Viewpoint What you cannot stand in characters?

[Crayons]

When people try so hard to make their characters "youneek" they end up exactly the same as all the other "youneek" characters. Physical traits or character traits are both equally bad on this front. Remember when everyone's characters just had to have heterochromia? That's the kind of thing I mean. Making characters half one thing half another for no especial reason other than coolness also counts.

 

[Melpomene]

When people try so hard to make their characters "youneek" they end up exactly the same as all the other "youneek" characters. Physical traits or character traits are both equally bad on this front. Remember when everyone's characters just had to have heterochromia? That's the kind of thing I mean. Making characters half one thing half another for no especial reason other than coolness also counts.

I remember a few years ago when little Melpomene was new to writing and half angel/half-demon was all the rage... I cringe when I remember those things.

I would say it is fine to give characters something that makes them stand out in the story. And by that I mean, make them useful in a way that makes them needed. But I have mostly found this... Uniqueness is often people attempting to constantly keep their characters at the center of attention which believe me, I know how frustrating that can be to deal with.

 

[Becker]

Imma just copy and paste what someone wrote as a description of their clothing.

"My suit was custom made for me on the day I had turned 17. It had quite a few upgrades, and I could always get more added. It has full body internal thermal lining to keep me warm while wearing it. As I litterly can only wear my boxers, and my sleeveless shirt under it. It was heavily insulated to keep me warm for up to 48 consecutive hours. The suit covers my entire body completely leaving no place unprotected. The outside is made out of some kind of material that makes it really hard for even a shotgun to penetrate. As it takes 50 of the highest caliber size, the highest damage dealing, and fired from point blank range. At the same time though it's light weight, and comfortable to where it feels like I'm wearing simple clothing. It's very easy to maneuver as it has nothing stopping any sort of movement. Anything I could do with it off I can do it with it on. As it was made from my design. There is three things that the suit does give me a boost on while wearing it. Which is my Strength, Speed, and Reaction Time."

Not overpowered at all..

 

[Crayons]

I remember a few years ago when little Melpomene was new to writing and half angel/half-demon was all the rage... I cringe when I remember those things.

This is from the textbook of "my first cringey RP character". XD I never made one but wherever I go online there's always some noob with a half-angel half-demon thinking they are the first person who ever thought of it and they are sooooooo coooooool.

Edit: I don't mean "noob" in a horrible judgemental way just like ... ya know. The inexperienced among us. We were all noobs once.

 

[Windsock]

Imma just copy and paste what someone wrote as a description of their clothing.

"My suit was custom made for me on the day I had turned 17. It had quite a few upgrades, and I could always get more added. It has full body internal thermal lining to keep me warm while wearing it. As I litterly can only wear my boxers, and my sleeveless shirt under it. It was heavily insulated to keep me warm for up to 48 consecutive hours. The suit covers my entire body completely leaving no place unprotected. The outside is made out of some kind of material that makes it really hard for even a shotgun to penetrate. As it takes 50 of the highest caliber size, the highest damage dealing, and fired from point blank range. At the same time though it's light weight, and comfortable to where it feels like I'm wearing simple clothing. It's very easy to maneuver as it has nothing stopping any sort of movement. Anything I could do with it off I can do it with it on. As it was made from my design. There is three things that the suit does give me a boost on while wearing it. Which is my Strength, Speed, and Reaction Time."

Not overpowered at all..

tf is all that lmaoo

I'm more offended by the implication that shotguns are the premier anti-armor weapon tbh, that's totally wrong. Buckshot is just little round pellets, even mediocre modern-day body armor in real life can stop that! smh.

 

[Becker]

tf is all that lmaoo

I'm more offended by the implication that shotguns are the premier anti-armor weapon tbh, that's totally wrong. Buckshot is just little round pellets, even mediocre modern-day body armor in real life can stop that! smh.

I'm more offended by someone basically trying to recreate the Nanosuit from the Crysis game series

​

 

[Melpomene]

Alright, so, I have one more character peeve.

As I have read and written, I realized why I had "special" characters so much and that is because often I see authors trying to replace a viable personality with some time that is "special".

I came to realize, I don't mind a character being half something if the author actually does something with it. I don't mind them having a tragic backstory if the author actually does something with it.

However, I am very quickly over it if I can tell the tragedies are just to make us feel sorry for the character and nothing else. That means they serve little to no importance, and if they are only there to make me feel sorry for the character then I am more annoyed than I am sympathetic. If an author makes you properly care for a character, they don't have to go through such hoops to make you feel sympathetic to them.

Same goes for coolness. Have your character actually do something cool (without being ridiculous of course) and you don't have to jump through hoops and keep on adding arbitrary things to make them seem so.

9/10 it is easier to just write a good personality for them rather than taking the "short cut" and making a million bad things happen to them or making them half everything.

 

[Tulik]

Characters whose qualities are all “negative focuses”. Their need for vengeance. Their anger. Depression. Pain. Like, I get it. You’ve got a character whose backstory is riddled with tragedy. But stop focusing on it. My character is literally the last of his kind (cliche I know, but we all love our cliches) and he is so well developed. He is a loving and caring person who seeks to help everyone. Just because your bast story is filled with tragedy doesn’t mean you have to be the punisher with every character you create.

in the words of rocket raccoon. “OH BOO HOO! Your family’s dead! Everybody has dead people! That’s no reason to be a dick!”

 

[Malphaestus]

Characters whose qualities are all “negative focuses”. Their need for vengeance. Their anger. Depression. Pain. Like, I get it. You’ve got a character whose backstory is riddled with tragedy. But stop focusing on it. My character is literally the last of his kind (cliche I know, but we all love our cliches) and he is so well developed. He is a loving and caring person who seeks to help everyone. Just because your bast story is filled with tragedy doesn’t mean you have to be the punisher with every character you create.

in the words of rocket raccoon. “OH BOO HOO! Your family’s dead! Everybody has dead people! That’s no reason to be a dick!”

I disagree generally towards the dislike of negatice characters. However, in this instance I do agree if it is the only thing people ever make.

 

[Tulik]

I disagree generally towards the dislike of negatice characters. However, in this instance I do agree if it is the only thing people ever make.

I do not think that a compelling character is built on the singular idea of negativity. It takes more than pain to make a good narrative. If you take away that pain, or depression, or anger, then the character doesn’t have anything. They have no personality. No merit on their own to stand on. I do not mean characters who’ve suffered and have that as part of who they are. I mean characters whose only purpose is that negativity.

 

[Malphaestus]

I do not think that a compelling character is built on the singular idea of negativity. It takes more than pain to make a good narrative. If you take away that pain, or depression, or anger, then the character doesn’t have anything. They have no personality. No merit on their own to stand on. I do not mean characters who’ve suffered and have that as part of who they are. I mean characters whose only purpose is that negativity.

Then I am more inclined to agree. Though I am of the personal opinion that this applies to all things, happy characters and sad ones.

 

[Tulik]

Then I am more inclined to agree. Though I am of the personal opinion that this applies to all things, happy characters and sad ones.

I think you can work with a solely positive character more easily, though it is true to an extent. If you are RPING with a “woe is me” character who doesn’t interact with anyone or just ignores you for the “I’m suffering” angle it can get real annoying. Granted, an over happy character can too. Being bubbly in a situation that’s grim, or being over positive when things are dire. But at least they aren’t shutting down conversations.

 

[Malphaestus]

I think you can work with a solely positive character more easily, though it is true to an extent. If you are RPING with a “woe is me” character who doesn’t interact with anyone or just ignores you for the “I’m suffering” angle it can get real annoying. Granted, an over happy character can too. Being bubbly in a situation that’s grim, or being over positive when things are dire. But at least they aren’t shutting down conversations.

You won't hear me trying to justify character inactivity, that's just unhelpful to everyone involved. But I do have a preference towards the negative here, as I find it more easily lends towards the types of seriousness I prefer to engage with. I also like dark worlds and worldbuilding, so there's that. In general, I will say that negativity is no more uninteractable than anything else, but it is the added trait of isolationism which often comes with negative characters that does indeed make it difficult.

I am the type to hate "joker" characters though, if that matters for anything.

 

[Tulik]

You won't hear me trying to justify character inactivity, that's just unhelpful to everyone involved. But I do have a preference towards the negative here, as I find it more easily lends towards the types of seriousness I prefer to engage with. I also like dark worlds and worldbuilding, so there's that. In general, I will say that negativity is no more uninteractable than anything else, but it is the added trait of isolationism which often comes with negative characters that does indeed make it difficult.

I am the type to hate "joker" characters though, if that matters for anything.

It will always come down to not putting all your eggs in one basket. If all you got is negativity and angst? You aren’t gonna have a good character. Like onions. Your characters gotta have layers.

 

[Malphaestus]

It will always come down to not putting all your eggs in one basket. If all you got is negativity and angst? You aren’t gonna have a good character. Like onions. Your characters gotta have layers.

Of course.

No good character is one-dimensional.

 

[SP3CT3R]

It will always come down to not putting all your eggs in one basket. If all you got is negativity and angst? You aren’t gonna have a good character. Like onions. Your characters gotta have layers.

So... you're saying... your character will be a wreck if they're not like Shrek?

 

[Tulik]

So... you're saying... your character will be a wreck if they're not like Shrek?

What are you doin in mah swamp?

 

[Tulik]

I’ll chime in on the above personality sheet business. I never liked it to begin with. An overall understanding of a character created through a “Likes and dislikes” system is waaaaay to vague. If you walked up to me and asked me what I liked, and I told you, that would not in any way prepare you for an interaction with me other than the fact that we now have the ability to talk about gumbo. Characters should have all the complexities of real people if you want them to last. Saying “my character dislikes dishonesty” is a vague and disingenuous reflection of how a real peeps might interact with situations that are more complex than a black and white viewpoint.

 

[Purr]

Edit: I don't mean "noob" in a horrible judgemental way just like ... ya know. The inexperienced among us. We were all noobs once.

Heya Crayons ! Perhaps you mean "newb"? As in new? =)

 

[Sara Sidereal]

Your joker-inspired character is also bad, remove it from existence.

Your worlds are bad, remove them from existence.

 

[Malphaestus]

It is unfortunate you think that, Sara Sidereal .

 

[heartstringss]

no emotion, falling flat on personality, author doesn't let me inside their head at all; it's just all action.

also, no flaws, obviously.

 

[Emotional Enigma]

no emotion, falling flat on personality, author doesn't let me inside their head at all; it's just all action.

also, no flaws, obviously.

I hate when people do this. They just state action after action as if retelling what they had for breakfast. Like give me some emotion or describe the surroundings

 

[Crenando]

I’ll chime in on the above personality sheet business. I never liked it to begin with. An overall understanding of a character created through a “Likes and dislikes” system is waaaaay to vague. If you walked up to me and asked me what I liked, and I told you, that would not in any way prepare you for an interaction with me other than the fact that we now have the ability to talk about gumbo. Characters should have all the complexities of real people if you want them to last. Saying “my character dislikes dishonesty” is a vague and disingenuous reflection of how a real peeps might interact with situations that are more complex than a black and white viewpoint.

Ideally, in an RP that also has a personality section, it should be used for flavor. The kind of thing that might inform other traits but aren't really character-defining. What foods does this person like? Do they like a certain sport? Do they hate Mondays? Where do they stand on bureaucracy?

 

[Crayons]

Heya Crayons ! Perhaps you mean "newb"? As in new? =)

I know what I mean. Have you never seen the spelling noob?! XD

But people use newness/inexperience as a stick to beat people with and that's not what I'm getting at.