I don't think this is the main problem, but it may be with some people.

Not everyone knows exactly what makes good profiles. Even realistic profiles. Kami, you and Zombi both know what the original profile looked like that I posted. I was part of the aforementioned "returns". From there I re-posted, then you and I worked with the profile.

I don't always think highly of what I do, but I can say that I at least somewhat understand what makes something realistic. Not everyone does. So, with that in mind I know you listed the things you wanted to cover in your post, and that works for this post. However, the post itself has a very, forward, approach I guess is the best word. I think you should, and I can help with this, by helping with the writing or just offering my own profile.

Take a profile, tear it apart with with what's good and what's bad and sticky, bold, and just make it noticeable to the public eye.

One very EXTREME measure is to password lock the profile board, and place the password, or parts of the password in each section you want people to read.

I agree with Jin, and I do offer my own profiles. I know Sashu had the main problem within my characters - the others, I think, weren't honestly too problematic. But I also think as someone who's been around for a while that it could be helpful to other members to see even a veteran of the site make mistakes. I've made countless profiles over the years, but god knows I'm not perfect at it.

Hm. The password lock is an interesting idea. What the site did before was hide a code word in the rules and faqs, to be revealed pieces by piece. Unfortunately, that security standard could be bypassed by CTRL+F the word "letter". As it was, there was also the chance that the person just happened to use the password in their profile. (And it led to a lot of characters wearing bracelets XP )

I think the main problem is that it would put off new members from the site. We used to have a ton of hurdles to jump before the haitus, and frankly? It was frustrating even to veterans. It literally got to the point where it could take months to even be able to roleplay, not to mention find a partner. To be honest, I don't think that a password lock is what we need.

The biggest issue is that just because the site as a collective has a lot of "unique" characters, any stricter enforcements would inhibit new members from creating the character of their dreams. Imagine having a fantastic idea for a character, inspired by hours upon hours of watching Korra and reading through the boards. So you write up your character, the best thing you've honestly ever written before, slaving over it for days, and then posting it proudly onto the pending board. It's a tragic story filled with hope, and the first character you've really started to connect to and care for. So you go to bed happy and content, looking forward to the next morning.

And then your profile is removed for being "too unique".

To be fair, it wouldn't happen like that even most of the time. But it will happen. So I would say just keep in mind that just because the site has a ton of traumatized, misunderstood, or lonely characters doesn't mean that each individual member has created a traumatized, misunderstood, or lonely character.

^ Actually, the ratio of players to "misunderstood/tragic/etc" characters is probably a lot higher than you think. Which is to say that yes, the majority of players here on TARP have at least one if not more misunderstood/traumatized/tragic characters. Though, in your post I'm not sure what the ratio of players to tragic characters has to do with anything! You made a jump there from people getting their 'dream profiles' denied to 'but not every person has a tragic character' that I didn't quite follow.

And yes, let me be clear: people will have their dream profiles denied. Especially if their dream profile was written for another world, involves unicorns, etc. You might laugh at that, but people do it. So I'm going to be clear about this now — just because a profile is someone's dream character doesn't mean that it will be a good fit here on TARP.

I do not think password locking the profile boards would be very helpful. We have already had to lock all approved profiles to stop members from editing characters post-approval. I think password locking the profile board would be unwelcoming

I understand. Though you're right, I did laugh. =] No, what I meant was just that, for example, my own character Yuriko is not a tragic character, despite the fact that my character Niu is. So just because I have made a character with a bad past doesn't mean that each of my characters have one.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, on a roleplay site, it's hard to think up a mundane character on this sort of site. When you have no distinctive feature or fantastical backstory, it's harder to find topics to talk about IC, especially when characters develop deeper relationships and start opening up to each other. If there is no traumatic childhood - or even in Korra's case, "sheltered" childhood - it's harder to find deep topics to come up with.

That's just my opinion. Like I said earlier, even if Yuriko's past doesn't involve abuse, physical damage, etc, she still has to deal with her father's mindset, her mother's illness, and her twin sisters vanishing from the family. It's not especially tragic, but all the same there it is. For those who are placed in happy families without want or scarring, it can get a little harder figuring out their goals for the future without dealing with issues in the past.

Sorry if that makes no sense =P That's just my opinion.

But again, I stand by Jin's idea of volunteering profiles for scrutiny, even those accepted without edit.

I'm in support of Jin's idea of volunteering profiles to be taken apart and critiqued. I think the main problem is, as Kami mentioned in the original post, that oftentimes we think we're coming up with something unique when it turns out that we're only doing what has been done before, multiple times. I'm sure there are many people on here like myself who, when they come up with a great idea for a character, like to mistakenly believe that this idea is--at least on TARP--their own, and has never been thought of before. The idea is so exciting that it has to be written out, and there you go: another trope-following character.

As far as physical appearance goes...I don't know how it is for everyone else, but personally I think I suck at writing physical descriptions of my characters, and it always takes me a while to finish that particular section of a profile. If many people have similar difficulties, then I think that's why "unique" traits are so common. They're easy. Okay, I have a character idea in my head, I need to describe how that character looks, but how do I show that my character isn't just like everyone else? Well, my vocabulary of descriptive language for physical description isn't as extensive as it could be, so...ah ha! Scars! Scars are simple. All I need is a reason for the scars to exist, and I have something that physically distinguishes my character from the others. Perfect.

Really, I think most of the issues mentioned in the original post result from not having examples of what not to do. If the staff held up certain profiles and said, "Look, these things here? Don't put those in your profiles, please," I think people would recognize some of the unwanted traits in their own profiles and would strive to eliminate them. It could be disheartening to have one's profile torn apart, but if only volunteers were accepted I think it could work well. Perhaps, going along with something else Jin said about helping others with writing, we could establish some kind of...member review board, I suppose, where older members would be sent WIP profiles to critique. This could get rid of some of the aforementioned problems early on, giving the staff a bit of a break. This too could be voluntary--as in, people could choose whether or not to send profiles to this review board. This does seem like a major thing to implement, but I think it would majorly benefit everyone, and I'd be happy to be a reviewer if this were established.

Just a couple ideas here. I agree that there are some problems, and I think the best way to solve them is by example, so to speak.

I have had my issues with some of the rules in the past but lately I have found these constrictions to be very helpful. For example, I was in the middle of writing my profile for Mugen when the orphan population exploded and had to be limited. I didn't have an epic parent-less adventure in mind I was just too lazy to think up parents.
Once I knew I had to create at least one parent for the guy Ideas flowed more freely. Instead of a being a cipher Mugen became someone cold, hard and ruthless but doted on his mother and had a hair trigger when it came to his foggy swamp heritage.

Sure, one path was cut off but it directed me to a much better one.

The point is that structure can be a great boon to creativity.

Thanks for everyone's replies so far! I'll try to address everyone. :]

Breaking down profiles: The biggest issue with this is time. Zombi and I already spend a majority of our time reviewing profiles! That is our first priorty as staff members. You may think the answer is as simple as getting more staff, but then that means that z and I have to train them, answer their questions, double check their work, and be available in case anything comes up — that's more work for us, too. If it were a member-run, optional review board, the biggest problem I can see with that is people having a different interpretation of what the staff means. The opening post is about everyone, including returning/veteran members, so it wouldn't work well as a member-run board.

About tropes: I could buy the "Oh people don't know!" excuse if we hadn't written something about it already. The profile boards currently state in the headers, under the world population table:

Thinking about an orphan, tea shop owner/worker, a "stubborn earthbender" / "calm waterbender" / "temperamental firebender", or some other "special" character with lots of tragedy or sad history or fantastical physical qualities?

IF SO, please reconsider! There are a lot of tropes & stereotypes that we are finding characters are falling into, and it makes for some really boring characters. Your character doesn't have to have a trope quality, or an outlandish backstory, or vibrant physical identifiers (hair, eyes, tattoos) to be special! A personality makes an interesting character, so work them personality ideas! Most people in the world of Korra are probably just average, every-day citizens, and our population should reflect that.

The [rulesfaq], under FAQ #7, has an extensive list on what we do not allow on TARP, which includes (but is not limited to): no tattoos, no unnatural eye or hair colours (as dictated by the show), characters with no life affecting flaws/vices/faults, and "important" non-canon OCs.

And despite all this people are still submitting the aforementioned types of profiles! I am really not sure how we can make it any clearer for people, aside from babying everyone and slapping more "required reading" around on the site, which is already a huge and intimidating problem for new members based on our site's age alone.



That's what you signed up for, though, by joining / returning to TARP for its Korra era. Being a "mundane" person is what we advertise this site as being, concentrating on the everyday person. Forgive me, but I find it silly that you can't find topics to talk about IC if your character doesn't have some deep and debilitating drama. There is political strife everywhere. Everyone in the city is affected by this anti-bender sentiment / bender power struggle. Even though we disallow Triad involvement at this point in time, that doesn't mean that everyone's holding hands and singing kumbayah.

The point we're trying to make is not that these tropes can't be used, but the fact that people should try to be creative about them! A trope by itself isn't problematic, it's what you do with it, and the problem we're having is that everyone is following the same pattern.

Needs personal drama? Kill off parent(s)!
Needs physical feature? Scars or tattoos!
Needs internal strife? They don't like their abilities / bending / have trouble with those things!

See what I mean?

I really don't think that having more member involvement in everyone else's profiles is the answer; some of the vets might remember this one, but remember the RPG Training School? Remember when your ability to RP hinged on a non-staff member? Suyami — I think she's Miska now — spent six months trying to get approved. We are not going down that road again. If it's a voluntary thing, then we're back to where we are now, you know? It's already a "voluntary" measure when we ask people to take out tropes and guess what: by and large people don't volunteer for that!

So let's think of something else. :]

You make a really good point. I may have said this earlier, maybe not, but I've definitely been trying personally to get my characters to be as realistic as possible. Don't say it's silly: I probably didn't make sense. It's just for me, in my personal life, it's easy to just let time slip by. The little things fall through the cracks, and you're left with major events and little of the everyday life.

Books don't enforce the fact that an everyday person can have a good story. 99.999% of the time, the reader is dropped into a situation that is building up to a peak - meaning an extraordinary circumstance aside from the norm, like war, coming-of-age, even meeting a new person. So yes, there is the political struggle, the corruption, the brooding civil war. That's good. But everyone has that. Those issues don't make your character an individual, even with the personal effects it has on their life.

And yes, I remember the RPG school. No offense, but that could have been done a lot better. *shudder* That took waaaaay too long.

As for the profiles, I know you guys are busy. And yes, it would be hard to work on while reviewing the more urgent profiles.

Possibly... I don't know, this may not be a good idea, but I was thinking of it earlier. Maybe a sort of quiz thing? Either in the profile itself or in the form of a pm to the profile mods. Again, it would mean more work for everyone, but it would be short and succinct. I guess it could be a couple of questions about the character rules of TARP (just a couple) or maybe it could be more like, "List 5 things you're not supposed to have in a character." I don't know. Just throwing ideas out there. The problem with the quizzes is that it would be a huge hassle.

No, those don't make your character an individual. But I live in a one bedroom apartment and am practically a shut in for various reasons, and if it weren't for the internet I'd be shut out of everything. Does that mean I have no personality, no opinions? Not at all! While your environment and personal experience does shape part of who you are, it by no means DEFINES you.

Let's take my character Ling, yeah? She's a bit tropey — only has a mom, and her father died of illness three years prior to "now". But she's relatively plain. People don't remember what she looks like. She dresses unremarkably. So, how do I make Ling an enjoyable character to play with? I give her a personality! She's awkward — so painfully awkward — to the point where she's vastly inappropriate 99% of the time and probably quite offensive. She is fiercely protective of her family, especially her older sister, Mei. She has vices - gambling, drinking. She lies, she cheats. But she has somewhat twisted standards. She doesn't "outright" cheat, like counting cards. She doesn't alter the game, just the conditions so that they're more favourable to her. She is a sweet person, and loves to help — but her awkwardness comes off as overbearing and insistent. She's a decent hand-to-hand fighter, but nothing extraordinary.

Or we can take Ren, my acolyte. She does have personal drama, yes, but mainly that was a nod to the realism of the struggles many trans* people have when coming out to their friends and family. She's on a date with Hangetsu right now, and while she touches upon some of that stuff, the two of them are taking about their interests, how Hangetsu feels when he's bending something, the books Ren loves to read, music — things that normal people talk about! I mean, this is the Jazz era. And the Ragtime / Big band era. Huge boon in music!

You see what I mean? My characters are unique individuals, in part for what they experienced, but mostly because of the way they interact with their current surroundings via hobbies, vices, observations. :] It's really not a difficult thing, if people would stop focusing on being special so that they make the biggest impact on the board as a whole.

Yeah, the RPG school was kind of a terrible mess. So were exemptions. That's why we no longer have either. =P

I want to avoid having members jump through hoops. Tell me, if you were a new member, bright and eager to RP in a brand new world, do you want to sit there and fill out a quiz, AND read the rules & faq which can be time consuming, AND wait for your profile to be reviewed AND possibly make edits to them, AND sit around waiting for an RP partner?

Profiles need to be done as quickly as possible, because roleplaying shouldn't be an ordeal. But, by the same token, it shouldn't be an ordeal for the staff either!

EDIT: Keep in mind, some people submit more than one profile, too! And sometimes, even if their first profile is OK, their second isn't, or their third, and so on. :]

I think that if you are saying that you can't find anything for your character to talk about if you don't have a dramatic/tragic past whatever for them... then you need to be challenging yourself as a writer to become better. Relying on a crutch like this doesn't make your character or your writing very interesting. I know I am addressing this to one person but please don't take it personally — this goes for anyone who thinks this way. I find this lazy. I don't find it an acceptable reason for a character to be just like every other overdramatic and traumatized character on the boards.



This is just... well, it's not even true. Everyday people have excellent, beautiful, and well-written stories in tons and tons of books. Much of classic literature is about everyday people. This is not an argument I will entertain as valid.

I think member involvement is a bad idea because, as Kami has said, this isn't only about new members. This is about veteran members too, meaning that obviously our veteran members aren't any better at this. Tenshio and Hangetsu have hit the nail on head with this — it is laziness that causes many of these problems. You find it hard to write something so you throw in something over the top instead, or whatever. But that's bad writing and bad character design... that's what we're hoping to avoid!

As for putting up an example profile that's been torn apart... in my experience, even when people offer something of theirs up for criticism, feelings are still easily hurt and I am quite frankly not willing to go there with any of you, I'm sorry.

**In all seriousness, you guys know that I respect your opinions. I'm not very coherent when it comes to putting my thoughts to words, as you should all know by now.

I'm trying to figure out how to say what I'm trying to say. I know what I said sounded lazy, or like my characters don't have personality. In my opinion, they do. I work hard to create what I believe is a well-rounded character, and to let their personality shine in my roleplaying. Whether I do that or not, I have no idea. I'm biased. But my point was not to make that you can't write well without trauma. No. That was not what I was trying to insinuate, at all. I was just saying that for newer members who watched the series and have heroic ideals in their heads, it's much more difficult for them to be brought down to earth with a less fantastical charrie. Speaking from experience, it's easy to play an extreme character, because you don't have to focus on the subtleties and mysteries of human nature and behavior. You don't have to think too hard about what your character thinks about a situation, because at the extreme end of the spectrum, you're left with basic emotions and uncomplicated relationships.

I guess just think of mainstream entertainment. Harry Potter: he's just a normal, average kid. Except he was orphaned and then bullied by his remaining family. Then it turns out he's the chosen one. Tons of people look up to Harry Potter, or at least the series. Ron is the youngest of his brothers, teased and tossed around. For a while he's the third wheel in the books, neither as smart as Hermione nor as strong as Harry. And for Hermione herself, she's discriminated against and even attacked for being muggle-born, and with her buck-teeth and massive bush of hair, she isn't even pretty - not for a while anyways. Then she grows to be one of the most intelligent and powerful witches of her generation.

And then there are other students with no names, no stories, no significant power. No one knows them or remembers them.

In the original Avatar: the Last Airbender: Aang's whole "family" group was slaughtered after it was revealed that he was the most powerful person in the world. Toph was born blind and became a master bender. Sokka and Katara's mother was slain and their father was gone for a long time. Zuko was booted from his family with an ugly facial scar and dishonor on his very name. Even Iroh, the wise firebending master, lost a son, and has no family but Zuko who isn't utterly insane.

Then there's the Fire Nation soldier who doesn't even have a face, a family, a name, who falls in battle. The end.

So all of these main characters started small, humble, or broken. They all raise to greatness. It's hard to want to play a nameless, faceless person who just stands in the background.

I know I'm going to get even more crap for this post, but really. Whether through appearance, personality, or history, you naturally want people to recognize your character. You want something. Even an air acolyte with an unremarkable face and a name is better than an air acolyte with no face at all, or a passing stranger on the road.

So while I do hope for more average characters, and not a plethora of scarred and delicate people, I at least comprehend where they're coming from. I sympathize. On a site where the character is your doorway into every interaction, you have to place importance on them. You have to do something so that your partner won't say, "Well, what's your name again? Why don't we just end it here so we can post with other people?" **

EDIT: and just to let people know, I'm not trying to stop Kami or Zombi from enforcing any rules or imposing/removing any restrictions on characters. I 100% agree. I'm simply stating my opinion in the most respectful way that I can. As someone who recognizes where she came from with her writing, and sees the obvious differences between then and now, I'm just saying that when you've written even less than two years, it's hard to get things right the first time. It's hard to create a character that's as subtle and mysterious and involved as real human beings are. Even I, having written for 7 years on this site alone, have such a hard time with it.

** EDIT 2: I edited my post so as to not sound so rude and passive-aggressive

The passive aggressiveness needs to stop. Now. You're being snide, and that's just uncalled for. Zombi very specifically said that the first part of the post was addressed to everyone, and simply disagreed with your assessment of "books don't do that", because it all depends on genre. Classical literature, as an example she used, is one such genre in which protagonists are every day people. As I stated in the OP, everyone needs to be respectful. Snide, "Oh it's pick on Fu-Ling day lololo" is just unnecessary! I don't know why you felt the need to do that, and quite frankly, it doesn't matter: it just needs to stop.

This goes for everyone. This is a discussion, and because it's a discussion people are going to quote other people and make their case; that doesn't mean anyone is picking on you, so the martyrdom / snide attitudes / and so on should be left for elsewhere.

Thank you.

——————————————

What I'm seeing here, from the replies, is that people essentially want characters that are as important as the canons in some manner, without being the canons. If that is what you are expecting from TARP, then I think you may have the wrong forum!



Really? Do you really think that? Isn't that the point of roleplaying an original character? To give these nameless souls a name, a story, a family? To make their deaths mean something? Or their accomplishments? It's a nice coincidence that background characters should be brought up now, because I recently wrote this via RP:



Isn't that what RPing an original character is all about?

Of course you want your character to be recognised, we all do. But that should be something done via writing as them and drawing people in by your ability to weave a cohesive story with your partners, not because "oh hey this character is tragic, we'll RP with him!" I agree with zombi fully that using "oh but no one ~wants~ to be normal" as an excuse strikes me as being lazy, because it's hard to think of ways to make someone special without making them a cut-out of every other character out there. But, in my opinion, it needs to happen here on TARP.

As I said in the OP, it's completely unrealistic to have a majority (and I do mean a majority) of our 78 character population to have the same basic template. That's boring! Republic City is huge, have you seen the map? It's the capitol city of the United Republic of Nations, which was made from the Fire Nation colonies. It is, essentially, New York City at the turn of the century - a bustling metropolis full of immigrants hoping for streets paved with gold and dreams, shady business practices, government corruption, and technological advances. Even if it sounds boring to you now, a factory job would be an AMAZING thing for a random Joe Schmoe on the street! There is an extreme discord / class split between the very very wealthy, and the very very poor, with MOST people falling into the latter bracket (especially immigrants)!

I guess I can't see or understand how making a character to fit such a fascinating time period would be difficult.

Sorry, Joychi, I did not mean to ignore you! I think I missed your post, I apologise. I'll go ahead and address what you have said now. :]



I'm not entirely sure I agree with that argument! If you really want to get to the nitty-gritty of it, none of our characters are technically supposed to exist. If you want to get into who is "supposed" to have a history, then we might as well just shut down all OC creation right now and stick to canons!

... Obviously, we're not going to do that. :] But I just wanted to demonstrate that this whole argument of "supposed to" is silly! Nothing on this forum save the canon plot is "supposed" to happen or "supposed" to exist!



But why does it have to be so grand, so theatrical? There are plenty of personal achievements a character can have, without resorting to killing their parents, subjecting them to trauma, subjecting them to disease or hardship beyond the scope of the hardships for the given time period / era / current events.

This discussion has gotten way out of hand, I feel — we're not saying that characters have to be trope free. At all! Tropes are fun! I particularly like the librarian trope, or the "shojou manga" trope. Tropes are not an ugly word, and they shouldn't be! What we are having an issue with is that everyone is using the same tropes.

We are not being cynical about this, Joychi! We don't think people ARE superficial, they are simply submitting characters that have the same tropes, over and over again. And when we ask them if they would change something, unless we demand it of them via rules they decline! Zombi and I are simply going over the profiles we have received.

Did everyone miss the part where I mentioned one in every five profiles have been deleted for not following 4+ rules? The part where people don't give their characters flaws, and just have them as perfectly nice characters all the time? Where, before we put in a thief/criminal cap, every submitted profile had something like it? We're keeping track of the # of orphans, too, unofficially, and I would hazard a guess as to about 1/6th of all posted profiles are younger characters with no parents.

The problem z and I are having is that people aren't paying attention to the rules, and aren't bothering to listen to the part where we ask for "every day characters". So many people have combat training, too! It's a time of peace right now, I don't understand how so many characters have been officially trained to fight.

zombi and I see the same profile after the same profile, day in, day out, with only a handful of details changed (like name, or hair length). People think they're making unique characters by giving them loads of sad back story and special physical features, but they're not.

---

EDIT
The point of this thread, though, is to make everyone aware of what's been happening! Not to point fingers and say what members are doing what and so forth. The point of the discussion is to work together to come up with a solution that both helps members making profiles and encourages them to be creative, as well as not put any extra responsibility on staff or members alike.

I know you said you don't want to do this, but maybe it is a good idea to keep adding official restrictions into the rules. As Hangetsu said earlier, it may be helpful to have more structure. I despise the phrase, "As one door closes, another opens," but in this case it may be true. Start adding to the list of what people can't have, and we'll all have to find new ways to be unique. Say a few months down the road I want to make yet another character, and said character's going to have a dead parent or something else that's been similarly discouraged. If the rules say I can''t do that, well, guess I have to think of something else. In doing so, I may just find something that is unique to the site.

Yeah, restrictions can be frustrating, and might elicit cries of, "Why can't I have X?!" but we'd get used to it and think of ideas outside of the unwanted ones listed above. Seems like a win to me, even if it might create some member unhappiness at first.

Q.Q Why are you taking everything I said so extremely ? It makes me feel like I can't speak.

I'm in the middle of writing two RP posts since two hours ago, so I'll try to keep this short. When I said cynical, I was mainly referring to the way you and Ash were referring to the shinies in your last couple of posts. What Z said and what you said beforehand was too hard for me to follow, so I detected no cynicism... It was the "tragic" part in particular, I don't think newbies think of themselves as moths to flames of tragedies - or as moons to an earth of laziness, I don't even know anymore.

The "supposed" argument... I definitely had not foreseen this interpretation. I'll try to say in another more simplistic and outgoing way, since it's always worked so well for me before - sorry for this sarcasm. Nobody wants to make an NPC. I seriously can't do simpler.

The achievements thing, that is exactly what I meant. I was sort of quoting what Ash said about the ATLA canons so it may have sounded a bit too extreme, but the "sense of belonging" is probably where I was getting at.

Really, the main thing - the only thing, since the rest was just to ventilate the thread ever so slightly - I wanted noticed was my idea of a Harmony Establishment Movement. You don't have to care about the name, I found it funny, but making or allowing members to sponsor new guys to an extent would certainly/likely/probably/mayhaps regulate the amount of profiles that are wrong.

EDIT: I'm also really disappointed in people for there being only four of ten spots of Metalbenders and Equalists taken after two months !! This is disgraceful !!... I'm overdoing it, but I find it a real shocker. *bows*

@ Tenshio: the issue with that is that we then we get people who purposefully have things because "the rules don't say". The longer and more comprehensive the "you can't have" list gets, the less people will want to join or make characters. :] And it's not even that we don't WANT (for example) orphan characters! We just want people who make an effort to go beyond the easiest road for orphans and do something unique! So many orphans — no one's been adopted? Or formed a rag-tag Peter Pan group? Stuff like that! It's not that we don't WANT the trope, it just needs to not be the first thing that people go to in order to revolve their character's existence around it.

The easiest way I think to say it is this: We want characters-that-happen-to-be-orphans, not orphans-that-happen-to-be-characters. (Or any other common trait/trope). Does that make sense? We're not outlawing things (and if we were, we would've just done so), but more like encouraging people to do new things with their desired tropes, rather than following the same pattern as everyone else.

===

@joychi: Extremely? I'm not sure I follow. You posted a statement about people not wanting characters that aren't supposed to exist. Did it seem that extreme that it would extend to characters in general? I'm genuinely confused.

I also don't know what you mean by "shinies". Perhaps you can use simpler language, instead of fancy names and stuff? :]



And we're not asking them to! An NPC is a "non-player character". Once someone writes a bio for them — even if they were originally an NPC, they stop being one once a player takes charge of their history! I think that every character can be interesting and unique, without subjecting them to the traditional "hero" module (sad beginnings, troublesome journey, lesson learned). :]

As far as your idea:



Could you expand on that? I'm not really sure I understand. :]