Text-Based Games: The RPG Stereotypes

When I was much younger, I found it quite easy to get into games like Dungeons and Dragons, where your character has a background that you create and they’re as customizable as you want. I also found it extremely easy to fall into an RPG stereotype.

One day I spent a lot of time going through people’s text game backgrounds and histories and found the most common ones to date (remember not many people stick to a role-play they originally set for their character). These are:

Abandoned by Mother/Father

This type of classic RPG plays with the story that you were abandoned by a member of your family. This is not to say that only his mother/father would be the one to abandon, but they are the most common. The father had to go to war and did not return, while the mother went out to feed all the hungry mouths and only one day did she not return. This makes the role-play perfect for a typical loner type of character, who doesn’t trust anyone. If you’re okay with not having many friends and playing the Lone Ranger in a text game, it’s a great option.

Remember that this character has abandon issues. They feel that everyone around them on the MUD is setting them up for the ultimate disappointment. Your character is likely to get emotional easily and will often overreact when someone is gone for even a very short period of time.

Betrayed by a Lover/Friend

This role-playing personality comes from any typical romance novel you’ve ever read where the heroine/hero must overcome her mistrust of the opposite sex. Either they had a relationship that soured, or they were left in the middle of nowhere with no shoes to walk home, or they had to pay a bill they didn’t have the cash for. Either way, this guy is a pretty easy role to accept when role-playing.

Your character will probably be usable by everyone. in the text game Your character tends to get emotional quickly, but anger is his tool of choice. This is a good character type to pick if you’ve played a lot of JRPGs, as they tend to be common.

The Lone Ranger

This role-playing personality is based on all the old Wild West movies. This character is the bad boy all the way around, he tends to flout the law and generally courts women and/or men quite easily! They give off that aura of mischief that most people want to do to try to ‘tame’ them. He’s an easy character to pull off in a text game if you don’t want to play someone, but want people to come to you. This, however, comes with its own obvious challenges.

Remember that your character often does not ask for things, he says. Your character will ride into town on a steed or in his own worn leather boots and tear apart the other people around him in the text game with a quick wit and honest tongue. Most thieves will play this role, because they don’t take nonsense from anyone and don’t mind making friends.

The soft-hearted fool misunderstood

This character is often played by many younger children who get into the role-playing environment of text games a little green. They don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, but they do want to try to interpret something, even if it means they tend to annoy everyone else in the text game more than anything. This character tends to be too forgiving and not really one with a backbone.

To play this character, you really have to turn off the trigger switch for angry/happy. In general, you should engage in everyone’s conversations without the need for context and have the innate ability to answer any question, even if it’s not directed at you.

The best thing to do when role-playing in a text game is, in general, to avoid stereotyping. Try to create your own role play and make your character feel like a living, breathing entity, not a familiar tale taken from somewhere else. Maybe make a T chart of what you like or don’t like.

Also remember that your character should always be separate from you so you can really have fun with events and people. Just because your favorite color is blue doesn’t mean your character’s favorite color has to be blue. Really work with the things that are given to you and make sure you try to remember everything that happens!

Here are some examples I have of how to create your character while playing the text game!

Keep a journal of everything that happens. This is the easiest way to remember names as you get started in the world of RPGs. Did someone give you a necklace? Take note of the name.

Stay with a choice you make. I had a character who hated the color yellow because it was his sister’s favorite color. She did not accept daffodils as gifts and despised when a lover or someone tried to give her yellow clothes. They had a reason for the hate and she stuck with it!

Have reasons why you do things. If someone tells you to do something you think your character wouldn’t do, don’t do it, even if you’re out of character friends with that person. Why would a priest be friends with a necromancer? Just because you put them up once and they helped you doesn’t mean you’ll be the best of friends. You need motivation. If someone raids your city during the day, don’t go hunting with them at night! It reflects poorly on her role-playing skills.

Chorus of giving reasoning out of place for anything. “Please give my friend his stuff back because he went to the bathroom and left his character online.” I’m sorry, but you must be held accountable for your actions and anything you do within the world of RPGs is considered character. Man up for your mistakes and take responsibility. Don’t let it happen again.

My advice in the end is to make a character as if it were a real person. Yes, people change, but it will take a drastic event for someone to go from truly evil to truly good. Always have a reason why you are doing things with your character, even if you will never tell anyone this reason. Every character needs motivation! Choose yours and keep it!