(08-05-2013, 02:11 PM)Heinrich Foust Wrote: Normally I avoid posts that are critical of other people's play styles, but unless the person in question wants to role play a villainous lowlife he is better off not playing his character as a thief in the traditional sense. I've seen references to Locke in multiple places here by people who are RPing thief characters or organizations that aren't in the least bit like Locke. Locke was an agent, spy, and saboteur for the Returners (resistance movement in FFVI) and greatly disliked being called a thief because that simply wasn't what he was (outside fitting the description of the Final Fantasy class of the same name). He preferred the term treasure hunter since he used his skills to help return others' property that was taken by force (via the empire), undermine the effectiveness of enemy targets, or simply acting as a real treasure hunter. Locke was never the type to steal from innocent bystanders regardless of them being well off or not. It simply wasn't something he would ever agree to do.ÂNot that I agree or promote stealing or anything of the like. In fact, I hate how society's standards and morals have plummeted, but this isn't real life.Â
When you RP a character that is willing to target bystanders whom your character knows nothing about, then you're essentially saying your character sees others as targets to take advantage of, not people. He is completely untrustworthy as a character and is willing to commit vile criminal acts against innocents. Forgive me for saying, but anyone who finds that quality endearing has more than a few screws loose.
You have to remember that part of good role play is having people willing to play the bad guys. The BEST role play i've had so far was during Wrath of the Lich King on WoW.
The reason for this was because there was TONS of cultist movements, cultist guilds, people role playing that plague outbreaks were starting and all of that kind of thing. What did I rp? An informant/infiltrator. It was amazing for me because I would hunt/track down people for some of the guilds. I'd gather information on some cultists and fence it to people. It was very fun and gave me, and my character, a very interactive role in the entire community's role play.
But in the end, the role play(In my opinion), died down and became very boring when everyone started the casual style of role play. Now, most people do some casual small-talk RP and it makes me sad because my character simply did not fit into it. Which was one of the few reasons as to why I quit playing WoW.
So, remember, ooc=/=IC. People role playing bad/evil characters, usually their characters do not reflect their personal morals or beliefs, but they are willing to play such a character to make the community role play a little more interesting. Some don't mind doing the morally-questionable thing. But either way, a good role play community has -BOTH- good and bad characters. You need a balance in all things. You can't appreciate all of the paladins/knights/guards that role play protecting the people if they don't have murderers/thief/cultists/etc to protect them from.
Just saw your other posts correcting what you meant.
 Should have read more before I posted.My point still stands, though.. As for inconsistent characters and characters who role play in two directions(good and bad).. That can be a good thing. Let me paint a picture for you.
So, Inconsistent characters can be caught in lies, adding possible drama to role play. Drama is needed to keep things interesting. It is very easy for role play to become stale and tasteless if there isn't anything to push characters out of their comfort zones, even if that is someone spilling a drink on a character in a tavern. Drama is needed to change the direction and flow of role play and allow characters opportunity to grow in ways you as the creator might not have thought about.
Characters who are both good or bad?Â
Imagine a police chief in real life being caught stealing/robbing people. Imagine a senitor being caught doing some sort of injustice. These things happen, and what happens to these people when these things happen? It seems all of society comes down upon them and in the end they are(usually) charged for their crimes in some way. And if they aren't legally charged, they have the entirety of society looking at them in a very different light.
Bad quality role play is frustrating, and I can totally connect with you on that. That is one of the reasons, as I said earlier, as to why I quit WoW. But, not everyone is a good role player or a veteran in it either. I guess what I mean in the end is that all we can really do as a community is to make the best of the cards we are dealt and try to make the community a good place for everyone.
Felix Sideris
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