Like several others have already said, I find RP gets very stale if the good guys always win. Without a certain amount of honest failure, conflict, and the occasional tragedy all those happy RP moments would quickly grow stale.
However the danger of overindulging in these tragic scenarios arises when characters begin using them as a means to garner attention. Good tragedy, like good comedy, can only be played properly with a good balance of sad and happy moments. In a story line that is specifically intended to have a dark end, the lighthearted moments are actually more important than they would be in a comic tale.
I like to use two examples from my days in Wow....
- The first concerned a very well portrayed schizophrenic character and his drug-addict friend. Both were talented RPers, who stuck to their characters flaws religiously. However they quickly became estranged from other RPers, because they both lacked balance.
The addict was starving herself for drugs, constantly injured, and never seemed to have a shred of luck. She refused every IC effort to help her, with insults or indifference, that drove the most persistent characters away. The schizophrenic was worse, because every time a character tried to aid him, his player would twist their efforts to send him down an even darker path.
Then they both complained OOC that no one ever RPed with them and they felt excluded from the larger community. Â
- The second concerned a favorite character of mine, who began life as a happy-go-lucky young paladin in training. She had a difficult backstory and her life's ambition was to become a light-wielding hero like her mother. After a few months of RP, she faced her first big baddie and had those dreams entirely crushed.
  Simply put she broke her skull and suffered a traumatic brain injury. She lost the ability to speak coherently and her left side was almost completely paralyzed. Perhaps the saddest thing of all was that she retained all of her memories and ruined dreams.
  Now many healers tried to 'fix' her over the course of the next few years and each of them ultimately failed. However this constant failure was balanced by many amusing moments and small victories. I allowed her to form true relationships, rather than relying on other characters to constantly save her or feel sorry for her. She had friends, enemies, challenges and small victories. She fell in love, with a character from another race who had a drastically different life span and eventually broke both of their hearts by turning him down.
   Her story was never one that could end happily, but she was a full character with her own strengths. This allowed for a large variety of RP that did not revolve around her tragic circumstances, and made them that much more potent.
I think that the key to playing a tragic character well lies in never allowing them to know that they are tragic. Instead of wearing out your fellow RPers with a constant stream of bad luck, failures, and self-pity, try building up some success and connections before allowing tragedy to strike them down. It will be more rewarding in the long run.
Finally there are a few instances, where you should definitely warn your fellow RPers. One is the case where a well meaning character is devoting themselves to "fixing the unfixable" or preventing the unavoidable. Many players will enjoy the chance to have their own character fail along with yours, but others will just be frustrated and angry.
The other important thing to remember is that stories involving things like suicide, rape, or mental illness can be very painful for some players to see or participate in. You should always be up front when setting out to tell these stories, to avoid unintentionally hurting other players.
So bring on the tragedy, keep it balanced, and don't forget to communicate.
/end rambles
However the danger of overindulging in these tragic scenarios arises when characters begin using them as a means to garner attention. Good tragedy, like good comedy, can only be played properly with a good balance of sad and happy moments. In a story line that is specifically intended to have a dark end, the lighthearted moments are actually more important than they would be in a comic tale.
I like to use two examples from my days in Wow....
- The first concerned a very well portrayed schizophrenic character and his drug-addict friend. Both were talented RPers, who stuck to their characters flaws religiously. However they quickly became estranged from other RPers, because they both lacked balance.
The addict was starving herself for drugs, constantly injured, and never seemed to have a shred of luck. She refused every IC effort to help her, with insults or indifference, that drove the most persistent characters away. The schizophrenic was worse, because every time a character tried to aid him, his player would twist their efforts to send him down an even darker path.
Then they both complained OOC that no one ever RPed with them and they felt excluded from the larger community. Â
- The second concerned a favorite character of mine, who began life as a happy-go-lucky young paladin in training. She had a difficult backstory and her life's ambition was to become a light-wielding hero like her mother. After a few months of RP, she faced her first big baddie and had those dreams entirely crushed.
  Simply put she broke her skull and suffered a traumatic brain injury. She lost the ability to speak coherently and her left side was almost completely paralyzed. Perhaps the saddest thing of all was that she retained all of her memories and ruined dreams.
  Now many healers tried to 'fix' her over the course of the next few years and each of them ultimately failed. However this constant failure was balanced by many amusing moments and small victories. I allowed her to form true relationships, rather than relying on other characters to constantly save her or feel sorry for her. She had friends, enemies, challenges and small victories. She fell in love, with a character from another race who had a drastically different life span and eventually broke both of their hearts by turning him down.
   Her story was never one that could end happily, but she was a full character with her own strengths. This allowed for a large variety of RP that did not revolve around her tragic circumstances, and made them that much more potent.
I think that the key to playing a tragic character well lies in never allowing them to know that they are tragic. Instead of wearing out your fellow RPers with a constant stream of bad luck, failures, and self-pity, try building up some success and connections before allowing tragedy to strike them down. It will be more rewarding in the long run.
Finally there are a few instances, where you should definitely warn your fellow RPers. One is the case where a well meaning character is devoting themselves to "fixing the unfixable" or preventing the unavoidable. Many players will enjoy the chance to have their own character fail along with yours, but others will just be frustrated and angry.
The other important thing to remember is that stories involving things like suicide, rape, or mental illness can be very painful for some players to see or participate in. You should always be up front when setting out to tell these stories, to avoid unintentionally hurting other players.
So bring on the tragedy, keep it balanced, and don't forget to communicate.
/end rambles