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Adoptable Characters


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Okay, so... I know that some people build adoptable characters, or donate a character when they leave to become adoptable, but that's never really been a thing in games I've played in, so I was wondering... how popular of a thing is this? And I don't mean like canon characters, where if one player moves on the canon goes back into the pool and someone else can pick them up, but I mean ready to play OCs, either created by the admins of a game, or made by players looking for a specific idea or concept to RP with.

 

And if this is a popular enough concept, would having the character as a background NPC that any of the existing players could reference or use as needed before a player comes along to pick them up affect a willingness to pick them up? Like, say if I made a few science and engineering people for my crew, and they showed up in plots and were involved in things, then a player comes along... is that liable to discourage people for adopting the character?

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I have adopted characters others have left, because they were needed in the story. Other people had adopted characters too (not mine, I expressed my permission for my characters to be adopted out when I left a site, but it didn't happen, as the site closed not much afterwards. And usually I don't leave sites... I stay to shut off the light...) It is useful to adopt characters which are already integrated in the story and needed, either as canon characters or as requested by writers. I am always in favour of it.

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It always seemed to me that adoptable character lists was more just for looks . . . to see whatever PB of the hour might be cast for the roles or to make attractive lists. Board-wide adobtable lists might be good for sites that need very specific roles filled, but not just an adoptable list for the sake of having one.

 

But what I've seen people say that they want are characters put up by members - those sort that are already connected to people and who have plots that will turn into actual roleplay opportunities.

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I used to do this a lot on a Gifted site I ran. The gist of it was basically the adoption would contain the character's appearance or faceclaim, some general personality traits (that the adopter could edit), and any relationships the character had (like if the character was an existing OC's family member).

 

I think these are great for encouraging players to come together, because sometimes a character will have siblings, but the player doesn't want to play the sibling as well, and roleplaying with yourself isn't nearly as fun. It can encourage a lot of plots between members!

 

Alternatively, I think it's a fun idea to adopt out old OCs I personally don't use any more. It's a great way to give old characters some new life. Sometimes people don't have ideas for characters, and having character adoptions can get their creative juices flowing again. I find this works for a lot of adoptables--purchasable designs done by an artist that have been put up for sale--because sometimes seeing a design will give me an idea for a character.

 

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On 8/13/2017 at 1:35 AM, FriedKilamari said:

I think it's a fun idea to adopt out old OCs I personally don't use any more. It's a great way to give old characters some new life

Yup, I love to do this!

 

Adoptables are really popular at our site, I dunno why, they just are! And people seem to take them with an image attached or not. They are a really good way to give people an "in" into a plot etc.

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Personally, I very rarely pick up pre-made adoptable; but that is mostly because of the way I develop characters. For some reason, I very rarely adopt a character that ends up sticking. More often than not I end up giving them back or killing them off because I don't feel they're genuine. 

When I post "adoptables" I don't give any character details unless absolutely necessary. I love creating families on sites, so usually I just list what family slots are open - mothers, fathers, siblings, cousins etc - and after that I leave everything up to other players. That way they have the option to completely create a new character, or they can take a character that they've already built and slip them neatly into the slot. In my experience, such characters are more successful and last longer. 

A lot of people on my site like to pick up pretty rounded adoptable characters, though, so I think it mostly just depends on the writer's personal process. 

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I'm a whore for adoptables.

 

They vary wildly from board to board, so I'd suggest having some with a wide variety of details and others far more vague, that way people can pick and choose. I like base personality and history sorted out because otherwise why would I adopt them? I'm generally after a (mostly) premade ot otherwise pre-connected character.

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On 8/15/2017 at 4:03 AM, Rune said:

I'm a whore for adoptables.

*hifives* Me too!

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These are really popular at my site. I would say 50% or more of our new players start with picking up adoptables. I think it's a great way to jump into a game with already established connections!

 

It's so popular that I incentive anyone that makes adoptables by giving them marks to use in our in-game store. 

 

We have a 2 week rule, where if you don't play a character you adopted for two weeks - or you go inactive shortly after joining, the adoptable goes back up for someone else to take over. Important adoptables get NPCed in the meantime.

 

So basically it happens both ways. Either an adoptable is also an NPC that we reference in game, or they aren't and we retroactively pretend like they were!

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I have had GREAT success with adoptables but it also comes with great failures. Because no one will play the same character twice honestly. I've taken some adoptables in my time becuase they already have a place in a plot. But I have had people TAKE adoptables that I've made to be adopted but then have them taken in a different direction than what I had intended them for. So really it's a double edge sword. I see a lot of adoptables on slice of life sites but not so much on others. 

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I’m personally not comfortable with characters that are already there. I feel like those who pick up an adoptable should have the chance to fill them out and make them their own. I don’t usually go for people I can npc because that feels as if i’m giving homework to the person who is thinking of taking up the character ‘read these threads, there will be a test tomorrow’. 


I think Adoptables are quite good for the roleplay atmosphere as well. You have ideas for surrounding your character with situations or people, and then you set it out for others to take. Some people LOVE playing a character with a story already set up for them. It means less questing for roleplay and a more immediate start to the fun.

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I'm not that big on adoptables, personally. I understand where people are coming from but it really feels weird to me when people are suddenly like 'hey, I have this character, who wants them?'. 

 

To give a (hopefully) better explaination, I'll just say that I don't like to write someone else's creation. They might have made them for the purpose of the story, sure, and there are freedoms, but in the end I just would rather stick with my own creation. It's kind of similar to why I don't really write fanfictions, if that makes any sense

 

Or, maybe I'm just turned off because I have run into instances where I've left a roleplay and had someone just take my character over, without my permission, before I had a chance to write them out of the story.

 

Also, like it was mentioned, they can be trial and error and it is a bit of a gamble to take up someone's adoptable.

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  • 3 weeks later...

A bit of a spin on the adoptable front, and something one of my players recently did which I thought was a neat idea, was an open invitation for new players to essentially adopt part of an existing character's past.

 

i.e. sometimes when we write our character backgrounds we go into a lot of detail about people from our character's past who never get any actual game time. You might mention a parent, sibling, an old war buddy, a romantic rival, etc. etc. without specifically naming them even.

 

So what my player did, in an area we have designated for advertising any active storylines, was that he put a little note at the bottom stating if anyone wanted to role-play as a relative of his, or prior acquaintance, etc. he was cool with that. I really liked that idea because it has the potential to build a sense of familiarity between two IRL strangers right off the bat. I'm actually sort of rooting for him to get a sibling now in-game haha.

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Are adoptables the same as Wanted characters? Since some replies on their popularity seem to refer to those. I consider them two separated things. Adoptables have a "past" and you can't really rewrite them, Wanted are just "Hey come and play my sibling with whom I always bicker". I tend to make them as vague as possible, so you can write your char for that role, not just play an NPC for my convenience.

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Honestly, I've never played in a game with any sort of character like that, but I am trying to learn more about any characters of this nature to see if they would be useful for recruiting purposes.

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Captain Amelia Waterhouse, Commanding Officer

=/\= Join =/\= Roster & Openings =/\= Rules =/\= Chat =/\=

"It is human nature to yearn to be what we were never intended for. It is singular, but it is so." -Mark Twain

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