Switchaholics Anonymous

[PepsiYuuka]

My best advice is to take a character that is like yourself in many ways. The closer to yourself a character is, the easier it will be to get "in-character".

tl;dr longass unneeded rant ahead

Eh, I'd take this with a grain of salt. Roleplaying for a lot of people is about escapism, and sometimes it is more interesting to play a character very different from yourself. I also tend to find projecting too hard onto a character can in some ways make you care a bit too much about them- though this is more relevant in situations where death, for example, is important. However, it still means you may be less inclined to take risks with them, which is part of the fun of roleplaying on a site like this. So I figured I would mention that this should be kept in mind.

That's not to say play a character you hate or have no attachment to at all. Of course not, it's your character, you should probably like them. Just try not to get so attached to your character you've preplanned their entire life story and would be completely crushed and upset OOC if anything bad happened to them at all. (again, a little upset is one thing, but at some point you as a player need to be able to take a step back and separate yourself from the character. this was a huge mistake i made as a new roleplayer.)

[Handsome Jack]

Nothing wrong with playing a character unlike yourself, and you shouldn't just play yourself. But the less able you are to relate to your character, the shorter a tenure it will have. It'll become a chore to write.

Getting upset about things happening to your charrie will happen to any that you've invested time and energy into, regardless of similarities to yourself. Hell, just check out Twitter after GoT airs for proof. Relateability does not need to mean you plan out everything either. It just means that you can more easily know how your character will react to any situation. No need to get "in-character" when you're already there.

In my case, Cell is a lot like me, but far more ambitious, motivated, and willing to fight. Because he shares personality traits with me, I can pump out a thousand words inside an hour without even trying. I already know how he'll react to any situation because he is me. If that makes sense.

In any case, that advice was directed towards people who switch often. If you can personally handle drastically different characters from yourself, then switching either isn't a problem or it isn't something you consider a problem. What I said was advice directed towards establishing a long-term, easily viable choice. Something that is easy to stick with.

[The Vision]

To start: I've thought about switching out Samus AND Enel many times. Even had folks go "bah, let go of Enel, he's lame". Frankly I may have dropped him if not for third characters, and Meruem.

Okay, Greg. Greg, I saw that your avatar was that rooster dude and I just. I forgot about the donation Luci made to change your avatar. I thought you were Jacket and when I read this I was like, uhm, Jacket..........

ANYWAY. About switching! I am probably never going to switch Jade because I adore the character a crazy amount. It's never even crossed my mind to switch her, not once. I can't say why, really, either. As for my alt account, though, that was Peregrine Mendicant ==> Crowley ==> Ada. PM was mostly my fault but also failed due to bad timing-- she would work better as an NPC if I ever picked her up again, since she's from Jade's source material.

Crowley was a great character, like super awesome (!!!!), and I had a TON of writing ideas and probably could have done them all, but I had a serious inferiority complex, kind of, where I felt like all of my attempts at humor with him just... weren't good. I didn't want to make him a complete joke, either, so for several months I stopped writing because I felt I just couldn't do the character justice. My admiration for Gaiman and Pratchett knows no bounds; it just felt sacrilegious, y'all. And then, when I picked up writing semi-regularly with him again.... well, someone went and had to switch to Wesker. This person forced my hand!

Ada is a solid character. I'm not switching her anytime soon, or at least I haven't considered it yet. That's gotta count for something, right?

Here's my advice for new peeps: don't join big events right off the bat. Most of my success with Jade, I think, likely stems from me forcing myself to write solo with her for so long. I gave her a base, established goals, and made loose connections over the Dataverse-- connections that could be made stronger through follow-up storylines. I also grew to like the character more and more as I delved into her personality and history. Events, while fun and a great opportunity for OM gain, can kill your character (figuratively and literally) if you haven't developed a solid enough appreciation for them.

Also, what Spur said!

While Jade is my senior on the OV I thought I'd give my two-cents. The thing that really helped me was to, in fact, join big threads. The reason I'm still sticking with Ogong - with some minor aesthetic and personality changes - is because I gave him a chance to grow and develop as he busted faces in Dark Data. By signing up for these events, you also get a chance to see how other people see your character. I like seeing other people interpret my character. Again with Ogong, the aspect of him being super childish was mostly Jim's idea that I incorporated because it fits so well.

But Jade's advice is also solid. The only reason I recommend events is if (like me) you have a habit of giving up on things before you've given them a chance. By tying yourself in somewhere, you force yourself to give a good, hard look at your character.

[Jade Harley]

^ Solid words. Some events can defs help you settle down, too! I'd just noticed that a bunch of people tend to switch after those events or fade out completely, so I figured making sure that you're really attached to the character and have some foundation going on beforehand would be beneficial. Writing with other people can totally help you to cement your character, but one problem is when people participate in events and become totally discouraged and worn out when it comes to writing that character.

I dunno, man. I guess a basic breakdown would be, if you can handle failure/intense writing regimens well, jump right into those events! If you can't and might drop a character at the first signs of difficulty, try and develop them more first.

[Gaston]

I'll add this, as I haven't seen it brought up. When making a character, especially if it's an OC or an underdeveloped character in their source, have plans for their personality. You don't need a detailed page on their personality, but just a few traits that fit with their background and actions. The biggest reason why I switched from Cole Tyson was that I really had no set personality, or real character in place when I made him; I was just throwing every idea I had into a pot and hoping they mixed into something that worked.