Would you take an anime-esque character seriously?

[Lyriell]

Hey fellow RPers!

 

I'm planning to move over one of my characters to Balmung since the other server I'm frequently playing on has become quite empty, thus I want to fully transfer over to Balmung now.

 

My Couerl character is called Fate Testarossa and based on the Anime Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha if anyone knows it. (It's one of the few GOOD magical girl series btw!)

 

Now since I really love this character I wouldn't want to change it at all, but I know that I might not resist going into IC with it either since I love RPing. So my question is would you take such a character seriously at all? I mean a version of this character that is split off from the actual anime but kind of like another version of it based on FFXIV?

 

I'd like to hear your thoughts on that matter!

[Ciel]

I... guess it would really depend on how you spin it and how lore applies to the concept.  Personally speaking, I've dealt with a lot of unique character concepts which were nods to one source or another, but were worked in such a way that the player really put effort behind meshing it with the world.  And then again, I've seen some fall flat.

[Vysce the Lad]

Normally I would say you can rp however you like...

 

 

...but if anyone were to come up and start saying the word "Kawaii" to me, I'd cringe and leave. :frustrated:

 

The magical girl/super sentai is popular in Japan, and definitely has a following over in the states and Europe, so it's not out of the question for you to have a magical girl-esq character. Understand however, that there will be quite a few people that you will run into that might not understand what you're doing.  I would challenge you to put a Final Fantasy spin on it; If you try to rp as a cookie cutter magical girl, a lot of people might be a little put off or might wonder if you are seriously rping like that.

 

One of my own characters has an IC henshin and I think I've only been bashed verbally by non-rpers... but there have been some rp instances where rpers around my character don't understand. 

Just be wary, okay? Have fun though! :moogle:

[OttoVann]

Simply put no. I watch anime even still. But no.

[Kellach Woods]

I am normally a chill person who will say do whatever you want.

 

If you want a magical girl character, go right ahead.

 

If you want a magical girl character that is a callback to a specific one, with your own twist on it, go right ahead.

 

If you want to play the very same character? No, and that's where I draw the line. I won't RP with Miq'o Kanji Tatsumi, why would I RP with that?

[TheLastCandle]

I am normally a chill person who will say do whatever you want.

 

If you want a magical girl character, go right ahead.

 

If you want a magical girl character that is a callback to a specific one, with your own twist on it, go right ahead.

 

If you want to play the very same character? No, and that's where I draw the line. I won't RP with Miq'o Kanji Tatsumi, why would I RP with that?

 

^ Pretty much the way I see it. I think a lot of us are inspired, even indirectly, by other characters in fiction. Anime is as valid as any other media, in that sense.

 

..If anything, her name would make me think of Ferrari's.

[Lyriell]

Yeah don't worry, she would be a spinoff. She would retain most of her personality and her agressive/offensive fighting style, but it would be in an FFXIV-esque style.

So she wouldn't be a magical girl in that sense.

 

I'll try to come up with something interesting

[Kellach Woods]

Well, she could be, if she was a thaumaturge

 

Also, I'd be hella hypocritical if I were to criticize you on being inspired by this because of the following lines in my wiki that I forgot I tossed in there :

 

The inspiration of making a fabulous character with the muscle tone slider up to 100 is definitely inspired by Hirohiko Araki's work on JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Playing a bumbling country boy introduced to a new world is a trope often seen in storytelling, however the most recent portrayal that inspired me is Donnel from Fire Emblem : Awakening.

[Jazz Egi]

I don't really understand the question. Anime is extremely diverse, and while it does have recurring tropes it has genres just like any other media. As long as your character is respectful to the setting there is no problem. (i.e. he is not throwing galaxies at people and piercing the heavens in a giant mecha.)

 

I'm sure your character is a delight. Welcome aboard.

[Jana]

Have you already completed your transfer to Balmung? If not, there's a chance that "Fate Testarossa" will be taken and you'll have to name-change anyway. And if you wanted to, you could always double-check and even ask if someone would be willing to make a character with that name so you could get a free name change. Don't feel like you have to change your character's appearance or anything like that in order to fit in; you're free to do whatever you want. But the name directly lifted from an anime character's is likely where people are drawing the line.

[ArmachiA]

I just checked and Balmung actually seems to be the only server WITHOUT the name.

 

As for the question. I'm not really comfortable rping with any character that an outright stealing of someone elses character (Regardless if they are retrofited for the universe). As an author, it bugs me. I wouldn't RP with any proclaiming to be Sam or Dean Winchester - complete with name, personalities, etc - so I wouldn't do it with anime character.

No offense, but to ME (and only me) it feels like theft.

[Kellach Woods]

That's why I specified the name in my 3 line thing. 'cause then you're not inspired, you're just copying.

[Mithril Specs]

So, I'm not sure if I understand this one-hundred percent. Is your character just slightly inspired by another, or is she meant to, well, basically be a Final Fantasy AU version of an existing one? There's nothing wrong at all with taking some inspiration here and there, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't do that for a good handful of my own characters. 

 

It just, well, treads into some really awkward territory if you go ahead and take a character from a show you enjoy to plug them into a different setting. Ah, I really don't want to be mean, but it somehow doesn't feel quite right? If anything, I'd suggest building a character that's completely your own on the whole magical girl-y concept, but that's just me.

[Chlodomer]

Welcome Lyriell,

 

So as you wish I'm going to go ahead and give out my two cents on this inquiry of yours.

 

My views on it is that it's absolutely fine and normal to generate ideas from other people's works, be it from games, movies, shows, etc. The only thing that leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth is the fact that you're actually using the character's name from the show for your character.

 

In general anime-esque characters are very diverse and I would go as far as to claim that such an argument should never exist in this RP community since FFXIV's characters are filled with anime stereotypes/references (after all this is a japenese game no?)

 

So coming back to what I mentioned on the paragraph before, "copying" the concept and incorporating it into the FFXIV universe isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when you start copying the name then it appears blatantly obvious to everyone that you're just forging a carbon copy of a character from an already existing universe.

 

My advice, if you like the concepts from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, I have no issues with it and I don't see any reasons why anyone should, but create a name on your own. (Although I just realized as I type this that this point has been addressed to a few times...)

[Roswyn]

I think there are ways to take influences from anime and incorporate them into characters I.E. life experiences, weapons, reactions to stimuli etc. As far as just straight taking the name and personality and that is the character..?

 

 

Naming conventions aside, it seems a little...heavy handed? Before you transfer her I would consider a character name change and perhaps working in elements of the character's personality under a more appropriate name.

 

It's the name reaction I give when I see people running around named "Naruto Uzumaki" or "Kenshin Battosai" If these people walked up and tried to rp I would probably...get a linkpearl call and leave. :thumbsup:

 

Granted, Fate is probably a little more obscure but it's the same concept.

[TheLastCandle]

..Oh, the name itself is taken from the anime in question as well? Sorry, I'm not familiar with it. Yeah, I would definitely recommend a more subtle homage, maybe just recalling bits of the character's personality that you admire, if anything. People will be more likely to roleplay with such a character, and it gives you ample opportunity to have fun and be unique, letting your creative side shine.

[Lyriell]

I'm thinking of making a deviation of the characters name.

Though I don't really want to do a name change either.

 

I could let her engine name be as it is but change her canon name if that makes sense?

 

How about Fayt Tessarousa?

[Kellach Woods]

How about Fayt Tessarousa?

sounds like you played too much SO3 and you're trying too hard.

 

Honestly, I'd advise against making an obvious reference. Just keep the FT initials and make a name based off of that would be my advice.

[Lyriell]

How about Fayt Tessarousa?

sounds like you played too much SO3 and you're trying too hard.

 

Honestly, I'd advise against making an obvious reference. Just keep the FT initials and make a name based off of that would be my advice.

 

I don't even know what SO3 is and this is less about obvious reference but more about the fact that I personally just really love that name, that's why I at least want to keep the ring it has right now.

[Roswyn]

How about Fayt Tessarousa?

sounds like you played too much SO3 and you're trying too hard.

 

Honestly, I'd advise against making an obvious reference. Just keep the FT initials and make a name based off of that would be my advice.

 

I don't even know what SO3 is and this is less about obvious reference but more about the fact that I personally just really love that name, that's why I at least want to keep the ring it has right now.

 

If you choose to keep it then you are acknowledging that there are a number of folk that will just not rp with the character.

 

If that is understood then yeah go for it.

[SayonaraRevival]

the average response to this thread is kind of telling about the RP community's general views, I think, at least from an outsider's point of view. )': I still haven't RPed more than once ingame and I have one forum thread, so I'm pretty sure I can count as an 'outsider'.

 

(yet again reiterating lol) I come from Tumblr, where people RP pre-existing characters more often than not (or so my RPing experience goes). and it's the player-made characters that get all the flak there -- apparently the "OC" players are less popular due to the fact that Tumblr RPers just simply don't know the character. and, personally, I always thought that was BS anyway. sure, they get their share of the same world-breaking, lore-bending, god-modding types, but they tend to lump the player-made characters/OCs with the god-modders, and refuse to RP with them in general.

 

and, I know people have their preferences, and RPing is a fun hobby and should stay that way -- but isn't it a bit similar to the concepts of discrimination anyway? there have been so many times I've been hurt when someone has said "you're an OC, so I don't really want to RP with you." this stings bad because of the implication that they're not RPing with me only because I'm RPing a player-made character.

 

and that's really lame to see. implying "I'm not going to try to RP with you just because you're x or y." as a sole reason to refuse RP... is it still a preference at that point? it's got all the fallbacks of any decision based on a stereotype. yes, stereotypes exist for a reason -- but they're not always completely true.

 

as I am reading this, the reverse seems to be true. some people say they would RP with an "AU" character (alternate universe: that's what Tumblr-land calls a different version of a canon character) but others would flat out refuse to for one reason or another. why? what's not permissible about RPing a fictional character that isn't your own? no matter what, the OP's Fate would end up different than the Fate in Nanoha itself, because it's not the original writer behind her -- that's even beyond the FFXIV version differences the OP's mentioned they will make.

 

also, I am curious as to the problem with RPing with a name from something else. as people told me in my intro thread, using the username in RPing at all is pretty much metagaming unless the username matches the RPer's character's intended name for the character. it's not like IRL names are capable of being completely original anyway, so I can only see a problem as perceived by the act of using a name. originality is really hard to fully use -- chances are, even if you come up with something on your own, someone else will have done it in a plot, or made a character like it already, so on and so forth.

 

really, in the music business there is a lot of borrowing chord progressions, melodies, harmonies, rhythms, everything. art is another example. for every popular artist, there's a dozen people who love their style and try to recreate, copy, or incorporate. and even in writing -- there's a ton of plagiarism in the world, along with being simply inspired. so, why is it a problem to begin with? is there an objective and definite response beside personal preference? 

 

where to draw the line between plagiarism and simple inspiration is pretty subjective in some cases. and as I see it, that's why there's hesitation in the "will you RP with this" question. (you know, besides personal preferences.)

 

I don't know if posting my thoughts/opinions/observations on this matter is a good idea, but considering I think I've spent enough time typing this, I should probably just hit the post reply button and hope people understand what I'm trying to say. I'm not trying to pick a fight, just attempting to relay that tl;dr originality is near-impossible to attain, and a lot more people borrow concepts and ideas than one might assume. (and that it's weird to see the reverse of what I'm used to.)

 

to the OP: I don't really mind it myself. I'd RP with Fate, provided you're not my ex who also adored Fate. anyway, you should always do whatever is fun for you -- and if whatever's fun for you includes doing what others want you to do, listening to advice, etc, then go for it.

 

edit: STAR OCEAN 3 YEAHHHH. it had its problems for sure, but I still loved that game :')

[Lyriell]

the average response to this thread is kind of telling about the RP community's general views, I think, at least from an outsider's point of view. )': I still haven't RPed more than once ingame and I have one forum thread, so I'm pretty sure I can count as an 'outsider'.

 

(yet again reiterating lol) I come from Tumblr, where people RP pre-existing characters more often than not (or so my RPing experience goes). and it's the player-made characters that get all the flak there -- apparently the "OC" players are less popular due to the fact that Tumblr RPers just simply don't know the character. and, personally, I always thought that was BS anyway. sure, they get their share of the same world-breaking, lore-bending, god-modding types, but they tend to lump the player-made characters/OCs with the god-modders, and refuse to RP with them in general.

 

and, I know people have their preferences, and RPing is a fun hobby and should stay that way -- but isn't it a bit similar to the concepts of discrimination anyway? there have been so many times I've been hurt when someone has said "you're an OC, so I don't really want to RP with you." this stings bad because of the implication that they're not RPing with me only because I'm RPing a player-made character.

 

and that's really lame to see. implying "I'm not going to try to RP with you just because you're x or y." as a sole reason to refuse RP... is it still a preference at that point? it's got all the fallbacks of any decision based on a stereotype. yes, stereotypes exist for a reason -- but they're not always completely true.

 

as I am reading this, the reverse seems to be true. some people say they would RP with an "AU" character (alternate universe: that's what Tumblr-land calls a different version of a canon character) but others would flat out refuse to for one reason or another. why? what's not permissible about RPing a fictional character that isn't your own? no matter what, the OP's Fate would end up different than the Fate in Nanoha itself, because it's not the original writer behind her -- that's even beyond the FFXIV version differences the OP's mentioned they will make.

 

also, I am curious as to the problem with RPing with a name from something else. as people told me in my intro thread, using the username in RPing at all is pretty much metagaming unless the username matches the RPer's character's intended name for the character. it's not like IRL names are capable of being completely original anyway, so I can only see a problem as perceived by the act of using a name. originality is really hard to fully use -- chances are, even if you come up with something on your own, someone else will have done it in a plot, or made a character like it already, so on and so forth.

 

really, in the music business there is a lot of borrowing chord progressions, melodies, harmonies, rhythms, everything. art is another example. for every popular artist, there's a dozen people who love their style and try to recreate, copy, or incorporate. and even in writing -- there's a ton of plagiarism in the world, along with being simply inspired. so, why is it a problem to begin with? is there an objective and definite response beside personal preference? 

 

where to draw the line between plagiarism and simple inspiration is pretty subjective in some cases. and as I see it, that's why there's hesitation in the "will you RP with this" question. (you know, besides personal preferences.)

 

I don't know if posting my thoughts/opinions/observations on this matter is a good idea, but considering I think I've spent enough time typing this, I should probably just hit the post reply button and hope people understand what I'm trying to say. I'm not trying to pick a fight, just attempting to relay that tl;dr originality is near-impossible to attain, and a lot more people borrow concepts and ideas than one might assume. (and that it's weird to see the reverse of what I'm used to.)

 

to the OP: I don't really mind it myself. I'd RP with Fate, provided you're not my ex who also adored Fate. anyway, you should always do whatever is fun for you -- and if whatever's fun for you includes doing what others want you to do, listening to advice, etc, then go for it.

 

edit: STAR OCEAN 3 YEAHHHH. it had its problems for sure, but I still loved that game :')

 

These were kind off my thoughts on it, though I fear that some people will probably ignore my character despite of how I will play her or fit her into the FFXIV theme.

 

Also, I haven't played Star Ocean 3, but I still love the soundtrack :3

Is it as good as the soundtrack is? I might give it a try ^^

[Titor]

Just going to leave this here

3.5 Naming Right. You may not use any name or other intellectual property belonging to Square Enix or any other third party in your use of the Game (for example, naming a character after a celebrity, company, product, or superhero).

[Kellach Woods]

Just going to leave this here

3.5 Naming Right. You may not use any name or other intellectual property belonging to Square Enix or any other third party in your use of the Game (for example, naming a character after a celebrity, company, product, or superhero).

 

More importantly, just means you might have to change it anyway.

 

However, the people here are less zealous about reporting clones than in CoH/CO, so... yeah.

[Dravus]

No, I wouldn't. Taking inspiration from something is fine, but it should be done in a subtle and tasteful manner. A role-player can often come across as obnoxious if they're effectively just copying and pasting an established character from another setting.