I even had characters going into completely different directions than I had hoped and wanted. Sure you can go in and force them to take the turns you want but that takes the fun out of it for me.
Most characters often get something from their creators. And exaggerated trait or something. That is okay and common.
But I was always extremely bored by people who rp themselves completely. Ingame you cannot see most of the character itself much imo. And in the end it also comes to your personal skill and not the ones of your character. That is when it usually becomes difficult for me to rp the character. Especially with fairplay in mind. Like I could and would run as the character. But I know for the fun of everyone involved I shouldn't.