1. What do you think is a main character?
I'd say a main character is the character a person plays the most. If they play two characters equally, both are mains. If you have a lot of alts, your "main" can change quite a bit depending on your mood; I've seen players switch on a monthly basis based on what they felt like playing. Of course, one needs to be careful to not switch in the midst of a plotline.
2. What do you think makes a character an alternate character?
For me, an alternate character ("alt") is any character that's not my main, as described above.
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 it's largely a good idea for mains to pair with mains, assuming the relationship is going to be important to either party. I've seen, for instance, players get one of their alts involved in a relationship with someone else's main. Lack of play on the alt results in IC consequences with the jilted main not being especially pleasant to the alt "because you're never around" -- and this can lead to some OOC unhappiness when one player says that they shouldn't get IC consequences for wanting to do something different OOC.
Now, if we're talking about someone that appears and disappears regularly for IC reasons (e.g., they're a traveling merchant, they live really far away, they're a recurring villain), then I think it's fine for that character to be an alt.
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?
See above: I haven't, but I've seen that happen to people, and the result is often OOC unhappiness. People feel, somewhat rightfully so, that they shouldn't get IC consequences for OOC choices, in much the same way that failure to show up for an IC event due to RL shouldn't result in IC censure on the basis that "RL comes first."
Ultimately, in one particularly pernicious example where the alt stopped being played altogether and the main was largely unplayed, the player and the officers of the SG had to figure out how to write the alt out of the story with a combination of retcons and narrative effects.
5. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who only have one main character?
I'd say it's the belief that they can play the character better and with more depth than those who have a lot of alts. Sometimes this is true, but not always.
6. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who suffer alt-itis and swap characters often?
It's just the opposite: that such players are capricious and can't portray a character with depth. Again, like many stereotypes, this one is sometimes true, but not always.
7. Which are you? A single or two main characters? 5 main characters? A bunch of alts?
I usually aim for one or two main characters, usually closer to one. When I have lots of alts, they're usually NPCs for story purposes or builds I'm trying out OOCly.
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?
I usually try to keep my mains in the same group, but with barriers to keep them from aiding each other significantly (e.g., they don't know each other, they don't like each other, they're unaware of each other's existence). Then, I basically play whichever one I want to play more unless one of them is needed for a plot.
I'd say a main character is the character a person plays the most. If they play two characters equally, both are mains. If you have a lot of alts, your "main" can change quite a bit depending on your mood; I've seen players switch on a monthly basis based on what they felt like playing. Of course, one needs to be careful to not switch in the midst of a plotline.
2. What do you think makes a character an alternate character?
For me, an alternate character ("alt") is any character that's not my main, as described above.
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 it's largely a good idea for mains to pair with mains, assuming the relationship is going to be important to either party. I've seen, for instance, players get one of their alts involved in a relationship with someone else's main. Lack of play on the alt results in IC consequences with the jilted main not being especially pleasant to the alt "because you're never around" -- and this can lead to some OOC unhappiness when one player says that they shouldn't get IC consequences for wanting to do something different OOC.
Now, if we're talking about someone that appears and disappears regularly for IC reasons (e.g., they're a traveling merchant, they live really far away, they're a recurring villain), then I think it's fine for that character to be an alt.
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?
See above: I haven't, but I've seen that happen to people, and the result is often OOC unhappiness. People feel, somewhat rightfully so, that they shouldn't get IC consequences for OOC choices, in much the same way that failure to show up for an IC event due to RL shouldn't result in IC censure on the basis that "RL comes first."
Ultimately, in one particularly pernicious example where the alt stopped being played altogether and the main was largely unplayed, the player and the officers of the SG had to figure out how to write the alt out of the story with a combination of retcons and narrative effects.
5. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who only have one main character?
I'd say it's the belief that they can play the character better and with more depth than those who have a lot of alts. Sometimes this is true, but not always.
6. What's the biggest stereotype you think of when you think of people who suffer alt-itis and swap characters often?
It's just the opposite: that such players are capricious and can't portray a character with depth. Again, like many stereotypes, this one is sometimes true, but not always.
7. Which are you? A single or two main characters? 5 main characters? A bunch of alts?
I usually aim for one or two main characters, usually closer to one. When I have lots of alts, they're usually NPCs for story purposes or builds I'm trying out OOCly.
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?
I usually try to keep my mains in the same group, but with barriers to keep them from aiding each other significantly (e.g., they don't know each other, they don't like each other, they're unaware of each other's existence). Then, I basically play whichever one I want to play more unless one of them is needed for a plot.
The Freelance Wizard
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
Quality RP at low, low prices!
((about me | about L'yhta Mahre | L'yhta's desk | about Mysterium, the Ivory Tower: a heavy RP society of mages))
