Do you play careful, or risky?

[Gimfalisette]

For the purpose of this discussion, some definitions:

Careful play: Making sure to avoid anything and everything that might end up in harm to my character. This might include avoiding relationships of any kind, avoiding templars and nobles completely, never pissing anyone off, never making commitments, never starting plots. The "careful play" mentality sees the only important question to be "will this maybe end badly for my character?" And if the answer is yes, then the activity is avoided.

Risky play: Taking risks which make sense for the character. Might be things like falling in love or making friends, working for nobles and templars, making people angry, having goals and working toward them. Risks can be small or very large, the point is, they may possibly end in bad things for your character; and yet, you do them because they make sense to do or need to be done for some reason.

Stupid play: E.g., deciding that hunting bahamet is a good thing for your newbie warrior to do. Or going into the 'rinth in your new silk outfit.

Alright, so, stupid play is not what I'm talking about here. That is not what I mean in terms of risk.

So the question is, do you play careful? or do you play risky? And how's that working out for you?

I am realizing lately...now that I've been playing for almost but not quite a year...that my playstyle is changing more toward "risky." I started out being really "careful," not wanting other characters to be angry at or dislike my characters, etc.

But I think I'm finding that my best moments, and the greatest things I've accomplished, have come from "risky" play. When my characters have made alliances and enemies, have made bold moves, have risked pissing people off, etc...then great things happen. Yeah, sometimes it's ended badly, too. But still, I don't regret having done the (sometimes crazy) risky things.

Also, playing "careful" never ever made everyone love me and be nice to me. Waah. *chuckle* When I've played careful, seems like problems come to me anyways, only mixed up with a lot more boredom.

This is a good revelation for me, because by nature I'm sort of freaked out and paranoid and overly cautious.

What about you?

[Tarx]

Risky.  Hardcore risky.

[bardbard#4]

I play my character.

[Malken]

If the roleplay is boring, I tend to do a lot of risky things.. When things start becoming interesting, I'm more of the paranoid extra-careful type.

There's something great about being known as the newbie guy in town who took down a bahamet with just a few spears and managed to survive it, but there's also something really sucky about being known as the very well-known 50 days warrior who died to a carru because your connection dropped for 2 seconds.

So having a great balance between the two is good.. Armageddon is not a great game if you want to live 10+ IC years with your character, because there's so much that can happen, the cursed random deaths like I call them, that if you are too careful you'll never do anything in the game.

[Lizzie]

I like to mix a little of both in my characters. They might not trust anyone, or trust only a very few people. So that's playing it safe. But at the same time, they wouldn't normally let their distrust prevent them from having fun. Hypothetical example - my rinthi assassin chick doesn't trust southsiders at all, but she'll share drinks with an Oash aide and gossip about made-up stuff just to pass the time.

Another hypothetical - my independant hunter might not trust elves, but it woudn't stop her from going into the elven territory to skin a few critters that live there. She might not run immediately if an elf comes by, but she'd be ready to fight or flee if the situation calls for it.

So - my characters will take risks, but cautious risks balanced by a very healthy dose of skepticism and distrust.

In other words, they KNOW someone's out to get them, but it won't stop them from living their life as they see fit.

L. Stanson

[Ghost]

I feel like I am always over the edge.  That is where the most fun is.

Staying away from everything looks safer, but it looks dull if you are used to take risks.

[Morfeus]

As bardbard said: I play my character. That means, I take risks which are reasonable for him or her. I play the game mostly to see developing of the personality and I am willing to survive some "boredom" for this (read: moments which are not full of action, but perhaps filled with thinks, solo-rp, making plans...), as well as I am willing to go blindly into an obvious danger if it looks to me my character would do so.

[Marauder Moe]

I'm definitely more on the careful side of things.  I like my characters to live long and develop personal history, rather than go out in one glorious but short scene.  I get pretty invested in their lives, but I like to think that helps me roleplay them realistically.

Though... I suppose many of the more interesting moments I've played were when my characters threw caution to the wind and acted recklessly, irrationally, and such.  A mix is probably best.

[Angela Christine]

Usually I am more Risky.  When I've played very, very careful types my characters tend to live longer than a month, which is good, but I get so bored I want to slit my own throat, which is bad.

[Fathi]

Depends entirely on the character.

After all, what's considered risky for my 2-day noble's aide and what's considered risky for my 60-day ungemmed Rukkian are vastly different.

Even if I'm bored to tears, my PC's not going to act OOCly just to spice things up, so any and all perceived risks they'd take would be judged appropriate by my character's standards.

Hell, on more than one occasion now, I've had a character do something EXTREMELY risky from a PC-longevity standpoint simply because there were things they didn't know about the situation/area. Because I as a player know there's an uber-defiler hiding in this innocuous looking cottage after he killed my last two scavenger PCs in the woods doesn't mean my ranger from the other end of the world would have a clue.

[mansa]

I play BardBard's character.

[Maso]

I simply do whatever feels right and fits right with my character. And most of the time that calls for risk taking - though sometimes I do that carefully...again dependant on the character and how careful she/he is.

[Gimfalisette]

In the context of this discussion, acting ICly for the character was always assumed. This is not about acting OOCly...whether risky or careful...for any reason.

For example, one of my characters once planned to do, and then did do, something which could have gotten the character executed. (And almost did get the character executed.) I knew both ICly and OOCly that the action could lead to the death of the character. But ICly and OOCly, I also knew that the action made complete sense and, in a particular way, was necessary.

The result of that choice was quite a bit of immediate, fun roleplay for a number of characters, mine included, and then some fun and important long-term plot stuff as well.

There was certainly a voice inside of me, when I was deciding to do the thing, though, that said, "Wow, this is crazy. Your character could DIE for this!" Ultimately, I was really glad I ignored the voice.

[Gimfalisette]

I play BardBard's character.

I once followed mansa's character into a locked apartment. THAT IS HOW CRAZY I AM.

[FiveDisgruntledMonkeysWit]

Careful, generally. As Arm is coming to a close, I'm starting to regret not taking bigger risks. I'm starting to regret never playing the jerk, the mugger, the villain. My characters are generally nice, reasonable, level-headed, and cautious.
It sucks. My next character is going to be coarse, greedy, pompous, drunken asshole with no qualms about stabbing people in the back. He'll live hard and die fast, and it's gonna rock.

[Morfeus]

I think the problem is where is the line between "careful" and "risky". Going to hunt might be risky. Insulting templar might be risky as well (or insane, heh). Going to hunt with a partner might be risky or careful, depending on situation. Often there are things which a player considers "safe" and does not realize they are very, very risky. Often there are thing a character considers "safe" and does not realize they are risky - even if the player does.

I personally don't like this forced lines.

[Nile]

I'd say fairly risky. I love a bit of conflict when it comes along.

[V1agraKank]

I play different characters different ways.  Some careful, some risky.  My current character is careful.  I usually admire people who play the riskier characters.

[Janna]

Heh, I think you know the answer about that from me hmm, Gim?  :twisted:

[Malken]

[Derail]Am I the only one who doesn't know who everyone else plays?  :cry:[/derail]

[Gimfalisette]

[Derail]Am I the only one who doesn't know who everyone else plays?  :cry:[/derail]

Yes, and we all know who you play. But we're not out to get you. Not for at least five more minutes.

[Hot_Dancer]

My characters typically have common sense and take calculated risks.

[mansa]

Derail:

Gim only found out who I played, -after- they were gone and dead.

[Dresan]

How i would play a character is different then how someone else would play the same character, etc etc...all the choices for playing that same character would probably be correct though. Funny thing about playing any character is there are often a number of options to choose from when it encounters a situation. At the end of the day we are all motivated by OOC reasoning, for most the ooc reason is to have fun...if you've ever stored a character your in this group.

I've never stored a character (though i thought about it more then once), they are usually very longed lived and it takes quite a force to kill them.  My characters start careful but as they get older and more powerful they become riskier and risker (from plots to exploration) since they can afford it more. IC reasoning can range from ambition to arrogance or just plain curiousity for why they do certain things but its always fun for me and those around the character. Sometimes its rewarding ICly, something its not but i always learn something and have fun.

[LauraMars]

Self-sabotage is my favorite game.  Besides plain old sabotage, I mean.