As one of the suuuuper dark overcompensating Lalafells, I can assure you my character is meant to be taken at least roughly seriously.
However, I didn't have any illusions about what I was getting into when I picked her race. If you select a childlike race, people will assume plenty of things of them by their appearance alone. It is working around or exploiting those assumptions that makes playing the race rewarding. Sometimes I'll use it to make a scene funnier, and other times I'll use it to make the dark rp I tend towards more disturbing. I feel like having it be depressing and horrific all the time would be repetitive, so I incorporated some funny, as well as touching, elements to the character that allowed me to play up Lalafells' innate cuteness. A good example of this is that I've found a lot of people comment that they can't exactly place Virara's age, which I see as a natural result of how I rp her inconsistent knowledge.
When Virara behaves in a immature, naive way, people aren't too surprised because in game she looks like a little fat bebeh. When she exhibits really troubling assumptions about violence or morality, people see an evil, or misguided, child. When she punches through a monster, people's eyes bug out. She does get talked down to a lot but to a certain degree I'm fine with that, as I wanted people to be shocked when she does exhibit experience. I knew Lalafell were going to be infantilized from the character select screen and wanted to use it to create a disconnect between character and appearance deliberately. I feel any other race would have made my concept seem a lot more generic and unremarkable, honestly; I've never been that original... XD
But yeah, I meet plenty of Lalafell who are understated in behavior too. Some are pretty childlike or comedy heavy, but that's part of their character. I would say that although Gus is one of the more consistent rpers I've seen and does a great job standing out and being unique, I thought he was a gag character when I first saw him and read his wiki, so I'm surprised you think he's a great example of a serious Lalafell character.
There are very few of us, however. Lalas are popular amongst PVE players and not so much amongst rpers. Your opening statement is evidenced enough by this regardless of whether rpers deny it or not; most people would rather play a full-sized, mature looking character because being Lalafell has that instant assumption power. Many rpers are heavily focused on romance, something I have trouble relating to, and because of their appearance Lalafell are understandably not in high demand. A lot of people here have Lalafell, but like roegadyn, they tend to be relegated to alts, and can easily become gag characters if not played diligently. It can make you feel restricted, but I think that playing against expectations is fun too. If you want to be taken seriously, use emotes sparingly or make custom emotes that remove the more childish gestures and expressions. Demonstrate your character's age through sagely observations or anxieties that come out of the increased responsibility and scope of adulthood. Don't overcompensate like some Lalafell rpers I've seen by cussing, drinking and wanting sex constantly, though these can be used to remind players of the character's age too.
The NPCs don't do us any favors; Tataru is, I believe, an adolescent and pretty cutesy. I love her, she's adorable, but at times I see her as a kind of "token" Lala in the MSQ. She behaves in the stereotypical manner we tend to associate with the race. With the exception of the barely developed Pippin, all the major MSQ male Lala's we've seen are conniving or evil little bastards. The minor NPCs fare a lot better, but they also get significantly less attention. I liked Chuchuto from the PGL storyline a lot. She was funny but not child-like, and also helped show Lalafell can be tough. Alka Zolka from the SCH storyline was pretty fun too and served the dual purpose of being a "smart" Marauder and strong Lalafell, breaking two stereotypes at the same time. It's definitely true however that there are plenty of Lalafell in positions of authority though, and that itself should show that in-setting they are taken quite seriously.
However, I didn't have any illusions about what I was getting into when I picked her race. If you select a childlike race, people will assume plenty of things of them by their appearance alone. It is working around or exploiting those assumptions that makes playing the race rewarding. Sometimes I'll use it to make a scene funnier, and other times I'll use it to make the dark rp I tend towards more disturbing. I feel like having it be depressing and horrific all the time would be repetitive, so I incorporated some funny, as well as touching, elements to the character that allowed me to play up Lalafells' innate cuteness. A good example of this is that I've found a lot of people comment that they can't exactly place Virara's age, which I see as a natural result of how I rp her inconsistent knowledge.
When Virara behaves in a immature, naive way, people aren't too surprised because in game she looks like a little fat bebeh. When she exhibits really troubling assumptions about violence or morality, people see an evil, or misguided, child. When she punches through a monster, people's eyes bug out. She does get talked down to a lot but to a certain degree I'm fine with that, as I wanted people to be shocked when she does exhibit experience. I knew Lalafell were going to be infantilized from the character select screen and wanted to use it to create a disconnect between character and appearance deliberately. I feel any other race would have made my concept seem a lot more generic and unremarkable, honestly; I've never been that original... XD
But yeah, I meet plenty of Lalafell who are understated in behavior too. Some are pretty childlike or comedy heavy, but that's part of their character. I would say that although Gus is one of the more consistent rpers I've seen and does a great job standing out and being unique, I thought he was a gag character when I first saw him and read his wiki, so I'm surprised you think he's a great example of a serious Lalafell character.
There are very few of us, however. Lalas are popular amongst PVE players and not so much amongst rpers. Your opening statement is evidenced enough by this regardless of whether rpers deny it or not; most people would rather play a full-sized, mature looking character because being Lalafell has that instant assumption power. Many rpers are heavily focused on romance, something I have trouble relating to, and because of their appearance Lalafell are understandably not in high demand. A lot of people here have Lalafell, but like roegadyn, they tend to be relegated to alts, and can easily become gag characters if not played diligently. It can make you feel restricted, but I think that playing against expectations is fun too. If you want to be taken seriously, use emotes sparingly or make custom emotes that remove the more childish gestures and expressions. Demonstrate your character's age through sagely observations or anxieties that come out of the increased responsibility and scope of adulthood. Don't overcompensate like some Lalafell rpers I've seen by cussing, drinking and wanting sex constantly, though these can be used to remind players of the character's age too.
The NPCs don't do us any favors; Tataru is, I believe, an adolescent and pretty cutesy. I love her, she's adorable, but at times I see her as a kind of "token" Lala in the MSQ. She behaves in the stereotypical manner we tend to associate with the race. With the exception of the barely developed Pippin, all the major MSQ male Lala's we've seen are conniving or evil little bastards. The minor NPCs fare a lot better, but they also get significantly less attention. I liked Chuchuto from the PGL storyline a lot. She was funny but not child-like, and also helped show Lalafell can be tough. Alka Zolka from the SCH storyline was pretty fun too and served the dual purpose of being a "smart" Marauder and strong Lalafell, breaking two stereotypes at the same time. It's definitely true however that there are plenty of Lalafell in positions of authority though, and that itself should show that in-setting they are taken quite seriously.
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AV by Kura-Ou
Wiki (Last updated 01/16)
My Balmung profile.
AV by Kura-Ou
Wiki (Last updated 01/16)
My Balmung profile.
