How do -you- stick to a character?

Junnan

Hello, all ~

So, to be absolutely honest, this is like my..... 20th, 30th character on Achaea. Which is getting a bit insane, honestly. I get all of my characters to about level 60, mingle around the cities/villages sometimes, and then..... Lose all interest. At first I thought it was whatever, you know; make a character this way, didn't like it, then rerolled a whole new character because of something stupid (usually I Embraced Class, used all of my free reincarnations, so I just felt like starting over entirely). 

Now, getting around this number (I poop you not, I'm probably in my 20s or 30s and I can't remember half of their names, but I know they're there......), I just sat there, registering (yet again, I know, bad me) with Junnan and I go - "OKAY, you're getting ridiculous. You've got lots of people sticking with their characters for years, and you struggle to get past a week. Commit, my dude. COMMIT." 

Don't get me wrong, I usually tell myself that exact thing (started at about character 10), but then I just justified it as "Heyyy, I just wanna check out (insert race, class, city combo here) for like, a day or two." And then never log back in to my previous one because I lost interest in it over this newest shiny, and then it repeats....

I'm caught in a vicious cycle. e_e I need to break it, yanno? So, trying this thing, seeing if I can learn some from the more experienced and then stick to Junnan (because I quite like the name.)

So, whole backstory out of the way, my whole question is - how do you commit to a single character? How did you do it when you were a newbie, with nothing to really do but do this task and this task and join this House and look more tasks? 

Greys

Perhaps what many people do not do which helped a lot with Greys over my first character is I put some thought into who he is. What he values, his past, his quirks. I gave him an identity of something I feel appealing to play first and then allow him to be shaped and shape things. If you go in with no concept, you usually aren't firm enough to be more than an observer which onces you have seen everything, the novelty wears off. 

Dunn

@Daeir beat me. I dabble in all of the IRE games and the single constant between them all is a good group of people to play with. 

Aralaya

What @Greys said. Build a story for your character. Give them flaws, a history, a personality. I had the same problem before I made Aralaya and actually gave her a personality

Liyane

When I came back I literally made a character per city (except Mhaldor, never been into the evil RP) to test the waters before sticking with my main. Similar to what other said, it was the people I met that made me stick with one character in the end over all the others.

Vallie

Vallie was going to be my throw-away test character to see if I liked Achaea at all. While part of me has regrets occasionally, they're either mechanical (X class would be fun, Y race would have worked better, etc.) or RP oriented. Mechanical regrets I can pretty much dismiss immediately now - in the end, you can always just change class or race, and I've sure you've tried tons more than I have. So it's just RP concerns that matter at all.

As mentioned above, groups of people to play with are a big deal to staying interested, but I'd also want to highlight that unless you have some concept, however faint, of your character, it'll be difficult to want to stick with it. If you're already mentally committed to 'my character is just looking around, cool, okay bye', you won't feel any attachment to the people you interact with or feel that you fit. It doesn't mean you need to be fully fleshed out in your dreams and motivations and so on, but you need to have intent to cultivate that so when you do suddenly hit a situation where you COULD flesh yourself out, you have an urge and a reason to. If you have any inkling of craving that interaction with other people, just fan that and go for it - I think everyone who plays this loves the flavour of it all or they'd have moved on, but some (many) people are just shy about striking up interactions with others, as much as they enjoy it.

Particularly early on, I made stuff up as I went about backstory/personality/goals/etc. just off the cuff but treated them as if they were deep-rooted canon, and it ended up being something I liked and I never had an urge to create my intended alt.

Ahmet

I had the same problem when I started. Id say of equal importance to finding a good group of people is finding some way you can contribute that you enjoy and that makes you feel like part of the team. If you can get that one thing to keep you coming back, youre bound to find other aspects of a character that you enjoy, and its almost impossible to avoid building your character in the meantime. Just find what you enjoy and stick with it.

Omor

As long as what you enjoy isn't exploration. @Ahmet

But since I'm commenting, I'll also say that I had an issue with creating.. well, way too many characters. What kept me coming back to Omor was the people, as said before. I had found a mentor, and didn't want to let him down, so I kept returning. 
But please don't base your entire character's personality on a class/city/etc until you know you're gunna stay there! Super devout city people that then leave the city become very unsure of who they are.

Zbaco

For me, it is the investment in both time and money over the years that keeps me on Zbaco. Whenever I think of starting over from scratch, it's just like...no.

Torinn

Torinn is my one and only character. I created him with an idea in mind and played him as I believed he would respond to situations. Let's face it achaea's only really redeeming quality is the depth of interaction and RP. If you want to do quests or hunt there are lots of other games that do it way better.  When you have a solid character in mind, personality, flaws, the like, the rp, the bread and butter, falls into place and is both compelling and interesting. It keeps me playing.

Additionally I'm the type of person that takes suboptimal builds or what have you and tries to play with them anyways. The "get good with what you have" approach. This is a game made by the players with player run history, for the most part, so find a compelling goal for your character.

Nazihk

Throw some credits at it. Just 1-2 of the no-brainer lesson packs would work. Once you put some actual money on it, you'll be hesitant to restart for trivial reasons. At least, that's how it works for me.

If you pick a non-factional class you'll even be able to change organizations pretty easily; most cities are pretty lenient on accepting new members while they're still young.

Vesios

Pretty much just repeating what everyone else said first: what kept me to Vesios was the people, more specifically the family. I had honestly thought I was alone in my altitis, especially because you always see all these people running around who've stuck with the same character for years, sometimes decades. I had maybe... four or five characters before Vesios, and one alt post-Vesios that I initially started when I came back from dormancy.

Blademaster: this was my first character and the one I remember most fondly. He and Vesios are honestly tied as my favorites and in my heart of hearts I sometimes wish they were one person. Reithas (the blademaster) had literally no clue what he was doing and had no city to ask, as he started as a rogue because I was too scared to join a city. This was back when the blade quest locations weren't in landmarks (I think this was back in 2012? Maybe 2011), and being a rogue, I had no way of knowing where anything was. It was a Mhaldorian that found me stumbling around Kavaya and he was the one that forged Reithas' first blade in his name - aptly named Stinging Gargoyles. He then took Reithas to Mhaldor and made him a slave, which I was a tad bit freaked out by, as up until that point I had no clue what Mhaldor even was or what it stood for, and had thought I had actually sold poor Reithas into slavery. Highlights of this journey include me free-emoting "rubs his hands together in selfishness" despite clearly having no clue what I was doing, because the Mhaldorian had done it after giving me the ashes and other materials, and I like to think I gave him a good chuckle behind his screen.

Eventually Reithas went dormant and I left Achaea overwhelmed, but I revisited him a couple months later and immediately left the city upon figuring out the command. It's something I'm still iffy about, a lot of potential lost - I wish I had stuck around and never left in the first place, honestly, if only for the Mhaldorian that helped me - but at the same time I still can't see Reithas as anything other than a rogue. His admittedly short time in Mhaldor was added to his backstory and his journey became one of personal redemption and self-discovery. RNG approved, too, because it was mirrored in his sword names - Stinging Gargoyles was forged with a Mhaldorian looking over his shoulder, but Celestial Stallions was forged by himself and no one else. Reithas had his own group of friends and I journeyed with him fairly far (mid-70s I believe, and this was when blademaster bashing was god-awful), but all that still wasn't able to tie me down. I occasionally revisited him in between the other alts, and the last leg of his journey happened right before I made Vesios. I'm especially proud of his name, and still use it as a catch-all "unique male fantasy name" in new RPGs I start. That Mhaldorian is the single person that has kept me coming back to Achaea time and time again, and I don't even remember his name. I make a point to help freshly-arrived blademasters forge their first swords if I see them asking for help on the newbie channel or elsewhere.

Druid: my first attempt at doing something more(tm) and joining a city. Started off well enough, but overall I was unhappy with how he turned out and he went into permanent sleep after I stupidly had him leave Eleusis, quit druid and become a Cyrenian priest in the Mojushai. Never got him past Aspiranthood. His personality and the concepts behind his character were eventually retooled and became the foundations for Vesios. A beta "trial run" before final release, heh.

Runewarden: An atavian in Eleusis. Bad race choice given the class (dat 11 con tho) but, I mean, winged knights! Stood at like six and a half feet tall, blonde hair, blue eyes. People joked that, between his height and his armor, there was no conceivable way he should be able to fly. Took him pretty far as well, further than Reithas, at least in power level. Wish I had stuck with him, his potential was through the roof. Never got past Sentinel Cub.

Infernal: A Mhaldorian, still atavian. Never went far with him, but out of all my characters I liked the way I roleplayed with him the most. This guy was my first major attempt at full-blown free emoting. I attempted to bring to life everything from his mannerisms, to the creaking and groaning of his old armor, to the way his plate helm muffled his voice. One day I hope to incorporate that style into how I play Vesios. Only played the Infernal for a day or two, the shortest out of all my characters, but I can honestly say he was probably the most "alive".

Druid 2: Started out as simply a Druid 1 Reboot (I missed playing the class, really, and thought I'd give it another shot), but became so much more. This is Vesios and I can't describe him with text.

Depthswalker: It was a combination of real life and burnout that forced me into dormancy, and when I came back I wasn't sure if I wanted to return to Vesios. On a whim I had looked at the wiki and saw a new class had been released, and I was in a fantasy mood, so I returned to Achaea and made a depthswalker. It was fun! But then I saw the Le'Yuets alive and well (more specifically, I saw @Aelyn in qw) and I don't think I've ever logged off a character faster.

Vesios tied me down because a) he's the only character I've actually completed a novicehood program with (rip Circle), b) he has artefacts to his name, even if it's just a collar for his Dardanic colt that he got last Logosmas and c) most importantly, he has a family to come back to. The one thing that separates Vesios from all my other characters is, well, it's not just about him anymore. He's part of something larger and has a place in the world, and I feel it'd be wrong to keep him from his journey.

I don't know how long you spend with each character, but my advice would honestly be to attempt to reach HR5 on one you like and see where it takes you. Interact with other members of your house or city and try to form connections with at least one other person, whether it be a mentor or someone you enjoy roleplaying with. Eventually you'll find what suits you and you'll find your character, it may just take a while. Took me like... five, six years?

Milabar

The stupid amount of rl money I've put into mila and blew on frivolous stuff.  

Mila also has a fairly firm background and I got into my Order very early in ig life.  Then it was a shit storm of rp over the first few months,  turned into years, turned into a decade and here we are


*edit - I've made an alt for each city, both male and female, in a wide spectrum of class/race combos but frankly I could never get behind the character like I could mila nor draw the amusing amount of hatred/love he drew so I kept going back to him.  

There's also the random "let's make alts together alts" that tend to get to level 80, have 500-600 credits invested in them, then never get played again

Tahquil

Character Concept I think is one of the most important things you can do to give bonding with your character. If you create a character on a whim and you don't feel invested or interested in how their story is going no matter how many friends you make you probably aren't going to stick around. Take a few of the activities you like to do IG and figure out why your character does these things. If you have something in particular you want to try like a certain city and/or class give your character a reason to why they 'chose' to be a citizen or took up that class.

Unobtrusive Fun. Do and develop things to entertain yourself but doesn't need to effect anyone else. Say your own custom prayers at a shrines, eat certain foods, have likes and dislikes... but don't go broadcasting to the world. Every developed character is a special snowflake in their own way. However, don't be the special snowflake that tries to bludgeon people to death with their quirks by constantly and loudly telling anyone and everyone about them. Keeps your quirks quiet, when people do notice them it makes the experience much more meaningful and builds a stronger connection.


Dissect your Long-term Goals. If you have an overarching goal for your character such as achieve dragonhood instead of focusing on the end goal divide it into smaller steps. Set them to things like 'get level 50', 'go up 20 XP rankings', 'have 10,000g in a bank account'. Each time you achieve these smaller goals you'll get an endorphin kick and will develop a deeper bond with your character. Mmmmmm... habit forming.

Synbios

I actually have the opposite case here. 'Synbios' is my favoured avatar name, so I find it extremely difficult to alt.

Aodfionn

buying wings and shield before the price hike

Zahan

Aodfionn said:

buying wings and shield before the price hike

Don't forget that aldar diadem!

Milabar

Also, having thought about it,  a lot of the "older" characters were made during the "rp > pvp days" before curing systems and all that.  When ACP was the legit thing to have.  A lot of hardcore character development went into your characters then, and so alts were not as big of a thing as well.  While people are like "we still rp" it's nothing like a decade ago, where the world was immersed in rp.  Just my two cents again

Atalkez

Milabar said:

Also, having thought about it,  a lot of the "older" characters were made during the "rp > pvp days" before curing systems and all that.  When ACP was the legit thing to have.  A lot of hardcore character development went into your characters then, and so alts were not as big of a thing as well.  While people are like "we still rp" it's nothing like a decade ago, where the world was immersed in rp.  Just my two cents again

Nothing says immersive RP like the gods shouting rl song lyrics, I suppose.

Aerek

People always quote the egregious examples of OOC behavior in the good old days--yes, it indeed was still the internet--but I think it's a fairly objective statement that as a whole, the game population was larger and more invested in their roles 5 or 10 years ago. Guilds mattered, so people took them and their RP seriously. Gods were more visible and active on the world stage, and I think that reminded folks that the world was alive. There were fewer checks and balances on the game in general, which meant while the sky was the limit, consequences did matter.

Now Houses don't matter, so most of them are failing. We have fewer Gods to scare people straight, and the ones we do have stay pretty confined to their own factions/orders. True consequences are rare, which means it's harder for folks to really get excited or up in arms about storyline events or interstate relations. We're constantly inundated with monthly promotions that kinda routinely straddle the IC/OOC barrier, which impacts the tone of daily life.

The game was always a game, but I think it's hard debate the assertion that it feels more like a game now than it did in the past.

Ellodin

I didn't stick to a single character initially, since Achaea was just one of many MUDs that I passed through (other ones that I invested fair amounts of time into messing around on were Ancient Anguish and Discworld). Exploration of the PK system in Achaea from a lower-level perspective and figuring out which abilities were best for screwing around with other lower-level people caused me to spend time playing Achaea itself. For instance, ague or chill are fantastic when people don't have caloric due to the cost, curare/eurypteria/darkshade were all available to serpents before Skilled in venom, so it was obtainable as a newbie and exceptionally wonderful for killing people. If you don't know what that means, that was the attraction to me - by personality, I enjoy learning and instantaneous skill-and-smart-reaction based play, and there was more of that on a human-to-human level then. From there, the natural progression of "can I do more with this?" caused me to stick to a single character more, and I became involved in other facets of the game organically as skill in combat pushed me into positions where other city matters were weighed.

However, the world was a bit different then. There was a higher barrier of entry to being functional (much less competent), but as a result, I think I was able to find more milestones ("ahah" moments, small triumphs) within the time spent tinkering and discovering unexpected tricks that were effective in the world of lower character levels and garbage systems. I picked up random memories along the way that had little to do with learning combat, yet caused me to look at other pieces in the world besides myself; for instance, I remember praying to Maya during landmarking (a long-defunct mechanic related to Devotion and Necromancy) and getting stomped in three Tranquility combos because 1. I was like level 35 and 2. when I tried to stand, I was troll stunned. Once I'd invested enough time into learning to fight that I could fight off people with transcendent skills and artefacts with neither of those things, I gained more of a sense of wanting to push to a higher level within the game, which necessarily requires more dedication to a single character.

In my opinion, things like creating a character background don't get you into Achaea, not unless you're already dedicated to playing a single character in the game itself. Find something in this game that you can get absorbed in beyond a passing interest and immerse yourself in it. The rest will naturally come through your interactions.

Skye

I've been playing for nearly a decade now I think. After a while, a lot of the charm wears off and very little feels new. You also tend to develop a kind of cynicism about the way things work. 

So what keeps me logging in after all these years is definitely the company I keep. I play more for the company than anything else.

I've played lots and lots of alts all with different degrees of investments, but ultimately I come back to Skye. So it's not just the arties. Honestly I don't mind admitting it's likely because this is where i have all my OOC clans and I can chatter about stuff.

The community is now too small to OOC clan on alts and still keep yourself largely anonymous. You'd inevitably give yourself away. So it gets really lonely >_> 

Tydas

Have fun. If you're offered a position of responsibility that you don't want, don't feel pressured or obligated to take it. The work will kill your interest in playing your character faster than anything else.

Aereidhna

Find things you really like to do. Having responsibilities and cool people around you will definitely keep you logging in, but/and finding things you really like to do, like sailing, designing, killing people, hunting, etc. will make the logging in more spontaneous and worthwhile. If you can find a House/city whose requirements or positions are actually fun "work" for you then all the better.

I second the bit about character conception, personality, goals, backstory - that helped a lot with Aerei, and also helped me steer her where I wanted to go with her, but I've occasionally adjusted course and changed my goals when things became really un-fun and I started teetering on the edge of burnout.

Ozmatiah

I think for me the idea is really to never play an alt, so that I can put just time and effort in to Oz. I can't even imagine if I had say three characters because keeping them straight and actually making solid relationships with the city/house would be more difficult for me.

Ehene

I've been playing Achaea for a good handful of years now. By biggest problem was that I would create a character during the summer when I was on break from school only to have it go dormant once classes started again. What made me stay with Ehene was the ultimatum I gave myself: either stick with this character or stop playing Achaea.

Now, just the ultimatum isn't what made me stick with Ehene. Like others said, family can be an important anchor, but other relationships can accomplish the same thing, i.e. proteges, friends, text bf/gf/whatever, you name it. Getting in positions of power is also a useful thing to keep you in as it present a form of responsibility. But, this is a game, and you should only stick with it if you're having fun.

Krypton

A complete and utter intolerance for inefficiency.

I don't appreciate when people waste my time in real life, and I consider starting anew a waste of my time, too. "Why would I want to bash to Logosian... again?" "Why would I want to have to amass all that gold/credits/supplies... again?" "Why would I want to write twenty Newcomer essays... again?" "Why would I want to walk everyfuckin'where for Achaean Ranger... again?"

15 years of only Krypton -- not once have I made a re-roll character for the purpose of trying out a different class/city/faction -- purely because the thought of "doing it all again" nauseates me.

If there's something I want to try badly enough in Achaea, it will be done on the character for whom so many investments and resources have already been made available.

Calaurn

@Junnan Think of it as a long queue, and wait your turn.

Narga

As quite the newbie myself, I think I can understand the "what if?" thoughts that can occur when starting up a character. I personally only went through about 2 characters before settling on Narga, mainly because the Mhaldorian atmosphere really caught on me. Alot of people have already mentioned immersing yourself with other people, which I completely agree with since that's what has kept me going back on Narga. I suggest you dive into whatever events there are the house or the city has to help with that too. For example, I was only in the first week of this game when I noticed on the Mhaldorian news post that some designing for the museum was happening, and I thought, "I'm gonna volunteer and see what happens." I'm glad I did, because it helped me understand my city and houses' culture + introduced me to a couple of other people within the city involved in that process (one of whom is a my mentor now). Since then, I feel like Narga as a character has become more defined in my head. What I'm trying to say is - grab at every opportunity you can find, make connections to find meaning in your character.

Another thought - maybe creating short and long term goals for your character might help you give direction too. Perhaps just one or two aspects of the game you can concentrate on and work towards, that really interest you and will make you want to come back. Hope this is somewhat helpful? Good luck!

Prythe

Aereidhna said:

Find things you really like to do. Having responsibilities and cool people around you will definitely keep you logging in, but/and finding things you really like to do, like sailing, designing, killing people, hunting, etc. will make the logging in more spontaneous and worthwhile. If you can find a House/city whose requirements or positions are actually fun "work" for you then all the better.

I second the bit about character conception, personality, goals, backstory - that helped a lot with Aerei, and also helped me steer her where I wanted to go with her, but I've occasionally adjusted course and changed my goals when things became really un-fun and I started teetering on the edge of burnout.

Given you have said in passing you've had a couple of previous characters, I am going to share one of my favorite stories about you.

Once upon a time, one of Aerei's favorite characters was one of my favorite people, a baby Druid I nurtured and cherished, watcher her grow, etc..  One day she was gone. I was sad, but stuff happens.

Flash forward about 8-10 years later. There was a young novice I thought was super cool-rific. 

Yeah. Same person behind the character. Had no clue until she told me.

Have adored her now three times in each sem-unique personality, but always the great kind, loving, caring person shining through.

Calyn

It really comes down to initial interactions with the organization when I start out with an idea or character I want to play.

If the organization is welcoming and interesting, I'll stick around. If not, eh, making another alt is painless.

Even something as perfunctory as "WELCOME TO MHALDOR, TALK ON CT AGAIN AND I'LL REMOVE YOUR TONGUE" might be the tipping point for a newbie to hang around, so interact with them.