Gilzar
Bear With Me Here ?
Through my many various experiences of websites of roleplaying, I have noticed that there are three types of atmospheres surrounding roleplays, and it decides the 'tone' per say of the roleplay, along with the characters, plot, and the very actions that the characters make.
You see, as I have stated before there are three types of roleplays that I have really began to categorize, and these types apply to all roleplays and can probably be even put on a numbered scale. These categories are Dark, Light, and Betwixt. I'm not talking about color scheme or 'good or evil'. What I mean is the general sense of things, the tone, atmosphere, those kinds of things.
Dark roleplays focus on more mature themes and ideals, along with more consequences for the characters. Generally, if you are in a truly dark roleplay there will be lots of death of protagonists, and there will be heavy consequences following those deaths. Things aren't always bad and full of sadness like the name suggests, but if I had to sum it up basically these are the unforgiving roleplays. If characters make mistakes...there are generally consequences. For every action there is an (Sometimes) equal and opposite reaction. Characters usually always change in some way toward the end, more likely they're scarred by their mistakes, or by the deaths of others. Things are just more...realistic. So when you're flashy protagonist gets surrounded by 20 soldiers you're truly going to have no clue if he can get out alive, in at least my roleplays I always make character deaths completely up to the person who owns the character, but some situations are unavoidable. If your character survives a bombing or something traumatic they're probably not going to be the same. I'd have to say the best example of this I can think of is Game of Thrones (Both book and TV series...). In general in game of Thrones protagonists get the crap end of the deal while the antagonist gets the somewhat or completely better end of the deal (Red wedding I'm looking at you.) and villains are actually humanized (Jaime Lanister)
Then we have the polar opposite, which I call light roleplays. Light roleplays are not like the name suggests and are all flowers and giggles, most of the time they are very serious and have complex plots. However, I'd have to say it's a much more 'easygoing' plot line. Consequences aren't as severe, and general consequences aren't as severe. Generally protagonists get the better end of the deal while the antagonists may or may not meet their end, but get the crap side of the deal. You know, that sort of stuff. I'm not dishing out on these roleplays, usually they're quite entertaining, contain very interesting characters ,and have interesting developments. However in these types of roleplays it's much more common for characters to have little personality changes and little physical alterations. The threat of death (If that's your sort of roleplay) is there but faint, there'll be the occasional major protagonist death that shocks everyone but normally people can recover. So, unlike the darker roleplays, if your protagonist gets surrounded by 20 soldiers you can rest easy knowing if you don't want your character to die there will be some way out. The best example I can think of for this is the Avengers Cinema series. Extremely entertaining, I love the movies, but the Heroes never really die. Yes there was that one person who I'm not going to say for spoilers but that was just a minor character. Villains are always spectacular, though not humanized (especially Ultron), or just not taken seriously (Loki) but in the end they never can add up to the Protagonist force and while there are certainly more consequences to the settings and world, characters usually get off scott-free no matter what the situation is.
Finally we have the things betwixt. This is my personal favorite as they are in my opinion the most entertaining. These roleplays are the brilliant medium between the two and are light hearted when they need to but can completely do a 180 and punch you in the gut. This is socialism, everything is somewhat fair. The characters face the same consequences all the way around, and villains still are humanized, though some may not be to the extent of the protagonists. What comes around eventually goes around, and themes here still mature but not out of control. There will be the occasional incident, but they're not as frequent as dark roleplays so they are more shocking. Characters can still go through personality changes caused by events, plots somewhat roller coaster, and the antagonist threat is still present, meaning that the antagonist still could totally annihilate the hero but he just might not simply because we want to do more with that character. It really is just a mix between the two, as if Dark and Light had a child, that's what Betwixt is. A fine example of this is the Cinematic X-Men Universe. Unlike the Avengers, the Heros (Aside from Wolverine) can actually die, if one of them dies it's going to effect them, and personalities change. Antagonists in the series are not pushovers (Love magneto) and can certainly face the Heroes no problem. While the good guys certainly always win, we're still at the edge of our seats because we're afraid that everyone, including our beloved Hugh Jackmen, may infact meet their end. I mean, I certainly didn't think they would kill of Jean Grey in X2 but they dropped that bomb!
So, I know I just got done with a rant that may be somewhat confusing as I'm mainly just typing my thoughts right now but I have to ask, what do you prefer?
You see, as I have stated before there are three types of roleplays that I have really began to categorize, and these types apply to all roleplays and can probably be even put on a numbered scale. These categories are Dark, Light, and Betwixt. I'm not talking about color scheme or 'good or evil'. What I mean is the general sense of things, the tone, atmosphere, those kinds of things.
Dark roleplays focus on more mature themes and ideals, along with more consequences for the characters. Generally, if you are in a truly dark roleplay there will be lots of death of protagonists, and there will be heavy consequences following those deaths. Things aren't always bad and full of sadness like the name suggests, but if I had to sum it up basically these are the unforgiving roleplays. If characters make mistakes...there are generally consequences. For every action there is an (Sometimes) equal and opposite reaction. Characters usually always change in some way toward the end, more likely they're scarred by their mistakes, or by the deaths of others. Things are just more...realistic. So when you're flashy protagonist gets surrounded by 20 soldiers you're truly going to have no clue if he can get out alive, in at least my roleplays I always make character deaths completely up to the person who owns the character, but some situations are unavoidable. If your character survives a bombing or something traumatic they're probably not going to be the same. I'd have to say the best example of this I can think of is Game of Thrones (Both book and TV series...). In general in game of Thrones protagonists get the crap end of the deal while the antagonist gets the somewhat or completely better end of the deal (Red wedding I'm looking at you.) and villains are actually humanized (Jaime Lanister)
Then we have the polar opposite, which I call light roleplays. Light roleplays are not like the name suggests and are all flowers and giggles, most of the time they are very serious and have complex plots. However, I'd have to say it's a much more 'easygoing' plot line. Consequences aren't as severe, and general consequences aren't as severe. Generally protagonists get the better end of the deal while the antagonists may or may not meet their end, but get the crap side of the deal. You know, that sort of stuff. I'm not dishing out on these roleplays, usually they're quite entertaining, contain very interesting characters ,and have interesting developments. However in these types of roleplays it's much more common for characters to have little personality changes and little physical alterations. The threat of death (If that's your sort of roleplay) is there but faint, there'll be the occasional major protagonist death that shocks everyone but normally people can recover. So, unlike the darker roleplays, if your protagonist gets surrounded by 20 soldiers you can rest easy knowing if you don't want your character to die there will be some way out. The best example I can think of for this is the Avengers Cinema series. Extremely entertaining, I love the movies, but the Heroes never really die. Yes there was that one person who I'm not going to say for spoilers but that was just a minor character. Villains are always spectacular, though not humanized (especially Ultron), or just not taken seriously (Loki) but in the end they never can add up to the Protagonist force and while there are certainly more consequences to the settings and world, characters usually get off scott-free no matter what the situation is.
Finally we have the things betwixt. This is my personal favorite as they are in my opinion the most entertaining. These roleplays are the brilliant medium between the two and are light hearted when they need to but can completely do a 180 and punch you in the gut. This is socialism, everything is somewhat fair. The characters face the same consequences all the way around, and villains still are humanized, though some may not be to the extent of the protagonists. What comes around eventually goes around, and themes here still mature but not out of control. There will be the occasional incident, but they're not as frequent as dark roleplays so they are more shocking. Characters can still go through personality changes caused by events, plots somewhat roller coaster, and the antagonist threat is still present, meaning that the antagonist still could totally annihilate the hero but he just might not simply because we want to do more with that character. It really is just a mix between the two, as if Dark and Light had a child, that's what Betwixt is. A fine example of this is the Cinematic X-Men Universe. Unlike the Avengers, the Heros (Aside from Wolverine) can actually die, if one of them dies it's going to effect them, and personalities change. Antagonists in the series are not pushovers (Love magneto) and can certainly face the Heroes no problem. While the good guys certainly always win, we're still at the edge of our seats because we're afraid that everyone, including our beloved Hugh Jackmen, may infact meet their end. I mean, I certainly didn't think they would kill of Jean Grey in X2 but they dropped that bomb!
So, I know I just got done with a rant that may be somewhat confusing as I'm mainly just typing my thoughts right now but I have to ask, what do you prefer?
