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Discussion regarding OPs and RPs


sjrathbun812

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Does anyone here notice how a lot of OPs and RPs on here are very unoriginal and stupid?

Not all RPs/OPs are bad, but what I run into time and time again is a rather cheesy character that someone has created, which derives too much from the characters of the game series. They slap on just a touch of individuality, and suddenly it's theirs!

Nobody can take it seriously. It's just another lame character which will die and be forgotten just like all the others because it cannot stand on its own.

What's up with that?

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Well, take a look at most of Waffles' characters or even my characters. The RPs themselves, we have had some that were very well thought out and original in the past, however I can't speak for nowadays due to my lack of being on the requests board.

I feel like something is being said that needs to be said, but perhaps not executed well. There are some people who I see, not mentioning any names, whose characters are all the exact same person, just a slightly different name. There isn't really much variation between them, they're all the same race, profession, have the same eye color and skin/scale/fur color. This could be played out quite well actually if you acknowledge it, perhaps play them each off as the same person but different personalities. Like a split personality taking its own incarnations in the physical world.

However, addressing your original point, I have not seen very much unwarranted unoriginality. This is a Star Fox forum after all, you would do well to expect Star Fox themed roleplays and characters. As for OCs and FCs I think they would stand... Well, decently on their own.

I would love to see some examples here, this seems like a very good premise for a discussion.

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To add on to what Arashikage said, you have to remember that this is a Star-Fox forum, and people will quite easily take advantage of the pre-existing lore and character traits. Not to mention that, when you come right down to it, you're complaining about the lack of creativity, which cannot be necessarily altered or fixed - it is dependent upon the individual user and what they see is right. And I don't quite see the examples of uncreativity you are referring to; perhaps it is once again based on an individual's perception?

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This is the furry fandom [i assume you are talking about this one]. Their characters are usually shit, not thought out too well, and typically have a lot of unrealistic features. [iE, Natural pink fur.]

Though, however, I've already made a huge rant post about this same sort of deal. In a short sort of version, my issue is the character's personality. Most of them have this depressing past of 'Daddy never loved me!' or 'Both my parents died!'. Their past is probably what makes the most unoriginal. How they act on their past is what always is annoying. Are they going to cry about it every other sentence? Or will they at one point have an opening up session with the other character, where after a while of knowing, they go to the other for some form of mental reassurance?

Most of my characters, concerning this fandom and not my D&D logs, are Anthro Wolves. Mainly, because I enjoy them. But each one of them have their own mental thought process, way of thinking things out, and then applying what they just planned. To me, I'm okay if someone has a lot of the same race/species, so long as they physically have differences and all.

I've already ranted enough on this topic, 'cause if I don't stop there, I won't. I'll end in saying; Yeah. This is a Starfox Forum, and most of our members are younger, and new to making really well defined characters. I, too, am really annoyed with everyone having a close tied member to the game. Simply because it's everywhere. Not many other reasons than that. But, if they were to go somewhere with the desire to play one of Fox's long lost brothers, it'd be here rather than many other sites. And even then, they can still be great characters! Just, as I said before. Not everyone is the greatest when it comes to character development. I know I'm not great at it myself.

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I would love to see some examples here, this seems like a very good premise for a discussion.

This comes to mind:

I hate RPs where all they do is take an original character that was made by Nintendo, add a few things which are just plain stupid, and call it there's when really they just changed the original character up a bit. :P

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*Looks around nervously*

I don't think I intentionally made any lame look-alike characters based solely upon de facto Star Fox characters >_>

I have to ask though, Wolf, do you participate in the RPs if there are any good ones going on? I don't imagine you would complain about it if you weren't involved.

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This comes to mind: http://starfox-onlin...snipe-lombardi/

I hate RPs where all they do is take an original character that was made by Nintendo, add a few things which are just plain stupid, and call it there's when really they just changed the original character up a bit. :-P

But you look at that character thread and notice there is little to no organization, hideous punctuation, etc. You can't really expect much creativity coming out of what appears to be either a younger user or someone that has little experience on the internet and in overall articulation and literature to start with.

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While I do agree that there are some things that would be better off if they were changed, I will never outright call someone's character shit. Believe it or not, I bet Snipe actually took some time to think about his character, which is cool in his own eyes. I do not think that this character is particularly well thought out by my own standards, but you can not change what people want to do with their characters. I prefer not yelling at people, telling them their characters are horrid, and otherwise breaking their self confidence as a roleplayer, but instead maybe sending them a PM, telling them "Hey, you may not have noticed this, but your character seems like a recolor of so and so, here are some tips to help you if you want to redo them. Or maybe to help you next time you create a new character."

Generally, it is a well received form of criticism which gets you a lot less flak in the long run. We have an RP tips page which nobody seems to read anymore, nobody has posted in it in years, but it's still there. It's a pinned topic so anyone can post in it if they so wish.

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*Looks around nervously*

I don't think I intentionally made any lame look-alike characters based solely upon de facto Star Fox characters >_>

I have to ask though, Wolf, do you participate in the RPs if there are any good ones going on? I don't imagine you would complain about it if you weren't involved.

Well, no, I don't participate in roleplaying. So, I guess it does seem a little hypocritical of me to start picking on someone when I don't have any experience on the subject. But that's just it. I'm not saying I could do better. I'm just stating something which I find is common among many RPs, and it's one of the reasons why RPs don't interest me. "He's Wolf's long lost brother, Jack. Only he's much darker and I gave him this scar over his eye. Pretty cool, huh? :D"

Sure, I don't have a lot of experience. But I can still tell why the character is bad. Because there's hardly any character in him... he's just very... shallow.

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I get what you mean and agree sometimes the originality is seriously lacking in the creaction of original characters. I think some of the big issues with the "bad ones lie in how people who do role playing want to somehow relate their hero or extension of themselves to the heroes found in the franchise. Call it cheesy, but its a bit more acceptable to role play as a character that we could easily see rise up to become a hero, not the baker from down the street who just knows how to use a weapon very well.

Oh and the idea of a character being named Jack being related to Wolf almost made me feel sick lol

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I have seen some doozys in my time, "She is the daughter of Snape and Dumbledore" or "His eyes are red, but can change color depending on what mood he is" or even "He has telepathy, which he can use to read people's thoughts, attack their minds, and defend his own"

Now the first one should go without saying, and maybe it's an exaggeration but WHAT THE HELL PEOPLE!? It happens all the time! Now sometimes I won't have a problem with it if you play it right, and don't get too entangled with the characters of the franchise, but some of these people are writing fanfics that say things like that, don't act a thing like someone in that position would, and do nothing but entangle themselves deeper and deeper with the characters of the franchise, explaining away any inconsistencies their character has with the plot.

The second one is just a pet peeve of mine, really, anything that can change color or something like that I see as just unoriginal and unnecessary. It makes you seem indecisive, "His blue eyes changed to red as he pulled out his katana, you could literally see the fire in his eyes lol" is something that should be avoided.

And with the telepathy, nobody seems to play it out right. They give their character absolutely no mental drawbacks to using their abilities, it's just "Oh I have powers lol, I can fry your brain and suffer no ill consequences" or something along those lines. People forget that roleplaying is supposed to be fun for all, and you can get a lot more enjoyment out of it if you lose once in a while. Instead of heeding this advice, they constantly godmod with their Mary Sue characters and turn what would otherwise be an enjoyable RP into fan wankery for their character. They magically end up the best at everything, despite their lack of training or anything, they end up being the ones to do everything while the main characters, the ones TRAINED to do this job, just stare on dumbly while this untrained monkey does their job for them. If there's one thing I hate, it's godmodding, and telepathy without any kind of restriction falls way under that category.

Luckily I see these problems less and less in roleplays, but they're becoming more prevalent in fanfictions, spread the world, STOP. THE. GOD. MODDERS!

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^ That's exactly it. They make their character insanely cheep, unrealistic, and unoriginal because of those reasons. They always give the character some sort of power which they think makes them cooler but ultimately lamer. It's like how superman can do everything. But even he has a weakness. But no. Someone who's RPing can just break the rules and basically have things their way no matter what because nobody can stop them.

Edit: By the way, I don't really know the definition for "Godmod." I can sort of tell given the context, I guess. Would you care to enlighten?

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I'm just gonna say this.

Does anyone here notice how a lot of OPs and RPs on here are very unoriginal and stupid?

This is neither constructive or helpful. If you're gonna piss and moan, list what exactly upsets you and suggest ways to fix it. Don't just sit there and go BAWWW THIS IS STUPID.

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I'm just gonna say this.

This is neither constructive or helpful. If you're gonna piss and moan, list what exactly upsets you and suggest ways to fix it. Don't just sit there and go BAWWW THIS IS STUPID.

Honestly, I do think that Rob put it well here. You can't change the ways in which people think and/or articulate their points and, though I do see the validity of your opinions, there aren't many points of discussion besides general groaning and moaning on the subject. How about instead you join up and show us what a well thought out character looks like, Wolf Fang? :-P

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Like anything else that requires creative energy, it's something that requires a bit of talent, know-how, and experience with practice. ALL of us at one point or another, have made a character that was a thinly-veiled copycat of a character from some game or show. Why? Because it seemed cool and you just don't know any better at the time.

All those kids who make Mary Sue characters probably don't know what a Mary Sue is. Like Arashikage said, it doesn't help to just go up to someone and say "Your character is bad and you should feel bad." Once again, like anything that takes creativity, senseless bashing gets everyone nowhere. Give constructive criticism. If you're going to tell why someone's character is lame, give a good here's why with it.

I believe the main problem is that new writers don't understand the concept of flaws and drawbacks beyond the typical "boo hoo my parents are dead" routine. They don't know how to provide conflict and challenges to their characters. They just give everything to them. And that makes for a flat, boring character than no one wants to play with. At best, they'll just find some just as ignorant of what a 'good' character is and never learn.

RPing is a writing skill, your average 15-year-old fanfic writer/furry probably doesn't have that skill. That is why it seems like "all OCs suck." If you want to fix that, direct them to writing guides, the Mary Sue litmus test, tell them to practice more. Teach them how to make a better RP/OC.

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How about instead you join up and show us what a well thought out character looks like, Wolf Fang? :-P

Sorry, I've reserved the rest of my life as a hater, not a critique. :troll:

In all honesty though, I get what you guys mean. I know it's not helpful of me at all to just sit back and say what's bad and what's good. I'm not necessarily saying I could do better, either, and I'm certainly not trying to get people down in the dumps and tell them their horrible and that they should just quit, although it may seem that way.

This thread wasn't supposed to be a shout out to all the RPers/OPers on how they can improve. It was simply going to be a discussion concerning what's wrong with RPs/OPs, and how they could be better, but they aren't, because of ____ reasons.

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THE MIGHTY WAFFLES HAS BLESSED THIS THREAD WITH HIS IMMENSE AND UNDESERVING ATTENTION

IF THE PRESENT WISH TO SEE A GOOD CHARECTER, LET US FIRST DEFINE WHAT IS A GOOD CHARECTER.

1. The backstory must be a balanced amount of tragedy and Triumph.

Yes, we get it. Your charecter graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard, nobody cares. What we care about is how he got there. So the Backstory for a good charecter needs to have both interesting bits of tragedy and triumph. Your charecter can graduate from collage, but it can also be the time when his or her father died, leaving them alone in the world.

I.E. My Charecter Balsa was Orphaned and Adopted by Daemons. She had a fairly normal childhood until her father was killed by a Paliden, where apon she joined a Team of trained killers to get some revenge.

LOOK AT THAT GODLY BACKSTORY. LOOK how it has both posative and negative bits. It provides a clear motivation and it has both elements i mentioned above. IT isnt an angst fest, but it isnt a collection of meaningless achievements that will have no impact on the RP unless your charecter brags about it,

2. The Backstory must be believeable.

Yes people. Your charecter who is the last member of her Racereligiongroupcultwebsite was cool when it was called Star Wars. But the overbearingly large amount of people using the same backstory both confuse and destroy any respect for any charecter that uses them. Worse still is the "Last Cerinian".

Yes people, Krystal is attractive in the Aesthetic sense. It would make sense to think that a PERTY charecter's race would all be PERTY as well. That doesnt mean we need 15 last Cerinians running around. So the backstory of a good charecter would be Believeable and somewhat unique to provide a new fresh sensation when using them

IE. Look at My charecter Hud. In the Minimalistic Charecter profile, he is born in the Imperium of man, he grows up to be a space marine, but is mutated by the organs put in him and he needs to be put down, then he wakes up in hell.

OH MY GOD when was the last time you RPed with a disfigured mutant? Hud has a unique backstory that makes him both fun to RP and fun to RP with.

3. How the charecter acts.

Yes Virginia, there is a santa claus people, we understand your charecter is the Paragon of goodlyness and goody goodness in the good land of good. For the Love of Kevin Bacon, Play them that way. If your charecter is supposed to be a responsable member of society that everyone can look up to, dont have them firing energy bolts during a temper tantrum because they didnt get their way, UNLESS that is exatcly how you advertise your charecter. Therefore, a good charecter has their actions match up with their backstory.

IE. Balsa again. Ask anyone who has ever Rped with em EVER and they will tell you my charecter Balsa is a Bitch.

The Biggest Bitch

In the Whole Wide World.

And i do nothing but advertise and play her as that.

All in all a good Role play charecter is unique, with a good backstory and consistant charecterization

One of the reasons Rp charecters seem to lack creativity is mainly both lack of interest in anything other then imagining yourselves as 6 foot muscular Fox human Hybrids currently sideways tangoing Krystal. its all just a fantasy, so why put much effort into it? Another reason is the inability to comprehend self weakness. If your making a charecter who is dangling their dingle-dangle IN Krystal (Dont deny it there isnt much else reason why your charecter is on THE STAR FOX TEAM) why would you put in any interesting charecter bits such as negative emotions and flaws.

MY LORD look at the length of this bullcrap.

Anyone else agree with anything i said?

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Anyone else agree with anything i said?

...

captainfalcon-yes.gif

The triumph vs tragedy bit especially.

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I do have'ta ask about the triumph versus tragedy a bit. I can understand the balance and it does make a character all the better since it also fleshes out motives and helps the RPer themselves know the character and at accordingly. BUT, does every story need to be a sob story? Poisonally, I'm not a big fan of grimdark backstories, sometimes even if they do make sense. It's nice to play a character who's happy-go-lucky and sometimes they tend to have an unbalanced story. My character Doggy is like that but the most that's really happened in the backstory I give him is him running from home out of boredom, a few vague scrapes about bounty hunting and the LaserBolt Run which was intended to be more comedy and homage than anything else. Is this lacking in negative traits? Am I wrong to portray such a character in a happy light?

Again, personal preference against grimdark stories is what makes me ask this. Not to mention I don't think everyone's life in Real Life is balanced as we think "ideal writing" is. When I sit down and think, I tend to think that my personal problem is that I have no problems!

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^

Admittedly, while leaving home because they were bored is a bit of a lame backstory...you are right in the fact that life doesn't always have a sob story or some rising and falling action. Sometimes you just grow up a straight laced person and end up doing something big in the future just out of chance and are labeled a hero. But I suppose It's hard for a character to reach a climactic deus ex machina moment (no, not Deus Ex the game) if all they ever did was be average. Much greater crescendo when you start as a gutter dweller and carved your place in history the hard way through blood sweat and tears. I suppose there do need a few more characters who are just flat out more average just to bring some realism to the RP...maybe the creators of said OC might be more inclined to show weaknesses in their character as they were never set out to be the hero from the very beginning. Just someone trying to make it through the day.

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