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Zhu · **04-16-2017, 04:16 PM**

It can be a way to undo unwanted development without an actual retcon, I guess.

Katsu Kuroko · **04-17-2017, 04:13 AM**

Honestly, my character is an anemic but I did my best to make that as a side plot to everything. Like if I had to leave, I would say he found a new lead to his past or if he met someone who knew him, they would be part of some arc. I honestly say it's all about execution. If you think about it every plot device has been done "The OneÂ (blank)", "The Pope Bubble", etc. But its all about how you execute it.

Berrod Armstrong · **04-17-2017, 09:18 AM**

In the world of FFXIV, especially in post-calamity Eorzea, amnesia can serve as a very valid plot point for a great many characters. As always, it's up to how it's executed to determine how engaging it is for otherÂ players, but that's the general gist of anythingÂ , really.

Doing the research and playing it 'respectfully' can be a plus, I suppose, for people who take their roleplay super seriously. However, a player just toying with the trope for the sake of making a campy little story can be just as enjoyable to interact with. Note that this applies to amnesia specifically, not mental illness altogether.Â

Personally, I'd not discourage anyone for going with amnesia (unless it's literally shoved into their character's story in a way that doesn't fit at all -- I kind of ask, 'lol why is that there?'). Is it your first time playing a character who has suffered from it? Go for it! Do you want to research it, or just play it in a tropey fashion? Pick one, go for it, see how it goes, and adjust as you play and learn. Have you played a character who has suffered from amnesia before? Yes? Well -- how was that experience for you? What did you learn from it that you wish to apply to a new character who suffers from it?

It's an available plot point for all characters. It's up to us to decide if we want to use it, how to use it, and how to learn from it and improve it if it falls short of the mark. Then again, that's almost anything in roleplay.

Erah'sae · **04-17-2017, 09:35 AM**

My take on amnesia is it really depends on what type / how it's done?

Retrograde Amnesia I dare say isn't that uncommon given the tragedy that most adventuring age (and even below!) have gone through at this point. Â It's an easy way (thought cliche) to cover up sins in the past, though it doesn't prevent you from moving forward. Â All NPC's seem to have some form of Retrograde Amnesia in the fact that they can no longer recall anything about the warriors of light and other associated figures from pre-calamity.

Anterograde Amnesia can be -really- interesting. Â This is that after a certain point in time, no new long term memories are created. Â It would be very interesting to see a character facing this and struggling to get through it. Â You'd be able to remember immediate history, but after a certain point it'd just piff. Â That time frame seems to be different from individual to individual. Â Sometimes it's they can't remember yesterday but events of today are clear, sometimes weeks, sometimes moments (see Dory from Finding Nemo).

I've run into several characters in the past that had Anterograde Amnesia and it was handled pretty well. Â There's potential for good story in the coping mechanisms and the interactions with others, but you'd need to find a group of RPers to interact with that actually care about what that means. Â A touching moment, or a contact made only to have the importance and meaning being that lost in a day/weeks time can be traumatic for all involved, especially those that don't really understand what's going on. Â

In a sense as well, they're the perfect confidant / confessor as they won't remember what was told them anyway after a time.

I think with the right crowd (especially if you don't explain it all OOCly before hand) it could be a powerful story tool.

***Nero*** · **04-18-2017, 04:36 PM**

Amnesia as a plot point works, but I wouldn't particularly call it interesting. 90% of the time
it's a paper-thin character device that basically says "the plot/character advances whenever the writer wants it to advance" and is subject to intensely arbitrary conditions. At best, it's a minor footnote justifying some of a character's eccentricities and at worst, it's a character's sole defining feature.

Amnesia is going to be something glossed over. You can argue that treating it so inconsequentially is a bit meta game-y and you wouldn't be wrong, but I can't feel invested in an amnesic character or the dilemma of a character's amnesia because more often than not it's just a railroad, so there's no point in trying to go off the tracks.

Caspar · **04-18-2017, 06:49 PM**

(04-18-2017, 04:36 PM)Nero Wrote: Amnesia as a plot point works, but I wouldn't particularly call it interesting. 90% of the time
it's a paper-thin character device that basically says "the plot/character advances whenever the writer wants it to advance" and is subject to intensely arbitrary conditions. At best, it's a minor footnote justifying some of a character's eccentricities and at worst, it's a character's sole defining feature.

Amnesia is going to be something glossed over. You can argue that treating it so inconsequentially is a bit meta game-y and you wouldn't be wrong, but I can't feel invested in an amnesic character or the dilemma of a character's amnesia because more often than not it's just a railroad, so there's no point in trying to go off the tracks.

I think no character advances without the writer's will, since after all, they don't do anything without you moving your fingers. Even in regards to the interactions with other characters, it's still the writer deciding who affects their character and how. Isolating the character, or putting limits on how far they can develop through things like memory loss controls information, but frankly gratuitous retcon use, or simply limiting RP to select people/motifs serves the same purpose. If that's the case, I question whether it's a problem with amnesia as a motif and not creative control, as so many hot button topics on this forum end up being about. Granted, it's not my favorite motif, but I'll use it when I feel it's suitably entertaining for others.

Pretty much every RPer I know who has a "personal storyline" advances it at their convenience, so this is hardly uncommon, nor limited to amnesiac characters. Just not being IC alone is the most effective method of creative control.

***Nero*** · **04-18-2017, 07:58 PM**

(04-18-2017, 06:49 PM)Caspar Wrote:
(04-18-2017, 04:36 PM)Nero Wrote: Amnesia as a plot point works, but I wouldn't particularly call it interesting. 90% of the time
it's a paper-thin character device that basically says "the plot/character advances whenever the writer wants it to advance" and is subject to intensely arbitrary conditions. At best, it's a minor footnote justifying some of a character's eccentricities and at worst, it's a character's sole defining feature.

Amnesia is going to be something glossed over. You can argue that treating it so inconsequentially is a bit meta game-y and you wouldn't be wrong, but I can't feel invested in an amnesic character or the dilemma of a character's amnesia because more often than not it's just a railroad, so there's no point in trying to go off the tracks.
I think no character advances without the writer's will, since after all, they don't do anything without you moving your fingers. Even in regards to the interactions with other characters, it's still the writer deciding who affects their character and how. Isolating the character, or putting limits on how far they can develop through things like memory loss controls information, but frankly gratuitous retcon use, or simply limiting RP to select people/motifs serves the same purpose. If that's the case, I question whether it's a problem with amnesia as a motif and not creative control, as so many hot button topics on this forum end up being about. Granted, it's not my favorite motif, but I'll use it when I feel it's suitably entertaining for others.

Pretty much every RPer I know who has a "personal storyline" advances it at their convenience, so this is hardly uncommon, nor limited to amnesiac characters. Just not being IC alone is the most effective method of creative control.

While it's true that characterisation and the advancement thereof is dependent on the writer in a literal sense, in practical terms a character's advancement in a narrative is relative to the context.

For example, if a mortal character has their head cut off, then yes, in a completely literal sense, the writer can decide whether or not that character dies. That's not really a choice in terms of consistency and context, however; if the character does anything other than die immediately, then it needs to be adequately explained with some degree of plausibility or else it ends up being deus ex machina. That's an extremely binary example of course, but the principle applies to more ambiguous situations as well.

And while yes, a writer does have control over what kind of contexts their character engages in, that too is subject to consistency; the writer's control and choices are never truly total. You can't have your characters contemplating fate underneath an ice temple one second and then suddenly teleport them to a desert and have that be at all acceptable without explanation, not unless the writer chooses to not have any plausibility in their narrative.

That's the the key difference--retcons, selective roleplaying, and advancement of a "personal" story are explicitly out-of-character methods of information control wherein the amount of information is dictated almost purely by OOC circumstances, while amnesia and the circumstances thereof are explicitly in-character, and therefore is (or at least, should be) be subject to one's personal standards the same that any other personality trait would.

Which is a bit of a problem, because amnesia is a poorly understood phenomenon which lends to the fact that it's used in very whimsical ways. I'm not talking about realism, but when and why a character suddenly "remembers" something is very often poorly defined or head-scratchingly coincidental.

To further illustrate my point, let's say a character doesn't know their name. Let's say they find their nametag. The writer chooses whether or not the character suddenly remembers their name. The ephemeral nature of memory means that the character not remembering their name is just as possible as the character suddenly remembering their entire lives in photographic detail. It's totally arbitrary as to whether or not the character will remember their name at that point or not, which is why I don't find amnesia at all interesting.

Let's say our amnesiac character still doesn't know their name, but finds a photo with their name written on it and a big arrow pointing to an image of them. Again, it's totally possible for the character to not remember anything and say "I guess that must be my name" as it is for the character to suddenly go "I remember everything now!". There's absolutely no rhyme or reason to amnesia; either it happens, or it doesn't, dictated by absolutely nothing other than whether the writer feels like revealing it at that point, which is why I don't find it particularly compelling.

***Teadrinker*** · **04-18-2017, 10:05 PM**

I gave a character amnesia in response to massive injuries she withstood. You might remember that Maril. Wink

Honestly, as far as MMO RP goes, it's another one of those 'how it's presented in context by the writer' scenarios. Folk who meet her these days have no idea what happened before unless they get to know her well enough for it to come up. One character made a joke about her having been hit in the head once and it upset her and folk around her that knew because...yes. Yes, she did get hit in the head rather badly lol.

People get turned off when they can tell the person behind the keyboard is really forcing a character detail regardless of what the detail is. Don't do that and play the idea as it comes up and as it makes sense and you'll generally just run into fewer problems I think.

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[Discussion] Amnesia as a plotpoint

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