Poll: Preference for character longevity

[Dalmeth]

It depends largely on what my character is doing.  If he's managing other characters, then I'd say my preference for longevity is short.  It's stressful constantly making yourself present so as to keep things rolling.  Before when I've had such a role, my day to day enjoyment took a back seat in favor of waiting for one of those Moments.  You know, those moments when everything is running just as it should, and everyone's having fun?  That feeling is a vindication for me from whatever tortuous boredom I may have endured to get there.

Apart from that, my characters have no shelf life.

[Taven]

Between 6 months and a year is good for me. It's long enough I can really dig into the plotlines in the vicinity of my character, and short enough I can still feel things are "fresh" and look forward to a new PC without frustration of the old one. After a year, even when I enjoy the character, I start wondering when I'll be able to try something new.

The longer I play a character, the more attached to them I become.  I've had instances where the character has become really boring for awhile, and normally I can just chug on through and grow to appreciate it more.

I tend to invest a lot of time, emotion, and effort into my PCs so it will usually keep them fresh for me as long as I keep playing them.  So I don't really have a preference on the max amount of time I want to play a PC.

I enjoy a long lived character over a shortlived one, but on the flip side, when that long lived character dies it makes creating a new one all that much more of a pain in the ass for me.

Sort of like: The further along I get in the game, the less and less I want to start over, if that makes sense.

This pretty much sums it up for me. I've only had the oppertunity to play one really long lived PC, but I was very sad when they died. There were some VERY slow times, but over all it was an awesome experiance and I wish they could have lived longer. The longer a PC lives the more they develop as a character, and the more complex they become. Starting off from scratch after all that is very challanging. Over all, I think I'd want a PC to live as long as possible, unless where was some major reason that prevented me from having any fun with them.

[flurry]

I enjoy a long lived character over a shortlived one, but on the flip side, when that long lived character dies it makes creating a new one all that much more of a pain in the ass for me.

Sort of like: The further along I get in the game, the less and less I want to start over, if that makes sense.

It's the opposite for me: I tend to have long lived characters, so starting a new character never feels stale, because I don't do it often.  It's almost like a consolation for losing a character; well that one's gone, but now I can do whatever I want with my next one.

I voted for one year.  I think at that point, you've had a lot of experiences, and have lived a good chunk of your background.  You've seen friends and enemies come and go and plots start and finish.  I think there may be a point of diminishing returns though.  After that, it gets harder and harder to wring any fresh experience out of a character.

[Is Friday]

I think my longest lived character was... 3 RL months. I tend to setup my characters for either very interesting backstories, independent rangering, or conflicting secrets that they have to hide. (I did have one relatively "safe" character that I lost due to boredom, I'll admit.)

Overall, I'm trying new things, and optimally, my longer lived characters are my favorites. I'm seeing if I can get this one to last at least 10 IC years. What's that, a year's RL time? Yeah.

[a strange shadow]

The longer, the better.

[mansa]

I believe 3 years is probably the best you can get out of a character.

I think it would be awesome if the time would flow from age 20 - age 60 over 3 years time.

Anything longer than that and I think you start pushing some limits.

If you could age 13.3 years in every 1 year, that would be cool.

[Delstro]

It depends largely on what my character is doing.  If he's managing other characters, then I'd say my preference for longevity is short.  It's stressful constantly making yourself present so as to keep things rolling.  Before when I've had such a role, my day to day enjoyment took a back seat in favor of waiting for one of those Moments.  You know, those moments when everything is running just as it should, and everyone's having fun?  That feeling is a vindication for me from whatever tortuous boredom I may have endured to get there.

Apart from that, my characters have no shelf life.

I love this. Being managed by people makes my longevity short. If I feel important to other players, by being their leader, then I can live til I die of crazy gith.

[Zoltan]

My characters tend to live a decent amount of time, a few RL months or so. But I find in most cases that that's too short. My first character lived like 8 or 9 RL months with maybe like 25 or so days played, so I think I got into the game being used to playing one character for an extended time.

I think about 1 RL year would be about the time for me to be fully satisfied with a character. Typically, the longer I play them, the more I like them.

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Give me longevity.

[Ammut]

I said a year.  I hope my current pc will make it that long 

[Bogre]

I believe 3 years is probably the best you can get out of a character.

I think it would be awesome if the time would flow from age 20 - age 60 over 3 years time.

Anything longer than that and I think you start pushing some limits.

If you could age 13.3 years in every 1 year, that would be cool.

I am all for this.

[FatDot]

So far I've only had three characters. But from that little experience, I've gathered that after a 'second' month, I become less and less attached to the character that I'm playing. The character still has unachieved goals, still lots of challenges, still lots of plots he's in the middle of. And yet ... I cant stop thinking how tired I am of the character, and how much more interesting it would be doing ... something else, being someone else, and so on.


And ofcourse, then a character dies (Often the death could have been avoided if I chose to add a bit more need to survive to the chara), and my next one ends up hearing his previous character's name ... EVERYWHERE, and I just pull on my hair, wondering why the hell did I allow my last one to die, when I ended up dropping the ball on SO many people.

[Gimfalisette]

Give me longevity.

Give me longevity, or give me death? Yeah, I guess those are pretty much the options.

My preference is for long-lived PCs. Nothing I want to achieve can be done quickly. And PC-PC relationships are always extremely important to my enjoyment, character development, blah blah...which only happens over time.

[Seeker]

I would like it if a PC could hit her stride and complete the entirety of a complex life-story arc in six months to a year of regular playtime.

This is not to say that I don't want there to be characters living beyond that span. Those long-lived PCs are great.  I would just like the game to be designed so that within that six month to one year window of regular play a clever player could accomplish (or dramatically fail) the vast majority of realistic life-goals for their PC.


Seeker

[Panda]

I'd probably like my characters to live a while, but I can see me getting bored with the same old thing, after a while.  I'm not really sure exactly how long that will be, though =)

[BlackMagic0]

I'm pulling for my certain PC to die of old age...
Most likely have to ask Staff to give'em some kool death-bed scene. lulz. xD

Owell.. Hopefully he lasts.

[LauraMars]

A long-lived character is like a stew.  A well cooked stew is tasty, flavorful, and satisfies everyone who partakes in it. These fastidious diners are happy to eat this stew.  However, the longer the stew is served to the guests, the less appealing it seems.  Dish after dish of the same old bland stew will make everyone bored.  It takes a masterful artist to vary the recipe and keep the guests interested without throwing the stew out and making an entirely new dish.  A skilled chef will be able to add new and exciting tastes to the dish without ruining the original flavor of the stew.  Occasionally, the chef will need to take a break from cooking, and let the stew simmer awhile on the back burner before coming back to it.  When she does, and serves it to her guests, they will be thrilled and delighted to taste that old stew again!  They might even forget it was the same tired old stew she served two months ago, and just be glad to taste something which seems new and exciting to them (even if it actually isn't).

However, it is important to remember that the longer the stew cooks, the tougher it is to swallow.  The more time passes with the same stew served day after day, the more people will wish to do away with the stew, or pretend to like it when really, they're just taking their portion to the bathroom and flushing it down the toilet behind the chef's back, like I did at my aunt's house last Christmas.

[Vessol]

A long-lived character is like a stew.  A well cooked stew is tasty, flavorful, and satisfies everyone who partakes in it. These fastidious diners are happy to eat this stew.  However, the longer the stew is served to the guests, the less appealing it seems.  Dish after dish of the same old bland stew will make everyone bored.  It takes a masterful artist to vary the recipe and keep the guests interested without throwing the stew out and making an entirely new dish.  A skilled chef will be able to add new and exciting tastes to the dish without ruining the original flavor of the stew.  Occasionally, the chef will need to take a break from cooking, and let the stew simmer awhile on the back burner before coming back to it.  When she does, and serves it to her guests, they will be thrilled and delighted to taste that old stew again!  They might even forget it was the same tired old stew she served two months ago, and just be glad to taste something which seems new and exciting to them (even if it actually isn't).

However, it is important to remember that the longer the stew cooks, the tougher it is to swallow.  The more time passes with the same stew served day after day, the more people will wish to do away with the stew, or pretend to like it when really, they're just taking their portion to the bathroom and flushing it down the toilet behind the chef's back, like I did at my aunt's house last Christmas.

MmmMmMmm, Byn Stew.

[a strange shadow]

Thanks for insinuating that everyone hates long-lived characters and wishes they would curl up and die already, Laura. Very encouraging.

Danu? Sargax? A certain very old Tan Muark? All three were as fresh as a new day to me, even if they didn't feel that way themselves. Why? Because they had such a rich, complex history full of honest-to-ginka tales that they'd lived, bled, and fought through, and because they were so convincingly portrayed. Not all of us can do such a bangin' job, but I don't see why we should be discouraged from trying.

[Malken]

The more time passes with the same stew served day after day, the more people will wish to do away with the stew, or pretend to like it when really, they're just taking their portion to the bathroom and flushing it down the toilet behind the chef's back, like I did at my aunt's house last Christmas.

Is that what you guys do after you've roleplayed with my character?

[LauraMars]

No way, you're crazy. We don't have flush toilets in Zalanthas.  I just bury it in a bunch of sand.

I love long lived characters though.  I chose the last option on the poll.