Another Balmung citizen here, with my two gil:
Preface: As a "writer before roleplayer" a lot of this response is going to draw from my own writings to illustrate the point. I don't ascribe to "typical" morals in real life either, so that will color my views on good guy/bad guy. To put it simply, what bothers a lot of people doesn't turn my head, but things that some people would find inconsequential are absolute blasphemy in my book.
As I've said in a few other posts, I don't derive enjoyment from the typical "good guys versus villain trying to foil them or do whatever" because of my strong dislike for large or group plots, and the aforementioned stigma some people have noted that comes with playing a villain outright.
Rather, in most of my stories (and thus most of my RP characters) the antagonist comes from within the character themselves. In my "books", it might be a force of strife that moves between the main characters. My most notable universes have always had a lot of tension between "the protagonists"--in some, there's an added societal aspect and they are working against the government or a larger-scale idea. But there's usually never a defined Big Bad, grey or no, that they have to stop. To continue the trope analogy, I like to work with Black and Grey or Grey and Grey moralities.
A common theme for this conflict in my works is "pursuit of power", for whatever reason. Sometimes the evil is more distinct, or it's in the name of swinging a balance one way or the other, but my works usually deal with denial and deep-seated desires on the part of the characters. Also notable is the fact that my works and casts tend to become a lot darker or corrupted, and characters tend to be confronted with forking paths in their concepts that I like to play with. Someone mentioned they can't play an evil character without getting a headache...well, I'm something of an opposite, as I can't have a character and keep their concept "free of darkness or torment" for long if I was paid.Â
I have selfish characters, I have strict, ethic abiding ones, I have extroverted ones who are full of life, and hedonists and innocents, and everything else. But they all wind up suffering some way or another and having to bend over backwards to achieve happiness--if I allow them to.
To use Kevaraan as an example for why I don't like showing my characters' villainous qualities overtly in RP, I had him react to something plot-related by having a nightmare he was sure would actually happen. Some other players took him questioning his future loyalties out of fear as a legitimate threat, and they informed some affiliates who knew next to nothing of my character. My own introversion (and lack of control) often makes it hard to play my characters as true as I'd like, so during this time I actually did planning for The Bad Ending because OOCly, I was sure it would happen. We were able to rope it back before Kevaraan fell off the precipice, though, and it made me think twice about reacting in the open. If the streak comes out again, it will probably be with people I communicate with beforehand, and isolated.
Although his XIV incarnation is neutral, Kevaraan is a character who often has different parts of his personality accentuated depending on the story and my mood. Sometimes he's just like he is here. Sometimes he's more stable or authoritative. In one story I did, however, the roles of his NPC and himself were reversed: he was a violent, if poetic, cannibalistic murderer hunting the girl in question out of a desire to serve her and bring her over to his side (of evil.) He was a lot like Albedo from Xenosaga, for those that had played that. Had this RP mess gone south and he cracked in game, I was prepared to bring back the latter persona--even if that meant quitting the guild and hardly RPing at all afterward due to the issues people (and I) have with villains. I'm aware some of this stems from OOC stuff, and am working on how to "accurately" portray him in a more neutral light, as he "is." My main issue with RP is the collaborative aspect making me cram up and play my characters inaccurately.
Tl;dr: I'd rather work with the villainous ASPECTS of a character (even a hero) than have one outright and look for RP on one. I have no outright heroes and few outright villains. However, the NPC I mentioned would probably get seen as a villain which is one reason I swept her under the rug for now.
EDIT: As Freelance said, there could just be a disinterest in the concept. I googled "burlesque" and it doesn't seem like an outright brothel. Like all things, there's a good and a bad way to write it, and your establishment doesn't strike me as a front for ERP. I'm not on Gilgamesh, but the way someone worded it with an example from Firefly sounds interesting, especially the psychological aspect.
Preface: As a "writer before roleplayer" a lot of this response is going to draw from my own writings to illustrate the point. I don't ascribe to "typical" morals in real life either, so that will color my views on good guy/bad guy. To put it simply, what bothers a lot of people doesn't turn my head, but things that some people would find inconsequential are absolute blasphemy in my book.
As I've said in a few other posts, I don't derive enjoyment from the typical "good guys versus villain trying to foil them or do whatever" because of my strong dislike for large or group plots, and the aforementioned stigma some people have noted that comes with playing a villain outright.
Rather, in most of my stories (and thus most of my RP characters) the antagonist comes from within the character themselves. In my "books", it might be a force of strife that moves between the main characters. My most notable universes have always had a lot of tension between "the protagonists"--in some, there's an added societal aspect and they are working against the government or a larger-scale idea. But there's usually never a defined Big Bad, grey or no, that they have to stop. To continue the trope analogy, I like to work with Black and Grey or Grey and Grey moralities.
A common theme for this conflict in my works is "pursuit of power", for whatever reason. Sometimes the evil is more distinct, or it's in the name of swinging a balance one way or the other, but my works usually deal with denial and deep-seated desires on the part of the characters. Also notable is the fact that my works and casts tend to become a lot darker or corrupted, and characters tend to be confronted with forking paths in their concepts that I like to play with. Someone mentioned they can't play an evil character without getting a headache...well, I'm something of an opposite, as I can't have a character and keep their concept "free of darkness or torment" for long if I was paid.Â
I have selfish characters, I have strict, ethic abiding ones, I have extroverted ones who are full of life, and hedonists and innocents, and everything else. But they all wind up suffering some way or another and having to bend over backwards to achieve happiness--if I allow them to.
To use Kevaraan as an example for why I don't like showing my characters' villainous qualities overtly in RP, I had him react to something plot-related by having a nightmare he was sure would actually happen. Some other players took him questioning his future loyalties out of fear as a legitimate threat, and they informed some affiliates who knew next to nothing of my character. My own introversion (and lack of control) often makes it hard to play my characters as true as I'd like, so during this time I actually did planning for The Bad Ending because OOCly, I was sure it would happen. We were able to rope it back before Kevaraan fell off the precipice, though, and it made me think twice about reacting in the open. If the streak comes out again, it will probably be with people I communicate with beforehand, and isolated.
Although his XIV incarnation is neutral, Kevaraan is a character who often has different parts of his personality accentuated depending on the story and my mood. Sometimes he's just like he is here. Sometimes he's more stable or authoritative. In one story I did, however, the roles of his NPC and himself were reversed: he was a violent, if poetic, cannibalistic murderer hunting the girl in question out of a desire to serve her and bring her over to his side (of evil.) He was a lot like Albedo from Xenosaga, for those that had played that. Had this RP mess gone south and he cracked in game, I was prepared to bring back the latter persona--even if that meant quitting the guild and hardly RPing at all afterward due to the issues people (and I) have with villains. I'm aware some of this stems from OOC stuff, and am working on how to "accurately" portray him in a more neutral light, as he "is." My main issue with RP is the collaborative aspect making me cram up and play my characters inaccurately.
Tl;dr: I'd rather work with the villainous ASPECTS of a character (even a hero) than have one outright and look for RP on one. I have no outright heroes and few outright villains. However, the NPC I mentioned would probably get seen as a villain which is one reason I swept her under the rug for now.
EDIT: As Freelance said, there could just be a disinterest in the concept. I googled "burlesque" and it doesn't seem like an outright brothel. Like all things, there's a good and a bad way to write it, and your establishment doesn't strike me as a front for ERP. I'm not on Gilgamesh, but the way someone worded it with an example from Firefly sounds interesting, especially the psychological aspect.
