Differnt types of roleplay (couldn't think about anything better)

I've been looking into roleplay at LiverJournal but never joined anything. Then I found this place. :)

This is just a thought I've been having and I wonder what the rest of you think?

The RPG's I've been looking into at LJ is mostly fan-based, kinda. You take a pre-made character from a TV-show, Book, Anime/Manga etc. and play that character. I haven't seen many OC's on the games I've been following at LJ.
What'd you think of pre-made characters?

The RPG's I've been looking (at LJ) into is panfandom/multiverse types of RPG. However all of them has a closed room scenario i.e. you're taken from your home world either by unknown magic force or get to a place in your home world. In none of these cases you can get away from there. You're stuck.
Why is it like that? Why is it that you get to a place and have no way to get back?

On this site almost every RPG is with OC's.
Do you think that is better than pre-made chars? Why?
Is free-form i.e. a world where anything can happen, better than an (original) existing world, with rules and a pre-defined setting?

I see nothing wrong with "pre-made" characters. I think they can be a lot of fun. I think my only problem with them is that there are two major schools of thought with pre-mades:

A) Nothing about the character should change and should instead stay true to the source.
B) The character should grow based on what happens in the game, as long as they stay true to their inner self and history, things about them can change.


I'm someone from the "B" school of thought. Which is all well and good when I run into other "B" type players who are interested in seeing a character grow and change from their canon representations. But players from the "A" school of thought don't enjoy it because they consider it "cheating" or "laziness" or being unable to grasp the character properly. In some ways, school A players aren't far off the mark as a lot of style B players can be lazy players or are unable to properly grasp a character and essentially use their playing style as an excuse to not study the character properly before playing it. But not allowing a character to grow and change based on what they experience is just as poor of a playing style as not grasping a character properly in the first place...


...but I'm rambling. ;)


As for your second question, I think a lot of games use the premise that you "can't get back" to where you came from so that characters do all their growing/changing/friends-making in-game rather than concentrating on their 'canon' personalities/associates/experiences exclusively. That is to say, they want the characters to "stay" so that they can make relationships and have experiences in the game and have a reason to talk to the other characters in the game.


For your third question, I think that it's just the nature of the types of players we've attracted so far and what ideas for games they've had sitting around or were inspired to create based on the features we have. The features allow for games that might have been too complicated or too "big" to run on many roleplaying forum sites unless they created their own rp forum (which most people don't have the time/other resources to do). I think that original games probably are ones that would require that sort of format.


I obviously can't speak for everyone, but I think my favorite type of universe is a pre-existing universe but with original characters. It gives every player a good idea of what is expected/usual for that world while giving them the freedom to make whatever sort of character they like, assuming they work well with the setting and the Game Host's preferences. (For instance, the Harry Potter universe has vampires, but a Game Host may not want to allow them since the 'rules' for vampires weren't covered very much for vampires and it may seem easier to forbid vampire characters.)


But that's my thoughts on that. :)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. :)

I think the way you explained A vs B school was interesting. I haven't thought much about that. I know in some fandoms within fan fiction there's has been people who points out all the time what is canon and what isn't. I don't think you should criticize people like that. I'm used to pre-made characters from TV-shows. I try to stay true to the character in that in his/her way of expression. But I'm open for character development. I guess I belong to the B-school. I think most RPers on Twitter does.

I can understand your thought pattern in the second question. Made me understand it a bit better. I still doesn't like the fact that you can't go back but your explanation makes it easier to understand why the characters stay. However, if I would take a pre-made char and play in one of these panfandom, I would like to have at least one from my show. But that hasn't been the case on the ones I've been watching. That's just my personal opinion though... mostly because I haven't found it elsewhere.

I appreciate all the work people put into their RPG's. I can imagine it's much to think of when you create your own world as most of them have. I actually got two RPG's, lying around in my head but my lacking English scares me from building them. I can understand the format of this site suits for original and pre-made worlds.

Thanks for your thoughts on this subject. :)

I agree with Neko on most stuff.

I don't really mind pre-made characters, but I do prefer OCs over them. I enjoy playing with them more, and I love creating them from scratch and watching them grow. Besides, I can't help but be bugged when a pre-made character is taken completely out of character (I don't mind character growth and all, but if you play a cheerful character that I like as completely sad and angsty, I can't help but hate it XD).

That is why usually, I prefer everything original. Original characters, original setting, etc. No one can complain about artistic-licenses taken when you create your own world. ;)


As for the closed-room scenario, I see it as usually you're stuck in a situation because if you "open" it, no one would interact much. This is true for both fandom and original universes.

As example, I will put an RP I attempted to run with my ex and his sister, both who failed terribly at grasping the whole "interaction" concept.
My ex decided he wanted to go to a tavern in the city I'd had them start on.
His sister decided that, although it was safest to stay with her brother, she would just go the exact opposite way, on her own.
Thus, they characters did not interact.

Most worlds end up sticking you in a place to "force" interaction. When you have limited places to go, you will have more manners of eventually coming across one another.


As for the question on OCs > Premade, I sorta repeat my above statement- I like OCs because I can't go wrong with my own creations, because they're fun to make- I love making up stories for them, thinking their looks, etc, etc. And be cause no one can tell me how to play my own characters.
Besides, I find it harder to grasp a personality of someone I did not create and stay faithful to it.

As I said before I haven't been playing long with OC's. However I'm starting to see the charm with and hard work that goes into them. But I still think pre-made chars are playable. Both on Twitter and Live Journal is there alot of pre-made characters. But also a few original, at least on Twitter. It's true it can be trouble staying IC but isn't that a problem for OC's too? But I agree it's easier as a OC's made of your imagination while pre-made is based on someone else's. I also agree that if a cheerful char gets turned into a sad one. That isn't right. In that case the person does not grasp who he/she is playing. It's difficult to say if an OC's not IC though. (I'm not defending pre-made, just sharing my thoughts)

I understand your point about the closed location. Still the though of never, ever coming back, even if i abandon my character is unsettling. But I understand it's important from an interaction POI.

Btw someone can complain about artistic-license even for OC's because everything we do is influenced by what we have been through or encountered before. To be completely ground breaking, original and new is difficult. Was on a lecture about that.

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Originally Posted by Brook V

It's true it can be trouble staying IC but isn't that a problem for OC's too?

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Well, it can be a problem sometimes, that is true. Like in instances when you think the character will be one thing but during a playthrough it ends up being completely different on its own. However, since it's your own character, you can make any changes you want without problems; more than likely no one will know better unless you give them a full background beforehand. :P

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Originally Posted by Brook V

Btw someone can complain about artistic-license even for OC's because everything we do is influenced by what we have been through or encountered before. To be completely ground breaking, original and new is difficult. Was on a lecture about that.

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Also true enough. But my thought on it was more related on the same one above.
If I'm playing pre-made!cheerful as sad, I'm doing OOC, and the other person can tell me off on it and be perfectly right.
But if I'm playing OC!sad, and the person doesn't like it, I can tell them to stfu XD It's my character and I make him or her respond however the heck I want to different situations- be it a realistic reaction or not.
If I make a world in which people can fly, and they tell me it's wrong: well my world has magic, so there. XD
It's that kind of artistic license that people can't 'really' tell you off on (even if they do) because it's your world or OC and you do whatever the heck you want with your own creations.

The fact on original not being original anymore is a whole 'nother ordeal. IMHO nothing is original anymore, too many things have been made in time that something will always be partially "stolen", "inspired by", "reminiscent" or "based off" of another thing.

At least, that's my feelings on it. :)
I don't say one's better than the other because to each their own, but my preference definitely lies towards OCs.

All of those are good points. I like to play pre-made but have got more into OC's. Nothing wrong with that. Everyone liked different things.

The btw note was just a bit of triva, not a way to say pre-made are as good as or better than Oc's. :) Just discussing things here. :) I agree with some of your points. You don't have to agree with me and I'm not trying to convince you. Each to Their Own. :)

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Originally Posted by Brook V

You don't have to agree with me and I'm not trying to convince you. Each to Their Own. :)

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Oh of course. I didn't think it was that way, nor did I meant to sound like I was trying to convince anyone either, was just expanding a bit on those points since I felt I hadn't done a great job to begin with. :)

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Originally Posted by Tahiel

Oh of course. I didn't think it was that way, nor did I meant to sound like I was trying to convince anyone either, was just expanding a bit on those points since I felt I hadn't done a great job to begin with. :)

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It's alright. :)

Do you think that is better than pre-made chars? Why?
Yes, because they are mine. ^.~

Is free-form i.e. a world where anything can happen, better than an (original) existing world, with rules and a pre-defined setting?
Um, I like to make an original world with rules and pre-defined settings. I just don't like to play them, because I feel that I might do them an injustice.

People do this all the time in the comic-book scene, but I consider them recreated versions. I just don't see the personal progress of it, that's all.

I have to say I completely agree with Maneki Neko. I realize this is not much of an input, but I wanted to post in this thread and I couldn't think of anything that could be written without achieving the same result by copy pasting his post.