The loss of a character

[wolfdog01]

It is currently 2:17am and I have begun thinking about the many rps I have done in the past 6 years. It has almost all been between me and my BFF and we have a small group of characters we choose from. Well in the past month things have gone quiet due to mental health and just growing up, I guess. I never thought in a million years that I would feel...neutral about never rping again. We are still the best of friends but she sees this month long rp silence as a break from it, meanwhile I see it as the end of our storytelling days. I haven't thought about any of my characters in at least a week, I used to think about them half of the time that I spent awake. The weird thing is though, with all of this in mind, I don't feel that bad about saying that my characters might have reached their shelf life. I've been through at least 20 OCs and now I am down to a soild five, one of them I have had for four years! Thyme is my fursona...I don't really rp her, so she is safe.

I guess my question to you guys is: what do you do when your character has been burnt out and how do you know when their time is done?
Just delete them and move on? Get tribute art for the final goodbyes? Sell them to someone?
How do you feel about it? Are you guilt-ridden or glad to have them off your hands?

Any thoughts or opinions on this?

[Azurain]

I understand this a bit too well. Over the 10+ years I've been roleplaying, there is probably no end to the amount of OC's I've been through. I would create them, then eventually just draw apart from them and they'd vanish. As of the last couple of years, if I created or purchased characters and drew apart from them, I'd just "retire" them persay. I always have them there to remind me of what I used to have with them. Characters like Azura however, since she's a Sona, no matter how much I never rp her anymore, she will never ever "retire" or vanish or even belong to someone else. Azura is me, as much as I am her.

Sorry for my random ramble but that's usually my thoughts on it. Do I feel sad when I detach from characters, especially ones that I love? Yes. A whole lot.

[Jango_Fett]

this really is just a case of growing up.

i still enjoy roleplaying from time to time, but not with the zealous mindset i used to. where i practically lived to play out a story, as short-lived as some of them might be.
now i entertain myself in other ways, whether it be actually writing or just going out with friends.

i barely even remember the older roleplays i did when i was younger, much less the characters involved in them. and that's just perfectly fine for me.

[Queen_Innocent]

I tend to revamp their design and flick them a few changes in their backstory/history, making them more complex and reigniting my interest with them.  There's no deleting when it comes to my mains, Such as Nomang; she's had six rebirths and has changed into quite the character that I relate to for when I was struggling with my mental health as a young teen. Even when she dies, she'll probably come back again and again.. or be my icon for my future job as a therapist assistant for my business.

But whenever she burns out, and I feel its' her time (when she's older, when the role plays are more focused on the new generation and she's no longer fitting along..) I'll kill her off and play her children, as she leads one of the branches of a big bloodline I'm building out slowly. She'll always be a part of me, though. If I ever am really guilt-ridden, it's for the terrible way I built characters in the past without good individualistic personalities. However, the current rebirth of her is one that washes it all away through her and my past and future struggles.

I've been around since December of 2014 and I am sure to continue role playing, even at the elderly ages if I reach them. It's a part of my life, now.

[wolfdog01]

I love reading all of these replies, so different from each other!

I understand this a bit too well. Over the 10+ years I've been roleplaying, there is probably no end to the amount of OC's I've been through. I would create them, then eventually just draw apart from them and they'd vanish. As of the last couple of years, if I created or purchased characters and drew apart from them, I'd just "retire" them persay. I always have them there to remind me of what I used to have with them. Characters like Azura however, since she's a Sona, no matter how much I never rp her anymore, she will never ever "retire" or vanish or even belong to someone else. Azura is me, as much as I am her.

Sorry for my random ramble but that's usually my thoughts on it. Do I feel sad when I detach from characters, especially ones that I love? Yes. A whole lot.

I always used to throw in my old characters as like Easter eggs in later rps, it was neat when one of us noticed it and got a little excited because it was such a surprise from such an old character. I think my type of retirement is going to be a huge tribute art piece where a little bit of all of my chars are mixed in. Good idea calling it retirement lol

this really is just a case of growing up.

i still enjoy roleplaying from time to time, but not with the zealous mindset i used to. where i practically lived to play out a story, as short-lived as some of them might be.
now i entertain myself in other ways, whether it be actually writing or just going out with friends.

i barely even remember the older roleplays i did when i was younger, much less the characters involved in them. and that's just perfectly fine for me.

I remember certain characters that were in the older rps but I hardly remember the actual plot to them. I used to be so motivated as well, but when that one person kinda slows down it's like "what else can I do?"
Growing up sucks.

I tend to revamp their design and flick them a few changes in their backstory/history, making them more complex and reigniting my interest with them.  There's no deleting when it comes to my mains, Such as Nomang; she's had six rebirths and has changed into quite the character that I relate to for when I was struggling with my mental health as a young teen. Even when she dies, she'll probably come back again and again.. or be my icon for my future job as a therapist assistant for my business.

But whenever she burns out, and I feel its' her time (when she's older, when the role plays are more focused on the new generation and she's no longer fitting along..) I'll kill her off and play her children, as she leads one of the branches of a big bloodline I'm building out slowly. She'll always be a part of me, though. If I ever am really guilt-ridden, it's for the terrible way I built characters in the past without good individualistic personalities. However, the current rebirth of her is one that washes it all away through her and my past and future struggles.

I've been around since December of 2014 and I am sure to continue role playing, even at the elderly ages if I reach them. It's a part of my life, now.

I've heard of people reviving their chars and changing them to keep the interest alive. I wish I could have the guts to do that with my characters lol. I would feel guilty changing them so much, I think. It is awesome that you are still full of the rp spirit and it would be amazing if you continue it!

[Ame88]

This is actually something I've had on my mind for a long while now. You beat me to the punch!

Personally, if it's a character I've really been attached to, I generally wouldn't delete them due to wanting to hold onto the sentiment and emotional value their in-game model holds. I do that because I know at some point down the line I'd log in years later, granted this game is still running (which I believe it is still running strong in some regards) and look through all of those characters. Some I may not remember at all, but then running across those gems that make you go "Oh my gosh! I remember this one- oh, and that one rp we had, oh those were the days!" Just to tug some of those cherished and amazing, fun, and maybe emotional memories back your way. That's why I'd hold onto them, personally. To me, some, if not all, of those characters stand as a reminder of something you did. Something to remind you of your time. A reminder of all the hardships, and fun, unforgettable times you had in that place. Those characters also stand as a mark of your growth as a person. One to remind you of your noob days, edgy days, power playing days, and so forth up until wherever you left off. Even if they are just characters, they are indeed special.

Now some people don't get attached to characters and can easily move on from them as a stage of "growing up." Which, it is. People do grow up and move on from the things they do as a child or young adult. But some of the things they did in the past will always stick with them. Good, or bad unfortunately. But, chances are, some of those characters are still with them somewhere.

[Likuu]

I have PLENTY of characters I've used so many times that i've finally grown to wanna play newer characters. Personally, my roleplaying muse entirely has been getting more slim as I get older but I occasionally get the spark again to roleplay. Sometimes I'll find a way to use an old character with a twist, simple name change and a little bit different personality compared to how I played them when I was younger as well!

[PocketMutt]

Characters have such significance to many of us, doubly so if you've rped with them. It's interesting to consider the ones that slip through the cracks or ones in which our engrossment in them waxes and wanes. For me, I've always been dependent on one character for years at a time and it would take a lot for me to willingly detach from them. But for some reason, at a certain point, I just move on to another character with no forewarning or expectations. In fact, it seems like all the characters I've ever been most attached to have been made without any expectations and absentmindedly. Spontaneous might even be too strong a word to describe it.

I suppose it's a cycle and everyone seems to have their own sort of cycles when it comes to this as well as their own rates of going through characters. It might say a lot about the way in which we get inspired or the way we establish our interests. Either way, I try to hold on to as many memories of characters as I can even if I seem to only be able to stick to one at a time.