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When Two Characters are Almost the Same


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So I have an odd problem on my current site. A character was accepted which had a number of similarities to mine. At the time, this comprised of a few major in points in common in their history, which struck me as an amusing coincidence that was No Big Deal if that was where the similarities ended, and so, I accepted the character.

 

However, as time goes on, it has become apparent that these two are almost interchangable. Their history wasn't fully detailed in their app (fairly, nor was mine), and it appears they had almost the same early family drama, socio-class, relationship with their parents, motive for joining [organisation], career path, etc, that has been detailed in my posts and in my extended character material, as well as the same major defining life event, and a very similar track record after the start of the RP,  as well as some degree of plot-line overlap,  a large number of personality traits, world views, methodologies, in common, together with almost identical psychological issues stemming from said history in common.

 

Trouble is, I'd already accepted this character based on what I knew at the time. They claim this is an old character that they're reusing, and it's clearly their favourite, and they have a lot of plot-lines and are very entrenched in the board with several taken want-ads, but, it's starting to make me very uncomfortable on my own site. 

 

Had I of known then what I know now, I would have asked for certain major revisions, unfortunately, alterations to the character is now highly difficult given the nature of their taken want ads and completed threads, and as their main, archiving the character will likely result in them and their friends leaving the site, but I'm still uncomfortable.

 

Does anyone have some advice that may be useful? 

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I think two people can be rather similar in life too, but they can't be identical. And given that you aren't that writer, neither a clone of him, you are writing your character differently. The writer's personality gives the character voice, so the characters are different. If you want yours to be more different than it is now, you can develop yours to have more individual characteristics 🙂

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I have to agree with the other posters here. Like it or not, we are all playing tropes to some extent. If you're really that unhappy with the similarities between your character and your members character, then maybe you need to give them a reason to be different. Perhaps a site event? You said your characters are both members of an organization, maybe you can make a site event where each character has to choose one of two missions to accept. Then pick whatever mission that character doesn't accept. And make something exciting and life defining happen! Be creative. As long as that member isn't blatantly copying your plots to see how their own character would react, I really don't see why you would be uncomfortable. 

 

Originality isn't as original as we like to think. Many people, in many places have had the same idea at some point. And that's okay. That doesn't make your take on it, or your enjoyment of writing it, any less valuable.

 

"All my best thoughts were stolen by the ancients." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal." - T.S. Eliot, The Sacred Wood

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Oh, man, it bothers me so much when people make a character that has a major trait that's the same as one of my characters.  It's probably just me being selfish since sometimes they're common things (ie: both of us have, say, characters with one leg on a site where it's not common), but it bothers me because it's like they couldn't come up with anything better.

 

But I do agree with the previous sentiments that sometimes you just need to let it go because originality isn't as prevalent as one thinks.  Maybe you could make a plot out of it, like the characters somehow find out about their similarities and bond over it.  Or maybe it pushes them apart, like they're dopplegangers and only one person can live.

 

It reminds me of stories of twins who are separated at birth, but their adoptive families unknowingly name the kids the same thing, and they have the same number of siblings, a dog with the same name, end up going to school for the same major, etc.  Could be interesting!

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As has already been stated, there actually isn't that much originality in the creative world as a whole. There is even less when it comes to building characters and writing stories - there are billions of books out there, but when broken down every last one of them is one of about 36 different stories. There are about 12 different characters. 

 

Consider, for example, that Avatar is Blue Pocahontas. Literally. Trope for trope and down to the base plot line. They're just draped with different bells and whistles. 

 

3 hours ago, Uaithne said:

It reminds me of stories of twins who are separated at birth, but their adoptive families unknowingly name the kids the same thing, and they have the same number of siblings, a dog with the same name, end up going to school for the same major, etc.

 

This example is about perfect. Two people who never met in their recollections, who archetypally lead identical lives down to marrying women with the same name, having a girl first then two boys and naming them all the same thing. There are a lot of these cases out there. 

 

If it happens that frequently out in the real world of 7+ billion people, with all those variables out there, a single individual can't expect to never come across such similarity in a field as comparatively narrow as role playing or even just general writing. 

 

 

15 hours ago, Anonymous said:

Their history wasn't fully detailed in their app (fairly, nor was mine)

 

Now, none of us have any specific examples or comparisons to examine, but I think this right here is a fairly strong indication that it wasn't done on purpose. How could they plagiarize a source material they never had any access to? 

 

 

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Sometimes, I get paranoid about my characters being similar. Am I just writing the same character, just with different beards? (In self reflection, I've never been paranoid about my female characters being similar. Interesting but off topic.)

 

To help myself there, I remind myself about what makes them different. It could be that the expression of character trait is different, even if the trait is the same. It could be that the reason behind a goal is different and thus plays out differently, even if on the surface it's the same. etc etc

 

Could that help you anon? Instead of focusing on what makes your characters similar, dig into the differences. 

 

I can completely appreciate why you might feel uncomfortable. If you feel that your character is interchangeable with another, I wonder if that doesn't make you feel like your character (and thus your story contributions) are unimportant. It also sounds like this other character is quite popular, which again I can see might result in you feeling a bit hurt. You didn't say that, I'm reading between the lines here and might be making incorrect assumptions. If so, I apologise.

 

Either way, maybe focus on the differences .... and your own unique voice.

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You need to find out for sure if your character is being copied, so try adding some plot lines that are different to what they are doing - if they then follow suit, then it's suspicious. Having said that, I'd like to think that people are more inclined to have ideas independently, though sometimes we are unconsciously influenced by what we read. Also another thing to ask yourself is does it seem like they are trying to push you out by making a character similar to yours? If it doesn't feel like that and you are still getting good plots with people, then I don't think there is a problem. Be careful about confronting them about it - on twitter, I write a canon character (I started writing him because I found it difficult finding a portrayal of the character I liked and where people actually gave you a chance to write with him) but later I found players of the same canon were complaining about people copying them - that was nonsense because although there were background and personality traits that were common to all versions of the character (most of them based on what was definite in canon, a few others were common head canons that people inferred were most likely because it made sense) mine had a lot that were unique to my version so I came to the conclusion that they complained because they'd not made their version unique enough.

 

You can't really ask the other person to make changes to their character to make it less like yours, but you can make changes to your character to make yours less like theirs if the similarities bother you. Chances are, they probably don't like the similarities either.

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I would add also another situation that I have just remembered - sometimes you might notice that two of my characters are somehow similar. They are by design 😉 They were meant to be similar up to one point, then the differences start. It was meant as a plot point. Chago and Sol, Maribel and Carmen, for example.

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Man, I actually had it happen recently where I created a character that was pretty damned similar to two other characters. Even had someone message me about it pointing it out. |: Thing is, it was accidental and I wasn’t familiar with those characters at all! But having it pointed out was kind of...awful, and triggered my anxiety like whoa to the point I almost scrapped this character I’d had on my brain for ages just because I felt almost attacked? I ultimately decided fuck that noise, I’m gonna have fun with it anyway and no one is the One True Owner of an idea, so whatever.

 

Because the thing is,  no idea is really original. And if you’ve had the idea, chances are other people thought of it, too. My idea wasn’t very original in my own mind, but it was something I’d been working on for a while and it just sounded fun!  And having someone jump on you about it is...kind of a killjoy. 

 

I wouldn’t assume this person is a copycat. I would just assume it’s a coincidence and not worry about it. The characters may be similar, but since unique people are writing them, they will naturally end up different in play. But as someone who’s been there, it’s a pretty shitty feeling to be accused of copying a character when you came up with your own character on your own. 

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I get it. No one likes to be at a party with the same dress on as someone else. It's just plain uncomfortable, and there's no way around it...

 

Well... there is one way, now that I think about it. When you find yourself dressed the same as someone else at a party, you can either awkwardly avoid them, or you can actually hang out with them, and be 'in' on the joke, thus making spotting your differences both easy and rewarding.

 

If you're not able to demonstrate that this person is a copycat, then you essentially have to plot with them to highlight your differences, of which there are many, but it's not clear when you're at a distance... or just be awkward, because it's really hard to talk yourself out of being awkward with something like this.

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