What Does Your Character Mean to You?

[Myrhn]

Well, my character started from FFXI and was more or less the total opposite of what I am. I basically took the lore for the game and make it my own, been a mythra was curious, kinda clumsy and better on the dex/agi jobs. After lots of years i made that personality my own and when FFXIV release i took it over here. I think I been more or less the same maybe little more mature now who knows.

Oddly enough i had try to make different character with different races and I always come back to the same one, maybe im an oddball.

[Seig345]

I consider my character an avatar through which I try to make others smile, laugh, learn, and at least help get through tough spots in Final Fantasy XIV.

(And maybe also rustle some jimmies by simply wearing that angel glamour I just bought off the Mog Station... heh...)

[Aurebel]

As the thread starter I should probably answer the question myself as well. I have a main and a few alts.

I identify with my main character; I see my main character at once as a manifestation - not so much an extension but a manifestation - of my true self, and as my ideal self. My main character embodies most of the aspects of my personality. My main character has a "complete" personality, so to speak, instead of merely representing one aspect of it.

My alts each represent some aspect of my personality: the strong, protective side; the bright, cheerful and carefree side; the quiet and diligent side, etc. Sometimes what they each represent and mean to me changes too.

If I were to answer in terms of the options I have suggested, I would say the first four options apply to me. I have heard this way of relating to one's characters referred to as "playing in first-person", as opposed to "playing in third-person", which entails seeing one's characters as disconnected from oneself. Using this terminology, I've always "played in first-person" in MMOs, especially with regard to my main character. I feel much more attached to MMOs in which I could make a character I identify with.

[Skeltal-Bons]

My character is based on a character of the same name from a game I had 1/3 completed on RPG maker before that laptop was stolen.

The character in question was the mentor and group leader of the protagonists, as well as being the force of evil in an otherwise neutral group working under a less than morally upstanding society.

Why I chose her over the others was that I grew to love her personality, being that of a mad scientist based off Carl here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJOwdrTA8Gw

[The_NPC]

Technicly I see my avi as option 5 & 6 as she's a different gender than me (got used to using fem avi's long ago on accident, curse u auto-gender assainment in Coop Fable 3 & my lack of forsight)

BUT as of late while I am just guiding her along like some pervy-god manipulating fate... their is the "she's not me yet also me" going on in my head, like I made some other me who is/was the same as me become her (which is Technically true as I semi-made a backstory for her in White Knight Chronicles, long story, who just came to FF14 threw a Void gate in that game).

While meeting her IRL would be very akward as finding out the "God" who made u & manipulated ur whole life & personality... is some lazy weekass nobody who was playing a game... I would like to (along with 1 other WAY OLDER version of myself I made long ag), the conversation would be fun... & seeing them do stuff no one in this reality can would be awsome.

[Sebazy]

How do you relate to your character? If you have multiple characters, what does each of them mean to you?

My Lala is a combination of option 7 and my preference for being 'out of the way' as a support role. The stark contrast between how my character appears vs how I actually look always provides amusement both in voice comms and in IRL meetings. I run around as a human (Some claim to doubt this mind) in my day job, might as well take a break and play something a little different when I'm taking time off no? As such, I've invariably gone for the least 'humanoid' option for the most part (eg Iksar+Froglok in EQ, Tauren+Worgen in WoW).

Secondly, one thing I learnt between WoW and FFXI is that being small and out of the way is more often than not an advantage as a support character. As a Tauren shaman I was always jealous of races that could easily hide in bushes and fit in dips in the terrain without being so visible. Whilst in FFXI, having a Galka bard in a tight camp was never particularly pleasant unless you were in to that sort of thing As a Taru BRD I just didn't get in the way whilst I was doing my work.

[MrKusakabe]

I am usually a "mean" midget of 1 Meter in size in all of my games.

* I am always small (if possible) except my main in League of Legends, Bard, which is huge in contrast. When there is a small character or species (a.k.a. "Race") in a game, I pick it. I like the underdog feeling of it, and I also have a weakness for this, just like other really enjoy catgirls and such.
In GW2, my Asura was a thief (Deadeye), because small creatures have to use guerilla tactics due to their size, and I also LOVE the main character of the STYX games, a foul-mouthed goblin assassin, murdering people that are twice the size of him. But usually, I am a mage. Because I don't think a little sword or tiny arrows do hurt anyone, while the mind is endless and can cause heavy destruction.

* One day, my mother visited me in my appartment, walked into the living room and I had my Lalafell as lockscreen of Win7 (my signature in fullscreen) and she was like "Who's that? He's cute!". Since that, she (52 years) and me learned we both like fairies, gnomes,..-- you know, midgets with pointy ears. (She is a nursery school teacher, so she has to do with these things a lot and also spend much time reading fairytales for me as a young boy in the mid-90s). So I think this "acceptance" also helps a lot.

* My Lalafell, Asura and Yordle (Gentleman Gnar) is also wearing my real-life colours: 70% black, 20% white, 10% red. My appartment, my clothes, even my floor and light-switches share these colours.

* So in general all my characters are diminutive and either mages or something other "mean", might it be a Blackmage or an assassin type. Never a warrior, never a palladin. If I heal, then it's not trough white magic (apart from BLM, I also am a SCH).




And that's like this since early 2010. So I think that will be my "signature" in the virtual world. Which also means there is a LOT of "me" in my character(s).

[Stormfur]

Is your character nothing like you, both personality-wise and appearance-wise, and yet you inhabit your character and find it fun to be someone so completely unlike you in real life?

I would say this comes closest to how I feel about the characters I make. I'm female and they're all male characters with very distinctive personalities, mannerisms and styles -- so I'd say they're just an extension of my creativity if anything.

For example, I have a character who is fierce and wild, yet loyal and determined. I have another who is deep into the occult (I, personally am not). My third, who is my profile, is a character that acts honorable and chivalrous. It's interesting to play the game as each one of these types, as you have to stop and wonder how they'd react to the people and the world around them. The wild one looks at Moogles like a snack, the occult one looks at them as cute freaks of nature.

[mikanana]

It is just a vessel for my inferiority complex.=D

[WilhelmWhite]

I kinda see my character as a vessel. He's aesthetically pleasing to me, and through him, I can boast my obsession with the color blue, lol. Whenever I'm discussing things like customization or other personal things that pertain to him, I use specific pronouns such as "I, me, my, mine, and myself", because I don't see Wilhelm as someone who isn't me. So... I guess option 6?

When I speak to players, it's not Wilhelm talking, it's me. This is a game, and I guess because my imagination sucks, it's a little difficult for me to immerse myself with the idea that Wilhelm could have his own personality, which is why I don't really enjoy RPing. Also I suppose it's a little bit of option 7 as well, seeing as I'm only 5'5'' irl, and it's fun playing someone so tall :P