(no subject)

[igpayatinlay]

Question:

When you're creating a character/writing an app/starting a game, do you consider how they might grow over the course of the game? Not necessarily pre-plotting, or establishing relationships in advance, but maybe more like, establishing where they are in their life at the start, and how they'll grow if things go a certain way? There's no way to control the other characters, so obviously this can change as things happen, but I'm curious - do you apply the idea of a character arc to roleplay, or do you make a character to have fun with and then wing it? Sometimes one or the other? A mix of both?

Comments

[borntorun.insanejournal.com]

I don't tend to think about it when I'm writing the application because so much depends upon relationships with other characters and events in the game. After a few weeks in, though, it's easier to come up with a general idea of where I want to go from there.

[igpayatinlay.insanejournal.com]

This fascinates me, because it makes me think of so many "what-if" scenarios, like okay, example: what would Henry have been like if he hadn't clicked with Oliver and Lauren, and were then destined to be kind of ho-hum siblings-in-law with little in common and no teasing?

[borntorun.insanejournal.com]

The what-ifs are exactly why I try to not think about it TOO much, or at least in nothing except really really vague ideas. Things can turn out so differently than you initially imagined and send your character in a totally different direction, and I don't want to end up feeling like I'm straying from my original intentions. I never planned to have Oliver get into a relationship, but having him with Parvati changed a lot of his story. Same with Eleanor (although I did have a general idea for her arc, and I think I fulfilled that). I do like to play characters that can change in some way even if I'm not really thinking about it too much, or at least have that door open if things fall into place. But I think mostly I just wait and see how things settle around me. I've had really specific ideas set in the past, and I've run out of time in the game (because it has closed for whatever reason, or my SL partners have left, etc), and that always leaves me with regrets because I wasn't able to do what I wanted.