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+--- Thread: The importance of character stories... (/showthread.php?tid=10530)
The importance of character stories... - Boss - 07-20-2008
Grammar Freak Index:
Boss (Skype: bls-shadow)
Sovereign (Skype: sovfalcon)
The importance of character stories... - chovynz - 07-20-2008
I like writing stories, and I'm good at it.
I do not expect novels from other people however I enjoy them when they are created.
What I do expect is if people take role playing seriously, to sign up on the forums. Thats it. The forums help people to learn what is going on.
(Case in point Alaska guards.)
As always there are exceptions. I've met a few people who do not have any forum presence as far as I am aware, but roleplay quite happily and well in the game. So I have no problem with those people and enjoy the times when we meet ingame.
I do have a problem with a police officer engaging me in my unlawful character when his computer faction and mine have declared a truce for whatever reason, because he is unaware of it on the forums. It places me at an instant handicap, while Im trying to explain to him the situation, while he's firing at me all guns blazing.
It really doesn't matter either way I guess. I try to enjoy every encouter I have, but sometimes the ignorance or OoRP gets to me.
The importance of character stories... - Primus Avatar - 07-20-2008
' Wrote:There is too much emphasis on forum stories. Look at it. If someone buys a cap without a forum story just watch the flak they receive.
Yep, it took me a while to swallow it... writing stories is like writing a test (for me). I don't enjoy it - its torture... you know how long it took my buddy and me to write those 2 simple character history posts?
At first, we discussed the major storyline for about 2h over chat, then it took another 2 hours to create some of the most basic paragraphs that actually make sense. We were scared that anything we might suggest to the community it might be rejected. There are like... 500 oorp players that don't care what some of you veterans think...let alone registered on the forums. We didn't want to be defined as such so we took our storyline very seriously. It took another 4-5 hours to write grammar-proof background. we got sick of writing....it was 3:00 AM.... but we didn't stop there we continued writing the next chapters blah blah blah....
Anyway, i posted our question about terrorists in caps the same morning and you know what happened.
so it took another hour to delete 40% of our hard work that still wasn't good enough.:( THEN finally we posted.
' Wrote:You don't see anyone bashing Yoda-[T] in his Advanced Battlestar, and he has no story whatsoever, and barely a forum presence (as far as I know).
Why did everyone miss to tell us that when we discussed it?? I'm going to sound childish now: How come we have to torture ourselves writing when we clearly don't have the inborn talent or simply the love to do it and he doesn't? I support Yoda cause i think he is a good player, he used to help me when I first started here and all that...:unsure:
If terrorist ID takes no story, i want to know how he did it... did he just force it on you and only later showed himself as a quality member of the in-game community?
' Wrote:A battleships is MUCH more important than a couple of bombers, so people should explain what that battleship is, who captains it, where it came from, and what its job is.
That said, I think that all can be covered in a few paragraphs, without requiring a major piece of fiction.
If it only were like that.... but hey, me and my buddy started it, so were gonna finish it the way the community dictates.:rtfm: If there is a way for everyone to be satisfied then help us God....:sleep:
The importance of character stories... - Jinx - 07-20-2008
hm - sometimes the problem is that the stories are simply too complex, too sophisticated for the roles they describe. - a story comes after the character ( unless its a background story about birth, childhood, youth and how it comes the char is flying a spaceship )
but a story shouldn t make up more than the player can roleplay. writing a thrilling story about how you were bred in a tank, tempered with by a mad DNA scientist - being half human, half nomad with a superior intellect and the gift of hyperspace travel through time .... is pointless if you cannot RP it. ( generally, its pointless to RP a supersmart guy if you are not supersmart yourself - as much as its pointless to play a cunning bastard that cheats others ... if you re embarrassed yourself when you RP it )
all in all, stories are secondary. - you can have an awesome RP server without any stories, but you never get an awesome RP server if its only stories without relation to the ingame RP.
what i like to see is personalities that give me an idea of what they are ... ingame. an example is mon star. - a mental freak with a tendency to spill blood all over his ship ( not his own blood ). - RPed as good as possible in the game engine. - he s not the psycho he could be with a better chat engine, but psychotic enough to give me an idea ... ingame. ( even if its only his laughter and then a whole bunch of missed shots [ cannot laugh and shoot at the same time ] )
then there are people with a great story, but when you see them ingame, they do nothing or get lost in explaining themselves..... in ooc. ( which is a bit lame ) - when i cannot make myself clear inChar, - something is wrong.
The importance of character stories... - Primus Avatar - 07-20-2008
' Wrote:generally, its pointless to RP a supersmart guy if you are not supersmart yourself
I'm gonna be a bit of-topic here: I don't agree, even in real life (i mean OUTSIDE freelancer universe and its mods) there are people how pretend to be smart, they suck up to certain important people who then support them and their way of thinking even if its just plain stupid. (such things happen all the time, just look at some of the posts on the forums) those people then appear smarter then they are.
And min also that this is a game, a RP game... have you ever played D&D? Kids and adults play it... ya can choose to be a smart sorcerer who has inborn uber-inteligence even if you're a little kid and still be able to roleplay it very well.
for instance: "aahh those runes..... they look familiar.... they are written in ancient elven language!"
you don't really have to know this ancient elven language, and you don't have to write down a little novel about how you came to know what they mean to be able to roleplay as if you knew.
The importance of character stories... - Ayem - 07-20-2008
For myself, I'm on discovery to have fun and take a break from my real writing - which for the purposes of an attempted career have nothing to do with Freelancer. Hence, beyond a few crumbs scattered on the Forums every now and then, my RP is in-game.
I find it far more rewarding to have a chat as a character within the game, than to do so with myself outside the game (forum posted story), and it's by those in-game interactions that my characters change and adapt.
For reference, Sehti is a Captain! \o/ ... he just wants to have his whole crew shot. Figuratively speaking, of course.
The importance of character stories... - Dopamino - 07-20-2008
All Stories here end up with someone flying a ship. There's only so much you can do with that scenario, and a lot of what I read is recycled from other peoples' stories.
I have only one (incomplete) story here. I think it's decent so far, but I lost interest. The writing became tedious.
Almost all of my characters are basically average guys. Lieutenant is usually the highest rank of them, except in circumstances where I accidentally got promoted. I really don't see the need to create stories for these people, especially since it takes up so much time.
The importance of character stories... - ROT13 - 07-20-2008
I always need to write down some notes for my character to make sure, I'll stay consistent with the story.
Nice thing, to do it in the proper forum. And as I'm one of those guys who likes to write and discuss that character's background for hours and hours (with some friends in the pub :crazy:) it's likely to grow and grow..
I agree, the first post in a biographie post should be a short summary:$, for all those no-like-reading-guys or the ones in a hurry.
The importance of character stories... - Baby Bonnie Hood - 07-20-2008
Eh, my character's story is less novel and more blog about whatever happens when I log on. Kinda like what Trent does in SP, his Neural Log's a nice read once you finish the campaign.
The importance of character stories... - me_b_kevin - 07-21-2008
' Wrote:what i like to see is personalities that give me an idea of what they are ... ingame. an example is mon star. - a mental freak with a tendency to spill blood all over his ship ( not his own blood ). - RPed as good as possible in the game engine. - he s not the psycho he could be with a better chat engine, but psychotic enough to give me an idea ... ingame. ( even if its only his laughter and then a whole bunch of missed shots [ cannot laugh and shoot at the same time ] )
in some cases, rp is limited in-game. the way i look at it is that chat in game is from ship to ship via whatever channel the character uses, whether it be the comm system on a system or a nomad brain speaking telepathically. there is no way to convey a face to face interaction in-game, if it happens then it certainly wouldn't be broadcast over the entire solar system. to me the only way to show how a character would typically interact with a person face to face in an informal kind of way would be through RP stories. that being said, it's up to the would-be reader to decide if they want to find out more about a character.
all in all it gives a more indepth look at the character, what you do with that information is up to you. whether that be just reading it, using it to co-write an rp, using it as a basis for how to interact with that character in-game, or just igonoring it.
as for being a requirement, i don't think it needs to be one...... it helps but isn't a necessity.
so, after all that......
i have tried to keep from writing huge novel posts and breaking them into more suitable/easier to read shorter post. i enjoy writing, it helps me to express myself. by now i figure i have given a more than suitable look at who Mon'Star is and what he does. so should i stop writing about him?