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Character Clones vs Chaotic Characters: Which is better for you?


Hysteria
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When I was younger and in the rp community I had a tendency to make my characters mirror myself, with only minor changes to give them their own breath of life. At times I'd make them into who I want to be, at other times they'd become who I'd never EVER want to be. I had enemies and lovers and friends all crafted after my own ideals and personality traits. After awhile, I always grew bored with them. They felt far too predictable, two dimensional, and overall no fun to write after a month or three.

 

Recently I've been analyzing my own characters now, both past versions of them and present. I noticed that eight years later I do the exact opposite. I try to include as little of myself as possible, and give them an entirely different set of traits, goals, and even responses than myself. Different from being a complete opposite...but not too far off from becoming one with a tad bit more charrie devs. I'm usually more surprised with these, but I also end up disliking them to a certain extent - even wanting to see my own characters suffer more, as well as being much more willing to throw them into risky situations.

 

So with that, I wanted to ask you guys; Do you think it's more character-productive (for lack of better words) to make a character holding some of your traits or ideals, or make a character without them and watch them grow on their own with little sway as to what you - the creator wants? How do you draw the line between clone and chaotic? Can you still predict your character if it's a Chaotic one, or do you feel surprised by clones despite putting a lot of yourself in them? How on earth do you keep yourself from getting bored with either after a period of months...?

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I tend to vary with how much of my own traits and ideals I put in my character, but there's almost always one or two. It can be something as minor as the character not liking spicy food like me, or something as a big as having the same ideals. But even if I give them some of my own traits I always give them enough of other traits to make them a different person. And even then the same ideals and traits can be expressed differently due to their environment or childhood. So for me drawing a line is difficult, cause I rarely make clones or chaotic characters, they're all their own unique creations that is a mix of some of my own traits and completely different traits.  

 

I think honestly the most productive thing so to say is not to concentrate on how alike or different the character is to you, bur rather their foundation. Sure, sometimes enjoyment comes from how much you can identify with the character, but other times it's interesting slipping into a completely different mindset. It's a lot more fun playing a character that you can easily figure out how to play, which may be why some find characters that is a lot of them fun to play since their responses come easy to them since the charas reactions are their own. However you can also make a character that is completely different from you and still easily figure out their responses, but I think that if you sit down and figure out motivations, dreams background it will come easier. 

 

Nothing really is chaotic, I have a character that is almost nothing like me. He is cold, cruel and calculating, the only thing about him that is similar to me is how much he enjoys books and the sea. I know exactly why he is like that, I know his motivations, his fears, his likes and dislikes and so I can predict his responses. Of course I do find myself surprised by these kind of characters more often than the ones who are more like me. The character ends up in a situation he has never been in and so I need to sit down, evaluate what I know about him and figure out something new about my character. But the same can be said for a "clone" as well, as new experiences as you roleplay them will change them or get them in situations where the logical reaction for that character isn't something you had thought them (or yourself maybe) capable of. 

 

And as for not getting bored, I think that is maybe more of a plot problem? I mean as long as they have an interesting plot going on, something that pushes you forward to write them because you want to see what they'll do and if they achieve their goals you should find them interesting. Another thing I suppose is if they aren't evolving at all, if the clone character stays a "clone" and doesn't get changed by what they experience I'd get bored. And I'd get bored with a "chaotic" character if I found them difficult to write because I hadn't laid a proper foundation. So I suppose to keep from getting bored by getting them involved in interesting plots, have their motivations worked out so I know my character enough to easily write them, and I get them in situations that change them so I can have fun exploring new beliefs, traumas and relationships. 

 

Sorry, this became more of a rambling than coherent answer. 

 

 

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I know you know these definitions, I just wanted to put them out there for anyone else

 

Self-Insertion : To make a character that is like yourself

 

Living vicariously : To imagine oneself personally in the character's situation extensively, usually as a form of (unhealthy) escape from reality.

 

Therapeutic roleplay: To write to get through personal issues, usually through living vicariously through a self-insert character in a similar situation to the real-life troubling one.

 

--

 

Do you think it's more character-productive (for lack of better words) to make a character holding some of your traits or ideals, or make a character without them and watch them grow on their own with little sway as to what you - the creator wants?

 

For theraputic roleplay, it can be productive, it depends on the person.

 

For the rest of the roleplay world plotting, it's just personal preference. But in general, the principle is the more predictable things are, the more boring things are for us as human beings.

 

How do you draw the line between clone and chaotic?

 

The more of yourself a character has, the more of a self-insert it is. It's never black and white. To some degree, all of our characters have a tiny bit of ourselves in them - if they didn't, we wouldn't understand how they ticked and thus we wouldn't be able to write them.

 

Can you still predict your character if it's a Chaotic one, or do you feel surprised by clones despite putting a lot of yourself in them?

 

All characters have surprises, just as you can still surprise yourself as a person.

 

The question, instead, is, will you the author let the character have the surprise? That is, will you stray from the path you plotted out, and how far?

 

How on earth do you keep yourself from getting bored with either after a period of months...?

 

Most people who create clones of the same characters eventually  have the same revelation as you did. 


Regardless, I think roleplayers have some characters they've been playing for years, but they grow, change, and are adapted for environments; they don't remain strictly, exactly the same each time. Along with that, a moderate sprinkling of new characters, cannons, wanteds, plot-babies, and adoptables. So, variety is the spice of life!

 

Edited by xexes
@Hysteria I edited my reply because I realized later it sounded condescending
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