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+--- Thread: Cliche RP Elements (/showthread.php?tid=76)
Re: Cliche RP Elements - ArmachiA - 07-24-2010
Ellion played a really good villain in Aion. So much so, no one knew he was a villain XD. Fillion was this really charming bad guy, who brought people into his Military Unit under the guise of being a normal as hell military unit but he was actually ploting on getting revenge against the government. He slowly made everyone he recruited see his side and want to join him in his cause, which is good cuz he needed bodies. He picked social outcasts and told them they were special. Daej, my alt, was his bully henchmen, kind of dumb, getting into fight in bars and whatnot.
The problem was, people really didn't see the guy as a Villain. While characters like Ryusho (Who was very overt about his intentions) was seen as a villain and got all the fun villainy plotlines.
Re: Cliche RP Elements - BelovedHatred - 07-24-2010
He was one I was speaking of that got ignored after some time.
I know a few legions avoid rp with him because of his overly outward evilness.
Re: Cliche RP Elements - Iroh - 07-24-2010
BelovedHatred Wrote:The problem often time with PC villians is that Eventually they have to get caught.
This poses a problem most of the time for one party or another, because either A) the villian has to get caught, put away, executed, whatever. B) He has to escape prison...alot...which begins to make the court system in teh game seem really fail, and in turn anyone wanting to play a guard/patrol type of chr seem the same C) Villian eventually has to die/kill of che, or suddenly see the light ans start skipping through daisies, after they just tried to bring the Lunatic Pandora down on your local tavern last week.
If the constant escape/never caught things happens, players eventually get worn down on the character in question. One can only be harassed with the same plot, same villian for so long without just going to autopilot/ignore mode around them.
Not to bash any ideas, these are just things to consider, because I've seen it happen many a time on Aion.
Everyone wants to be the Sephiroth of the story...but just remember guys...Spehiroth goes away in the end of the story~!
All true if you want to portray a villain in that way, but then again, in a MMO, when do the stories end?
Really good villains, which I pretty much never see, are the ones who for ages hide their true motivations. People like them. They are charming. They can do NUMEROUS bad things through manipulation, like pitting heroic characters with big egos against one another. Then suddenly when it suits their interest, they might have to reveal themselves sure... but if they have enough followers at that point, they don't NEED to go to any jail. They can safely combat any heroic types who might go against them through clever planning and the use of henchman.
I think there are just several problems people run into when playing a villain, and that's conflict RP in general. Most RPers, for some reason, don't like to "lose." They don't. So if you're a villain, you'll always fail, always be thwarted. If you're a hero, the villain you're up against will always want to win. There is far too often not enough give and take in RP because everyone wants to be the star, not just a small part of the greater whole.
That's the biggest cliché of them all and ties in to pretty much every cliché mentioned. 90% of the characters I've run into in RP wanna be the 'star!' It's very rare you run into people who want to be merely a PART in a much larger story.
ArmachiA Wrote:Ellion played a really good villain in Aion. So much so, no one knew he was a villain XD. Fillion was this really charming bad guy, who brought people into his Military Unit under the guise of being a normal as hell military unit but he was actually ploting on getting revenge against the government. He slowly made everyone he recruited see his side and want to join him in his cause, which is good cuz he needed bodies. He picked social outcasts and told them they were special. Daej, my alt, was his bully henchmen, kind of dumb, getting into fight in bars and whatnot.
And yeah, something like that is probably more along the lines I'm talking about... but the only way to really make it take off is for the character to be a main you devote a lot of time too, I think.
That's what I'd like to see.Sadly, my character's story really just doesn't FIT that right now, so I can't play a villain. Of course, my guy might turn INTO one, depending on how various elements mesh and crash into each other... but it's still doubtful that could happen.
Re: Cliche RP Elements - Ellion Goto - 07-24-2010
Truth be told, Fillion had so much game-time because of this that He ended up being my main very quickly. It was just simply put that the character was so charismatic that by the end, he had the people convinced of his cause, he had the power, and he was going to execute it. However, it worked so well that everyone saw him more of a Hero than a rebel who planned to take over.
He started out as a gimmick character that I made a tribute to Nathan Fillion with and decided to play my very first villain. I had so much fun that I just stayed on him. Leading the guild in this crazy direction that this dimented character had so humurously set them on, and they didn't even know it. The other guilds/legions usually had an "idea" that something wasn't right about him but no one ever really paid it second much thought. This is because He didn't look like your stereotypical villain either. He was small-framed, very preppy (parted hair-style), southern accented and just smiled and charmed you out of your pants. All the while telling you corrupt stories of how the government is leading you down a stray path. He was not taken very seriously but he had a very, very high intelligence and wit. This made his tongue super sharp in conflicts and his ability to recall information (since that was his trade) caused him to be a political force to be reckoned with. For this reason, I've decided I'll be making him a Villain once again in FFXIV. I don't want to force him to be a more noticable villain though because that's adding my influence. However, I've noticed that everytime I make the same character in a different MMO, different things happen and this will be no different. I can't wait to see what he's capable of in this universe!
Also, he wore a cowboy hat.... at all times.
Re: Cliche RP Elements - Axl - 07-24-2010
I am tired of all the silent, brooding, sit in the corner while everyone else is talking, and mutter a few words occasionally, with a dark past guys.
Re: Cliche RP Elements - Iroh - 07-24-2010
I hate the people with scars. Always the scars. And it's not like, just in their description so you can 'discover' it. Oh no. They have to TELL you about them. They emote things like:
/em takes off his shirt, displaying a body criss-crossed with scars. He seems to be embarrassed about these scars and doesn't want to talk about them. He tries to cover his scars with his hands, a blush rising to his cheeks.
Yes, I had to put up with that $^%& in a game once.
Dude, we're adventurers. Everyone has scars. It doesn't make you a special snowflake.
Re: Cliche RP Elements - ArmachiA - 07-24-2010
^ true 3/4 of my characters have scars
Re: Cliche RP Elements - DAISHI - 07-24-2010
Iroh Wrote:I hate the people with scars. Always the scars. And it's not like, just in their description so you can 'discover' it. Oh no. They have to TELL you about them. They emote things like:
/em takes off his shirt, displaying a body criss-crossed with scars. He seems to be embarrassed about these scars and doesn't want to talk about them. He tries to cover his scars with his hands, a blush rising to his cheeks.
Yes, I had to put up with that $^%& in a game once.
Dude, we're adventurers. Everyone has scars. It doesn't make you a special snowflake.
There's a difference between scars obtained by various cuts and such and those received by, say, a body that's received a 40 whip lashing. You ever see the sort of back that leaves?
Re: Cliche RP Elements - Faust - 07-24-2010
I'm considering making Faust an anti-hero/villain (somewhere between that fine line). I disagree that a villain has to fall, though. Look no further than reality. Nearly half of murderers are ever caught in the US. But even beyond the heinous, there are the frequently white collar crimes that are no doubt villainous, but don't always result in jail time. Bureaucracy alone can foil the fall of the villain. And think even beyond that-- there are "villains" who don't even commit any crimes at all. If you've ever watched a romantic drama, you can frequently identify a man or woman who is the "villain" and tries to ruin the "hero" relationship-- they don't necessarily break any laws to do it, but they still earn our scorn, and we despise them.
So I reiterate on something I said in the other villain thread-- keep an open mind about what it means to be a villain. And if you want people to RP as villains, you're probably going to have to work with them a bit and find a compromise that works for them. There are as many reasons to keep a villain close to the party as there are to be a villain in the first place. What's truly cliche is insisting that the good guys and bad guy are always at odds, and the good guys must eventually either kill or imprison the bad guy.
I think Faust may come off as the most cliche type of character at first (the lone and silent dark elf!), but really that is not what I have in mind for him as his character continues to develop. I've crafted an intricate backstory, complete with a complex villain, and the overarching story path aims to lead an inherently villainous character like Faust down a better path for completely selfish reasons. But I don't want to spoil my own story. I'm just pretty proud of myself, is all.
Re: Cliche RP Elements - Axl - 07-24-2010
My characters are usually varied, over the 7 years that I have RP'd in XI, I have matured a bit. My Axl Klaavas character is just going to be, at bare bones (before character development) a bit of a newbie to the adventuring trade, although a little cocky, pretty much the blank slate to create a much more diverse character in the future, thats the way to go for me this time around.
Re: Cliche RP Elements - Iroh - 07-24-2010
DAISHI Wrote:There's a difference between scars obtained by various cuts and such and those received by, say, a body that's received a 40 whip lashing. You ever see the sort of back that leaves?
Yup, and I'm sick of that Roleplay too. "I was a slave/orphan! Raised rough, and beaten and whipped! I'm ashamed of my scars but... let me take off my shirt to show everyone, but DON'T LOOK AT THEM!"
Re: Cliche RP Elements - Dreamer - 07-24-2010
I'm with Iroh on this. The scar thing has been done to death. If people want scars with significant meaning then they need to come up with something more original than "I was whipped.".
Re: Cliche RP Elements - Midaja - 07-24-2010
"I tried to slice my favourite cake, but since I didnt find a knife I used my giant two-handed sword. Unfortunately it hit the ceiling when I was going "BANZAAAAAAAI" and as it fell down it ripped open my back" <- ?
Re: Cliche RP Elements - Gavriel - 07-24-2010
Iroh Wrote:DAISHI Wrote:There's a difference between scars obtained by various cuts and such and those received by, say, a body that's received a 40 whip lashing. You ever see the sort of back that leaves?
Yup, and I'm sick of that Roleplay too. "I was a slave/orphan! Raised rough, and beaten and whipped! I'm ashamed of my scars but... let me take off my shirt to show everyone, but DON'T LOOK AT THEM!"
I think having scars became popular simply because it's one of the only "accessory" options we get in Character Creation (besides tattoos).
Re: Cliche RP Elements - Monadi - 07-24-2010
My scars?
I had an unfortunate accident when I opened my box of morning cheerios and out popped an enraged raptor riding a shark.
Don't ask.