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

[Shoshopu]

Death within RP is complicated. When people say "the right time OOCly", I see that as meaning when one or more of the following can be established from the RP:

1. The character's story has ended (whether planned or abruptly, but it "fits")
   
2. There is some form of coordination with other related characters. (As in, if I've been planning all this other RP with people and suddenly decide my character is going to die, I've made the proper arrangements OOC and possibly IC such that I'm not causing damage to someone else's RP/fun because it came out of nowhere).
   
3. My character is not in any other plots or arcs that hinge upon my character being alive or well. (Typically though, I like to RP as a side-character, so this is generally not a concern).
   

 

That's basically my feelings on it. At this point in time I would say none of my characters are killable- not that I play any of my characters besides Shoshopu out in the open anyway. Perhaps when the right time comes and it would make for a great narrative effect I will, or maybe whenever I quit-- or maybe I'll try to align those two events for the narrative benefit of my RP partners I'll soon be parting with. If it fits.

 

 

That's not to say I've never considered what would happen if she did get killed off. I like to imagine all the time what would happen if something happened to her or Fyrilsunn- who would go first and how would the other respond, etc. It's fun to think about and it might happen some day, but I don't have a timeline for when it may happen. Although RP is a collaborative effort and things may happen spontaneously and unexpectedly, I still have a strong narrative inclination and won't just let my character get killed off by whatever at the whims of someone else.

 

Now, injuries? Hell yes, bring on the injuries. That's fine. Shopu can take it, she's a tough little potato

[Jana]

I'm sort open to the idea of my character dying (especially with her lifestyle) but I'd want it to be within the framework of a plot event, and not a random occurrence. Name changes and fantas aren't free!

[Caspar]

I think I've had a death planned for pretty much every character I've made and they're almost always unpleasant. I'm flexible, but I guess that would depend on if the death someone else suggests to me impresses me enough to do that scene instead. I don't think many RPers mind their characters dying as long as it isn't totally meaningless or lacking in significance. I always say people die senselessly and randomly all the time; a character dies exactly when they were meant to.

 

Injury though, lol. Virarararara was hospitalized twice in the span of one week once. The recovery was lengthy and she still hasn't gotten over the mental trauma. If she wasn't so tough she'd be out of commission even longer.

[Rosekitten]

I've toyed at the idea of killing my character off several times. Though my character has a lot of ic connections and I tend to talk things that would effect others out with them before jumping the gun on things. Sure I'm all for my character being wounded or even getting some scar or wound that would forever hinder the character.. but each time I've thought about ending my character and I brought it up to my friends they warn me that I better not do it.

 

By this point in time I do feel my character has run her course and helped enough people and made enough connections and friends alike that if something were to end her that it would be a story well written. Though .. given the crowd she is normally with and that her job isn't exactly that dangerous on it's own.. I've not really thought of how or what way I'd enjoy to rp out the character's end.

 

As of the moment my character is still alive and kicking but if given the right setting and such that could change.

[Virella]

Injury? Go ahead. That said in Avelyn's case? Be smart about it. She can heal herself quite well, especially in combat. Outside of it? Eh, she can, not so easy though. Virella you can beat the shit out of.

 

Permanent injuries though? I'd sooner discuss that first OOC. Not that I mind, not at all, but I admit, as long no RP addons are around, I won't go for dismembering my characters for example, seeming I would need to constantly emote that out if she were missing a hand of sorts.

 

Death? Eh. In this game? Really depends. Avelyn's fate is sort of decided since the day I made her, and she's probably going to die when Ala Mhigo gets retaken, if ever. But that may change, but it is certainly a point I would strongly consider letting her die.

And if Franz ever comes out as a Garlean, people know Franz and Ave have been doing their odd relationships thing (honestly idk what the hell those two got going on an OOC level), and Franz gets killed for it? I'd imagine Avelyn would be next on the angry mob's list. But I know Franz ain't going to do that any time soon, so that ain't happening

 

Virella? Eh, I thought about it for a while, but I figured I may as well bench her until I feel like picking her story up again. I roleplay her from time to time, just don't feel like doing much with her currently.

 

Personally if this game was easier on rerolling, more alt friendly, and the community would play with world pvp/permadeath by default? Oh yes, I would kill characters, including my own, left right and centre. I come from a server where this was the standard really. People didn't play retarded concepts quickly either, because the community would quality control itself (For example, try cheering on Theodoric's action in Little Ala Mhigo would get you murdered, either by GMs and NPCs, or just by roleplayers. Stupid character concepts and actions didn't survive for long.). And people were a lot less cocky if they didn't have the skills, or protection to back their shit up.

 

It had it up and downsides, but I like FFXIV as it is, although I do admit, if the other community's PvP/permadeath rules somehow became a thing, I would make Avelyn a lot less forgiving (and drunk) and start murdering a lot of people on her, seeming that is sort of what sober Ave is supposed to do with anyone who gives her a lip >_> (It's one of the downfalls when you get lore "savage Fists kill without hesitation" yet I get the odd person still trying to berate her, and I have to dance around the whole killing people. Alcohol, it is good stuff for mellowing out Ave). And hells, if that would cost her her life? So be it, seeming I could just reroll another character easily!

 

And I'd totally expect Virella never ever having left Ishgard/Coerthas if this was a thing, seeming there's so many people who dislike her, and sooner see her gone.

 

But... FFXIV ain't the place for that, so instead I dumb down things a lot, for my own pleasure and that for others. We didn't sign up for permadeaths when we entered this community after all.

[Martiallais]

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]

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. 

 

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.]

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]

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]

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. 

 

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? 

 

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Coatleque]

Coatleque was dead for a month. Nobody noticed.

[Teadrinker]

If I ever did it would be because I personally felt it was time for them. For one of them, her death is completely and totally off the table. One of them I feel like if I was going to do it her time sorta came and went but it's still on the table. People tell me all the time "Omg she's such a great character I can't believe you have the balls to be evil." But she's such a goddamn pain to play that....bleh. The other is just budding so too early to kill her.

 

With the folk I RP with, character death is really at the player's discretion. Everyone's been pretty awesome about it and before any kind of significant loss/kidnapping or things like that warning usually goes out to players who have characters close to them and I think it goes a long way to prevent any kind of hullabaloo and just allows things to play out. Works for us, anyway.

 

Injury is 100% totally on the table as is just about anything else. If I know the players involved and discuss it with them there is very little I won't touch or at least give a shot at. Even things I limit out, if I KNOW you and it's something you wanna go at then I'll probably be on board but would reserve the right to halt the process if it felt too icky.

[Michaux]

I have one alt who is very likely to die in the course of her redemption arc. If I go in that direction with her, I intend to plan it carefully so that it is meaningful. For my other four characters, I have no current plans to let them die. There is so much more to be done with them before that happens, if it ever happens. And I'm fairly certain I don't want my two main characters to die young. Michaux in particular deserves to find happiness and live a full life, given how tragic his life has been up to this point. I might retire him someday, but I doubt I would ever kill him off.

[Faye]

I think that there is confusion over the distinction between frustration over lack of communication and bleed.

 

To clarify about my own post, there was no confusion, it was in response to seeing posts here outright stating that folks didn't want characters who are close to their own being killed off because it was "forcing" their character to mourn and because of the effects it would have on their own character. I think that's kinda silly. If you let your character get that close to another, then you should know you're setting your character up for the potential risks of heartache and loss.

 

It's okay to say "I don't want ____ to happen to my character," (though that's still a little iffy for more "hardcore" role-players, so I can understand why they might still call it "bleed") but if that's the case, the burden rests on that player to take measures to avoid it happening to their character, not to expect everyone they RP with to curb their RP to fulfill their wishes. In this case, if someone, for example, does not want their character to mourn the loss of a lover, they should make sure their character doesn't pair up with a character whose player is open to character death.

 

As much as I jokingly threaten to kill Val if he ever kills off his character, it's because I would be sad to lose the dynamic of Val and Faye that I enjoy RPing. I don't care that Faye would be sad. Characters being sad sometimes is a part of RP. I knew the dangers of my character becoming so heavily invested in another, so I'm ready to roll with the consequences (just as when Faye's adoptive brother was killed off by his player and she mourned him for weeks). If someone writes themselves into a corner where their character cannot function if something happens to another, no one is to blame but themselves. Rather than give the other person grief for killing his/her character, they should try to find a good way to retcon if they're not happy with the RP.

[Lan Darklyn]

I'm totally fine with my characters suffering grievous bodily harm as well as death as long as it makes sense in the story. I invest a shit ton of time in my characters before they even hit the RP scene and I hate the idea of that work being wasted. However if it is appropriate to the story line, I will kill them off as I have done with characters in the past. Though I am not quite to the George R. R. Martin level of killing off my characters lol.