(08-12-2015, 12:58 PM)Kaiz Wrote: I think you're misunderstanding me. I'm not saying that a player with a veteran character is entitled to say his character can punch twice as hard as a newer character. I'm saying that if you took Novice Bob and Veteran Joe and put their backstory side by side, and Bob's accomplishment is having fought in an IC war whereas Joe has fought in 20 IC wars, joe looks way more powerful than bob. And short of introducing something to counter that (maybe joe has a bummed leg and has lost an eye) it's not really avoidable. It's just a natural consequence of having been around longer.
Ah, maybe!
The point is that in this example, you're stating IC background as opposed to OOC time played. And there isn't much keeping Novice Bob from saying his character has been in 20 wars too - or more. Just as long as Novice Bob isn't somehow kept from doing that because he's only been playing for a few days, you know? That's what was worrying me.
It sort of ties in a comment Graeham made, in a sense - he mentioned that it's his personal preference to have development done IC than through back-story. Which is well within his right to have as a preference, but I wouldn't wholly agree with as mine. I love putting in back-story that describes where they came from and that can affect where they're going.
In an extreme case (since I seem to be jumping to those today), I see such a view forcing everyone to start fresh and build themselves up... which limits a wide variety of character types. You can't have a middle-aged merchant having a sort of midlife crisis, you can't have an old veteran who hung up his blade, or even just a bog-standard adventurer who's in the middle of his adventures and Eorzea just happens to be the latest on his list.. Everyone needs to start at zero and build themselves up - which puts "favor" in the hands of those who have been here longer and had more RP opportunities due to little regard being given to their past. Again, worst case scenario from my point of view, and in no way to imply issue with Graeham's preference.
And so - to kinda tie it back into the original topic - by allowing folks to be able to have that freedom, you will end up having various people who play at various levels with varying level of experience (from both back-story and in IC interactions). Everyone is going to have their own style of play and direction they would like to go with in regards to their character, and some may be higher powered or lower powered than others. And your own character's "power level" in respect to others will depend on what group you are interacting with.
I guess the best bet is to find folks that play on the "power level" you like... or try and open communication and see if you can work something out that everyone can enjoy. Or something. I'm rambling again.
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