I have been wanting to write this scrap for a while. I have two or three drafts saved that I just never completed because I could never really figure out what I wanted to say. This is a very important topic for me and one of my personal pet peeves so I wanted to do it justice.
Character Stereotypes. Just like in our real lives, the races on Miz have developed their own stereotypes, either written into the lore intentionally or developed over time by play. Konti are one good example of that: More often than not, the fishy aspect to the Konti is greatly ignored and instead simply played as beautiful, pale women with white or silver hair. Kelvics, on the other hand, have become Mizahar’s perfect slave even though this couldn’t be further from the truth. But why does this happen? I see a couple things happening: Popularity and sheer, overwhelming numbers.
Lets take the Konti for an example. We have some very long surviving Konti PC’s on Miz that do an absolutely fantastic job with the race. The more prominent the player or the PC, the more attention they get and the more people talk about them… obviously. However, not everyone is perfect. If Popular player A is noticed by Newbie X, the new player might see how cool and fun PC A is and want to be just like them! Instead of reading the lore and making their own character, they instead base their new PC off of what they see PC A doing in game. It happens all the time and it happens without a lot of new people even really realizing that is what they are doing. The problem with this? Not every post made by every player and every PC ever encompasses every racial nuance. Konti Player A might not be near any large bodies of water and therefore might not be swimming in a lot of her threads. Newbie X doesn’t realize this and then starts making a Konti that doesn’t ever swim either… but for the wrong reasons.
Now, fast forward a couple months and you have 10 more Konti players that are each basing themselves off of someone else and perhaps bits of the lore. Maybe Newbie #11 comes along and actually does read the lore and then maybe looks up a few of the existing Konti players: None of them are following the lore. So what does Newbie #11 do? Take a guess. The sheer numbers of players playing a certain way influence the newest into doing so as well. Obviously there are exceptions but I am just making a generalized statement for the time being. Misinformation spreads just as quickly as the correct information.
So why is this a pet peeve? I know it’s not logical to think that every PC of every race will be played exactly like the lore states it will. However, I have noticed a very shocking and upsetting trend that I tried to ignore and grumbled to myself about for a while… until other people started coming to me with the same observations.
PC’s are being created in the exact opposite image of what the lore states. Why? I think one of the main reasons this keeps happening is because it is the easiest way to make your PC stand out from the rest- that is, if the rest of the PC’s were based directly off of the lore. What better way to make your PC unique than to make them completely opposite what they are supposed to be, right?!
Wrong. In fact, I think it is a very lazy and halfhearted attempt at making your PC interesting. Not only that, but it’s such a common idea that it’s almost to the point where a “Unique” PC would be following what the lore dictates.
I think examples are in order, but now we’re going to use Inarta for the example because I know them the best. This is what the lore says:
The Inarta are outspoken, blunt, forward thinkers. They do not engage in social niceties very well - meaning there is a noted lack of formality or ritual within Wind Reach. Their interaction with their birds have lead them to have forthright and direct dealings with people which have all but eliminated all the social intricacies similar to what the Eypharians or the Isur engage in. They are quick to laugh and come across by and large as intelligent, well managed individuals. They speak freely of their emotions, and are considered somewhat hot tempered to say the least. The most common cause of death in Wind Reach is not due to accidental falls but rather spontaneous knife fights or duels to uphold face or personal honor. They have a passion for physical contact and a lack of awareness of personal space or privacy. Family ties are not strong among the Inarta, especially among the Dek and their offspring, who often times have no idea which child was even theirs. This tends to lead somewhat to inadvertent inbreeding and closely related individuals among the lower class which can result in genetic diseases and physical inferiority.
The Inarta take a direct approach to life. They tend to be bold, adventuresome and can easily fall into the category of stupidly brave. There is a high mortality rate among young men who are often victims of youthful caste hazing or challenges that are too dangerous for their skill levels. They routinely love to repel and rock climb, so heights has never ever traditionally been a fear the subrace has been associated with. Hunting is a big sport among the Inarta, who do most of it along the coastlines of Thunder Bay where game is more plentiful than in the mountains. Young men often take it upon themselves to hunt large male walrus' for example to prove they are now men. Oddly enough, this tends to impress equally stupid young male wind eagles and can often amount to them garnering the attention of such a fledgling and acquiring a mount. Females are often far more careful and tend to survive their youth more easily.
But to summarize they are bold, outspoken, crass, sexy, passionate people that let little stand in their way and hardly ever take crap from anyone. They are slightly elitist in their thinking and would rather be left alone by anyone who isn’t so fortunate to live in their mountaintop city. Of course, a PC doesn’t have to be all of these things but they should still, to an extent, exhibit the ESSENCE of the race or perhaps exemplify specifics while maintaining the whole FEEL for the race.
What I have been seeing for seasons now instead are shy, introverted PC’s that can barely stand to listen to their thoughts let alone speak aloud. Not only is this an impossibly hard personality to play in an RP where (unless you want to doom yourself to never ending solos) your PC’s have to INTERACT with other PC’s in order for anything to happen at all. These PC’s hardly ever last but that brings me to a whole other rant in and of itself but I can leave that for later.
My own PC, Aidara, doesn’t exemplify all of the traits the Inarta’s lore stated but she does have a lot of them. She does a lot of things without thinking, she’s extremely passionate, she doesn’t take no for an answer, and she’ll sleep with just about anyone she pleases. While she might be a little more tolerant of outsiders and the other castes than most of her peers, she is still holding true to what the Inarta represent…. In my opinion, anyway. And it was hard work.
I think what it comes down too is the reading of the lore and getting the feel of the city and the race that you want to play in. I think lots of players are just so excited to get started that they don’t want to take the time that is needed to play properly. Lots of time and care and LOVE (yes I said it) Was put into creating all of the lore and the races and the cities and everything, and I think it’s rather rude for people to not take the time to read it through.
Everything was written a specific way for a specific reason and because that’s the way that the author wanted it to be. Uniqueness doesn’t come from being different form everyone else, just like it doesn’t make your PC interesting simply because they have a mental disorder or because their arm is missing.
Interesting PC’s come from lots of hard work and thought, letting the character in your head speak to you and get out who they are into something tangible (Yeah, I’m one of those crazies). I suppose I could write something up on what I think are good steps on making your PC unique without just simply going against the grain.
This didn’t really turn out the way that I wanted. I think my head is still dead from NaNo because I still feel as if there is a part of all of this that I just haven’t even touched on but…
Stop it. If I seriously see another shy Inarta or beautiful Dek I’m going to flip out and get a sharpie and scribble all over your CS until you can’t even read it… Or until I can’t read my screen.
...just... 
by Vanator on November 21st, 2012, 12:12 pm 
