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[tarunik]

How do you deal with an alt who you are trying to develop as an RP char and at the same time is needed for some OOC reason? (say you need to park a scan-alt somewhere, or need a neutral char to test something on TQ)

[Ghost Hunter]

It can range from family-like interdependence to detached contract 'I get paid some dosh for this' style work. The most extreme form would be some kind of 'anonymous' benefactor sending what ever it is your main needs. Most people usually have their alts be family or close friends of some kind, but I've seen business partner type alts as well.

To simplify my RP life all except 1 of my alts is interconnected with the concept of the True Slave Foundations and my main character, Ghost. They're all apart of the same cult/family system, and the alt's function describes their RP purpose in the Foundations.

The difficulty of maintaining an alt really rests in how comfortably you can separate each character's micro-universe from each other. The actions of one character in secret that the others wouldn't know, etcetra.

[Shae Tiann]

The characters I have who are connected OOC, I usually say IC that they've worked together, they're friends, I'm paying X to haul crap for Y.... it's pretty easy, in Eve, where money CAN buy you everything.

[Silver Night]

Well, I think there are a couple separate issues here (though ofc as with anything there are probably others I've not thought of:

Issue 1: An alt's motivations (and this alt may or may not be in any way connected to your other character(s)): In this situation, I think it is pretty easy to have an IC reason for whatever you are using the character ooc for. Some people, of course, prefer to make sure their characters only work in the other direction (what the character would do is what the player does with them). If you are planning on a character being one you RP with from the start, though, it's fairly easy to incorporate what you would like to do with that character into the concept.

Issue 2: Sort of different, but not always unrelated to issue one, is what such an alt's relationship with your other character(s) is. This is commonly handled as hirling, friend, family, etc. I would take a look at what your concept of the character is first, and decide which route to go down. (For example, if one is Amarr and one is Caldari, the family route would take some slightly more exotic background than the hirling route.)

[tarunik]

Hireling would probably make sense for most of the alt-y things I've had to (ab)use RP alts for; how do you explain it if there's no actual ISK being floated though?

[Silver Night]

Well, there's always extortion, or paying back of old debts, or similar, I suppose. "I paid for your podder school, now you work for me for a while" etc.

[tarunik]

Well, there's always extortion, or paying back of old debts, or similar, I suppose. "I paid for your podder school, now you work for me for a while" etc.

Good one.  Although getting shoved in the ass-end of W-space for a week in a T1 scanning frigate with no outside contact whatsoever is a pretty nasty way to repay a debt...

[Silver Night]

Depends, I suppose, on the debt.

[Vieve]

Well, there's always extortion, or paying back of old debts, or similar, I suppose. "I paid for your podder school, now you work for me for a while" etc.

Good one.  Although getting shoved in the ass-end of W-space for a week in a T1 scanning frigate with no outside contact whatsoever is a pretty nasty way to repay a debt...

A slight twist on that idea:


Alt's a cousin of the main.  Alt went out right after he/she got his capsuleer license and got himself in hock to some loan shark (oooh, got to have the shiny ship before I can afford it!) with heavy <pick pirate faction of your choice> connections.  The main (after succumbing to family pressure)'s tried to pay the debt off for the alt, but the loan shark's now pissed off to the point where ISK is no longer an option.  He/she wants the alt permadead, permaslaved or worse.  So, the main's shoved the stupid cousin into the ass-end of W-space while he/she's trying to figure something out.


It might take a while.

[tarunik]

Well, there's always extortion, or paying back of old debts, or similar, I suppose. "I paid for your podder school, now you work for me for a while" etc.

Good one.  Although getting shoved in the ass-end of W-space for a week in a T1 scanning frigate with no outside contact whatsoever is a pretty nasty way to repay a debt...

A slight twist on that idea:


Alt's a cousin of the main.  Alt went out right after he/she got his capsuleer license and got himself in hock to some loan shark (oooh, got to have the shiny ship before I can afford it!) with heavy <pick pirate faction of your choice> connections.  The main (after succumbing to family pressure)'s tried to pay the debt off for the alt, but the loan shark's now pissed off to the point where ISK is no longer an option.  He/she wants the alt permadead, permaslaved or worse.  So, the main's shoved the stupid cousin into the ass-end of W-space while he/she's trying to figure something out.


It might take a while.

Not really useful in my particular case, but that's a good one ;D I'll have to keep that in my back pocket for some other time...   

[Matariki Rain]

Hireling would probably make sense for most of the alt-y things I've had to (ab)use RP alts for; how do you explain it if there's no actual ISK being floated though?

Ulf's trucker alt rather famously charged him for hauling...

[tarunik]

Hireling would probably make sense for most of the alt-y things I've had to (ab)use RP alts for; how do you explain it if there's no actual ISK being floated though?

Ulf's trucker alt rather famously charged him for hauling...

Sounds like a good plan for mine...provided I don't get his hauler torched by a tower on accident!

[Kaleigh Doyle]

How do you deal with an alt who you are trying to develop as an RP char and at the same time is needed for some OOC reason? (say you need to park a scan-alt somewhere, or need a neutral char to test something on TQ)

It depends on how closely the characters work together. I originally made two additional characters to supplement my main (Nola/Aideen) with a separate focus, who later turned out to be somewhat interesting characters to develop in as of themselves. They were always intended to be sisters, so I could take them in any direction needed, even if it turns out at some point they become at odds with one another.