thoughts on fandom and role playing

As a general rule, I personally almost never play characters from existing worlds, though I will happily play in those worlds. That is to say, I will never play and good or bad guys from the DC or Marvel universe but I will make my own characters who fit into that world. I do this for several reasons, first being that if I TRULY love a character, I feel I would not be doing him or her justice in my own attempt to portray that character. Also I think people use existing characters as a sort of crutch, depending on the traits of that person rather than pushing their own mind and skills. Most of all though, I want the freedom for my character to grow in the ways I like and not be stuck to those preset personality traits.

I used to refuse even to play in existing worlds, opting instead to say make my own generic school for mutants and the like. I've since changed my opinion on that and have even played a very few existing characters, including the Doctor from Doctor Who and the grave robber from Repo! the genetic Opera, but these are few and far between. Though i have no problem taking attributes from other characters, bits and pieces of abilities or personality traits, I simply do not agree with playing that which is not my own.

I know most people differ in their opinions from me on this matter and I would love to hear your opinions and even have a bit of, key word FRIENDLY debate ;p. I doubt any one will change my mind but who knows, some one talked me into playing the Doctor after all. So what are every one else's thoughts? And on a side note, do you have feelings on people who always play the 'daughter of harry potter' or the 'forgotten sister of han solo'. Any other role playing crutches you have opinions on? I think I saw some one who was bugged by the whole uke/seme concept.

I see the situation from a lot of sides, seeing as I'm a roleplayer and I hope to one day write novels that I hope people will love enough to create their own fan-related things for (fic, art, rpgs; etc).

In the interest of debate, I'll tell you why I do feel it's totally cool to play someone else's character, straight out of the box - and then I'll follow it up with the idea of taking the character places the original setting never did. ;)

For one thing, as you've noticed, it's really difficult to play someone else's character well. With original characters (OCs for further use in this post), if you realize that an aspect of their personality doesn't 'fit' well with the game or is difficult to play, you can just drop it and the only one you have to answer to is really your game leader (if you have to do that at all). But if you're playing a pre-existing character "in-character" (IC, henceforth), if you drop an aspect of their personality, history, etc. you're no longer playing them "IC" and if the game (or fanfic, if you're writing) is meant to be true to form, you've failed your job to properly recapture the magic/essence of that character.

It's really a good way to force players/writers to consider things about the character and their own playing/writing style that they wouldn't have had to if they didn't have guidelines they had to stay within. It's a challenge that many truly professional writers face every day in their workplace. Anyone who reads comic books knows how the fans will howl if Superman is written to act "out of character" (OOC). A good writer/player can take a character with a very iconic personality, stay in character and still take them places that another writer never dreamed of.

The thing is, when you take a character (any character, original or someone else's) and put them into a situation they've never been in before and test and try them in ways they hadn't been tried and tested before, it ought to change them. Maybe not in big ways, but playing out subtleties takes skill too. If you can keep them still reasonably IC after traumatizing them or putting them into a relationship they hadn't been in before and perhaps might not have if not for a series of events leading up to that point, having them act "OOC" in ways that are oddly still "IC" and anyone reading your story or playing with you in your game agrees, then you're ace. You've leveled up. There are people getting paid to do it who don't do that well. xD

I'm most certainly not saying that if you don't play someone else's character, you can't call yourself a good writer or a good player. It just takes skill to work within the lines someone else sketched out and know when it's better to go outside of them. ;)


On the slightly different note of fan-characters on the lines of "son/daughter/girlfriend/boyfriend/sister/brother/cousin/next door neighbor of _____" - well, it depends entirely on the situation. Anyone who plays solely those things, using other characters as a guide and foil is using them just as often as a crutch as people who use pre-existing characters "out of the box". But, again, it takes real skill to imagine a character and how the other character's established actions might have affected the new character and write them seamlessly.

I can't knock anyone for it because everyone starts somewhere and crutches help you walk without pain and support you until you can walk on your own. If it weren't for fan-characters, I wouldn't be where I am. In fact, I daily roleplay with characters that started in the SWAT Kats: the Radical Squadron universe. (It's actually the first thing I ever truly roleplayed beyond a few antics in chatrooms that were half IC playing and half OOC chatting.)

And those are my thoughts in favor. ;)

I almost feel intimidated. >.>

In my opinion it is way more of an experience to play as an original character. For a few reasons, I think it is a lot more pleasant way of going about things, and gives you plenty of freedom and creative license.

First of all, when you are working with a pre-constructed character, especially a popular one... people can become more critical of your posts. So you really have to know your information inside an out on that character before you post as them. I once created an anime series based role play on another site and all characters were OC but with the setting and general plot line of the series, but in order to make it more genuine I posted as a NPC pre-made character from the series. It was surprisingly difficult. I knew a few of his mannerisms but overall the post itself never reached the caliber that I wanted it to be.

And second, I believe that creating original characters is easier for beginners. True that means they have to come up with personality traits, backgrounds and things like that... but there is freedom. The creator can go back and alter things as they see fit or possibly they start out small with a basic idea, and through role playing as their OC they slowly get a better feel for who this character really is and more ideas sprout from there.

In no way do i judge people negatively when they play with pre-made characters. Certainly I will give them a chance (which usually ends well) but if they completely destroy the character as I know it, of course it's going to turn me off. The only case that this would excite me to pieces would be if I could play out romances that were unthinkable or untouched in the series. ^///^

Although I have never experienced someone taking a pre-made character and putting it into a different setting... how interestingly odd that would turn out... hmm...

Anywho, I vote beginners stick to OC... unless they are a HUGE fan and can tell you all the ups and downs of the character to the point you might wonder if they are the president of the fan club. And bless those who can pull it off, maybe one day I can reach that caliber!

This may well be a side-effect from learning to roleplay on a site where fan-based RP is the order of the day, but I can't, in all honesty, say I see the harm in it. Rather, I don't see the harm in, say, setting a roleplay within the Harry Potter universe. Who wouldn't want to run around in the Harry Potter universe? The Harry Potter universe is great!

As for the characters themselves, I generally take it on a case-by-case basis; I can't really judge a player for choosing to play an already-established character (James Potter, for example) until I've seen how well they write the character, and in my experience, it's entirely possible to find players who write pre-existing characters as though it were the role they were born to play. I prefer to see original characters, of course, but I'm willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, most of the time. Not always, but most of the time.

Now, is it great practice for aspiring writers who want to someday expand into their own body of work? Is it terribly original to start a roleplay that takes place within a universe that is already well-established? Probably not. But I'm inclined to forgive that in the name of harmless fun. After all, there are more than a few published authors out there who started out writing fan-fiction for a series that they loved, and RPing within another author's universe is little different than that.

Well, coming from someone who has played fan characters, OCs, fan characters in AUs, OCs in fan locations, and just about every other mix except for "the son/daughter/sister/longlost x of fan character"; here are my two cents:

I've always loved to write, and ever since young I started creating stories with my own characters. I had only written two, later only four, fanfictions. Why? Because, like it's been mentioned, playing a character someone else has made is far more complicated and people can get quite critical of what you write.

I started RPing via original characters in original settings. I can not imagine having started any other way. It took me years to build up the "courage" to play a fan character, because playing something you have not created yourself and you don't have the 'instinct' of how he/she behaves automatically is quite difficult. That's not to say I don't like the challenge of investigating their past, playing their reactions, etc- it's a challenge. But some people get really pissy if you "interpret" certain personality traits of a character a different way than them, and it can become troublesome in some RPs. others actually completely disregard anything written about said character and just play it OOC completely.
So, I myself have only played fan characters with certain close friends, who we already know each other's reactions and takes on those characters. Then no one is disappointed. ;P
That and, in most "anime" type RPs where you choose a fan character, theone you want is usually taken already anyway! XD

It takes a lot of skill to play a fan character as it should have been.
And it also takes a lot of skill to create an original character and setting. I love making both- if having to choose between fan and OC, I go with OC all the way. You have a lot more liberties, you know for sure when you go OOC, and no one can tell you your own characters is OOC, haha.

I don't particularly mind what people choose, anyway, and I don't really mind to play in a fan-universe (like say, Harry Potter's universe), but I personally do find it really bothersome when people mix OC and original, particularly if they mix it "closely".
To keep on the Harry Potter example to illustrate- I wouldn't mind if OC students had the fan teachers, but I would mind if the OC student becomes he son/daughter/brother/sister/uncle/long-lost-x/bff/bf/gf/etc of a fan character (it's too Mary Sue, sorry!), or if they crossover a character from an anime into it (say, someone from Inu Yasha lol).

Other than that, I don't particularly much mind what else they do or mix into the equation, though I do value OCs a bit higher than pre-made/fan characters.

And I'm rambling. Anyway, that's my two cents. :P