A Question on Characters

[Azunara]

I've been in the pokemon RPs since they've began. I've seen plenty of good character development, and plenty of neglected characters. Likewise, I've been in Tales of the Hunt, the WoW themed RP. I see a huge difference between the two. Amount of characters.

In WoD/RotS there was a lot of characters. It got to the point where I had no idea who was who anymore. And with so many characters, I had to write huge posts to ensure I didn't neglect anyone, and I still did. (Eleredar, Dagger, Terra.) Others have plenty of characters and quite a few end up forgotten.

However, in TotH, while slower paced, I've noticed something. I know who every single character is. Each person has 3, 4 at most as opposed to RotS/WoD's 7+ characters for some people. It doesn't get as confusing in TotH. Only one char was ever neglected in its 100+ pages, and that was mine.

So this is my question. Is it a good idea to consider placing a character limit in a RP? Should we do that for our upcoming RPs? Or do you feel you have a right to do as you please and that this breaches your fairness and right to RP.

(This is, at this point, all discussion. Nothing is being put into place. I am just honestly curious.)

[Saturo]

I agree, it wasn't fun with all those chars. Overall, I say TotH is of a higher quality thanks to this.

[Kamalia]

Yes, I have to agree. It does get very confusing with so many characters about. I'm one of the people who has the least amount of characters and I still neglect some. How some of you guys can manage six or more is completely beyond me.

The biggest problem, I would say, would be how insanely difficult it would be for a person new to the roleplay to remember all these characters and who they belong to. I'd certainly feel overwhelmed.

[Senna-Umbreon]

While I may have trouble keeping up with my billions of characters... I'd really rather not have a limit. I like having a bunch of characters, even if it is confusing.

*Looks around, then hides because she's the only one against this idea*

[Azunara]

You're allowed to have your opinion, Senna. No need to hide.

And Kam does raise a good point. Anyone new would be thrown off by the fact that there's a million and one different characters going around and you have no idea what to make of them. These days, I have no idea who's paired with a mate, who's family, etc in the pokemon RP, for example.

[Royi]

yeah thats why i just lurk usually. I do like the RP on here though : http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=78

[rubybeam]

In my opinion theres rewards on either sides: someone may have to use over the limit of characters, therefor the limit may be bad, however it does clear up some of the confusion, but it also takes away some of the characters you may need

[Senna-Umbreon]

In my opinion theres rewards on either sides: someone may have to use over the limit of characters, therefor the limit may be bad, however it does clear up some of the confusion, but it also takes away some of the characters you may need

Exactly. Like.. The characters I'm definitely using next RP? Ghost, Rust, Phantom.. Any other Eeveelution-Rampardos hybrids that pop up... So I may end up going over the limit if we had one. That would totally kill the plans I had XD

How about instead of a limit, we just try and cut down on the characters we have? So we won't have as many, but we won't be limited on how many we can have. It'd be hard to resist bringing in even more characters for some of us, since there wouldn't be a limit, but I think it might work out better if we do it this way. Besides, I'm sure most of us have quite a few characters we want to bring back in the next big RP.. But what about the new characters we want to have? Like.. Let's say.. There was a limit of... 5 characters per person. That'd leave me with.. No new characters to have, since I'd have five (Ghost, Rust, Phantom and the two that I'm planning to introduce soon. Yay moar eggs!). I wouldn't be able to have any new characters, which isn't really fair.

[Saturo]

In my opinion theres rewards on either sides: someone may have to use over the limit of characters, therefor the limit may be bad, however it does clear up some of the confusion, but it also takes away some of the characters you may need

The thing is, new characters aren't really needed. Condensing eight+ characters into three would make for less characters, sure, but it would really make the RP easier for everyone, and tbh a lot of characters are just copies of earlier characters that no longer get RPed. Basically, I'm talking about recycling, and really, having a new character for every idea you want to happen isn't really that fun, having it happen to the ones you already have however is.

Not a personal attack, just my opinion. The pokemon RPs have far too many characters overall, and it just gets really confusing.

EDIT: And it's not unfair to anyone, it's to increase the quality of RP. RPing against fourteen characters you don't know isn't fun. Senna, if you wanted to bring in more new characters, couldn't you just drop one of the old ones?

[Senna-Umbreon]

In my opinion theres rewards on either sides: someone may have to use over the limit of characters, therefor the limit may be bad, however it does clear up some of the confusion, but it also takes away some of the characters you may need

The thing is, new characters aren't really needed. Condensing eight+ characters into three would make for less characters, sure, but it would really make the RP easier for everyone, and tbh a lot of characters are just copies of earlier characters that no longer get RPed. Basically, I'm talking about recycling, and really, having a new character for every idea you want to happen isn't really that fun, having it happen to the ones you already have however is.

Not a personal attack, just my opinion. The pokemon RPs have far too many characters overall, and it just gets really confusing.

Except that sometimes new characters ARE needed. We need villainous characters. The bad guys. Meaning, some of us will indeed need new characters.

[Saturo]

And the villains in the new one will be the mindcontrollers. That's one bad guy for everyone that volunteers. I'd count them in my proposed limit of three characters.

[Azunara]

Firstly, I think it's awesome you guys are talking about this. I honestly expected a hate storm of, "OMG. YOU HORRIBLE PERSON. WHY YOU DO THAT TO US?" I lack self esteem.

Secondly, adding input. I think five characters is a good limit, though. Sure, for people who have had 5+, that's unfair...But let's say there's 7 RPers. Every person has 5 characters. That's 35 different characters to keep track of, remember who is who, who is in what family, etc. While difficult to keep track of...Imagine if some of those people had 7 characters. Or nine. Or 12.

And eventually it gets silly. I mean. I have a few characters planned for the next one. Nightmare, a bad guy, Sol (Who doesn't count. Explanation later.) and Lyra. That's four characters. Three if you don't count Sol.

I can understand having characters you don't want to let go, but sometimes you -do- have to pick and choose.

Same with Sat. No attacks on anyone, just being vague and voicing my thoughts.

[Senna-Umbreon]

Okay, I really think the limit idea is stupid. There. I said it. It's unfair to some of us, so I don't think it'd work. Instead, we should just cut down on characters. No limit, but less characters in the long run. I think it'd be the best idea.

[Lupis]

Really, I think it depends on the person. Magna, for instance, has shown that he can juggle tons of characters with apparent ease. But I think we should *Suggest* that you have 4 characters or less, unless you can juggle more.
I'm going to have more, I admit. Most of them are side characters, ones that may or may not play a role. My mains will be Buzzard, Lark and my new villain character - Summer too, if all goes as planned.

[Azunara]

I kind of understand how it's unfair, and I don't. Yeah, you're limited. But it becomes a lot easier to everyone else and the RP is a lot less complicated. I can understand how you don't like it, but cutting it down, while it may help, it's only a matter of time before characters skyrocket.

*Shrugs.*

[Senna-Umbreon]

Expanding on the 'depends on the person' thing.. I just had an idea. Instead of all of us limited to the same amount, each person sets a limit for themselves.

.. Urgh, I had a lot more to say about this idea in real life.. But I can't remember any of it >.<

Edit: Also, no offense, but to be perfectly honest... I don't really want to be in a RP where I'm limited to a certain amount of characters. I just don't. Merr.

[Saturo]

I think we need to be a bit more firm on it than that, Senna. I say three per person, but I could go for four or five as well. It really is bad for those of us who don't have that many characters, and you have to see it from our perspective. I have no idea who half your characters are, and it just isn't fun for me to have to ignore them because I'd just mix them up otherwise.

[rubybeam]

I'm going to agree wityh senna and lupis here I mean I can understand limits with smaller rps but like the larger ones we have here..i'm sorry just no. for me it ruins the fun so yeah if theres a character limit i'm sorry i'm not joining

[Senna-Umbreon]

I have no idea who half your characters are

Oh, and why would that be? Oh, maybe because YOU AREN'T EVEN IN THE STINKIN' RP!! Of course you don't know half my characters!

I'm going to agree wityh senna and lupis here I mean I can understand limits with smaller rps but like the larger ones we have here..i'm sorry just no. for me it ruins the fun so yeah if theres a character limit i'm sorry i'm not joining

*Nods* Yeah, as much as I love the Pokemon RP.. And Moonlost's idea for the plot.. If there's going to be a limit on characters, I'm not sure if I'll be joining the next one.

[Saturo]

I've been reading up on the RP, Senna, and it was true even before I quit. There's just too many of them.