Discuss: How important is a biography?

[Eden]

How important is a character biography? In your opinion, I mean. I'm mostly referring to a character's history, but in a broad sense this includes anything in a biography.

I tend to lean towards unimportant, except where it helps a GM determine a character's appropriateness, or just helps a GM in general. For example coming up with ideas specific to that character or deciding whether or not to let them play.

But as for the player themselves, if they're a good enough player I feel bios really aren't as necessary and can even be a little detrimental. Personally, I've found I need to write a more detailed biography when I don't know the character well enough , and in the writing of the bio I can get a better handle on the character. But I've found that in other cases, if I know the character very well, not having a biography allows me more flexibility. If I know how a character is and how they should act/react, it comes too complex of a personality to put down on paper. It's more intuitive, and putting it on paper.

But that's taking the extreme, no bio vs. bio. What about details regarding a character's life? Background? Especially early life? Sure, childhood is important in how a person develops. But I can't help feeling flexibility to be vague or make things up on the spot is better, instead of memorizing and dealing with an entire life you've written out.

[Maneki Neko]

I think it mostly depends on the style of game you're doing and who the other players are, so to speak.

As an artist, I really love a fully fleshed out bio, because it means if I have the hankering to draw someone's character, I can just go to their bio and make sure I have all the details correct. If I left it up to my memory, I may give them the wrong details - even with reference pictures, unless the player is the artist themselves. Many people use references that don't "actually" look like the character. "It's like this (only he'd never...)"

As a GM, or fellow player (depending on how the "rules" are in the game), it helps me do plots or subplots that the character(s) may be more easily able to get in on. For example, it'd help to know that Susie used to work as a fire dancer for a traveling circus. I might want to arrange (as a GM) for that circus to come to town or for something to happen with her former performers. Or maybe (as a player) have my character mention liking circuses. Especially (in both cases) if there's some sort of drama associated with it. It beats having your characters sitting around waiting for someone to discover something about you. xD

I also find it extremely useful to make a bio for a new character. It helps you, the player, think of these things... and remember them. ^^; I used to do some of those character memes that made their way around LiveJournal (I'm sure they make their way around other services too) that had totally random questions for you to answer. I'd make things harder on myself and answer once for "in character" and once for "out of character". So it'd go something like, "Who is the most important person in the world to you?" (IC) "Oh, really? I guess everyone who's not a jerk. I love everyone. <3" (OOC) "Actually, he doesn't love everyone. Obviously. He's got someone really important to him right now, but he can't even bring himself to admit it. Waiting for it to come up in-game before mentioning it OOC." You'd be surprised what doing that can make you realize about your characters. I've tied bits of character backstories together that way, because all it took was me asking/being asked the right question that opened a door in my head, so to speak.

I... uhm... Also typically find it a decent indicator of the player's writing skills. It's not always true, mind. Some people write beautiful bios and play terribly and others struggle with bios but are excellent players. But as a GM, I prefer bios just so I can have some indication of what their potential is.


That all said, when I 1x1 roleplay with my best friend, we never make bios for our characters. Of course, part of that is because we recycle our characters a lot and play them in different universes. "This is a steampunk universe." "This is a hard sci-fi universe." etc. We know our characters so well by this point that even when we do something major to them, it comes fairly naturally. Even when it deeply affects their personalities so they don't actually act terribly much like they did in previous universes. But we don't even do this when we create new characters for the games anymore. Possibly because we're able to focus fairly easily on the new character because we're "supported" by the old ones.

And in games where you literally do not want other characters to have "insights" about your character's personalities, pasts, or even looks - it's far more useful to not use bios at all and just keep a list of revealed information somewhere if you have artists in your group.

TL;DR version:
It depends on the game, but I tend to find them useful more times than not.

Less useful situations = playing 1x1, particularly with a player you've gamed with frequently enough + a game where secrecy is important.

[Mitsukashira]

Typically I have two types of biographies: the kind I keep in my head, and the kind I type. For most characters I can quickly and easily create a background and history for. I keep that information in mind, and I'm very likely to ever forget it. However, when I am crafting a character I really enjoy, or a character I intend to use in a complex plot, I create a detailed biography. I include most aspects of their life, from birth to the present time in the role-play. Once that is done, I then create a detailed time-line outlining the age of the character during important events. This is all for my own personal use, and satisfaction. As for other people, it depends.

For a one on one role-play, I do not typically request a biography from my partner. At the start of most role-plays, I come up with the plot, so I already know as much as I "need" to know about any one characters background. There might be other miscellaneous information I would like to know, but that's mostly just to confirm the other person isn't tacking lame details onto their character. For instance, I might like to know what sort of equipment my partner is outfitting the character, or what sort of spells they know. This is merely to ensure my partner isn't going to create a super powerful, or even overly weak character.

In group role-plays, I absolutely require a biography for every character. It's far easier to upset the balance of a group role-play than a one on one. A single poor character can ruin the experience for multiple people, and even cause conflict. I'm very stringent with the standards I impose on every aspect of character creation for group role-plays. If I feel a character's biography is not reasonable, or ignores details of the plot and or world, I will immediately reject them.

Basically, I don't feel the need to know the complete background of my partner's characters. That's not to say I'm not interested, because I may have a desire to discover it during role-play. Even when I do require a biography, I merely do it to keep the general quality of the role-play up.

[Utopia]

I think the quality of a biography depends on the flavor of the game.

Light hearted, slice of life style games need only a skeletal bio for the character because those games are more about developing the character than about the plot and world setting. By Skeletal, I mean the bare bones- having an idea of who the character is, the family, where they are from, basic outline personality- maybe a couple of fun details.

In campaign style games, I like to see (and write) more detailed character bios. I think it is important to know the motivations of the character based on their history and personality. This helps not only the player, but also the GM focus the game a bit. Even in games where the plot is outlined out, there is a fluidity that the characters of the game help to flesh out. It also helps the players integrate themselves into the world.

It really depends on the style and the game though- even campaign style games can have skeletal bios if it is more of a hack and slash/dungeon crawl style game. I try to base my character bios off of the effort the GM puts into the game in writing up background and and setting.

It also depends on the "level" of game- beginner, intermediate or advance. An Advanced roleplay, the character should have a much better idea of their character and it should be more detailed. Yes, leaving out details allows for making up some things on the fly, but knowing the character motivations makes for a more solid, consistent play. This doesn't cut out character evolution- but it helps you to figure out what your character would do (rather than what you as a player would do).

[Xavirne]

I think it depends on the players and the game. If it's someone you know and can trust, then they aren't needed. If they are a new partner and you're uncertain whether or not you want to partake in a roleplay with their character, then they might be of some use. It really has a lot to do with the content, the person behind the character, and the desire to make one. I have some friends who refuse to make profiles. I have others that will only roleplay with profiles.

[Schizophrenic]

If I am creating a character for a game I will usually base my effort on the effort of either my partner or the GM. If the game doesn't necessarily call for an overly detailed history and personality I will keep things short and simple to how I see fit. But if I see that they are putting in a lot of hard work in the creation of their game and their characters I am going to go ahead and try and do the same. I wouldn't want to let anyone down by giving them only a quarter of the effort they gave me.

But I agree that it greatly depends on the style of game... the environment, the age of the character, the history of the setting. For example, imagine a modern day teenager having a conversation with an older fellow who had his home town destroyed in the first war and he currently fought in the second war against a group of foreign creatures who are trying to wipe out the human race. The conversation would be quite one sided. xD

[Eden]

Random comment since I'm planning to read over the comments later but don't really have the time now--with the original Ardent I never actually had anyone make biographies. I had no idea about anyone's backstories. xD

[Tahiel]

I think, if you're a GM, biographies (history and such) are very important in order to determine if the person fits you RP- mostly for intermediate and advanced RPs -and to make sure they understood your world.
As a player, I don't much mind if other people provide a bio or not- I actually prefer to have just a detailed description and go from there. Then you can discover the past if your character grows close to theirs, rather than try to remember what the OC has told mine and what I read from the bio and have no business knowing.

[Kriemedean]

I use bio the same way I use plot, to build a character or emphasize a viewpoint, except it is plot past. Although, what if I want to hide a history and I can't use flashbacks or reference them? Those are scenes that I failed to include. What if their back story is boring as watching paint dry? Intrigue/Mystery RP?

Sometimes I hate them, because I don't want to waste words out of story and people think pictures substitute for telling what their character looks like in story, but other times it's helpful, focusing on straight-up facts rather than description or undertones. It can go either way, if I don't know much about the character, since it could develop in story. I suppose it's great as the host of an RP and can vary in how much is needed, but 1x1 it's no fun, especially when the other person's characters seem to know everything about yours and they are not omniscient or spies. If I know their abilities, I don't think it is such a big deal.