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Author Topic: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues  (Read 6992 times)

Seriphyn

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Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« on: 20 Apr 2010, 16:15 »

Derp

1) Seriphyn is an asshole, and he's also an egomaniac. Of course, he can be nice if he wants to, and he can also replace his egoism with humility if he wants to get laid. Or focus it into confident charm.

2) We all don't like to RP Mary Sues, so we custom-tailor our characters to avoid this from happening. Apply negative traits and positive traits, or RP them in different situations to see how they would respond etc.

Therefore,

3) People seem to get offended at the prospect of Seriphyn being an egomaniacal asshole. I mean, I can guess the first people's respond at that thread from an OOC perspective is "omg what an egomaniac!" in a less exclamative way, but more of a derogotary way? I don't know. The other response would be just to laugh, because that's what it's for. Another response is to facepalm because it's fail...but why is it fail? It serves its purposes perfectly. It promotes Seriphyn as an egomaniac, and shows how propaganda can be executed in the Federation.

The question is, is that we all don't like to RP Mary Sues, but people seem to take offence at aggressive characters. Even I've been on the other end of that, but also the executing end, of RPing Seriphyn as abrasive and aggressive, but I also get OOC criticisms or at the very least IC butthurtness at the nature of the character. But why should we? I RP'd Seriphyn going into the Last Gate once and acting very aggressive towards two pirates, which was met with IC hostilities (obviously) but I also wondered "Wait, you should be a sociopathic murderer that kills innocents daily...why are you getting so offended by Seripyn's abrasive attitude?"

Point is, do we all have to roleplay polite, nice guys that should try and get along with everyone? Do people find RPing people who are NOT agreeable get them in all sorts of IC/OOC trouble? I don't RP Seriphyn to be liked. I RP him to be Seriphyn. But I come across people who seem to RP for the former...maybe? I'd like to see what you think of this.
« Last Edit: 20 Apr 2010, 16:21 by Seriphyn »
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Silver Night

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #1 on: 20 Apr 2010, 16:25 »

It seems like you may have a number of assumptions about how other people react there. I'm also afraid that your point or question isn't very clear, for me. Could you please clarify?

Seriphyn

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #2 on: 20 Apr 2010, 16:29 »

Okay, tl;dr

Do you think you can notice a separation of people who RP to be liked, whether IC or OOC, and people who RP just for it's own sake?
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Silver Night

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #3 on: 20 Apr 2010, 16:31 »

Okay, tl;dr

Do you think you can notice a separation of people who RP to be liked, whether IC or OOC, and people who RP just for it's own sake?

I think people RP for a range of reasons. Do you see such a separation?

Casiella

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #4 on: 20 Apr 2010, 16:36 »

First, I'd say that I perceive a lot of characters as abrasive and over-the-top. In some cases, that may actually have more to do with the player's personality coming thru, but in many (most?) the player is a fine, friendly person who plays a jerk. That topic alone could occupy endless threads.

But you seem to think that many people RP for validation in some way. Is that a fair re-statement of your working hypothesis?
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Seriphyn

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #5 on: 20 Apr 2010, 16:40 »

But you seem to think that many people RP for validation in some way. Is that a fair re-statement of your working hypothesis?

Yesh. I was just terrible at trying to articulate it :s

I think people RP for a range of reasons. Do you see such a separation?

Yeah, I think I could categorize characters who are RP'd in those two ways, either to be liked IC (we'll exclude OOC in this instance) or just to RP their character as it would. I think...
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Ulphus

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #6 on: 20 Apr 2010, 16:42 »

Seriphyn was enough of a sleezeball when I shared a corp with him, that if Ulf saw him on the other side of a pub, he wouldn't go up and say Hi.

I have no problems with Seriphyn as a character, the RP is fine, and I think he's done good things for Fed RP, but my character, and indeed a few others that I know, would generally avoid him where possible - mostly because he's an arsehole.

What that means is that obnoxious characters get less RP from people who care about that sort of thing.

I don't like RPers who play characters that are obnoxious enough that normal people who have a choice wouldn't associate with them, and who then complain that they can't get no RP.

Perhaps I'm being too much of a delicate flower, but I generally avoid hanging out places that Ulf has no choice about whether to associate with people who are rude and obnoxious.



What that unfortunately means is that there are a lot of RPers out there that I will probably never get to know IC, but hey, thems the breaks.


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Casiella

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #7 on: 20 Apr 2010, 16:48 »

Seri, do you think that because other folks seem to avoid interaction with your character?
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Seriphyn

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #8 on: 20 Apr 2010, 16:54 »

No, I think this because I seem to get OOC criticized for Seri's actions  :s

Bit of an emotivist approach to things, hence why I was trying to make it seem a more universal, analytical topic  :bear:
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Ciarente

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #9 on: 20 Apr 2010, 17:16 »

In the general and abstract, RPing with an obnoxious character takes a lot more work, because apart from anything else, one has to come up with a reason for one's character to be talking to them. So, as Ulf said, people playing arseholes find their characters treated like arseholes .  There's also the question of style of RP: some people enjoy having an argument IC and some seem to spend all their RP picking fights with people: others find that boring and avoid those characters. Neither is 'doingitwrong' but nor is either obligated to spend their leisure time doing something they dislike for someone else's diversion.


As far as people being unable to distinguish between an IC and OOC arsehole, it hasn't been my experience that's the case.  I can think of several characters off the top of my head (no names no packdrill) whose players are liked in their RP circles while the characters themselves are disliked. I can also think of players whose characters were perfectly nice but who gave people the OOC irrits enough for them to find themselves shunned in RP.

The latter is much rarer. Likeability is hard to RP if you don't have it IRL.


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Lillith Blackheart

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #10 on: 20 Apr 2010, 19:29 »

So many comments, but I just think I'll sum it up in one statement.


You make a character with the express purpose of him being unlikeable....

....and are in here wondering why he isn't liked?

Wait what?  :s Tell me I'm reading that wrong. . .
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Ulphus

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #11 on: 20 Apr 2010, 19:35 »

You make a character with the express purpose of him being unlikeable....
....and are in here wondering why he isn't liked?

Actually, I think Seri was saying that he made a character that was difficult to like, and people were giving him a hard time OOC for it.

Of course, it could be because some people find him irritating OOC as well.
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Natalcya Katla

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #12 on: 20 Apr 2010, 19:43 »

Personally I decided to stop pretending to be a nice person OOC. It made playing an unlikable character much simpler.  8)
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Casiella

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #13 on: 20 Apr 2010, 19:47 »

If I word this wrongly, please forgive me, and I expect gentle guidance should that be the case.

But I tend to agree with Ulph: the times I have seen Seri criticized OOCly (admittedly I have not been in the OOC channel in some months), the issues generally revolved around the player, not the character. I don't particularly have an opinion one way or the other, because I find Seri-the-player to be like most every other human I know: complex and full of both warts and shining moments.

In other words please don't take this as me joining in a dogpile. I just want to gently note that the real issues others may have with you could stem from dislike of "you," not "him." And since you can't please everyone, then I would further suggest just listening to constructive criticism and those who don't simply tear you down, and ignoring those who cannot or do not express their opinions in a way that helps you enjoy your gameplay and roleplay.

At the end of the day, EVE isn't really srz bznz.
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Lillith Blackheart

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Re: Egomaniacs, A-holes and Mary Sues
« Reply #14 on: 20 Apr 2010, 19:53 »

Ahh. I did misunderstand then.

Ok then. On that note:

I can say nothing for your case, Seriph, because I don't know you from Adam. All I know is I don't generally have problems with people OOC if their character is a douchebag so long as they aren't douchebags.

My character is unlikable, my forum persona is semi-likable (haha), I am a pretty mellow, down-to-earth kinda chap and most people don't have a problem with me OOC -- save for a few.

Though there was a time that someone decided that I was a horrible person and all this crap because their character got the shit end of the stick because of a horrible thing my character did.

But that's another story.
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