1. What do you think is a main character?
Whatever character you play the most. You make sure to get all the achieves, mounts, pets, etc on this character; you gear them out first; if there's something to be done, it gets done on the "main" before the alt.
However, this definition only applies to people who don't spread their attention across multiple characters evenly (which I have known people to do). There are also people who has their "raiding mains" and their "pet collector main" and their whatever else main all separate.
2. What do you think makes a character an alternate character?
You spend measurably less time on that character than others. "Alt" vs "main" is a very fluid dynamic for a lot of people, whether they're raiders switching characters to better sync with their raid's composition, or roleplayers who decide they want to spend more time roleplaying Character B rather than Character A.
3. Do people have a responsibility to make certain "mains pair with mains" if you sense an interesting relationship (friends/rivals/lovers/enemies/long-lost relatives) forming or is it okay that someone's just not going to be around at random or for long periods of time?
Neither. I have nothing against developing lasting plots with someone's alt - or using my own alt - and I've done so with great success. I also expect to be informed if said player is going to be away for a while, and I generally know the name of their main so that I can poke them if I get an RP itch.
4. Have you ever discovered that your main was paired off in one of those situations with someone's alt? They just didn't play them at all or played other characters? Did it stall out your story? What did you do?
Fluid time - learning to utilize it can be a roleplayer's most valuable skill. Basically, scenes do not have to happen at the exact moment they happen. On numerous occasions, I've had to stretch out scenes that supposedly occurred in the span of a few days across a week or more due to other players' (and my own) availability. As long as everyone is on the same page of "the scene we're rping tonight happens at X time", then it works perfectly.
A few times, some folk we were rping with just disappeared off the face of the earth, but that's generally easily explained with "Oh, this character just hasn't been around and we don't know what happened to him/her."
5. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who only have one main character?
Uhm... there are stereotypes for that? o.0 It's kind of the norm for MMOers, I think.
6. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who suffer alt-itis and swap characters often?
That they never get to level-cap and/or never do endgame seriously.
7. Which are you? A single or two main characters? 5 main characters? A bunch of alts?
Somewhere in between. I generally have one main PvE/PvP character and multiple roleplay "mains" that are just characters I really love roleplaying a lot.
8. How did you usually break up your time between your main characters? Play on demand? Always on one, demand for the other? One with one group and when they all sign off switch to the other?
On demand! Or whatever I'm feeling like at the time.
Whatever character you play the most. You make sure to get all the achieves, mounts, pets, etc on this character; you gear them out first; if there's something to be done, it gets done on the "main" before the alt.
However, this definition only applies to people who don't spread their attention across multiple characters evenly (which I have known people to do). There are also people who has their "raiding mains" and their "pet collector main" and their whatever else main all separate.
2. What do you think makes a character an alternate character?
You spend measurably less time on that character than others. "Alt" vs "main" is a very fluid dynamic for a lot of people, whether they're raiders switching characters to better sync with their raid's composition, or roleplayers who decide they want to spend more time roleplaying Character B rather than Character A.
3. Do people have a responsibility to make certain "mains pair with mains" if you sense an interesting relationship (friends/rivals/lovers/enemies/long-lost relatives) forming or is it okay that someone's just not going to be around at random or for long periods of time?
Neither. I have nothing against developing lasting plots with someone's alt - or using my own alt - and I've done so with great success. I also expect to be informed if said player is going to be away for a while, and I generally know the name of their main so that I can poke them if I get an RP itch.
4. Have you ever discovered that your main was paired off in one of those situations with someone's alt? They just didn't play them at all or played other characters? Did it stall out your story? What did you do?
Fluid time - learning to utilize it can be a roleplayer's most valuable skill. Basically, scenes do not have to happen at the exact moment they happen. On numerous occasions, I've had to stretch out scenes that supposedly occurred in the span of a few days across a week or more due to other players' (and my own) availability. As long as everyone is on the same page of "the scene we're rping tonight happens at X time", then it works perfectly.
A few times, some folk we were rping with just disappeared off the face of the earth, but that's generally easily explained with "Oh, this character just hasn't been around and we don't know what happened to him/her."
5. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who only have one main character?
Uhm... there are stereotypes for that? o.0 It's kind of the norm for MMOers, I think.
6. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who suffer alt-itis and swap characters often?
That they never get to level-cap and/or never do endgame seriously.
7. Which are you? A single or two main characters? 5 main characters? A bunch of alts?
Somewhere in between. I generally have one main PvE/PvP character and multiple roleplay "mains" that are just characters I really love roleplaying a lot.
8. How did you usually break up your time between your main characters? Play on demand? Always on one, demand for the other? One with one group and when they all sign off switch to the other?
On demand! Or whatever I'm feeling like at the time.
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