Characters: why do the always have to be dark, tragic, and/or ultra-powerful?

[DarkLustyHumor]

See, this topic has me in a mumble jumble of feeling because it honestly depends for me. Its when a role-player can really pull off a dark or tragic character that I find it acceptable. The melodramatic, dark and tragic character, while indeed cliche and attention-seeking, can have both its ups and downs. Now, I'm not saying, "Oh, these types of characters are so overrated and annoying, nobody should play them", I'm saying something more along the lines of, "If you're going to play this type of character, make sure you can do it the right way." I'm very open-minded, since RP is an art that really doesn't have a per say, right way, but in this case, if you want to make sure you're not being that overly cliche person that people drone on about, then you have to play this type of character in the right way. Invest time into the character, just don't spit out a tragic backstory or an evil personality. Lay out the backstory in a chain of cause and effect, or perhaps give this said character some motivation or issues that would cause them to act in such a dark and evil way. Think of it logically of how some "evil" figure in today's time might have gotten that way.

Now, in addition to thinking out the character, you have to know how a character in said circumstances with said issues/motivations/goals would act. You can just say they'd go around, killing everyone, being gloomy, edgy, etc., because in reality, nobody actually does those things on a whim. To spice it up, have your character have an internal conflict, with more than one reason to do/not to do this evil deed. Also, character development plays a HUGE role in creating a successful evil character, as there is no such thing as a set personality since birth. Personality and ideology is something that is developed through life, which is likewise developed through RP.

I could probably drone on more about this subject, but I don't wanna drown you all out with an essay. xD I've been there and done that, as one of my most well RPed and most well rounded character is a psychopath, comparable to maybe, a character like Harley Quinn in order to give you more of an idea. But yeah, long story short, there's really nothing wrong with these types of characters as long as you put some time and care into them -deep breath, finally finished- xD

I couldn't of said it better myself. xD As long as it has a good story to it and the personality makes sense and doesn't clash with the entirety of the rp, it's fine to have a dark character or one with a tragic past, or both.

[Wyldercat]

Well as for the evil thing, many people try to make a reason as to why their character is evil, and usually it's just easier to give them either a rough backstory, or some kind of mental illness.
To be honest, a lot of my old characters are like this. Even Scuttle, my current main, could be "super powerful," as in she's basically a wizard, but she has weaknesses. For instance, she can be devastating in a fight by unleashing that energy on them, but in a one on one fight, she's about as strong as a piece of tissue paper. So out of roleplay, balancing a character might be hard to convey, so it's easy for people to claim it as "OP."

Another story. For an rp in the past, I made a character who was the former leader of a stray dog gang, but was overthrown. He was VERY strong, and very crafty, and an amazing fighter; so my friend said he was OP. However, through roleplay, it was revealed that since he was basically attacked by an entire pack of dogs at once, and as a result had scars all over his body and is situationally very weak, and can't run anymore.

It's all about balance, I think. Newer roleplayers might have difficulty making likable, strong characters, so they make them evil or ultra-powerful to compensate for lack of character development.

[GuchiDaddy]

I agree it can become annoying. Yet if done right this can be a good character to use. Remember most people who have dark, tragic or so on characters, are young and starting writer. They simply aren't mature.

For example my character Tevan, he has somewhat of a sad past. It isn't tragic, but not the best. He was born into a family of loving parents. He was born blind in his right eye, but the left could still see. So one day Tevan wanders too far and is taken by humans and into a zoo. The keepers notice he was blind and wanted to fix it.

So they called in scientists who replaced his blind eye with a robotic one once he turned a teenager. The eye gave him not only the ability to see, but zoom in/out really far, and scan over things. He ended up running away after the procedure. He never saw his parents again, and still misses them, but keeps going. He keeps going knowing they'd want him too and he even ends up adopting twins without parents and joins a pack.

I have other characters with much darker pasts, but I try to make the past creative and the character creative as well. I don't try to make a sob story like most do.

[kinoei]

This.

ooOOooHH I am the ever-so-powerful, underworld princess, all-power-possessing, immortal, rare pup! You can't beat me! I possess every power in the world, I am immune to them, I am over 9000 years old and can't die!!!! I killed my whole pack because of my insanity!!!!

This is EXACTLY what I mean.
Honestly, I don't mind sad pasts or powers. It's just, THOSE ones who abuse the living days out of them.
I understand like, your parents died, or one parent died, since it happens often in real too, but going too overboard with it like "yeah, I killed mine because they grounded me for ten minutes" or "they were too weak and mortal" etc etc.
Powers... I don't mind them... It's just.... People who possess everything or abuse them.
Another thing that I've noticed is 'insane' people. Insanity doesn't mean going on rampages, killing everything. Insanity doesn't come from a small scratch this big bad guy caused. Insane doesn't mean op. Insane isn't the stories you read on creepy pasta wiki.
Insanity is a mental illness, and it's really different from that. I'd suggest you to look insanity up, its causes and what it does to you. There's few people that could actually pull off insane characters, and the key is: not what you see on the creepy pasta wiki. Most go by the popular one Jeff the Killer, which is SO unrealistic!
Speaking of mental illnesses, it's also a bit annoying when people give their characters some such as anxiety, depression, bipolar, etc etc. and don't do it correctly.

My point is- Don't make a character with sad past/powers/mental problems unless you experienced it yourself, or know how to PROPERLY roleplay it, know its symptoms, etc etc.

[alexterri]

This.

ooOOooHH I am the ever-so-powerful, underworld princess, all-power-possessing, immortal, rare pup! You can't beat me! I possess every power in the world, I am immune to them, I am over 9000 years old and can't die!!!! I killed my whole pack because of my insanity!!!!

This is EXACTLY what I mean.
Honestly, I don't mind sad pasts or powers. It's just, THOSE ones who abuse the living days out of them.
I understand like, your parents died, or one parent died, since it happens often in real too, but going too overboard with it like "yeah, I killed mine because they grounded me for ten minutes" or "they were too weak and mortal" etc etc.
Powers... I don't mind them... It's just.... People who possess everything or abuse them.
Another thing that I've noticed is 'insane' people. Insanity doesn't mean going on rampages, killing everything. Insanity doesn't come from a small scratch this big bad guy caused. Insane doesn't mean op. Insane isn't the stories you read on creepy pasta wiki.
Insanity is a mental illness, and it's really different from that. I'd suggest you to look insanity up, its causes and what it does to you. There's few people that could actually pull off insane characters, and the key is: not what you see on the creepy pasta wiki. Most go by the popular one Jeff the Killer, which is SO unrealistic!
Speaking of mental illnesses, it's also a bit annoying when people give their characters some such as anxiety, depression, bipolar, etc etc. and don't do it correctly.

My point is- Don't make a character with sad past/powers/mental problems unless you experienced it yourself, or know how to PROPERLY roleplay it, know its symptoms, etc etc.

^^^ this so much
don't rp mental illnesses unless you're actually going to research it