InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "IT'S OVER 9000!!!!!"

the bee charmer from alabama (colloquialisms) wrote in rp_tutorials,
@ 2010-08-23 05:04:00

Biographies vs. facts
Depending on the game, I think it could go either way when it comes to a character. Sometimes, I even think facts are better than a full biography mostly because people don't really have the attention span nowadays to sit and read a really in-depth biography, not that this is an excuse. We as people have definitely become a very ADD and lazy society.

My real question here, however, is when a comm asks for "detailed facts," how detailed is too detailed? What's an acceptable detailed fact sentence and detail-wise?

Edit: The character journal I'm working with in this particular situation is ~zifang, which I'll more than likely comment on this post quite a few times when responding to others. I'm a mult-tasker, so sometimes I forget which journal I'm signed into when responding to comments.

Edit again: There's a new post up in ~zifang which is the write-up containing the bullet point facts that are in the post below it. Feel free to comment and give me pointers!

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

tryslora
2010-08-23 01:07 pm UTC (link)

Speaking as both mod and player, I like information in the biography that's pointed and tells me about the character, but I don't like it to necessarily be long. I don't need it to be in a perfect story format, I just need to know the information, and sometimes if the information around the details is too well, descriptive? Not the right word. Anyway, it's possible to lose the important bits in the prose.

I usually try to focus on the important things. If the character has a massive fear of death, either why, or when did it first come up. Turning points in the character's history, where if things had gone differently they wouldn't be the same person. Moments of realization or great change.

Also, as a mod (and as a player) anything that has no bearing on the current game isn't necessary to me. I don't need a list of pets the character had when he was seven or their first best friend if those aren't either in their life now, or impacted their life in some irrevocable way.

But I also know I'm a LOT more minimalist than a lot of people out there, and some of it has to do with my style of play (develop in play, rather than develop ahead of time). And because of that, sometimes I fear as a mod, if I see a truly over-detailed character, that the character won't be changing during the game. And part of what I love to run is a game with strong character arcs for plot.

Not sure if that helps at all, but I figured I'd give the other viewpoint. :)

(Reply to this) (Thread)

zifang
2010-08-23 09:50 pm UTC (link)

Honestly, that seems a lot like my writing style now, but I do love writing in detailed prose. I not only like to describe the main aspects of my character as you've listed here, but I also like to showcase my writing so that people understand I do have the ability to write some pretty epic posts.

At the same time, I do recognize that some of my characters seem over-detailed. Characters like ~vyshaanti and even ~toriniti are so because I've had them for so many years. With them, I've played much more one-on-one, so they've been exposed to a certain group of characters that helped to write the biography that's in their histories now. As a writer, it's very important to me to continue that continuity with those developed characters.

However, when I write, I keep in mind that I want these character's to change in some way, and sometimes, it may not be their whole person. I always make it a point to write the character opposite of what I want them to become at some point during the game.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -