Character building

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Stern
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Character building

Post by Stern » Sat Jun 01, 2013 1:26 am

Okay, this is mainly in an effort to drum up some activity on the forums - I like it when forums are busy, and not to sound mean or anything, but these ones feel like a ghost town.

I finished creating a character just today for the Nimitz, and it got me thinking about the process of character creation, and what people tend to do; I've been simming for about 15 or so years now, so I've created a lot of different characters. I even use a handful I made at the very beginning still, from time to time.

I almost always start with the race, and from there the name. The name is always a huge step for me; I tend to be enormously picky about names, and sometimes I will struggle for days over getting just the right name. Sometimes the right name will fall into my lap, and sometimes the right name will sound odd at first, but grow on me.

If I get the name quickly I tend to start moving towards background, history, and personality, all of which sort of flow and blend together; a character's history will often dictate what sort of personality he or she will have. Usually at the very start of it all I know what post I am shooting for, so sometimes that will also factor in when it comes to personality, though it often mainly affects history.

Generally as I am getting closer to a finished product I will write a few "test logs" from the character's point of view; nailing down a personality is really important for me, and I like to be consistent, so while I get clear ideas in my head of who they are, sometimes writing from their perspective can make it more consistent for me as well.

Last, and I really mean last because sometimes I don't even bother with it, I will make an avatar. This used to be a really important step for me years ago, and I spent a lot of time on photoshop figuring out the ins and outs of it so I could be fairly proficient at making them; on the sim that Hansen and myself were part of back in the day we had quite the collection of very detailed avatars - these days it tends to be a lot less important to me. I do try and get around to it eventually, however, or, if I am pressed for time, I have a good friend who is always willing to lend a hand.

Anyway, anyone else care to share their process? I think mine is probably pretty standard, but I enjoy really detailed bios, and I was curious what others went through when they developed a new character.
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Character building

Post by Seleia » Sat Jun 01, 2013 2:32 am

I actually am the worst at making characters. One character I made took me about three-four hours one night if I am really dedicated.

I usually do research of what their age requirement would be for their rank and/or position.

Most characters now start with an age and a service record. From there they get a bio. Typically the last thing I do for them is their personality because it is ever changing...

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Re: Character building

Post by Stern » Sat Jun 01, 2013 2:46 am

Seleia wrote:I actually am the worst at making characters. One character I made took me about three-four hours one night if I am really dedicated.

I usually do research of what their age requirement would be for their rank and/or position.

Most characters now start with an age and a service record. From there they get a bio. Typically the last thing I do for them is their personality because it is ever changing...
That's an interesting, and very different approach. Aside from a few times where I was approached to command a sim, I have never had a rank at the start of creating a character. This can actually lead to some interesting and weird situations; Stern was designed to be an older officer, and in the beginning I had it in my head he'd be at least a Lieutenant Commander, but Hansen decided to make him a Lieutenant instead, which forced me into a situation where I had to adapt around it. That can actually be somewhat interesting too, since it ends up adding to the character development. Even as I designed the character today I had no idea what rank he was going to be set at, so it wasn't something I was able to factor in.

Service records are hard; I do start with an age as well, because it gives me a chance to timeline the character. Personality doesn't change for me though; once I figure it out I try and stick with it. When you say it is always changing, do you mean during character creation or as the character grows?
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Re: Character building

Post by Seleia » Sat Jun 01, 2013 3:14 am

both. I am constantly changin gtheir personality to adpat to how I want to play them. Also I don't like developing a indepth past. I create it as I write them. Like their history unfolds for me the same time it does for everyone else.

Also I always talk to people and see where they see the position rank wise... *shrugs* I have always had ranks based on position. One character is a CMC for a station so it was set to be a Master Chief. A doctor starts out at least as a Lt on most sims I play so I know to at least get that far. Sometimes I will get the position before I ever write a history on someone and thus have a rank already.

I am working on a profile for my PFA character at: http://starbase.aaronsamerica.com/index ... tin_Riveno

I wrote out the SR first to get a feel of when they would have joined the academy to make them a certain age and what not...

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Re: Character building

Post by Stern » Sat Jun 01, 2013 3:22 am

Seleia wrote:both. I am constantly changin gtheir personality to adpat to how I want to play them. Also I don't like developing a indepth past. I create it as I write them. Like their history unfolds for me the same time it does for everyone else.

Also I always talk to people and see where they see the position rank wise... *shrugs* I have always had ranks based on position. One character is a CMC for a station so it was set to be a Master Chief. A doctor starts out at least as a Lt on most sims I play so I know to at least get that far. Sometimes I will get the position before I ever write a history on someone and thus have a rank already.

I am working on a profile for my PFA character at: http://starbase.aaronsamerica.com/index ... tin_Riveno

I wrote out the SR first to get a feel of when they would have joined the academy to make them a certain age and what not...
See, I guess for me... Personalities don't tend to change, at least not very quickly. I'd say a real person probably changes slightly maybe every five-ten years? But ingrained personality traits? Those don't usually change.

As for history... I kind of agree with that sentiment actually; it is fun to have them unfold as you write. Details come out as you start to write about them that you didn't think of when you created them; I more meant I try to make a detailed background to serve as a solid base for the character; where they grew up, what sort of home life they had, when they attended Starfleet Academy, ect. More in-depth details certainly come out as you start writing.

As to the rank thing... I guess it just usually isn't as important to me when I start creating a character. If it were up to me most of my characters would probably be Lieutenant Commanders then, since it is the most mid-range rank, lol. I did ask when I joined the Sedgemoor, but he wasn't sure what rank he wanted Stern at so his response was basically that, heh. It certainly makes it more convenient to know, but it can be worked around if you don't.

EDIT: Ironically, the new character was also made a Lieutenant, which put me in a funny position of having two aging Lieutenants. I suppose in this case I probably should have asked before I wrote the profile, as I am now really loathe to change his age, lol.
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Re: Character building

Post by Chiyeko » Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:49 pm

Making characters is something I love doing and over my ten years of simming now I have amassed over 200 of them. The process however of how I create them is a bit different.

First off I need to have an idea/inspiration this can happen from about anything and sometimes the character really fits the one that gave me the inspiration and sometimes they end up being something entirely else.
Secondly before I can start is to have the right feeling, no good feeling means bad character so I don't even bother. Good feeling and 1 to maybe 1.5 hours later we have a good character in concept.

So I start with an idea for the character, than I start looking for a name which has to the fit the character. However I am terrible at names so my stop generally is http://www.20000-names.com/special_categories.htm from there I either use the name as it or change it to a way I like. The name is the foundation for me, where the idea is the concept drawing I cannot build a character without having a name. Once this is done race comes into play, depending on my needs I go with what we have or create my own, when I go with existing though I tend to spice it up a bit. Gender is well part of the concept so that was already decided, same as the basic looks. Next part is the personality, this I find the most difficult part right after the name as to often I write x personality and after some time of playing end up with y personality. Still I think it is important that it catches the essence of a person without telling to much that way you still have freedom and can do unexpected things.

The background is always different for me, some of my characters I can put 40 years in 1 page because little has happened and others have 3 pages of background alone. The background is truly the structure of the character for me, it should reflect the personality and the job that he or she or it is doing. When possible I avoid big events like the dominion war as that way it is easier to slot a character into different time lines. I do like to get at least 1 event in at every period of life as those can be a good indicator of personality and let me if needed change the personality I wrote prior tot he background. The level of overall depth also has a lot to do with the type of character, some are just basic good officers who had a uneventful career and others have a more checkered past with battle trauma and what not.

Lastly comes the service record which I fill in with the age of the character as it is a good reference guide to see if the background makes sense and it allows me if needed to change the background.


As said whole process takes about an hour to an hour and half for the creation, than over time if I use them or really like them I expand them. However most characters I create will never be used as they are not suited and a rare few just don't get used because of their ranks (try to find a spot for a marine with lt-colonel as lowest possible rank)

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Re: Character building

Post by tueborvita » Tue Jul 16, 2013 3:44 am

I come from a writing/comic background, so I use a couple of tricks for coming up with characters. The only difference between a PC and NPC or main character and supporting character in make up is how much time I spend fleshing out their major points and keywords. For simming, the first thing that I do is read every bio on the simm. I don't mind a little crossover in personality, but if you have a whole crew of amiable, professionals with perfect hair and Colgate smiles, writing up another squeaky clean Jimmy Olsen is going to be a real drag.

I'll pick a handful of key phrases to throw together with a name, put on some mood music that matches what I think I'm crafting (If I need to pop into character quickly for tags and I'm not quite in the mood, turning on the song/s I was writing to when I made my character also helps me bridge the creative gap quickly) and start with the personality, then hobbies and interests, description and family. From there it's easier to fill in a back story based on the frame that I've made. Pictures come absolutely last once I know the flavor of the bio. One of the things that I try to do when making my characters are to make sure that I include plot points for my GM to manipulate if they want to. Yes, this can lead to 4 page bios and longer, but I never said that I wasn't verbose.
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Re: Character building

Post by FruitLoop » Tue Jul 16, 2013 1:42 pm

What type of character I write usually depends on my mood or what I'm doing. If I'm watching a particularly violent movie, odds are the character would have been tortured or have had a lot of personal loss in their life. If I'm listening to Country music, the character is likely to be a redneck. I have an entire family of rednecks planned out that I never play, mainly because they aren't the type of characters captains want on their ships. Or if, say, I'm listening to Santana or Shakira, I may come up with a Latin character. My characters' personalities also reflect my mood. Hernandes, my character on the Langport, was written while I was having woman troubles. Naturally, she's a b**ch. I was in a really goofy mood once, and came up with the ultimate practical joker who was just killed off on the Eisenhower. The avatar for him came because he ended up like Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four, so he ended up as Chris Evans, which was not by design. Sometimes I'll get the avatar and work from there, other times I'll work from my mood. My mood shifts all over the place and so I have a variety of characters, but since I run STAvatars, I have the avatars to go with them. lol

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Re: Character building

Post by tueborvita » Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:55 am

Enor wrote: What type of character I write usually depends on my mood or what I'm doing. If I'm watching a particularly violent movie, odds are the character would have been tortured or have had a lot of personal loss in their life. If I'm listening to Country music, the character is likely to be a redneck.

Sweetie, you are so banned from ever watching Eraserhead and then making a character. Brazil, too. I'll make a list. j/k
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Re: Character building

Post by Stern » Thu Jul 18, 2013 5:33 pm

Enor wrote:What type of character I write usually depends on my mood or what I'm doing. If I'm watching a particularly violent movie, odds are the character would have been tortured or have had a lot of personal loss in their life. If I'm listening to Country music, the character is likely to be a redneck. I have an entire family of rednecks planned out that I never play, mainly because they aren't the type of characters captains want on their ships. Or if, say, I'm listening to Santana or Shakira, I may come up with a Latin character. My characters' personalities also reflect my mood. Hernandes, my character on the Langport, was written while I was having woman troubles. Naturally, she's a b**ch. I was in a really goofy mood once, and came up with the ultimate practical joker who was just killed off on the Eisenhower. The avatar for him came because he ended up like Johnny Storm from the Fantastic Four, so he ended up as Chris Evans, which was not by design. Sometimes I'll get the avatar and work from there, other times I'll work from my mood. My mood shifts all over the place and so I have a variety of characters, but since I run STAvatars, I have the avatars to go with them. lol
I actually go through something very similar from time to time; if I was just watching something or reading something, or even listening to something, it can greatly influence the type of character I put down. It can be interesting how media can influence what we make or even what we'd like to write about.
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