I actually understand people getting all upset without being aware of what other people's stances on character death are - so if you're rping with someone closely it's probably a good thing to find out. My character got married recently, and if her husband's player just suddenly went "He's dead lol" I'd be pretty mad about that, but I also know what his player's stance on death is (He's open to it) so I knew going in his character has a chance of dying. We talk oocly a lot though and make sure things we do will be okay, like I made sure it was fine with him to pull Armi out of rping for a bit so I could focus on playing the villain of that arc (I gave her a magical coma ooOOooo) and he's discussed with me some ideas he had for his character that would keep him and Armi apart for a while.
But even aside from romance, we had 4 people kill their characters off last arc. One was the IC/OOC leader of the guild (and my boyfriend IRL) which had A LOT of ramifications attached to it. Only a small circle actually knew about it before it happened and it took all of those people to make sure the plot holes and plot threads of Ellion's death would be filled and tied up as fast as possible. Even with all our plans and making sure it would be a smooth transition to his new character, the surprise sent shockwaves over the entire guild. Some people got mad, some didn't believe it, and to this day Ellion's player is still trying to get back of the RP ties he lost. He says it's not really the same as it was with his old character - who he had played since FFXIV 1.0 - but he understands it's a long road to get back where he was.
What I learned from all 4 of those deaths - as I helped players plan them in some form - is that IC death has a LOT of consequences you don't even think about. Even if the character's story is "over" (As was the reason for 2 of them), some players may not see it that way. When Dennthota died, a few people gave up RPing all together, for instance. And apparently Denn lost a lot of contacts she had made and even some OOC friends. When one of our players killed off his character for the shock factor, it shocked him so severely he kind of pulled himself out of the rp game all together. It's actually a pretty heavy thing.
That being said, I'm for character death. How you want your character to die can vary - some people like the off the cuff of it, some people want it planned out, and some already know exactly when and how their character will die - but everyone dies, so it seems natural to be prepared for it. Armi can die, but it has to make sense within the context of the story and has to be in a way I'm comfortable with. My Villains can pretty much die whenever, I've killed off 2 or 3 at this point. BUT if you want to make it so your character can't die, that's fine too. We love our characters after all, sometimes it's hard to let go of them.
But even aside from romance, we had 4 people kill their characters off last arc. One was the IC/OOC leader of the guild (and my boyfriend IRL) which had A LOT of ramifications attached to it. Only a small circle actually knew about it before it happened and it took all of those people to make sure the plot holes and plot threads of Ellion's death would be filled and tied up as fast as possible. Even with all our plans and making sure it would be a smooth transition to his new character, the surprise sent shockwaves over the entire guild. Some people got mad, some didn't believe it, and to this day Ellion's player is still trying to get back of the RP ties he lost. He says it's not really the same as it was with his old character - who he had played since FFXIV 1.0 - but he understands it's a long road to get back where he was.
What I learned from all 4 of those deaths - as I helped players plan them in some form - is that IC death has a LOT of consequences you don't even think about. Even if the character's story is "over" (As was the reason for 2 of them), some players may not see it that way. When Dennthota died, a few people gave up RPing all together, for instance. And apparently Denn lost a lot of contacts she had made and even some OOC friends. When one of our players killed off his character for the shock factor, it shocked him so severely he kind of pulled himself out of the rp game all together. It's actually a pretty heavy thing.
That being said, I'm for character death. How you want your character to die can vary - some people like the off the cuff of it, some people want it planned out, and some already know exactly when and how their character will die - but everyone dies, so it seems natural to be prepared for it. Armi can die, but it has to make sense within the context of the story and has to be in a way I'm comfortable with. My Villains can pretty much die whenever, I've killed off 2 or 3 at this point. BUT if you want to make it so your character can't die, that's fine too. We love our characters after all, sometimes it's hard to let go of them.
![[Image: tumblr_n92fndN0EH1rujdn8o1_500.gif]](https://33.media.tumblr.com/449e130ac31106ec8aeda3d0f121d76b/tumblr_n92fndN0EH1rujdn8o1_500.gif)
