From: Nick_Janow@mindlink.bc.ca (Nick Janow)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Subject: Re: Character Detail
Date: 16 Nov 92 06:43:03 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada

sos@oz.plymouth.edu (Steffan O'Sullivan) writes:

> What on earth is wrong with optimizing your character in *some* ways?

Nothing is universally "wrong" with it; it just creates a character with a
different "feel" to it than one without that optimization.  Since most random
generation systems allow some flexibility--and chance of optimization--the
question becomes "how much optimization to allow".  For me, PA systems allow
too much ability to optimize the character.  It's just personal taste.

>+ I'll avoid characteristics I'd find it easier to not play, and choose
>+ others to improve the "power" of the character or give him "larger than
>+ life" personality quirks.  That's human nature, and part of it will
>+ probably be subconscious.  How many GURPS players build a character with
>+ characteristics that they don't "choose" to have?  :)
>
> This is a bizarre paragraph, almost alien to me.

That's okay.  :)    It supports my claim that not all players have the same
mental patters (as Dave Nalle seems to believe).

> Not many GURPS players build a character with characteristics they don't
> "choose" to have, true, but that does not mean that every GURPS character
> is built optimized for power and with a larger-than-life personality.  Far
> from it.  I haven't made one of those in years, in fact.  Sure, the
> temptation is there when you first begin to play, but if you're a real
> role-player, you'll tire of that and go on to making more interesting and
> less powerful characters.
>
> ....
>
> I resent your implication that every GURPS player makes only
> power-optimized characters.

I wasn't implying only power-optimization, though that is one possibility.
Characters can be optimized for personality concepts too.  If you choose a
bunch of disadvantages or quirks to make the character "have a tragic
childhood, with fate seemingly set against him", that too is
optimization...for a particular style of role-playing.  Other things can be
optimized for, such as flashy characters, or funny characters.  These things
don't make the character more "powerful", but they are optimizations just the
same.  Only the players goals are different.

> All have been well fleshed-out, balanced, interesting characters, often
> with an advantage that either limited power (I've seen a lame, one-eyed
> veteran fighter) or was damned hard to play.

The lame, one-eyed veteran fighter was likely optimized for role-playing that
character concept.  That character was probably played in a way different
from the same character that was randomly-generated.

Hmm, I've just had a thought about the difference.  Real people are usually
quite surprising individuals.  You can't predict what they will do in unusual
circumstances.

I see randomly-generated characters as real people: they have undefined
depths. They surprise me when they encounter unusual circumstances, since
what they do was undefined until that moment.

I see characters generated from a concept (perhaps built using PA), as
characters in books or movies.  You can build Bilbo from "The Hobbit", and
role-play him, based on the definition of that character, but it is
role-playing a fictional character, not a real person.  Even how the
character will respond to new situations is predetermined to some extent.

You can alter a character concept during a game, as in the case of the
pacifist who wanted to "buy off" that characteristic.  To me, that only
enforces the feeling that the character is nothing but a fictional construct;
something that an artist is playing with.  In a way, it reminds me of those
cartoons where the character calls out to the artist, and the artist responds
by reaching in with a pen or eraser to change the artificial reality.

Randomly-generated characters can change during a game too.  However, in this
case, it is (for me) a natural reaction of a real person to life.  You don't
like your career?  Develop other skills.  Tired of being a weakling?  Take a
fitness course.  Encounter a situation where pacifism seems ineffectual?
Think about your ethical standpoint, and either remain true to your beliefs,
or grab a gun and blow the sucker away.  :-)

The views above represent _my_ perspective on gaming.  I have no problem
accepting that another gamer has diametrically opposed or otherwise different
views on characters generated from various methods.  The gaming community
should accept the differing viewpoints, and make games that allow for these
differences, or acknowledge that a system is intended for a limited market.

People should be aware that personal preference is not something that can be
"wrong", or "stupid", or whatever.  Personal preference is simply something
that exists.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with telling other people of the benefits
you see in your preferences, hoping that they'll "see the light".  :)

--

Nick_Janow@mindlink.bc.ca