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Martiallais · **01-08-2016, 06:46 PM**

My characters are open to die, but like others have said...give it some kind of point/purpose. FF makes you put a lot of time/effort into getting a character to a good place so rerolling isn't something to do lightly. I would actually need both hands to count the number of my own characters I've killed off in other MMOs (mostly CoH and WoW). With that said, kind of like what Virella mentioned, that isn't exactly the 'feel' that a lot of the community really goes with.

I debated a long time about just killing off Zarek Windsoul, who I originally started 2.0 with, and remaking him as something else. He's a low-mid level power character and to me it'd help kind of hammer home the point (at the time) in FC stories that the world really is dangerous, but instead I shelved him. Given his lifestyle, I imagine Aedan won't live a long life but he's stubborn and won't go into the bright light quietly. And while Martiallais began as an alt, he's become my main and even he's not immune in my eyes. I mean, I've been planning the story arc/plot "Who killed Martiallais Heuloix?" for some time now which is kind of a (partial) cop out but hey.

To me as long as they've got stories left to be told, I can (as I believe Spahro put it once) do a WHOLE lot more to a character and make them live with it than simply kill them off.

S'imba · **01-08-2016, 08:03 PM**

I think it's something that needs to be discussed ooc with people. Mostly cause it can affect someone else's character to the point they stop enjoying their character. Like if someone's character is close to the character that gets killed off for a character to just ignore that fact and magically not be affected. So just throwing that on someone out of the blue is kind of bad form. You should at least have the courtesy to discuss with them how killing your character would affect them. Having a spouse off tends to absolutely destroy characters, and that may not be a character they want to have to play.Â

The other thing is how you plan to kill your character. Especially if you plan on having a player character do the deed. Like S'imba nearly killed a few characters. Killed R'elend once which was more on me for getting violent, and beating him to death. (Thank god the roll on the rez was a win.) Though that would be a situation I couldn't feel bad about cause S'imba was going over the top with his force. Though the one that was more of a bad thing was having a friendly spar though the other character was treating it like S'imba was packing the punches of the Soviet from rocky 4 despite the guy being twice as big as S'imba. Though he didn't end up dying the close call still ended up with S'imba getting more than a few bounties on his head by player characters for it. That's more the situation that some people may get unhappy about. Forcing a character to use lethal force when their character is trying to do the opposite can upset some people when their character is suddenly a killer out of the blue. I was ok with both those scenarios but there are others that may not be as open to that sort of thing.

Basically if someone plans to kill a character off, like a lot of rp stuff discuss things ooc with people so you don't put someone in a situation they can no longer enjoy their character.

Steel Wolf · **01-08-2016, 09:09 PM**

Grievous injury has been a thing I've used once or twice in RP before in other MMO's, so that part is not a big whoop to me.

As for character death, I am certainly open to the idea provided it suits the story Steel may be involved in or would elevate another's plotline. I also would err on the side of caution and inform folks OOC'ly of the potential for death or otherwise. Just seems like a bit of common courtesy to me.

That's just me, though. I'm not going to demand anything of anyone--RP is a cooperative thing, but I also don't feel that anyone's time is beholden to me.

C'kayah Polaali · **01-08-2016, 09:56 PM**

I've always been open about the fact that my characters are killable - not necessarily easily killable, but they can be killed. Like most people who have killable characters, there are the usual caveats: it's up to me to decide if my character is killed, yadda yadda, your mileage may vary, etc.

My old character, C'kayah Polaali, had an interesting relationship with death. I killed him off four times over the course of RP. In two of those, people made an extreme effort to revive him (one involving someone giving him a phoenix down on the spot, the other involving a clumsy kidnapper paying an assload of money to a conjurer to revive him).

The other two times? Those were interesting. Both of those instances made total sense: in one of them, he was brutally assaulted by a gang, his skull was kicked in, ribs broken, and he was stabbed. After the attack, when he had died, I got a lot of OOC grief from people who were involved in the RP, because they hadn't expected that he would die from this, and I eventually let them convince me to allow them to bring him back despite my better judgement. In the other instance, in a pique of "I've lost everything", he decided to end his own life with poison. Again, I got a lot of OOC grief from a couple of people I'd been RPing with - far more than the first instance - and again I let them convince me to allow them to bring him back.

In retrospect, I should have held my position on both of those. Well, if I'd have held my position on the first, the second would not have ever happened. But I let myself be affected by how OOCly upset people were getting. The funny thing is, I don't really RP with any of those people anymore, and no small part of it is because of how they behaved in the middle of some very powerful RP.

I did end up capitalizing on all this. Because I don't like to retcon, I decided that all these things (with the very "skin of his teeth" saves) happened. He'd died four times, and each time someone brought him back. Clearly, in his mind, he was Thal's beloved. Thal must have had some plans for him, and simply wouldn't allow him to die until those plans were completed.

Character death can be a very powerful thing. I used to play Eve Online a lot. A friend of mine played a character over a period of years, and ended up allowing his character to be killed during a conflict. I still remember that - the RP itself, and the aftermath that rolled through our characters stories for years afterwards. It was especially powerful in Eve because, unlike FF, you had no way of changing a character's name and moving on. He simply deleted a character he had spent years training up.

Chompie · **01-08-2016, 11:25 PM**

I'm definitely just echoing a few other people from this thread, but it comes down to one simple statement:

My character will only die if it makes for a damn good story.

It's as simple as that! RP is an exercise in cooperative storytelling. If the death of a character affects others in a way that isn't interesting? Then nope. If the character's death doesn't really serve any narrative purpose? Nope. A lot of people are here for fun, not realism. Realistic elements are there to add to fun, not to take away from it just because Realism says so!

Injuries are the same way. If it aint gonna add something interesting, then.. nah. Quite a few injuries would just make Arblis REALLY PISSY and that's only entertaining for about an hour. Others lead well to slapstick or teamwork or slow-burning angst! It's all about the outcome.

Ashe · **01-08-2016, 11:27 PM**

Serious injury, yes.
Death...not as much. Not now anyways...
Not until I am ready to get rid of him...which has almost happened a few times.

Faye · **01-09-2016, 01:10 AM**

Injury? Yes, no questions about it. Permanent, serious injury? Up for discussion. Death? Nah, not right now for any character I'm RPing here, anyway. I just don't have the heart to do it. It's purely for myself, though. Unless someone is an actual, static RP partner with a main character heavily invested in yours, I don't see why you should let other people sway you. It doesn't "sever connections OOC" unless someone is bleeding over. Just communicate, stay in touch OOC, and RP on new characters. Character death also doesn't really "force" anything onto other characters anymore than normal RP interactions do.

When you RP with someone, you're pretty much signing up to have your character influenced by theirs, however it may happen, slightly or significantly. Nothing is being "forced" on you. It's just the nature of RP. Likewise, it's not fair to tell someone what to do with their character because of how it will influence your character. If you don't like the RP, walk away from it and/or retcon it, but don't try to stop someone from enjoying their own RP. Their character is their baby, let them do as they please with him/her.

Arrelaine · **01-09-2016, 01:33 AM**

I'm open to injuries and near-death experiences, death is something I'd probably reserve for something 'special'. I enjoy playing my characters, and I've killed a few off, but mostly just before I was going to quit a game I knew I wasn't coming back to. Arrelaine has already almost died, spent months healing from it and then some more work to repair damage.

However, if I were to kill off a character, I'd probably give my RP partner a heads up so they can prepare to react accordingly, but ultimately I make the decision on what I do with my character. I give the same courtesy to them. If they wanna kill off their character, cool. They ain't even gotta tell me. It's their character. My character will deal accordingly. It's the risk you run with co-authoring a story with someone else you have no control over.

No one should be bleeding enough that they still can't be my friend OOC after IC things happen (honestly, I probably wouldn't be RPing with those people anyway, I'm not fond of bleeds; I get that you can get the feels from RP but they really shouldn't be affecting your daily life and OOC relationships). No one should be getting grief over an IC decision. It's unfair to ask someone to do something they don't want to do with their character, regardless if it's asking to not kill them off or something else.

Caspar · **01-09-2016, 07:01 AM**

I think that there is confusion over the distinction between frustration over lack of communication and bleed. It's something people are phobic of on the RPC. Rather than being mad over the character death because of an unhealthy attachment to the character themselves or something, the player could be upset that their input in the creative process was disregarded or that plans were abandoned without warning. The character is your baby; the RP shared with other characters is more joint custody. The courteous RPer would do well to keep their partners aware of whether they're getting bored playing or want to close out their storyline. That and honestly it strikes me as odd that a player would disparage another for showing investment. Sure it can be a drag to be pressured to change your plans. But your RP partners are both collaborators and your audience, not just passive observers with no stake in your character's bubble-like existence. Emotional connection nothing, blending nothing; they could just as easily feel their time was wasted. Taking it seriously enough to sever friendships or anything overblown like that is profoundly unfair, don't misunderstand, but if the other player perceives you as a flake and unreliable, is it entirely baseless? One of my key philosophies in life is that one person's fun isn't inherently worth more than others. If I am following my bliss and I piss off three people, I don't see that as an even trade.

You don't even have to say it's going to happen directly. Just use your writing skills to actually craft narrative and guide the story to a logical, fatal end, rather than just dropping a bomb in their lap and saying "deal with it." What if they're in two consecutive "highly original and realistic" sudden death plots brought on by synchronized urges to roll Au Ra on two separate players' accounts? The mourning gets stale, but the player doesn't want their character to be callous enough to ignore the second death and be devestated at the first. What if they're simply not in the mood to deal with a suicide plotline and you just sort of shove it in their face? What if you had plans with them and the sudden death leaves their character in temporal limbo? I think in a lot of these cases the anger character death provokes has a lot more to do with lack of communications and selfishness rather than the omnipresent RPC bogeyman of bleed.

It's interesting as a topic to me not because I hate character death, but rather because I am so enamoured of it. To me it is the final purpose of every character, the culmination of everything that they are into one focused zenith, whether they pass away quietly in bed or die miserably in a bloody duel halfway to acheiving their goals. It is unsurprising that I used to be disappointed that so many RP fizzle with no real conclusion as people get busy or tire of it, and rarely have I been able to play out a satisfying death scene. That is why I think as an RP experience it should be a payoff that entertains everyone involved. In this game I've seen many conversations over the topic of character death and realize just as much as I think spontaneous death cheapens the experience, there are just as many who simply don't care, and see it as relieving themselves of a burdening character.

I would be less inclined to say character death should be arranged with observers in a fic, for instance, because you're the one with total creative control. You do not work with others (usually) and nobody is relying on you. If a character dies due to your decisions, that your story and the reader has no choice but to accept it. In RP you are writing collaboratively. It is not the real world where "shit happens" and stuff occurs in your plotline without conscious choice. You and other players are the architects of every single element of the plot. If your choice hugely inconveniences others and you find yourself wondering why they're wary of playing with you now, maybe instead of blaming them for imposing upon you or accusing them of bleed, it's better to accept responsibility for the decisions you make and be willing to bend for your partners, lest they be forced to bend for you, unwillingly.

Kurt S. · **01-09-2016, 07:12 AM**

I don't mind Kurt or Nah getting shafted as long as.

A. There's a point to it all, helps drive a plotline or something has an example. (Yes me getting tired of them is a point too.))

B. Ample warning given beforehand so I can notify next of kin, all his/her friends that hey you know Kurt/Nah may/will die in this next bit BUUUT he/she'll totally be taking out a few thousand bad guys with him.

Yes even if I grow tired of them I want them to die in style fighting a thousand Garleans or something.

I mean as mortal as they are and I make them out to be, I'd at least like to let people know before the actual character is killdeded so I can let others know and if they want to catch up a little bit more they can.

Kinono · **01-09-2016, 10:27 AM**

Kinono is pretty much open to injury, but I dunno why you'd want to! She's generally pretty pacifistic these days, so unless your character is just bein' mean (not really met a lot of those), or she just so happens to be an innocent bystander to another conflict, it probably won't really happen.
Death... Maybe, but probably not right now. If she died, I'd want to start again as someone totally different but I'm not interested in playing any other race right now.

Parth Makeo · **01-09-2016, 12:08 PM**

Ah killing characters...it's fun to do it during the right time.
I can't just abruptly kill my character without something happening or off screen. It makes no sense.

Now Arala is PC kill immune. Meaning I have no intention of any other RPer take her life. Will she be on the verge of death or be in much pain? Oh definetly. But don't expect to kill her at all. Even if we negotiate it OOCly.Â

When it comes to people killing characters, I am on the fence. Is the character in a special place with Arala? Why should they kill off the character?Â

And another idea of you are 100% done RPing that character...you don't have to kill them off. Just turn them to NPC status and reference them at times. Much like how I do with P'rth.

My other characters are different. P'rita is more or less killable but Xyla Doll is not for the time. She can be later on but for now she is safe.
I am cautious of who I let kill off my characters.

ArmachiA · **01-09-2016, 03:39 PM**

I actually understand people getting all upset without being aware of what other people's stances on character death are - so if you're rping with someone closely it's probably a good thing to find out. My character got married recently, and if her husband's player just suddenly went "He's dead lol" I'd be pretty mad about that, but I also know what his player's stance on death is (He's open to it) so I knew going in his character has a chance of dying. We talk oocly a lot though and make sure things we do will be okay, like I made sure it was fine with him to pull Armi out of rping for a bit so I could focus on playing the villain of that arc (I gave her a magical coma ooOOooo) and he's discussed with me some ideas he had for his character that would keep him and Armi apart for a while.

But even aside from romance, we had 4 people kill their characters off last arc. One was the IC/OOC leader of the guild (and my boyfriend IRL) which had A LOT of ramifications attached to it. Only a small circle actually knew about it before it happened and it took all of those people to make sure the plot holes and plot threads of Ellion's death would be filled and tied up as fast as possible. Even with all our plans and making sure it would be a smooth transition to his new character, the surprise sent shockwaves over the entire guild. Some people got mad, some didn't believe it, and to this day Ellion's player is still trying to get back of the RP ties he lost. He says it's not really the same as it was with his old character - who he had played since FFXIV 1.0 - but he understands it's a long road to get back where he was.

What I learned from all 4 of those deaths - as I helped players plan them in some form - is that IC death has a LOT of consequences you don't even think about. Even if the character's story is "over" (As was the reason for 2 of them), some players may not see it that way. When Dennthota died, a few people gave up RPing all together, for instance. And apparently Denn lost a lot of contacts she had made and even some OOC friends. When one of our players killed off his character for the shock factor, it shocked him so severely he kind of pulled himself out of the rp game all together. It's actually a pretty heavy thing.

That being said, I'm for character death. How you want your character to die can vary - some people like the off the cuff of it, some people want it planned out, and some already know exactly when and how their character will die - but everyone dies, so it seems natural to be prepared for it. Armi can die, but it has to make sense within the context of the story and has to be in a way I'm comfortable with. My Villains can pretty much die whenever, I've killed off 2 or 3 at this point. BUT if you want to make it so your character can't die, that's fine too. We love our characters after all, sometimes it's hard to let go of them.

Rusty Knight · **01-09-2016, 03:58 PM**

Coming from a server where it was world pvp with the ability to permakill characters I'd say all my characters are open for death during events. Admittedly on said server creating a new character and getting into some new roleplay didn't involve a tenth of what it does on FFXIV. It also was really effective at community led quality control.

In all honesty I doubt I'd let players take their life unless they were a very close contact who I've spent a considerable period of time roleplaying with. Its more likely my characters would either die through a serious of unfortunate events (cue) during a plotline or simply be killed off if it made sense during an event they were either incapable of continuing, or faced odds they have no hope of escaping from.

Ultimately if I trust the player enough I doubt I'd have much complaint, having a character killed just for shock value or because XYZ character is a badass would get a big fat no.jpg from my corner. Rerolling on FF takes a fair amount of investment to justify without good reason, something I'm willing to do provided the circumstances are proper.

Erik Mynhier · **01-09-2016, 04:01 PM**

Every mmo I have ever played.... and there is a lot of them, I always rp and therefore as a rule when I end my time in an mmo I kill the character, and selflessly I do it in the most heroic way I can.

That said I think Erik may be the first not to be killed off. When the day comes to leave the game for good, I will be giving Erik an "into the sunset" ending.

So to the question I have been in the past, but only at the end of my time. For Erik, I am not open to it at all, he deserves a happy ending.

Now as for injury, oh yeah bring it. He has had an eye popped by a spear before the calamity, recently had his heart ripped out (though it was replaced and repaired by magic almost instantly). I am always down for the soldier to get his ass kicked as long as he gives a good fight. I have a major injury planned for him in the future. It is some time into the future, but its coming and it will change him forever.

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Is your character open for killing/death? What about injury?

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes