Virtual Credibility
 

Hi there! :)

So, I've got a question to pose to all your brilliant RPers out there who rp on SS (student, mod, supermod, admin, everyone, etc...). Most of us who invent a character for the rps also invent a background story for that character to given them more dimension and believability

I'd like to know what your thoughts are on conflicting character back-stories? How do you establish credibility in a virtual world? (Do you think it's important to have other rpers invest in your character?). And, what strategies have you found useful when running into conflict with regard to what you've established for their character?

As has been said before, in many words, we can't all be the great grandson of Harry Potter or even the most powerful/wealthiest/well-known wizarding family EVAR! But, if we hope to be one of them, what is the best way to go about doing so?

Great questions Izzy :lol: I know we've talked a little bit about this. I for one haven't ran into any conflicts with my character's back stories to be honest. And I guess I haven't because I gave my charries a totally and utterly unique background. My first charrie Tomasina was the daughter of the Minister of Magic for Ghana. We don't know a lot of any of the foreign Ministries from the HP world because the main charrie was British. So choosing another country to base my charrie from was a good move. It gave me the flexibility to do anything I wanted to do with her background. There wasn't anything canon I had to stick with. Then I pulled some information from muggle history and infused it into the wizarding world. Ghana was colonized by the British empire. And they did pull slaves from Ghana, so going that route is how I gave Tommy the last name Riddle. Because slaves are given the last name of their masters, so Tommy's family was owned by the Riddles, not Tom's father or even his grandfather, but like his great-great-great grandfather you know. I choose the last name Riddle because I love Voldemort, but I came up with a great back story you know.

So since I went to Africa for my inspiration I thought that maybe the African wizards still used carpets as a means of transportation because lets face it there aren't too many trees in Africa with sturdy enough wood to be made into brooms. So staying with the carpet thing I gave Tommy's father the largest Carpet company, and after they became the largest in Africa I added brooms to the mix. And since families tend to be large in Africa I gave Tommy 11 older sisters:) And I names them all after countries and continents. Like India, Egypt, Asia, Jordan, Kenya, Ireland, China and of course Africa:)

I mean its not hard to give your character creditability you just have to be creative. I mean there are tons of charries in the HP universe besides Potter, Weasley and Granger. There are other counties besides the UK to pull from. I mean you can be a pure blood, muggle born or a half and half. I mean if you are going to be a Potter don't choose Harry as your great-great grandfather. I mean the Potters were related to the Pewetts and the Blacks, so pick one of them that we don't know too much about and that way anything without reason will be believable you know. And if you are a muggle born will that is just a playground that Spongebob himself would go nuts to play in.

I don't think you have to have other characters invest in your character. I think that if you put in the time and effort to research and develop your character people will be drawn to the person you have created. I mean I know some people who have come up with family trees for their characters. And I've done one also:yes: I would recommend it to any serious Rper anyways.

I mean if you want your character to be powerful pull from another country. I mean who's to say your family can't be one of the best wandmakers from Samoa? You want them to be wealthy? Well how about your the niece or nephew of Willi Wonka or your family owns a Quidditch team from Japan.

If you go the non traditional route there it nothing you can't do. I mean I find it a bit said that my charrie is one of only 3 black charries in the RP. When HP is translated into over 20 languages. And look at all the languages we have in the Dept of Cooperation, but in the RP there isn't a lot of diversity. Like some of hte members on the site come from different backgrounds. We have Chinese, Arabians, Irish, Scottish, Japanese members in the RPs but then their charries are Caucasian...I don't understand that. Like I said there are only 3 black charries in the RP and I think 4 Asian charries...and one Hispanic.

Don't get me wrong I love every color in the rainbow and every person in that rainbow. I would just get a real kick out of more diversity in the RP you know.

Thats just my two cents on the issue thou:)

Well, i'm sure there was a suggestion within the suggestion thread in the Prefects Office for an adoption agency, so people can request brothers and sisters and the like.

I think if their was a forum dedicated to bios and working out background family history it would be a huge help, especially considering a lot of people in the RP nowadays go as far to invent an entire family.

If there was a dedicated forum, discussions could be held about whose second cousins grandmothers sister is the daughter of his great grandfather. Afterall it was noted in the books pureblooded families were all related in some way.

I think it would be cool to have a forum that handles and deals with this sort of thing, however a way of working it out would need to be thought up. Would it be an application process? Simply discussing or requesting a brother in a thread or what not.

It could be pretty cool to come up with a site-wide family tree as well. See whose related to who and then who they are related to until you can end up seeing how your character and someone elses is related... might only work for pureblooded peeps though.

Wow. I'm rambling. I hope you understand what I mean. I'm awfully terrible at explaining things, ask anyone and they'll probably agree D: haha

I like the idea of a thread for bios, but unfortunately with the breadth of the school rp, I doubt anyone will actually read every bio before creating a new character (though I do think it would be an incredibly helpful thing to have so you can check up on the people you are interacting with as you interact with them and know of anything you have in common that you should know about ahead of time).

When I find a conflict in my backstory with something I find out (either something in canon I missed or someone else's backstory) I just chat it out with the person or tweak things to make everything fit. Compromise is a good word and each situation is different and requires different ways of working around the conflicts.

I know the staff has bios in their forum so that they know, as a staff, which of their characters would have been at work/Hogwarts/wherever with one another. And I created the Hogwarts, A History originally to keep myself oriented as to who did what when and where we were in terms of when things happened in HP canon and whatnot so people could have a bit of a reference with regards to SS RP canon.

Another thing I did when I was Slytherin HoH was to have a place to put Slytherin bios. Maybe that would be a handy thing to have in a more general location? Threads for each house each term in the ooc forum so we know the threads are up to date each term?

In an RP with this many characters there's no way to avoid conflict, so I'm glad you started this thread for ideas on how we might help to resolve said conflicts when they do occur.

The biggest problem with conflicting character back stories in my oppinion is everyone wanting to be a Weasley/Malfoy/Potter and then we have 20 of them running around with their tragic pasts that they've created and none of them know that the others exist. It's rather frustrating at times but it's always going to happen.

A place where people could work out their charries bios and background stories I think would help the newbies and then people who just never bothered to work it out. I mean it is a bit daunting when you first come here and people have family trees and you haven't even worked out your charries birthday you know. That is a smashing idea. It could be in the SS addicts forum.

I think that would be nice. You know make it like an adoptions agency, but then have it to where people can request people to be in their family or people post that they are looking for so and so person in their family.

:lol: you do tend to ramble thou but I understood what you were saying.

Wow, great topic idea Izzy, this is actually something I'm struggling with right now.

I always start my characters out with very little background, adding stuff in as I go, moving towards what I hope to be something feasible. Right now I'm ina struggle though; I wanted to do something different with William, and so I left out a lot of his family back history, knowing that by the time he was in his third year he'd be in a cross roads with himself. I asked a few of my friends if they wanted to have William as part of their family and they willingly agreed. so now all he had to do was brainstorm how they met, how they found out, what their reactions would be etc.

The thing I found most difficult, if nothing else was coming up with a history that didn't sound weird or totally against canon. I kept some thing canon, but it's completely up to you. Make your character interesting but not so interesting where it becomes boring for you to play them. something I do is put a bit of myself into my characters, like for instance William, my current charrie has the same emotions that I do, while his are more out there than mine. When I'm feeling down, he's in a bad mood, when I'm sick he's sick and so on.

My advice for anyone starting a new character is to get the name first. Find something creative, unique and run with it. Usually if you have the first and last name, the history writes itself. I know it sounds awesome to have a character related to Harry, Hermione or Ron but in all reality you have to think that this is very far into the future, they're old now and most of their children/grandchildren, perhaps even great grandchildren have moved on with their lives, so try and stay away from that but if you must try not to have them super heroy, you know these amazing powers that no one else has. It get to be a hassle after 7 terms (or however long you wanted them to go to school)

Compromise is key in some ways; always ask the person you want to RP as a family with and chat it out, make it interesting. Come up with something new and exciting. If both parties agree than you'll find RPing your charrie into a new family (or whatever you choose) much more enjoyable and very entertaining.
Lee. I love you right now. Seriously LOVE! That would take a lot of work though, but if people are willing to chip in and help out, creating timelines etc then it could be feasible. I know it'll make it much easier for those people just joining the RP to see who's related to who, which would stop a lot of conflict in some RPs.

Okay I'm finished rambling for now, even going off topic a bit :lol: Just had to throw my two cents, my one dime and a stamp out there.

First let me say that I am a International and Global studies major at Uni, so I;ve spent my life studying other cultures and when I grow up I want to be the US Ambassador to Ghana or South Africa :lol: so this is my life's passion:whistle: Ok now that we have that said.

And what I meant with my pointing out some of the ethnicities displayed by members wasn't to say that because you were a girl you had to play a girl or if you were Asian you had to play an Asian. For me personally I am black so all my charries are black because I just don't want to play anything else:) Not everyone wants to play something they aren't. I mean I personally don't want to play a Caucasian charrie, or an Irish one. But I personally would just like to see more diversity you know. There are so many wonderful ethnicities to pull from.

And I've lived in England before and JK barely scratched the surface of the ethnic melting pot that is over there to be honest. I mean she couldn't put everyone in the book. I mean there is a HUGE Jamaican population in the UK, the is a HUGE Indian population and she only had 2 Indian sisters in her book and we only know of two black students. So saying that since JK didn't have them in her book means they aren't in England is a bit naive.

Thats where being diverse comes in handy you know. I mean your family could be filthy rich in Tibet but when you migrate to the UK you are middle class. And plus if you are pulling from another country its more believable to say that you are rich. I mean its easier to be a millionaire in Africa than it is in the USA or the UK you know what I mean.

And Paris father came a from a decently well off family but he left that all behind and was actually homeless for a few years before he got his first job at the Ministry. So just because someone's family is well off doesn't mean they didn't work for it or that they have always had that money. I mean Paris' mother is a reporter for the Daily Prophet. And the political climate in the Middle East is the reason for Paris' transferring to Hogwarts from a school in Egypt. So she has a reason to be there as well.

And pulling from another culture wouldn't make someone's back story too grand. I come from a big family and so does my mom and dad so I like to put myself into my charries so I gave Tommy a big family, and I gave Paris a big family. And coming from Africa the families tend to be bigger. So in essence its creditable. And frankly I wanted my charrie to be rich so I gave her a good reason to be rick. I mean not everyone is going to buy their brooms in Diagon Alley. And not everyone wizard in the world uses a broom as transportation. Carpets are still big in the Middle East and Africa:yes: And that fact is canon.

Creditability and believability are two different things mind you. A bank president is a creditable source to go to about finance, but not so believable when they tell you the market is stable. So while you think Paris being rich isn't believable because there aren't that many rich people in the world its creditable because her family owns one of the biggest Carpet companies in Africa.

On one hand you are saying people are here to play something they aren't and that we are here to have fun, but you are telling people to be ordinary, middle class wizards :lol: I think if you think things out and you have a reason for the back story then it should work out.

Not jumping on you just clearing up some points that I may have left a little fuzzy.

Well first I will always be a champion for diversity:lol: Honestly I talk about it as it pertains to the farmers market as well. I think a farm should grown oranges, apples and grapes instead of just grapes:) Its my curse *shrugs*


But I knew you weren't picking on Paris, but she is the only charrie I know intimately enough to use as an example :glomp: So I knew you weren't poking holes in her back story :lol: And even if you were thats cool too thats how we grow as RPers because actually it was Slipstick who pushed me to give my charries a reason for being at Hogwarts. I mean I couldn't just say a witch from Ghana got a invite to attend Hogwarts without having a reason. So him poking holes in my back story helped me to strengthen it and make it better. :) So sometime someone pointing things out to you helps you out in the long run you know.

But firstly I wasn't out to offend anyone and if anyone took it that way my humble apologies. I wasn't calling you naive I mean that the comment was naive but I can see how you would have taken it as me calling you that. So I'm sorry. Sometimes my passion for things becomes borderline aggression<_< I'm working on it tho!

Its just one of my biggest pet peeves with people and the HP universe that since JK didn't have any Chinese people in her books we can't have it in the RP. That just irks a special place in my brain. And while I think that she could have had a more diverse mix in her books I wholly understand that she just couldn't and plus people write what they know. Its still just a pet peeve of mine.

But even while not putting an Egyptian, Jamacian, or Peruvian in the books she gave us Hagrid, a half breed, and Professor Flitwick who is clearly a goblin. So she mixed it up with magical diversity. She gave us pure bloods and half and half's and muggleborns.

This was never intended to anyone feel bad or make myself feel better. I mean Paris gets her diva attitude from somewhere. It was really to say that diversity is the spice of life and when you pull from the different colors of the rainbows you may find and easier time at creating a charrie. Not all the time and no you don't have to. I just find it easier. Just like if you want a canon connection its easier to pull from the lesser charries than the major ones. I mean use Zabini or Nott, McLaggen that way you can take some creative license with the background. And I mean the British Empire colonized the majority of the known world :lol: So it would be super easy to have a Samoan charrie and give them a believable reason for being in Hogwarts.

I mean you can say after the final battle at Hogwarts the Nott family fled to
Japan to avoid arrest or persecution. And way the magical children still wold get their letters to Hogwarts and you can have a Japanese/mixed charrie. Or one of Mrs. Longbottom's sisters was a squib but she married a wizard from Panama:)

Thats the point I was trying to make.

So :glomp: to everyone! *hands out peanut butter cups*

This is a post I made quite a few terms back just after Anna's first year. I had posted it in a different thread, but I thought it would go well here, too. The thread, by the way, was the discussion of canon characters here in the Suggestion Box.

I think you made a really good point here that might get lost and that's that I think a lot of this really belongs in the addicts forum. While it would be awesome for those of us who are advanced RPers (I don't really categorize myself as such, I think I'm more intermediate because I'm lazy) to work out this issue, I'm afraid that implementing anything on a school-wide scale or even just in the suggestion box might send the wrong message to newbies (specifically those newbies who are brand new to RPing). The school RPG is meant to be a safe and fun place for people of ALL role playing abilities to come and role play. I know there are some people who like some instruction but there are a lot of people who would rather not be preached at or presented with a bunch of threads about how to rp, how to rp in the school, do's and don'ts, how to create a character, etc etc. The school is overwhelming as it is and there's nothing to say people have to have a bio anyway (though of course it helps!).

Before I get a bunch of replies saying "I didn't mean that" I will also point out that I know every single one of you has the best interests of the role play and new RPers at heart here and that's great. I'm just thinking we might need to break this up into two parts. 1) What can we do to help newbies navigate the strange world of creating an SS RPG bio without feeling overwhelmed, preached at, and/or forced but at the same time doesn't conflict with everyone else's? and 2) What can the advanced RPers do to make it easier for themselves?

There probably isn't a good solution to either. LOL

Great brainstorming and thanks for quickly resolving that diversity non-issue earlier. It's so nice to see people move on from an off-topic discussion without mod interference. :D

1. What about creating a "RPG Tips" thread, where those who have been in the RPG at least a term can post simple, short tips that might be of assistance to newbies? I say "simple, short," so as to not have the tips come across as preaching. Maybe we can word it to where the intention of the thread comes across as "helpful, yet not mandatory." An example of a tip posted in the thread would be:

"From my experience, playing the granddaughter of a canon character proved to be quite difficult. I ended up with relatives I didn't intend on having and could no longer roleplay my character as an only child as I'd planned."

Maybe posted comments worded similarly would come across as "helpful, yet not mandatory" in the RPG.

:hmm: Isn't that sort of the direction the "How to create a charrie" thread was supposed to go in? To help people who had questions find out what other RPers did, didn't do, liked, etc., from their experience RPing and creating charries? I don't know anymore, other than that I remember posting in there once.

Well within the RP addicts forum we could have a sort of St. Mungoes kinda place. And within the hospital people from all levels of RP skills could go for help and it wouldn't be anything forced or mandatory.

St Mugoes Hospital for Character Help and Development

First Floor- Character Basics
Charrie names, charrie personality, Birthdays

Second Floor- Character Look
Pictures, descriptions, ethnicities

Third Floor- Character Story
Background, charrie history, relatives, adoption agency

Fourth Floor
hmm don't know what to put on this floor:)

Fifth Floor- Character Extras
General RP charrie questions, Character test runs, charrie chat (not a bashing fest, but if someone is developing their charrie and they want feed back they can post for feedback and all that)

The only time I've really found conflicting stories a huge problem is when everyone is a Weasley or Potter descendant. Because we have SOOOO many of them in the RP, you can't keep track of who is who and who is related to who and whatnot. That's why I'd highly HIGHLY discourage anyone from making a charrie who are DIRECT descendants of the trio, because, as Anna said, your head starts to explode when you realize how many "cousins" your charrie has running around school with you :lol:

I don't think the new RPers really realize this when they're creating a character...and we could make this info avaliable to them, like Anna suggested. Not like the "How to Create a Charrie" thread, more just like--one post, like a sticky thread, and maybe members can PM their tips to a mod to get it added into the post? This way we prevent duplicate tips from being posted, and then all the tips will be in one post and new players wouldn't have to search throughout the entire thread to find helpful hints.

And Tommy, while that is a really nice set up, we have to keep in mind that the RPG Addicts forum is a group, meaning people need to request to join it. New members are most likely not going to know it exists until they start getting really into the RPG, and therefore I don't see it being much help in that particular place :(

It would just take a post in the sorting thread from a mod to point out about the Addicts forum:) While they are giving the link to the sorting quiz they can give the instructions for joining the Addicts club.

But I say to put it in there because as you pointed out unless you join the club you wouldn't now about it. So its less of a "preaching, mandatory, force" sort of thing. Bcuz it leaves it up to the person if they want to join and then seek out the help instead of having it in their face as soon as they start RPing you know.

Tisha:

Actually, whether it was intentional or not, you will find that the race and social classes represented in canon are actually a pretty good cross section of Britain during the time the books were set.

There are several really good editorials and essays out there on the subject, I reccommend this one in particular but its also worth checking out the leakylounge and some of the other essays on the lex.

That said, I like the idea of a workshoppy area tooooo.

Oh...

back on the original topic. As far as credibility goes, I think its ok to have a touch of the fantastical, but not three or four things about a charrie that makes someone go ORLY?

Thats the test for me. If the owl gives it the ORLY look and I can't reply with YA RLY and show in my RPing why it should be legit, then I won't do it.


I apologise for how little sense this post makes? Yeah.

In regards to the "School RPG Addicts FC," is there perhaps a way we could advertise this a bit more? It's an extremely helpful place to be, but at the same time, I find that because it's a club you have to join rather than threads you can automatically see, it's very limited to those who could possibly benefit from the more helpful posts/tips the most.

Maybe we could include information about it in the sorting PMs? This would alert newbies to its presence, and they could even join in on the school chats, not to mention read all the helpful threads we've got in there. Maybe it would help them get into the RPG game a bit more and have an easier transition. It's just an idea, though. ^_^

What I was mentioning pertained to more than just creating characters, though. I thought about having a thread to give tips for all aspects of the RPG (in addition to creating a charrie). I'm glad you brought up that thread, though, because it is very helpful, too. You reminded me of the thread, too. hee hee :yes:

That's the first thing I thought of, as well, and I suggested including information about it and how to join it in the sorting PM. I also remember when I was a brand new member, I had no clue how to join a FC. I can't remember who it was, but I asked about joining one and someone helped me find the User CP and the link I needed to click to get to the area to join a club. I think the "Addicts Club" would be a really great place to discuss character development and give tips. :yes:

That sounds pretty cool. I'm just not sure the people who would benefit the most from that kind of thing would even think to post in there (or read tips threads or anything else). I think most, if not all, of the people who would seek out such a place are already experienced enough that they don't need it. My question for you is: Is that something YOU would use and find helpful?

I think having a thread in the addicts forum where people can hook up with others interested in making friends in the RP specifically to develop characters is a great idea. Instead of a "Meet and Greet" it could be a "Meet and Develop". LOL

I will definitely have a link and little explanation about the addicts group in the sorting PM, complete with a link to the spot in the Rules & FAQ where it explains how to join an FC (once Touz or I add it...we could have sworn we put it in there, but apparently not - SO SORRY!!!). :D

Well me personally I would find it helpful to get feedback on my charrie's personality before I take them out on a spin. I mean nothing sucks more for someone to put in time in effort into a charrie that no one likes.

I would like to see one of my charries have a relationship with other charries, like family ties or something like that. And I know I'm not the only one people just don't even know where to begin to ask someone if they can be related. Most of the family relations are between people who are OCC friends, and some people find it daunting to break into that when they are coming up against OOC friendships. So if we give them a place to come a request a family relations or answer someone else request to join a family that would help.

Overall it would help people work out the kinks in their charries. Some people struggle with names and with 100+ RPing at any given time its hard to find someone to turn to.

I mean we all need help every now and then regardless of how advance we may or may not be.