1. Have you killed your character before?
Yes, both when it comes to alts and mains.Â
I like to involve realism and improvisation in my RP, and the former is sometimes what drives the characters death. If there is a situation where nothing but divine intervention could save the character - then there are times where I have said, alright - fair game, and let the character die. (Note: This doesn't mean I'd let my characters die to a random street stabbing. If it's done by another's hand there has to be a substance to it, for me.)
The first character that was subjected to this was my former main in WoW, whom I played as a cultist - When I started playing her, I was fully accepting already then that they might not live for as long as a regular goody-two-shoes character. Her plot-arch involved certain degrees of insanity and extreme belief/faith in an old god, which eventually lead to careless/reckless behavior - thus allowing her enemies (the good guys) to come and kill her. In that same fight, there was also a character loss on the good-guy side, and it's one of the most interesting fights I've ever had.Â
Back then, through playing a main on the villain side of life, debates between the people who would chase us around Azeroth and ourselves were quite common. Mostly, we were continuously accused of playing OP characters with the simple reasoning that because our characters are evil they must die. To the hands of the good people of course, who in turn would accept no such thing as a death to their own character.
It wasn't the case for everyone of course, and very interestingly I did actually end up having requests from people who wanted their goody-two-shoes-character to die by the hands of one of my evil characters plots.Â
Sometimes I have also killed characters off because I knew I'd be leaving a game for good, or because I -really- wouldn't go back to the character (this often after having them on hiatus and trying to revamp them). Sometimes a character just has nothing left to give, especially if it's one you've played for years, and it feels natural to conclude them.
One of my personal biggest regrets for one character was not to kill it off sooner. I forced every bit of juice out of it, and looking back to the last few months of that character's life is a bit of a meh-experience.Â
In some of those cases, I have simply decided that the next time they get into a situation they can't get out of, then they would die. It retains a level of unpredictability for yourself and also keeps the moment of surprise intact for those around you.Â
2. How did your friends take it?
I've never experienced a negative backlash to one of my characters dying. I think, where I have roleplayed through times it's something that is seen as your own decision, and that if you make that decision then the rest will have to respect it. I think that, yes, if your character is a very close part of another character and you seem to sense that your characters death would push theirs into a turmoil beyond the "normal" reaction to death, then you should make sure they're on board with it and also discuss options for "damage control" so your friend doesn't burn out. But otherwise it's entirely up to the players themselves to decide what to do with their characters, and how to do it.Â
So in conclusion my friends have taken it well. I also think one of the big factors of their positive reactions is that I always stick with the decision. There's no do-overs, no magically returning from the dead nonsense, even if I regret killing them off. I know that with time I will once again design a character that I'll love and adore (and subject to horrible things).Â
3. Would you not want to RP with someone who may unceremoniously kill off their character? Why?
As mentioned above, I consider it to be the players own decision. The only way I'd get a little miffed is if the player repeatedly killed the character and then went "HAHA NOT REALLY", because being stuck in a loop like that is exhausting. It also drains the storytelling value of a character death to a minimal, more of a "Oh he died again, bleh" reaction than character developing effects. Even an unceremonious death can leave good developing material for those around you.
Yes, both when it comes to alts and mains.Â
I like to involve realism and improvisation in my RP, and the former is sometimes what drives the characters death. If there is a situation where nothing but divine intervention could save the character - then there are times where I have said, alright - fair game, and let the character die. (Note: This doesn't mean I'd let my characters die to a random street stabbing. If it's done by another's hand there has to be a substance to it, for me.)
The first character that was subjected to this was my former main in WoW, whom I played as a cultist - When I started playing her, I was fully accepting already then that they might not live for as long as a regular goody-two-shoes character. Her plot-arch involved certain degrees of insanity and extreme belief/faith in an old god, which eventually lead to careless/reckless behavior - thus allowing her enemies (the good guys) to come and kill her. In that same fight, there was also a character loss on the good-guy side, and it's one of the most interesting fights I've ever had.Â
Back then, through playing a main on the villain side of life, debates between the people who would chase us around Azeroth and ourselves were quite common. Mostly, we were continuously accused of playing OP characters with the simple reasoning that because our characters are evil they must die. To the hands of the good people of course, who in turn would accept no such thing as a death to their own character.
It wasn't the case for everyone of course, and very interestingly I did actually end up having requests from people who wanted their goody-two-shoes-character to die by the hands of one of my evil characters plots.Â
Sometimes I have also killed characters off because I knew I'd be leaving a game for good, or because I -really- wouldn't go back to the character (this often after having them on hiatus and trying to revamp them). Sometimes a character just has nothing left to give, especially if it's one you've played for years, and it feels natural to conclude them.
One of my personal biggest regrets for one character was not to kill it off sooner. I forced every bit of juice out of it, and looking back to the last few months of that character's life is a bit of a meh-experience.Â
In some of those cases, I have simply decided that the next time they get into a situation they can't get out of, then they would die. It retains a level of unpredictability for yourself and also keeps the moment of surprise intact for those around you.Â
2. How did your friends take it?
I've never experienced a negative backlash to one of my characters dying. I think, where I have roleplayed through times it's something that is seen as your own decision, and that if you make that decision then the rest will have to respect it. I think that, yes, if your character is a very close part of another character and you seem to sense that your characters death would push theirs into a turmoil beyond the "normal" reaction to death, then you should make sure they're on board with it and also discuss options for "damage control" so your friend doesn't burn out. But otherwise it's entirely up to the players themselves to decide what to do with their characters, and how to do it.Â
So in conclusion my friends have taken it well. I also think one of the big factors of their positive reactions is that I always stick with the decision. There's no do-overs, no magically returning from the dead nonsense, even if I regret killing them off. I know that with time I will once again design a character that I'll love and adore (and subject to horrible things).Â
3. Would you not want to RP with someone who may unceremoniously kill off their character? Why?
As mentioned above, I consider it to be the players own decision. The only way I'd get a little miffed is if the player repeatedly killed the character and then went "HAHA NOT REALLY", because being stuck in a loop like that is exhausting. It also drains the storytelling value of a character death to a minimal, more of a "Oh he died again, bleh" reaction than character developing effects. Even an unceremonious death can leave good developing material for those around you.
