneath. Thoughts? Concerns?
Oh goodness no. Absolutely not. People would treat everything like, "Oh gee. It's not MY character, so it's OK if they do this." I can only see problems from this. They wouldn't know how to act, what to do, and be overall different. Honestly, if you want to mix things up, I'd just make new characters with different goals than the last ones. I've seen several (not going to name anyone here) people have their character expire and have another one "fill their shoes' so-to-speak. We just need people willing to go out of their comfort zone. Not something as drastic as this.
See, I tried doing that, Gus. When I made Hec, he was a filthy drug-addicted criminal. But when people figured out who played him, everyone kinda just. liked him. :L
Sounds interesting, but I've never needed to do a character scramble with other people to be able to make characters that cause people to question who is playing them, including people who know me. Still, sounds interesting, and I approve of the spirit. If only there was more free time to be had. Godspeed, pilgrim Ziggy; bring those kiddies their excitement. P.S. fite me Gustwood
This could be a good idea, and would very likely bring some mroe excitement into the roleplay, except for a major flaw I see: What if I was playing Ziggy, and I all of a sudden decided to go flip out and shoot up a building or something because "Well, I won't have to deal with the consequences." This idea would have to e optional, and hte people that participate would ahve to want to do this, so that they wouldn't get mad that they have to switch and wreak havoc with their new character. Also, I think it should be less random switching, and more like "You and I can swap". This helps because you can explain the nuances and skills of your character to someone, especially if they havent' really RPed in depth with your character before. I'd probably be up for this, if only because it'd be something new.
the only problem i see is that everyone has a different style to approaching a character trait (not to mention subtle differences in the execution of roleplay) that could drastically change how a person acts and even can make them seem out of character how i played mark or how you play hec or how any other person plays anyone will of course be different it all boils down to how someone perceives a character of course a person who created the character would have a much bigger understanding and grasp on said character as opposed to an outsider looking in although i like the concept it just seems problematic
It's also how the person is OOCly. Like, I can't play a feminine female character for the life of me. Also yes, there are problems with the "well it's not /my/ character, so you'd have to know the person OOCly. As for (( what character do you play )), it's quite useful knowing who plays who so you can hook up with them on the forums or plan shit out. Unless we get an OE character style for the forums, it probably ain't gonna happen. Also, if I knew Wreth was playing a Floran I was talking to, I would simply not RP with them anymore, but if I didnt, I would still be dragged along. I can't explain it all too well, cause mobile, but I'm sure you get my point.
Kinda think switching characters ruins a piece of the character itself, because you're putting at least some fraction of yourself into it. Character wipe would probably work better, though that's probably a bit too extreme for now.
Hand Cullen off to some random -> they sell everything to their self insert for 1 pix I know that's an extreme circumstance, but really I wouldn't be surprised if something similar happened. Do this it is the only way to make sure nobody wrecks people's characters for the sheer fun of it. Even then, we're such a small community that you can pick out most people based just on how they type. Whether they use * or ", how they emote or lack there of. It's a good idea on paper, but I think in execution it would just fall apart
If I swapped, I would be quite the helicopter mom about it. Because every step I take with my characters mean something in their story and certain parts of their traits and backstory can be brought up. I'd give one hell of a briefing. But if the issue is that everyone knows who everyone plays, this wouldn't solve anything. People still talk to each other. News will still get out across the community somehow about who is now playing who. People also type a certain way. I type in normal sentence structure. Other people use asterisks for actions. BUT it would be fun. Everyone would hopefully have a good time and a good laugh playing as different characters. The only thing that concerns me is that the attachment to ones characters goes away and death could become more common. And that may make original players pissy.
I think a "Fresh Character" event would be great. I'm not so much for swapping characters, but forcing fresh ones could be interesting. Maybe for a weekend, or a week. Same time each year.
I think if it was forced, people would either just make a new character whos pretty much exactly like their old character, or not participate at all. Maybe make it an optional thing, for a week or so, and whatever happens during this time is only canon if the player wants it to be?
Making it optional would defeat the point, either for the event itself or it's canonicality. I've seen this event done on another server for another game and it worked quite well. Something to think about.
A lot of players don't know my characters (even the ones in my signature) so they treat them all pretty much the same. Ignoring them outright. Seriously any character I have made including side characters that I don't consider putting in my signature because they're side characters, has been outright ignored. That's my problem with this community, I try to stretch away from the "UGH SO ANGST I'VE SEEN SOME SHIT" people and create something new and unheard of but no one CARES. So no, I will not swap my characters with someone.
WELL, we just gotta make something that fits. Personally, I'd like to see something bad happen. Something that changes Council Space into a place not so easily lived in. Every day is a struggle, at least moreso than it is now. People become farmers that live in shacks, using technology mixed with basic structures to keep moving. Fuel is scarce, blah blah. Even if it's just for a little while.
