Brief History.

Subject: Brief History. Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:33 pm

It was brought to attention, that some people don't like writing out brief histories. So how about instead of it being required, it becomes optional? I'm not sure if this would work, but it would make it easier to create characters, in my opinion.

Subject: Re: Brief History. Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:04 pm

Absolutely not. Histories often effect a characters personality. I think that people often don't explain enough in their history. Not having a history gives people an excuse to make lots and lots of not well thought out characters. We don't want this. I put a lot of time into creating characters, and I feel like people would just create characters for the sake of doing it. That ruins the fun and pride of having well thought out characters.

And I have nothing against you ML.

Subject: Re: Brief History. Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:45 pm

I don't really think having a history or not really affects how well thought out a character is.
If someone isn't putting much effort into the character in the first place, having four sentences of history doesn't really affect the quality of the content - it's still a minimal effort character. Making brief histories optional isn't reducing the overall quality of our characters, characters can still be very well-thought out and written without them.

Making brief histories optional just makes writing character profiles less of a hassle for those of us who find it difficult to think of interesting histories for them. Writing the character profile isn't the most important part, after all, it's the role playing.
I take a long time to finish characters - mostly because of the brief history (for me, maybe different reasons for other people). It's just personal preference - I know there are many of us who like to write histories. I tend to prefer to make up details about my characters' histories as I go along, so they can reveal things about their past during roleplays - it's just more fun for me, personally.

ML isn't suggesting that brief histories be removed, just that they be made optional so that those of us who find it a hassle can enjoy the character-making process a little more. It does cut down on the work load and makes the character-making process a bit shorter, but that shouldn't affect the quality of the writing. :'D

Subject: Re: Brief History. Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:58 pm

I'll still write brief histories, but if someone doesn't want to write brief histories, I don't have a problem with not making them write them. Maybe they will decide to write something in the section. No problem, doesn't affect anyone. I like brief histories, but I'm also open to letting people not write them. I don't feel controlling. But I do like brief history, so, eh. I usually just throw something together to meet four sentences. It's never hard. idek okay /lifeless shrug

Nevermind brief history is my favorite part, why did I write that? lol /lifeless shrug

Subject: Re: Brief History. Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:30 am

Histories add in character development, and it helps the character mods ensure that the character isn't a marysue. It may seem hard for you guys, but having a marysue sucks the fun out of roleplaying to be honest. 4 sentences isn't that hard.

Sentence One - Where they were born/ when
Sentence Two - Life at home
Sentence Three - School and education
Sentence Four - How they got to camp at what age.

We're not asking you to write a 1000 word history, here.

Guest

It's just four sentences.

Subject: Re: Brief History. Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:06 am

Character histories, like already stated, really do help with character development, plot ideas and threads in the long run. I mean, you don't have to write much; four sentances is fine. Some people, like myself, choose to write a lot for no particular reason and we don't have to. I think the choice should be out of writing short histories and long histories, not between having and leaving out histories. Swag.

Subject: Re: Brief History. Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:22 am

Histories do allow character development. And it's really not that difficult to say, hey, this is where my character came from. Bam bam bam bam. Done. But it helps the character's writer remember information about their character, and thus for the character to grow. I think it's important and the amount asked for on the form is extremely reasonable. And if you didn't ask for brief histories people can make crap up in roleplay like my god/dess parent let me live on Olympus until I was 16 and then I came down and trained with demigods at camp. Like, no. This helps the admins/mods monitor the histories too, and makes sure that things are fair. Otherwise I could say Avery took a field trip when he was 8 to Mount Everest for several years where he lived with Ares and learned to fight as the apprentice of him and then he came back much stronger and can benchpress over 9,000lbs and can do summersaults off the empire state building and he was a hunter of Artemis for two years etc. etc.

Who's to stop that from happening then? Let's be real--not every rp gets monitored. This is just a little extra precaution, plus it certainly doesn't hurt to have.

Subject: Re: Brief History. Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:33 am

Hm.
Brief Histories. Okay.
So when I was a noob [Still kinda am], I found Brief Histories terribly hard. I mean, horribly disgustingly hard. They weren't interesting in my old characters. They basically just said "She grew up with her Dad. Lots of monsters attacked. When she was seven a Satyr found her. She was brought to Camp". I think its because I didn't get a good enough history on them that I found them hard to RP once I started getting a little better at everything. Most of the characters I have now have a massive history.
Now, I like writing them. I like to come up with a story for them. If they were to be made optional, I'd still write them.
I agree with Bean. I agree with everyone's opinion.
But I don't think they should become optional. Its four sentences. If I was able to deal with that, and everyone else was able to deal with that when they joined, then noobs coming in should be able to deal with that. I know some people who are oldies here don't like writing them, but you know, they don't need to be long. Just have what Cher said, the different sentences. I myself don't find them that hard. I find them the easiest part of my characters app. But I DO understand where people are coming from.

So I got a little confusing.
In Conclusion: I do not think that Histories should be made optional. BUT; I think there could be some kind of thing where people who really have no muse for it, they can get help. Possibly off other members, possibly off a certain part of the forum.

Guest

If they need help, they can ask for help in the chatbox or by PM'Ing a member. Cam did it when he was new, and that worked out well.

Subject: Re: Brief History. Wed Nov 21, 2012 4:23 am

There's also a handy guide that Angel made. Even as a new member, I didn't find it excruciatingly hard to write a short and sweet character bio. I personally think it's vital and just too small as it is to complain about.

Subject: Re: Brief History. Wed Nov 21, 2012 5:02 pm

I know, all of what you guys have said is great. Honestly I guess I really don't care, I've never not been able to write one. But the option of not having one would be nice. Also that way you could get your character accepted if you want to roleplay with them, and you can go back later and add a history once you've come up with one.

Subject: Re: Brief History. Thu Nov 22, 2012 1:37 am

But it would cause a crap ton of problems with mary sues. Our site is not an advanced site, and we're only asking for 4 sentences. I'm pretty sure anyone can write 4 sentences. Not everyone had been making characters for several months, and we're not making anyone write more than 4 sentences.

Going back and adding stuff can't be accepted. I mean, you can wait a few minutes and write 4 sentences.

Subject: Re: Brief History. Thu Nov 22, 2012 9:02 am

Avery as a hunter of Artemis...

I am now going to vote yes!

Subject: Re: Brief History. Fri Nov 23, 2012 5:41 am

No. Just... no.

Sure, brief histories can be a pain/bore to write, but they're a huge part of the character-making process and, dare I say it, the most crucial. It influences pretty much everything in a character, from their names to personalities and even physical appearances to a degree.

I was gonna say more, then I realized that I'd only be repeating what the others above me who disagree with this had already said. xD