1. What do you think is a main character?
I pretty much agree with what you said about them. A character that someone spends most of their time on. Save for severe altaholics, most people I've known have one character they spend a majority of their time on, and side projects here and there.
2. What do you think makes a character an alternate character?
Its different for people, but generally I think alt characters are projects to work on when you need a little break from your main one.Â
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?
I think its courteous to tell a player if your characters start to like each other that its only a part-time character. Especially if you are forming important relationships and stories between them. That way everyone knows what to expect and decide accordingly.
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?
Countless times. It actually drove me crazy. I'll use City of Heroes as my example, because before it shut down that was where most of my RP happened. I led a supergroup that had a certain perk. If a member joined they would get their own room in our base that they got to design. I wanted it to feel like it was a home for all our heroes.
So people would join. We would RP a few times and make plans for fun things in the future. Then I'd build them a room then let them put whatever they wanted in it. And then I would never see them again. I ended up with a bunch of rooms for characters that were never around.
This has happened a lot for more romantic settings, as well. A lot of my characters I play are somewhat lonely and crave affection. So relationship RP actually helps build my characters personalities a lot.
So general scenario: My character meets a girl. They like each other. Few meetings/dates later they decide to be boyfriend/girlfriend. I add them to friend's list. Spend day after day seeing them online on different characters while I'm stuck twiddling my thumbs. Break up with them ICly when I actually get some of their time.
One got so bad I basically had to send them a message saying "We're breaking up" because they would turn down RP with me for two or three weeks.
Sorry for the rant, but this topic hit a spot for me. Now let me say people are free to play however they want. Its their fun. But I do think its polite to keep communication open OOC about things. I've had stories with people's alts no problem. But most of the time my character is just left gearing up for something (relationship, rival, heroic partners, etc) and doesn't see them again.
5. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who only have one main character?Â
I don't know if this is the biggest, but mine would be that they have time to RP with you since they only have the one. This is not always true. There are some insanely popular RPers you gotta like... make appointments with.Â
6. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who suffer alt-itis and swap characters often?
I think the biggest one here is that they can be bad at sticking to on-going storylines or relationships.
7. Which are you? A single or two main characters? 5 main characters? A bunch of alts?
I have the opposite of altitis. I can't make alts. I've tried. I just can't. I love focusing on one main storyline and developing it. If I do make alts they're usually my characters main nemesis or something like that to make cameos in events.
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?
The rare times I've had alts was because of people wanting me to be in their groups. So I'd check in, see if anything was going on with the group. If not I'd go back to my main.
I pretty much agree with what you said about them. A character that someone spends most of their time on. Save for severe altaholics, most people I've known have one character they spend a majority of their time on, and side projects here and there.
2. What do you think makes a character an alternate character?
Its different for people, but generally I think alt characters are projects to work on when you need a little break from your main one.Â
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?
I think its courteous to tell a player if your characters start to like each other that its only a part-time character. Especially if you are forming important relationships and stories between them. That way everyone knows what to expect and decide accordingly.
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?
Countless times. It actually drove me crazy. I'll use City of Heroes as my example, because before it shut down that was where most of my RP happened. I led a supergroup that had a certain perk. If a member joined they would get their own room in our base that they got to design. I wanted it to feel like it was a home for all our heroes.
So people would join. We would RP a few times and make plans for fun things in the future. Then I'd build them a room then let them put whatever they wanted in it. And then I would never see them again. I ended up with a bunch of rooms for characters that were never around.
This has happened a lot for more romantic settings, as well. A lot of my characters I play are somewhat lonely and crave affection. So relationship RP actually helps build my characters personalities a lot.
So general scenario: My character meets a girl. They like each other. Few meetings/dates later they decide to be boyfriend/girlfriend. I add them to friend's list. Spend day after day seeing them online on different characters while I'm stuck twiddling my thumbs. Break up with them ICly when I actually get some of their time.
One got so bad I basically had to send them a message saying "We're breaking up" because they would turn down RP with me for two or three weeks.
Sorry for the rant, but this topic hit a spot for me. Now let me say people are free to play however they want. Its their fun. But I do think its polite to keep communication open OOC about things. I've had stories with people's alts no problem. But most of the time my character is just left gearing up for something (relationship, rival, heroic partners, etc) and doesn't see them again.
5. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who only have one main character?Â
I don't know if this is the biggest, but mine would be that they have time to RP with you since they only have the one. This is not always true. There are some insanely popular RPers you gotta like... make appointments with.Â
6. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who suffer alt-itis and swap characters often?
I think the biggest one here is that they can be bad at sticking to on-going storylines or relationships.
7. Which are you? A single or two main characters? 5 main characters? A bunch of alts?
I have the opposite of altitis. I can't make alts. I've tried. I just can't. I love focusing on one main storyline and developing it. If I do make alts they're usually my characters main nemesis or something like that to make cameos in events.
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?
The rare times I've had alts was because of people wanting me to be in their groups. So I'd check in, see if anything was going on with the group. If not I'd go back to my main.
![[Image: HvjYXi5.png]](http://i.imgur.com/HvjYXi5.png)
