RP is unique in its trappings that unlike a novel or movie, where a character's backstory can be revealed in an exposition dump or piece-meal ONCE and move on, RP cannot afford the same luxuries for the same audience is not always present.
So what if you have a wonderfully crafted back-story? Many of us RP'ers are cut from the same cloth as wannabe actors and writers, we want to SHOW our work. I feel a lot of us eventually want someone to know all about our character eventually, to understand them beyond say, their flirting at quicksands.Â
To which I say Background is important in how your character acts, their perceptions, their allegiances, their skills, their ability to form connections and what types of connections. I personally want someone to know about my backstory, its why I made a Wiki, its why said wiki has a long list of "You can know this about Orrin without me shouting Metagaming/godmodding" but I also endeavor to make my actions be reflections of his history.
But what happens when you are someone turning over a new leaf? The reformed thief? The Soldier who can't erase the blood stained on his hands? Or in my case, the Dragoon questioning his faith. How long do you keep that SECRET? How many months do you let someone live their life before their past comes back to haunt them? And what do you do when it comes? Does it then become the realm's worst kept secret?Â
To this, I answer that do not allow your character to be tethered too tightly to the past that you created. The background that is created in synthesis with other players should, eventually take precedence over the one your character has at "birth". That is not to say that you have to get rid of it all at once. You can make a checklist of things that will be resolved (or never will) and if there is something so monumental and important that can't be resolved without fundamentally changing the character, you stand at a precipice for real character growth and development and if it turns that character into something unfun to play, it may be then that you retire and create another.
Embrace the transience of your character, that what makes them real, human. If their arc concludes and they are in "Happily Ever After" mode, start anew, relegate them to cameo status.
I think I got off base >_>
So what if you have a wonderfully crafted back-story? Many of us RP'ers are cut from the same cloth as wannabe actors and writers, we want to SHOW our work. I feel a lot of us eventually want someone to know all about our character eventually, to understand them beyond say, their flirting at quicksands.Â
To which I say Background is important in how your character acts, their perceptions, their allegiances, their skills, their ability to form connections and what types of connections. I personally want someone to know about my backstory, its why I made a Wiki, its why said wiki has a long list of "You can know this about Orrin without me shouting Metagaming/godmodding" but I also endeavor to make my actions be reflections of his history.
But what happens when you are someone turning over a new leaf? The reformed thief? The Soldier who can't erase the blood stained on his hands? Or in my case, the Dragoon questioning his faith. How long do you keep that SECRET? How many months do you let someone live their life before their past comes back to haunt them? And what do you do when it comes? Does it then become the realm's worst kept secret?Â
To this, I answer that do not allow your character to be tethered too tightly to the past that you created. The background that is created in synthesis with other players should, eventually take precedence over the one your character has at "birth". That is not to say that you have to get rid of it all at once. You can make a checklist of things that will be resolved (or never will) and if there is something so monumental and important that can't be resolved without fundamentally changing the character, you stand at a precipice for real character growth and development and if it turns that character into something unfun to play, it may be then that you retire and create another.
Embrace the transience of your character, that what makes them real, human. If their arc concludes and they are in "Happily Ever After" mode, start anew, relegate them to cameo status.
I think I got off base >_>
