Canon RPers and You

[Verad]

I think RPing with them is a lot of fun~ and it's cool when I see one around <3

 

Please, please follow up on this and explain further. As the thread has shown, the RPC is mostly of one mind towards canon RPers, and I'd like to hear more from people who do like them about the draw, as well as some of the more complicated elements like how they handle characters that are canonically dead.

[Pascaleret]

I think RPing with them is a lot of fun~ and it's cool when I see one around <3

 

Please, please follow up on this and explain further. As the thread has shown, the RPC is mostly of one mind towards canon RPers, and I'd like to hear more from people who do like them about the draw, as well as some of the more complicated elements like how they handle characters that are canonically dead.

 

In regards to the last part, I saw a member of the Heaven's Ward RPing in the middle of the Quicksand last night. His search comment stated that he had been "raised from the aether" which might have something to do with why he was now an Au Ra Raen instead of an Elezen?

[Valen]

I've RP'd exactly one time with a canon RPer. It was during an event where my FC was hired by someone on their behalf to fulfill a task for them. All in all, the canon RPer didn't really do much other than show up at the end. Strangely enough, most of the issues came from the person acting on their behalf, and not the canon RPer themselves. Though the canon RPer seemed really inconsequential. They didn't detract from the RP, but they didn't really add much either. It was like they were just there to be there.

 

All in all, I wouldn't say it was a bad experience, but they left me and the rest of the FC with absolutely no desire to RP with a canon RPer again.

[Michaux]

I'll admit I don't quite get the appeal of playing an NPC, but clearly it's something many people enjoy. I definitely wouldn't want to mess up anyone's fun. 

 

I will not personally RP with people who play NPCs for a lot of the reasons other people have already outlined. I think the biggest of those reasons is the automatic power imbalance it creates between my character and the NPC. I have worked hard to develop each of my characters. Some of them are respected by other characters, and that's because they've had a chance to earn that respect through the months I've been playing them. But anyone can create an Aymeric, Haurchefant, etc. and automatically command the respect of the world (theoretically). I'm not okay with that. It doesn't seem fair. Because of this, I also won't go to public events where I might be forced into acknowledging or even RPing with NPC players. 

 

Again, I don't want to spoil anyone's fun. But I also want to be able to have fun myself, so I avoid NPC players (and politely ask them not to engage in RP with my characters if we're thrown together by chance).

[Sylentmana]

I generally don't engage with people who play as NPCs. Make your own character, I say.

[Cecily Jisi]

Last night, I was in a PotD run with someone who made their character to look exactly like Papalymo (was even named Papalymo). When I questioned them about it, they simply said they didn't RP, but just enjoyed messing around looking like them. It was actually kinda funny pretending that the real Scion member was with us (even though the player was in no way RPing).

 

But I kind of think a bit of an exception can be made with a canon RPer if, for example, the character was to make a minor "special guest appearance" sort of thing like... um... I dunno, say like "Our FC has been given a special mission by Ser Aymeric himself" and that RPer would be there just for the mission briefing? Something like that I guess.

[FullmoonFeline]

I've yet to RP with someone RPing as a canon NPC, but I used to RP as Rogue in a Twitter-based Marvel'verse RP, and I enjoyed it immensely. It was fun interacting with other Marvel characters and creating stories that suited headcanons we all had, etc. There was no pressure to build this amazing OC because the character's backstory, personality, etc already exist. 

 

I would have no issues RPing with a NPC, as long as they're still good roleplayers. Someone in this thread mentioned that we have no idea what SE has planned for NPCs, hence why they're NPCs, and that's true...but so? I'd LOVE to roleplay with a Thancred. We could easily say it was pre-ARR and just have fun with it. 

 

I also think it's cool when I see a NPC running around. Like how fun would it be to run a dungeon with Minfilia (actually that wouldn't be fun at all because I don't really like her haha)?

[Gegenji]

Like how fun would it be to run a dungeon with Minfilia (actually that wouldn't be fun at all because I don't really like her haha)?

"You must needs pull faster. I have more errands to send the Warrior of Light on and I have a kidnapping plot RP I'm a big part of in half a bell."

[Val]

Personally, I tend to ignore them. I just don't see the point in RPing an NPC. If people want to write fanfiction and all of that, that's fine. As was mentioned earlier, I don't have to read fanfiction if I don't want to. If Val's hanging out in the Quicksand and Thancred or someone walks up behind him and thwaps him on the back of the head, he's forced to respond to that. I feel it's kind of egotistical to think that someone could write/assume everything about a character they never made up. There's just too many variables, many of which have already been listed here, that could come into play. Not only that, but while the RP may be personal headcanons, they're being written in a medium that everyone responds to things which are canon. If it was done somewhere else, privately, it wouldn't be such a big deal, and I don't mind people that do.

 

To be honest, I really just don't understand it. I write/RP because I enjoy making characters and throwing them at whatever the world has to offer them, often changing them in various, surprising ways. That's the fun in RP for me, you know? Looking back a few years after making a character and seeing where they've ended up, as well as the various events (some small, some large) that helped shape them on their path. I like seeing all of these new, unique characters and the uncertainty of what they are like and how they will react to things. When you see X canon character, you already know (at best) how they are going to act, or at worst, have to deal with someone that quite honestly plays them poorly.

[Pip]

I also think it's cool when I see a NPC running around. Like how fun would it be to run a dungeon with Minfilia (actually that wouldn't be fun at all because I don't really like her haha)?

 

She is the tank by default, as all attacks seem to find their way her direction regardless of intent. Her DPS is a negative number. Her weapon is for materia melding demonstrations only. Her attack is oddly inflected shouts, "noO0O0oo.... oO!" Her support skill is an aoe brainwash that somehow convinces allies to go out of their way to protect, rescue, protect, and rescue her again because she is the All-Important, All-Valuable Special for.... reasons? (I may have a history of disdain for the Utterly-Important/Utterly-Useless Female anime trope.)

 

Even Tataru trained not one but two classes because she felt useless, despite being the administrator that keeps the Scions functioning from one day to the next as well as an adept information broker. Minfilia's response to the notion? 'Aw, that's cute, but why would someone do a thing like that?' Why indeed, Minfilia. Why indeed.

 

Not that I'd want to RP with a Tataru impersonator. #totesontopic

[Kilieit]

To answer the "what's the appeal" question, it's a matter of what you're looking for when you RP.

 

As I mentioned before, while I have never (and do not ever wish to) roleplay a canon character in-game, I've run a few canon RP blogs on Tumblr in my old fandom.

 

You get a very clear litmus for whether you're roleplaying your character ""right"" or not. When you're doing OC RP, this is very wishy-washy and subjective, and what's "right" is largely down to what the people around you feel like. If you're the kind of person who likes to cut-and-dry know whether you're correct, then essentially having a "brief to fill" (canon information to match) and refer back to when you're uncertain of yourself, can be satisfying. And being told "you're the closest to canon I've met" or "you play the character really effectively" is immensely satisfying, too. That's not something you can really get in the same way in OC RP, since there's no objective litmus to test your RP against.

 

When you make thoughtful additions or deviations, especially if they're canon-compatible or closely within the spirit of canon, then that's where you get to exercise your creativity while still being validated as "close to canon". Stuff like fleshing out parts of backstory which are vague in canon - you get to make up whatever you want. But, if it's something that ties in bits of trivia about how the character later develops and provides explanations for things which canonically have still been left vague, then it'll be praised higher by others than, say, if you make up something completely off-the-wall that doesn't really have much of a tie-in to anything.

 

And stuff like throwing your character into a totally different situation than they've ever been seen in, in canon, before... and still having people go "yes, this character is recognisably [name] and you're playing them really well".

 

And yes, the appeal is highly based off validation from other people, at least in my experience. (I'm sure someone else has a different experience.) Which is why I don't really understand the appeal of approaching people who haven't even consented to roleplaying with your interpretation of the character... of course they aren't going to appreciate it! Jeez.

[Verad]

And yes, the appeal is highly based off validation from other people, at least in my experience. (I'm sure someone else has a different experience.) Which is why I don't really understand the appeal of approaching people who haven't even consented to roleplaying with your interpretation of the character... of course they aren't going to appreciate it! Jeez.

 

Validation is a crucial part of roleplaying in general, so much so that it could easily be renamed "Creative attention-getting," so that's no surprise.

 

What you say about the idea of being able to roleplay a character "correctly" is really interesting to me, because I don't think the sentiment is all that different from many of the players here saying that playing canon characters is fine for others but not for them. Correctness is still a big deal, if all of the "Is this character kosher" threads can be considered a useful metric. Rather, it's correctness based on lore, rather than an individual portrayal. The difference seems to be one of scale and the unstated assumption that "in lore, I am not playing a canon character" which causes the divide.

 

Regarding the idea of correctness and character, how do you do manage that when a canon character has a distinct lack of lore? To take Heavens' Ward players as an example, some of the Knights are well-established like Zephirin, Grinnaux, etc., but others have little more than a short blurb from the devs. How much does that influence how players portray these characters and how those portrayals are received? Is there more leeway than when one plays a better-established character like Haurchefant?

[111]

And yes, the appeal is highly based off validation from other people, at least in my experience. (I'm sure someone else has a different experience.) Which is why I don't really understand the appeal of approaching people who haven't even consented to roleplaying with your interpretation of the character... of course they aren't going to appreciate it! Jeez.

 

Validation is a crucial part of roleplaying in general, so much so that it could easily be renamed "Creative attention-getting," so that's no surprise.

 

 

 

[Warren Castille]

I'm hardly keeping tabs on them, but I'm yet to see someone playing one of the lesser-known named NPCs.

 

Caveat: It's entirely possible they are and I just don't register them.

[111]

I'm hardly keeping tabs on them, but I'm yet to see someone playing one of the lesser-known named NPCs.

 

Caveat: It's entirely possible they are and I just don't register them.

 

Ummm back in the day the captain of the sultansworn would come up.

 

Same with the Female Paladin in the Hildibrand Quests. I've seen Gegejuru (or whatever the coast del sol guy is called). 

 

They're around, but often they're just used as NPCs for a plot, typically not as someone's actual character.

[Kilieit]

I'm gonna have to grab an example from my old fandom for that one - I RP'd the lore character Prince Wrathion, who was fairly prominent, had a fleshed-out backstory, and three major "MSQ" chains to his name; but I also roleplayed his bodyguards, Left and Right. Canonically, those two barely even have speaking roles. They're just sort of there, behind him, constantly. Sometimes they threaten you if you try to talk to them. That's the only... characterisation, I guess, you get for them.

 

But you can already infer from that, alone, that they're very serious, business-orientated women. So something that portrays them as discerning and sensible is going to be more in-character than something that portrays them as silly or flirty.

 

They wear different uniforms than the rest of his servants - a uniform that happened to match that of the NPCs at Wrathion's old home, Ravenholdt. So you can infer they're probably from Ravenholdt (not new recruits that Wrathion made since he left). But Left is an orc and Right is a human; races that don't usually co-habit. Ravenholdt is historically human, yet it had some involvement in the Orcish slave-trade that used to frequent the area. So maybe Left is native after all - a freed slave, or the child of one.

 

Or maybe she joined after all that was over. Maybe Left grew up there and Right is new. The point is, you can still infer something about their backstory just from the simple matter of what clothes they're wearing, IF you are paying the right sort of attention.

 

When they're guarding Wrathion in-game, if you watch them for a while, sometimes another random NPC from Wrathion's organisation will come up to Left and they'll chat for a bit. When their conversation is over, Left will point, the other guy will salute and walk off, and she'll go back to her post. Right remains vigilant over Wrathion the whole time; so you can infer that they have different job priorities. Left is probably in some sort of position of authority over the rest of Wrathion's servants, while Right's main job is to protect the Prince.

 

You get the principle - it depends highly on the exact NPC and the exact type of setting you're dealing with, but most developers can't resist putting little easter eggs or clues in, even with NPCs who could easily be throw-aways. It's true to say that the closer they are to "MSQ" the more this is the case... but ofc in a canon-heavy environment, most of the characters people pick will want to be close to MSQ anyway, because otherwise everyone else all knows each other IC already and you have to "break in" or find an excuse and put all the extra work in that the other people around you don't. There's a certain amount of "natural selection" against more obscure NPCs in canon-heavy environments...

 

...and I think the opposite goes for canon RPers in OC-heavy environments, where picking an obscure NPC gives them more of a chance to fit in with the highly personal and customisable environment that OC RP tends to create.

 

Or that's - like I say - my experience, anyway! I'm sure other people (and those from other fandoms, or those who RP canons in-game as opposed to the website-based canon RP I'm used to... i.e. most people reading this thread lol) will have other perspectives.