Character MBTIs

[Somniac 207]

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a popular personality ‘inventory’. I’ve seen both writers and roleplayers use it as a tool for developing and understanding their characters better.

 

DISCUSS:

Do you use it? Why or why not?

Do you notice any patterns among your characters personality-wise?

Do you drive the qualities of your characters, or do the characters drive you?

[Jaxx 317]

I don't use MBTI unless an app asks for it. And then I'll look up some summary of the traits and choose whichever sounds most similar to my character or just ask if I can put N/A. I don't ever want to take some kind of test or quiz to figure out my character. As an optional thing, sometimes, maybe, if I'm bored. But not as a normal thing. 

 

Mostly because I don't know what any of the acronyms mean so you might as well keysmash for all it tells me. Plus I feel like a lot of characters don't fit into whatever those categories are because there's always exceptions and random traits that don't fit into whatever system a site uses when it comes to identifying by personality. It's basically just an extra step that I don't want to take because I already know what kind of character I want to write and MBTI doesn't add anything to the character/experience for me. 

 

I've written everything from "I'll kill you with my bare hands for looking at me wrong" to "I invite homeless people to sleep on my couch and make them dinner" so my characters' personalities are all over the map. But a lot of them do tend to be rough around the edges in some way or another. My magizoologist likes animals better than people and prefers to scare most people off with resting bitch face instead of talking to them. My raptor shifter has an attitude toward humans because he was experimented on by human scientists and doesn't see himself as a human any more. 

 

Some characters I choose personality traits for, some characters more or less write themselves. It varies. Although I've noticed that most of my faves fall somewhere on the writing themselves side of the scale. And a lot are canons, so it's already written for me. Overall I tend to leave personalities vague either way. I used to specifically choose 10 positive and 10 negative traits, but now I just mention a few major things and leave the rest up to how things develop IC. Because somehow characters always change from what I write when I lay it all out. 

[Somniac 207]

Do you use it?

Yes. It’s not a perfect system, but it can help draw attention to some more obvious distinctions and keep things from getting too same-y.

 

Any patterns in your characters personality-wise?

I tend to roll a lot of characters with traits similar to people I see on the regular, or people who have made a big impression. A lot of SFPs, and also a disproportionate amount of INTPs because I live with one. TJs are a guilty pleasure, but I’ve never rolled my own type as more than a side character.

 

Driver or passenger?

I take them to get their permit and occasionally point out a pit stop. Then, the rest is on them and the roads they’re driving on.

[Nevermind 64]

Do you use it? Why or why not?

I don't use it regularly, however once I've done some work on the character I do think it's fun to run through an MBTI test to see what the result will be. I know myself to be an INFJ, and I do tend to write more introverted-leaning characters, but sometimes the other qualities that arise will surprise me. If I were having more trouble driving a character in a particular direction, or if I felt like I were creating too many characters with similar personalities, taking a step back and using the MBTI to mold a character alien to me would be an incredibly useful option.

 

Do you notice any patterns among your characters personality-wise?

As I touched on, many of my characters tend to be introverted and strong-willed, but those seem to be some of the few common traits. I've had characters who were blunt and honest, others who were purposefully manipulative and illusive, cheeky senses of humor to no sense of humor, patient to volatile and easily provoked, etc. 

 

Do you drive the qualities of your characters, or do the characters drive you?

I'd say the latter more than the former. I'll have a skeleton of how I want the character to behave and work from that, doing my best to ensure that the character is consistent throughout the RP, but oftentimes my characters will develop in ways I wouldn't have predicted. I find that fairly exciting, so I don't mind a character change/arc as long as it makes sense in the context of the RP.

[PixieMegs 107]

1. I don't use it, but that's because I don't want it to guide my process through creation. And I know if I did use it, I would try to adhere to their category. 

 

2. Yes...most of my characters hate people. XD And I have a hard time writing characters that are just genuinely happy individuals with fairly decent and normal lives. However, I do put in the effort to try to write these types of characters to help my understanding of them. Also, it can be really fun to just play an absolute cinnamon roll. 

 

3. I think it's a mix. I drive my characters when I want, but they do tend to just do ....whatever. 

[Somniac 207]

5 hours ago, PixieMegs said:

1. I don't use it, but that's because I don't want it to guide my process through creation. And I know if I did use it, I would try to adhere to their category. 

 

2. Yes...most of my characters hate people. XD And I have a hard time writing characters that are just genuinely happy individuals with fairly decent and normal lives. However, I do put in the effort to try to write these types of characters to help my understanding of them. Also, it can be really fun to just play an absolute cinnamon roll. 

 

3. I think it's a mix. I drive my characters when I want, but they do tend to just do ....whatever. 

Ahh, the call of the misanthrope. I have some happy characters – they’re generally peripheral, though. It’s not that they don’t have intriguing stories to tell. I just have a taste for blood. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

I’ve actually found it the most helpful for me to take inventory once I’ve already had them out for a while. For some characters it’s a straightforward process, but for some I’ll mark ‘x’s in unidentified/untested aspects and keep that in mind in case I’ve already got a bunch of one type. Two different methods can reach similar conclusions, but the journey’s half the fun.

[Yona Carlin 44]

I can administrate the tests so it's pretty much a standard for me when constructing a character archetype. I base it off of JCF, though, so rather than say is this person shy or outgoing or is this person motivated by objectivity or impulse I try to look at internal/external logical/ethical models and it's pretty easy to pinpoint their dominant function from there. 

[Rhindeer 217]

On 7/13/2019 at 5:23 AM, Somniac said:

Do you use it? Why or why not?

Do you notice any patterns among your characters personality-wise?

Do you drive the qualities of your characters, or do the characters drive you?

I don't use it. Never have. I tried once, but I didn't like it. Felt like trying to force my characters into a box that didn't even make sense.

 

Besides, the whole MBTI thing is super outdated, unreliable, and ain't a scientifically or psychologically valid thing. Nor is it even a theoretically validated assessment of personality. I hate that it puts "thinking" and "feeling" on opposite sides of the spectrum when that just...isn't even scientifically true?? Research shows that people with greater thinking and reasoning skills are also better with emotions. Arghhh.

 

I could rant forever, but basically it drives me nuts and I wish the fad would die. xD But if it helps some people with their character development, props to them!

Edited August 7, 2019 by Viscount Rhi-Rhi

[clipsed 231]

We use it when we do the sorting for first year students who opt to be ~surprised (HP board), but otherwise I see it as a fun add-on rather than particularly insightful or, indeed, even necessary. My own type seems to fluctuate even when I take the same iteration of the quiz; why shouldn't my characters'? Still, as someone who enjoys taking surveys, it can be a fun way to kill an afternoon 😉

[Somniac 207]

16 hours ago, Viscount Rhi-Rhi said:

I don't use it. Never have. I tried once, but I didn't like it. Felt like trying to force my characters into a box that didn't even make sense.

 

Besides, the whole MBTI thing is super outdated, unreliable, and ain't a scientifically or psychologically valid thing. Nor is it even a theoretically validated assessment of personality. I hate that it puts "thinking" and "feeling" on opposite sides of the spectrum when that just...isn't even scientifically true?? Research shows that people with greater thinking and reasoning skills are also better with emotions. Arghhh.

 

I could rant forever, but basically it drives me nuts and I wish the fad would die. xD But if it helps some people with their character development, props to them!

First off, I adore that you jumped in with some actual research. I do remember a documentary that explored how intelligent serious vs. whimsical people tended to score on tests, and the latter just tended to do better in life all around.

 

Surprisingly, some MBTI theory re: healthy types/unhealthy types actually leans toward a similar notion with the idea that older and more mature people are generally harder to type because they have generally built skills outside of what is believed to be their strong points.

 

That said, my interest in MBTI tends toward interesting extremes to see what people would guess a person or character's primary values to be, and admittedly a dose of plain old this:

Thanks for the thoughtful response!

 

P.S. I probably feel a similiar way about Enneagrams as you do about MBTI. Curse you, vague numbers. }:|

[Libby 100]

We have it on our app; that said it's optional for people to use or not at their discretion. 

I personally use it with every character. Mostly I write the whole character out, figure out who the person will be and then take the test AS that person to see where they fall. It has been most interesting to see where they fall. Even characters that are very similar in some ways can end up on varied ends of the  tests. It amuses me, and for no other reason I use them. 

 

Not for everyone, but I feel like it helps me get to know the character better.

[ArizonaRaspberry 35]

MTBI's are like... a fun game to throw in your OOC forum. I don't think they should be required on apps, or at least, I won't personally use them or join sites that do. At that point it becomes a chore, especially if you're writing a new character and don't know them yet. It's not worth the trouble.