Switchaholics Anonymous

[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.