Are too many people "Fearless"?

[S'imba]

Well while everything is true ithat really comes down to why the character is being fearless. A lot of people get into a huff but they don't understand the entire back ground. It's like people who'say characters brag about doing big heroic feats or claiming to be -the- azure dragoon. I know people who's characters have claimed stuff like that but ooc they know what their character is claiming is false. However it doesn't stop them from getting toxic tells about how they are lore breaking. 

 

The same thing kind of applies here. There are plenty of reasons why.a character wouldn't cower under a big scary Roe. For example S'imba was recently involved in trying to stop anow innocent bandit from being hung. S'imba got caught trying to free him but managed to get into a civil discussion with the guards that he was surrounded by. Despite the fact he was about to cut a deal in getting the bandit off the bandit's partner that originally asked for S'imba's aid shows up and attacks the guards. Though he told S'imba he'd take the little guy while S'imba handles the rest before proceeding to run away with his tail between his legs after said little guy proved to be too much for the bandit. 

 

Basically despite the character attacking the guards iclly he was fearless cause he believes S'imba to be this amazing fighter, that would be able to protect him after trying to take them on. There can be a lot of good reasons why a character would have a sense of fearlessness. 

 

Basically what I'm trying to say is I feel that this could be a mentality that could turn into. "A real person would never do that unless they were an idiot, your character is bad and you're a shitty role player." You can't expect everyone to react to your character how you see your character. It only leads to ooc drama if people get upset about people not bowing down because my character is a noble and I expect your character to treat me as such. Same thing just because someone is a large intimidating figure you can't expect people to react how you want them to. Just my self righteous two cents.

[111]

 

 

Basically what I'm trying to say is I feel that this could be a mentality that could turn into. "A real person would never do that unless they were an idiot, your character is bad and you're a shitty role player." You can't expect everyone to react to your character how you see your character. It only leads to ooc drama if people get upset about people not bowing down because my character is a noble and I expect your character to treat me as such. Same thing just because someone is a large intimidating figure you can't expect people to react how you want them to. Just my self righteous two cents.

Yep, this here.

 

My Brass Blade character is no badass, but he just does not give a fuck. It's the end of his shift, he wants a drink and his balls itch. 

 

Yeah your adventurer has a flaming axe or whatever but he just IS NOT IN THE MOOD. Of course this has gotten him nearly killed multiple times, but hey, I have the right to play a grumpy jerk. Not everyone in RP is a paragon of logic.

[Diskwrite]

Ojene here certainly pretends to be fearless. She'll take calculated risks and get in someone's face even if she has a feeling an actual confrontation would go very badly for her. But she will try to glare someone into the ground, and she doesn't take very kindly to being mistreated or pushed around. (Or at least, if she perceives herself to be!)

 

This is even more exaggerated if she gets angry. Cause then good sense gets left behind.

 

But this means to people who don't really know her... she seems ridiculous. Fearless and brash in situations she really shouldn't be. But in truth, her air of confidence is half a bluff.

 

This has created some... unpleasant situations for me, OOC. But I try to impress on people that my character is my character. And the way she acts is just... well... that.

[That_NPC]

Ok, I think we're veering away from the status here.  The problem isn't in individual characters, take each one seperately and yeah it makes sense why they're fearless, but the society as a whole.

 

We have so many big damn heroes/incredibly powerful people walking around, so many people who don't care.  That what is supposed to be the minority lore wise, definitely is not represented in the player base.

 

The problem is that you cannot set rules down to this, you can't tell someone they can't be fearless or powerful because there are already enough of those, that comes from the roleplayer themselves.

[111]

Ok, I think we're veering away from the status here.  The problem isn't in individual characters, take each one seperately and yeah it makes sense why they're fearless, but the society as a whole.

 

We have so many big damn heroes/incredibly powerful people walking around, so many people who don't care.  That what is supposed to be the minority lore wise, definitely is not represented in the player base.

 

The problem is that you cannot set rules down to this, you can't tell someone they can't be fearless or powerful because there are already enough of those, that comes from the roleplayer themselves.

Maybe so many crazy things happen in Eorzea, that no one gives a shit anymore.

 

Invasions, primals, coups, moons falling from the sky, ancient dragon gods.

 

Some buff guy walks up with an axe and they're just like "Ugh, not this too."

 

Eorzeans 2 jaded.

[Dravus]

Eorzea's definitely a dangerous place. Though if anything that's more liable to make people cautious and wary rather than ready to charge into danger and shrug off and any and all conflict as 'just another threat to tackle'.

 

It's always rubbed me the wrong way when people make it seem like someone's a coward for feeling scared. Most people do - and yes, they might be able to steady themselves and overcome their fear but it'd still affect them.

 

It's why PTSD exists. It's why some of the best soldiers in the world return from war and are never quite the way they were before heading to the battlefield. It's why someone can survive being stabbed and then flinch whenever they see a knife.

 

Honestly, most of the 'fearless' characters I encounter just don't feel realistic to me at all. It also becomes tiresome pretty quickly since it just kills the mood when you're at an event and a horrific voidsent shows up and then it's just treated like a rabid marmot. Or someone just seeks to assault someone in broad daylight and evade any consequences from guards/those responsible for keeping the peace/vigilantes.

[Mercurias]

Of my three characters:

M'sato is the one who is the most 'brave'. He's also the one most likely to face down something much bigger, stronger, and scarier than he is without blinking. M'sato refuses to let his fears consume him, and half of his bullheaded stubbornness is born from that refusal. "You want me to be afraid, and I am, but I won't godsdamned let that stop me."

 

Solomon sees courage is more along the lines of weighing the odds. While he's able to be devil-may-care from time to time, he usually considers his options carefully and chooses the one which involves the lowest risk to himself. Fear is his warning system. He's just lived through enough of it that he recognizes it and accepts it. "You scared the crap out of me and I don't think I can take you. no reason to stick around, so bye!"

 

Soren is a madcap adrenaline junkie, but when it comes to real danger and violence, his heart falters. Soren was marked by war in more ways than one. Having to go into a real fight makes him nauseous and trembly. "You scared the crap out of me, so NOOOOOPE!" *RUNS AWAY*

[Kaiz]

I beat up a giant tortoise outside Ul'dah. That's way bigger than any Roe.

[Caspar]

Eorzea's definitely a dangerous place. Though if anything that's more liable to make people cautious and wary rather than ready to charge into danger and shrug off and any and all conflict as 'just another threat to tackle'.

 

It's always rubbed me the wrong way when people make it seem like someone's a coward for feeling scared. Most people do - and yes, they might be able to steady themselves and overcome their fear but it'd still affect them.

 

It's why PTSD exists. It's why some of the best soldiers in the world return from war and are never quite the way they were before heading to the battlefield. It's why someone can survive being stabbed and then flinch whenever they see a knife.

 

Honestly, most of the 'fearless' characters I encounter just don't feel realistic to me at all. It also becomes tiresome pretty quickly since it just kills the mood when you're at an event and a horrific voidsent shows up and then it's just treated like a rabid marmot. Or someone just seeks to assault someone in broad daylight and evade any consequences from guards/those responsible for keeping the peace/vigilantes.

Too true. For me, with a character as tiny as mine, fearlessness is of ill portent. I treat Virara's willingness to throw herself into danger as a sign of obsession and perhaps insanity. Somewhere along the line, a tiny place in the back of her mind began stirring with the thought that maybe, she truly can't die until she achieves her goal.

[Sigil.9054]

My character isn't exactly fearless, but she's frequently out on the road, and has been acosted by many a bandit. She's learned to play the situations by ear, whether they call for intimidation or pretending to cower.

 

In the end, though, there's not a lot your standard six races can do to scare her. Intimidate? Sure. Scare? Not really.

 

But I rarely give my characters a strength without some sort of cost. She's not afraid because she's used to people being awful. Unfortunately, being used to people being awful means you'll have trouble opening up and being empathetic. Given that she craves people to call a family, that's not a good trait to possess.

 

Seldi likes few people (though she'll pretend otherwise), and she's just barely friends with them. It's likely they'll grow tired of her seemingly aloof and fickle nature, and abandon her.

[S'imba]

Another thought that comes to mind when considering the high amount of fearless characters is the fact of the big occupation known as adventurer in eorzea. The concept of fearless individuals embarking on great quests and with Eorzea a place that makes that a legitimate occupation would naturally draw the more reckless types to these places. Countless people out to prove themselves. Not everyone would have the opportunity to do big heroic things. So in their mind they would find other ways to prove themselves as big bad asses. While a lot of people don't play adventurer characters it says that the amount of reckless people who are trying to come off as fearless is going to be much higher than in what you would expect a realistic setting to be. A lot of competition would exist between people trying to get better jobs than going out and killing a few marmots. Being publicly known as being fearless is going to increase the likelihood of getting better jobs, cause no one wants to hire an adventurer that's going to turn tail and run at the first sign of danger. It would easily get into people's heads that standing up to big scary guards would help you increase your credibility as an adventurer. Even if it is straight up stupid. 

Basically Eorzea has a high job demand and a lot of perks to being fearless, it's going to draw those types to it.

[Dravus]

I don't really feel like an adventurer is going to be 'fearless' though. It doesn't benefit the clients of the adventurer's guild for the bulk of adventurers to be reckless. We see what happens when a group of adventurers gets cocky or is poorly prepared throughout some of the early dungeon quests when we encounter Edda's group.

 

Realistically, someone who charges into battle with no regard to their personal safety or the consequences is going to end up dead, injured or crippled. Usually sooner rather than later. 

 

Plus even if they are very driven very few people are genuinely fearless. It's just not natural unless someone's role-playing some sort of sociopath/psychopath. There might be bravado and theatrics involved but it just feels cheap when you can throw any situation at a character and they'll somehow never managed to be negatively affected.

 

In fact, aren't there quite a lot of FATE's surrounding lone and/or reckless adventurers being overwhelmed by monsters, eaten or left in need of rescue? I believe so!

[Aduu Avagnar]

Being fearleas is actually rather bad. Fear is a psycological warning message that says 'this could be bad'. People who ignore it tend to be insane, people who listen to it tend to be cowards, then there are those that listen to it, weigh up the odds and decide that they are decent enough odds.

 

Realistically people wouldnt dismiss someone that is armed out of hand 'just cause they are an adventurer'. That person could still cause a world of hurt to them.

[Rufus Wightman]

Honestly?

 

There's almost no way to police other people's behaviour. If their character is going to act like a smart-allecky hard ass even in the most dangerous of situations, then there's little else you can do about it. 

 

People don't like it when someone tries to show dominion over their characters, I guess. Regardless of circumstance.

 

Too many times now have I tried to use my character's powers of darkness as an intimidation technique. Let's be fair, if someone approaches you, eyes glowing bright red-orange, with darkness trailing from their entire body, most would probably cack themselves and run. I don't think it's worked to far, either.

 

At the end of the day? Yes, there are some RPers who need to back down when their character is outmatched, but only they themselves can control it.

[Verad]

Too many times now have I tried to use my character's powers of darkness as an intimidation technique. Let's be fair, if someone approaches you, eyes glowing bright red-orange, with darkness trailing from their entire body, most would probably cack themselves and run. I don't think it's worked to far, either.

 

How many people are playing characters that would reasonably do that? How many are playing characters that have faced those things in other venues well before they met you?

 

And is there a rough percentage of players that should be roleplaying as the former and not the latter? Some sort of guideline, perhaps?

[Warren Castille]

Too many times now have I tried to use my character's powers of darkness as an intimidation technique. Let's be fair, if someone approaches you, eyes glowing bright red-orange, with darkness trailing from their entire body, most would probably cack themselves and run. I don't think it's worked to far, either.

 

At the end of the day? Yes, there are some RPers who need to back down when their character is outmatched, but only they themselves can control it.

 

So what is your character afraid of or intimidated by? He sounds pretty secure in his abilities, what with the darkness powers and stuff.

[C'kayah Polaali]

People don't like it when someone tries to show dominion over their characters, I guess. Regardless of circumstance.

 

Too many times now have I tried to use my character's powers of darkness as an intimidation technique. Let's be fair, if someone approaches you, eyes glowing bright red-orange, with darkness trailing from their entire body, most would probably cack themselves and run. I don't think it's worked to far, either.

 

The thing is, as Verad mentions, you can't RP something like that as if your character was unique in their power. Sure, if someone like that approached me, I'd set a new land speed record getting out of there. Setoh, on the other hand? Just another day at the office.

 

Seriously, though, there are a ton of RPers who play powerful characters, and their character's power is pinned on a foundation of "because I said so". A lot of people tend to discount them for various reasons. I've seen a lot of RP arcs disrupted because someone comes in, wants to join, and then turns out to be the second coming of Iron Man with the power to resolve everything right there and then.

 

Setoh will totally show fear where it's appropriate. Someone like the OP, with a history of both having and fairly wielding (in an OOC sense) power? Sure, that's an appropriate place to show fear. Someone playing a powerful character who plays it well - read: in a way that adds to the story? Same thing. Some Darkflayme Starfyre who wants to pop in, lay waste, and chuckle off? Probably not. But that's more me being a discriminating (in the positive sense) player when it comes to the RP I choose to participate in.

[Rufus Wightman]

Too many times now have I tried to use my character's powers of darkness as an intimidation technique. Let's be fair, if someone approaches you, eyes glowing bright red-orange, with darkness trailing from their entire body, most would probably cack themselves and run. I don't think it's worked to far, either.

 

At the end of the day? Yes, there are some RPers who need to back down when their character is outmatched, but only they themselves can control it.

 

So what is your character afraid of or intimidated by? He sounds pretty secure in his abilities, what with the darkness powers and stuff.

 

That's a very good question! One I do, indeed, have an answer for.

 

Rufus is actually quite insecure when it comes to his abilities. Even if he strives to make use of and master them, there is always some small part of him in the back of his head that worries that he may become controlled by the darkness.

 

As for what he'd be intimated by? True, being trained for combat, and generally being quite good with a weapon, the pickings tend to be slim. But he knows his limits. If he was to be faced down by multiple opponents, or one powerful opponent (of any race, for that matter. Lalafell can be damned scary!) then he'll rethink his position. Better to live smart than die dumb, I suppose? 

 

A savvy merchant can also cause him to pause a moment. Even growing up in Ul'dah, he is still rather wary when he buys anything in the city, considering most will try to swindle you for every gil you own.

 

On a more personal note, he's also intimated to some degree by the people he calls friends. More accurately, anyone who falls under that description that he feels he may have wronged in some way. It's a self-esteem thing.

[Rufus Wightman]

Too many times now have I tried to use my character's powers of darkness as an intimidation technique. Let's be fair, if someone approaches you, eyes glowing bright red-orange, with darkness trailing from their entire body, most would probably cack themselves and run. I don't think it's worked to far, either.

 

How many people are playing characters that would reasonably do that? How many are playing characters that have faced those things in other venues well before they met you?

 

And is there a rough percentage of players that should be roleplaying as the former and not the latter? Some sort of guideline, perhaps?

 

Like I said, it's pretty impossible to try to police another player's behaviour. In the case of the OP, if there's an event happening, someone might not want to be locked out of it. And that's understandable.

 

In the case I describe, you do make good points. It's not as though I expect that my character is superior to all others, and that the power they wield, however it's manifested, should be able to strike fear into the heart of foes. Gods, no. That'd be some kind of silliness on my part. It's all luck of the draw, I suppose. It'd just be nice to feel like any attempt at intimidation wasn't just ignored because reasons.

[Ignacius]

I actually do agree with the OP, and in more ways than one.  I know how it feels when people aren't really thinking about the situation in real terms.  Maybe a Hyur can take on a Roegadyn in a fistfight (in game terms, it makes sense, though that's a bit of a logical leap) but a fully armed and armored bouncer against a drunk naked guy?  That's the sort of thing that becomes a war crime.

 

And if you're naked and drunk, and you come face to face with a fully armed and armored military soldier, would you REALLY be fearless?

 

The reason I say that it's probably even more pervasive than that is because there are so many other factors people ignore.  Ignacius, for example, tends to leave the members of law enforcement alone.  It doesn't matter that he's not afraid of them, if they put a price on his head and drive him out of town, that's a huge problem for his business.  And that would be better than being locked up and his assets seized, which is also possible.

 

At the same time, law enforcement doesn't want to come up against him.  Ignacius might make them "disappear" if he can get away with it, and he can do other things to them.  Attack their families.  Use his political connections to undermine the unit.  He can arm more thugs clandestinely and set the whole city to light without getting caught.  So both sides tend to keep from overly annoying the other.

 

That's rare.  Many criminals seem to treat the law like Power Ranger putties they can just knock over, and most law enforcement seems to treat criminals the same way back.  They're both incredibly dangerous groups in contention with each other who really should be a lot more wary of being so up front.

 

I think there probably should be a lot more wariness and fear in players, since a bit of respect between characters can go a long way to fostering better RP than barside throw-downs.

[Baja]

Clearly the scantily clad character in question is either poorly executed or ICly not very bright. This situation would annoy me to no end personally, it feels like meta-gaming to me. In what world is this vulnerable, smaller man able to mouth off to a larger, armed guard without one of two things occuring? He leaves because he can't back up his assertive decision to argue with security or he gets beaten by security. Or at least repose security and run/continue to party.

 

It's unfair to the OP (or any character with a clear upper hand) for this drunk to simply ignore the circumstances. It renders the character with the actual advantage (in this case the one with clothes and weight) into a grid lock of having to allow tomfoolery and possibly even RP out of character.

[Kellach Woods]

And if you're naked and drunk, and you come face to face with a fully armed and armored military soldier, would you REALLY be fearless?

 

Fearless, no?

 

Stupid? Most likely.

 

"he ain't worth a chocobo's dung watch me just kick him in the gil pouch and he'll fall like all men"

 

*kicks, performs an Anderson Silva on himself onto the very well protected nards, is now naked, drunk and has a broken leg*

[Caspar]

Clearly the scantily clad character in question is either poorly executed or ICly not very bright. This situation would annoy me to no end personally, it feels like meta-gaming to me. In what world is this vulnerable, smaller man able to mouth off to a larger, armed guard without one of two things occuring? He leaves because he can't back up his assertive decision to argue with security or he gets beaten by security. Or at least repose security and run/continue to party.

 

It's unfair to the OP (or any character with a clear upper hand) for this drunk to simply ignore the circumstances. It renders the character with the actual advantage (in this case the one with clothes and weight) into a grid lock of having to allow tomfoolery and possibly even RP out of character.

A world in which size doesn't always mean anything due to fantasy magic aether shenanigans perhaps?

 

I don't disagree that pcs should respect law enforcement. My character has spent years evading capture from angry refugees. Sure, nowadays she could punch a few blades or yellowjackets out, but twenty? All at once? Even for a stronger than average character, the wiser and less dangerous choice is to avoid making a fuss.

[Eses Fafa]

It's highly dependent on the situation at hand. In this world, a 3 foot fairy-like fellow is able to box dragons to death with his fists if he receives the right training. While yes, in any circumstance where all characters are deemed 'normal', the roegadyn would most assuredly be the strongest due to being the largest of the lot.

 

Though that's not the case and I don't need to go into the whole 'this isn't real life' rant when we've heard it a million times.

 

While I have quite a degree of respect for people who play their characters as these 'normals' as they remind others that Eorzea is not full of superheroes, I'm not one of those people and neither was this fellow most likely. For all we know, he could very well be capable of mauling a fully-armoured roegadyn all Beowulf style.

 

Though I think the actual problem with that scenario is that a player seemed intent on being a bit've a D-bag in an unnecessary fashion. Not even to make the event have a bit more flare to it with a conflict, but just to up-play his own ego OOCly. For YEARS, players have been treating the MMO world like it's a chaotic and lawless area because there've never been any IC guards or authority in any given areas, but when it actually comes along, you bet they're gonna whine about it.

 

My opinion when it comes to being an IC bouncer? Talk with 'em OOC if it starts to nettle you, but if they're beyond reason, just have them ostracised from the event or encourage folks to ignore their behaviour. It sounds cruel in that wording, but it's for the better to just leave them to stew in their own bravado with nobody to pay them mind.

[Hour]

I've written a lot of big armored characters in my time, and so has Flashhelix, and he's more than right in saying nobody has to be intimidated by you. At the same time, I am all to aware of the frustrations of every other character deciding they're not intimidated in the least bit by someone four feet taller than them in full plate with a weapon that is actually bigger than they are.

 

I used to actively test this sort of thing on Ivolle, since he was quite a miserable arrogant sack of shit, and the shortest of Norn, he'd actively pick on others considerably smaller than him. Thing was that most people decided someone two-three feet taller was no threat, because they simply knew I couldn't do anything to them IC. However, as the character grew himself a reputation, and I got friends, more and more people came to realize that not roleplaying fear was just sorta shitting on all the other people who had, and those people in turn were angered by those who didn't and thus I noticed more people did it.

 

Interesting for sure, but really nobody has any obligation to roleplay fear, that being said, Ivolle was scared of all sorts of shit.

 

Lightning, spoons, mages of all sorts, his family, his brothers, loyalty, cellars, dungeons, chains, etc.

 

 

While it's annoying yeah, you've sort've just gotta let the community scold them into learning that they can't be immune to every kind of fear, there's no fun in roleplaying a character who has no fear, because you don't empathize with them! I mean, say they get into a fight, you're going to be rooting against them because they're such an arrogant fuck you sorta wanna see them fail so you can see how they actually /take/ failure. 

 

 

tldr, expect this to happen a lot, but realize that eventually the community will sorta teach that person better (hopefully).