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Today I am going to talk to you all about something I've noticed. Cliche villains and "insane" characters.
We've all seen the "*Insert Name* F/M Killers" running around Feral Heart. And I'm not just talking about Creepypasta characters like Jeff the Killer, this trend of "insane" characters is something you see everywhere in all kinds of roleplay.
Yet these characters are just as cliche and overused as your typical mary-sue.
Really, they are boring.
They absolutely have no motive, which makes them pretty boring bad guys. I mean, even evil characters in kid's shows have motives. Take Nightmare Moon from MLP, a pretty cliched villian (don't kill me bronies!). She had a reason behind her doing (she was overshadowed by her older sister, and jealous of her), she didn't just kidnap Celestia "for da evilz".
Yet these characters on Feral Heart are just evil for the sake of being evil. They don't have any goals, they are just evil. Now, a lot of people try to back this up with saying "they are insane!" Insanity is incredibly difficult to pull off in roleplay. And the majority of these insane killers just run around killing people, that's the only insanity we ever see. Insanity is more than just killing people for no reason. In most cases, an insane killer would kill because they have a twisted world view, which is what would be responsible for them to see killing as alright.
All of my villain characters have motives behind their doings.
Take my character Queen Animat for example. Animat kills people, and her motive behind doing it is incredibly simple. Yet it's not because she's insane, because she most defiantly is not. She is simply programmed to kill in order to survive. She has no other motive. She does not feel any remorse for her victims, yet she is not sadistic and does not enjoy it ether. She kills because it is as natural to her as breathing, and if she did not she would die. It's a base survival instinct.
Two of my other villain characters, Sachee Navera and Oxygen could be considered insane. Yet nether of them just run around killing people simply because they can.
My character Sachee Navera is the queen of an alien nation. She's not so much a character I use in roleplay a lot, as she is a character that some of my other characters will talk about. Her people have been persecuted, abused, and exploited for quite a while now, and it has started a huge war. Sachee is paranoid. She doesn't know who she's going to have to fight, who's going to back-stab her, who's on her side and who's not. This constant paranoia has driven her to the brink of sanity. So her solution is to destroy the "competition" before it can even become competition. She's terrified and doesn't know what to do. So she kills anyone who shows the slightest hint of being a threat; even if it's just something incredibly trivial.
My character Oxygen could also be classed as insane, but for a different reason. When she was just a child (she's of a fantasy race of my invention, so I often use more "human" terms to describe them), she was blamed for the death of her older brother. She was so young that even though her brother's death was sad, she would get over it. And she did get over it very soon. However as soon as the blame for his death was placed on her, being young and impressionable, she learned that blaming others for your own problems is perfectly acceptable. So now every-time she has a problem, she'll take out her anger on someone else, often quite violently. She was taught (by accident) that using other people as scapegoats is okay, and that has become her world view.
All of my other villain characters have motives behind their evil-doings, as well. And I can guarantee Animat, Sachee, and Oxygen do not consider themselves to be "evil", "killers", or "insane". They see themselves as being the good guys, even though they are far from that.
So yeah, just something I've noticed around FH before.
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Couldn't have put it any better myself. :3
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I like this thread because I've seen a lot of it in-game. Unfortunately (I guess), I have an evil character or two. Like you put I don't have them evil for the sake of having an evil character. My nice and normal characters are constantly getting shoved around and insulted because they have a friendly disposition. One day I thought, "Screw this I'm going for evil and I'm going to pour all my anger and sick and twisted thoughts and feelings into that character." So I made him and he has a complete and original background about why and how evil he is.
Fortunately I have a lot of people who are willing to join my group because they like the way my character is. Others stray away from him and don't join my group because they think the way I make him RP is just sick and disgusting. ~(FH-Appropriate though)~ Honestly it's one of the best decisions I've ever made and my group is growing and even other evil groups like Shatteredclan and stuff are leaving us alone. It's like my group is considered "Acceptable" or something to them lmao.
So, I like the evil characters that had a lot of thoughts and feelings and background stories poured into them because the solution equals a great character that is fun to RP with ^^
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I think it's one of those cliches that everyone loves. Who doesn't want a bad character? But the way they approach it may not be the best and come off rather mary-sue like. There isn't a lot of deeper development, plus they could be just made. When you first make a character, just pulling out a name and making it scrap work, it's gonna come of as a bad character. Not to be offensive, but if you don't put much effort into your character it sometimes shows. But if someone takes those extra minutes, it may make a change.
The unexpected jump in 'evil' or 'insane' characters can also contribute to the media. We have a lot of darker shows or movies out now. Or hot villains -coughs-Loki-coughs- So this gives people ideas. We got Hannibal, American Horror Story, Into Darkness, and a lot more that bring out darker characters. It's just something that satisfies that need.
For me, I had a character called Koby that started out really cliched. He was a mary-sue plain and simple. But when I roleplayed, he developed. Eventually, I did take a darker route to him. He wanted to change the coven he was in, to make female foxes equal to males after getting his ass whooped by one. But his intentioned darkened when he was manipulated, in turn using others and just being a bad fox. I kinda lost him afterwords, just throwing out stuff to make him more interesting, like seeing his dead siblings, but I changed that.
He had his intentions and a strive, making him a better 'villain' than those who make the 'evil character just to be evil'.
So that's my little impute. I do think Lindsay also has another part. Pour your anger out into a character. Angst is at its finest in this age group, it's just a thing. What better way to make yourself feel better then torturing the one you can. Take it out on your characters. It's a better alternative than to other things.
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I have been seeing alot of "Killer" characters lately. I always thought there were Jeff the Killer's "friends" or "partners in crime". Often times it's just kids roleplaying as wicked serial killers.... just for the fun of it, I suppose. It's just some harmless childs play.
(http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4c6toDWqn1r1e2i1o1_400.gif)
See that? I made a pun.
Anyway. I have seen many of those "villians of insanity" running around in all the maps of FH. Of all the villian characters I've met, I've only met one decent villian with a good backstory. The rest are practically the same old, same old "I kill for the thrill" or kill without a real purpose type. It does get cliche and predictable in a roleplay. Where are the villians who need a motive for their evil actions? Do they even exist in this game? I'm sure they do....
I don't really have any evil characters. Marik and Bakura the fennecs are fan-based from the villians of Yu-Gi-Oh, but they don't act so evil that they want to kill people. The only evil things I have them do is harrass their friends with some harmless tricks.
There is one character I have that alot of people automatically assume he's evil all beacuse he's a rogue. He's not really much of a villian at all. The only "evil" crime he is guilty of is beating up his former leader. But he didn't beat her up because he hated her and wanted to take over her role as leader and lead the clan. He did it because he was furious about her letting his twin sister die in a rescue mission. Being a rogue cat and a "traitor" to his clan makes people think he is a low-life villian who will kill little kits and noble warriors. It doesn't matter to me if people think he is a villian. I let them be the judge of that.
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I run a character who could be called insane. However I find insane to broad a term. He is specifically a mild scitzophrenic with a multiple personality disorder on top. As a result he sometimes lashes out violently but he does not display to many psychopathic tendencies. I suppose I should get to the point and say I'm fine with mentally unstable characters if it makes sense and the Owner put a little thought into it. I hate it when people just go " my charries insane. That's why he tried to kill her" maybe it's a personal issue but I would rather they specify and go with a certain disorder that matches the characters behavior. Incoherent rambling done
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I do in fact have a killer type of character named Havor owo Though he does in fact have a reason for killing. I know it's probably very stupid, but here it goes.
Some might have read Havor's Dreadful Story which I guess remained unfinished, but.. usually he isn't exactly the horrible type of killer, however it's still bad. He doesn't put mercy on those he shames more than he should, instead he kills them.
It's usually due to past experiences he had and feelings one might fall into which comes to being a psychopath, I'm guessing... characters might become insane because they forgot what was right and wrong then became insane due to certain experiences involving death, as I assume would be a right way to put it.
But I do in fact don't really like when people don't even have a reason at all sometimes, it's just... o_e if there's a reason and if the players not being TOO twisted (in a way, however if they have a reason for their character being twisted which is a good reason then okay) or making people uncomfortable then let them be I guess, but no reason... no. >_<
Personally I don't really understand why there has to be so much killers in Bonfire Island sometimes, even if I might have a couple. Ugh, the stress of Bonfire... why does it have to be like that with almost no logic? Even if I don't have it sometimes, but... that's a different story.
I have no idea if I made any sense... but it does get irritating when characters are evil with no certain reason sometimes. Something that could be a simple reason is that someone's character who is evil just has never heard of right or wrong and wouldn't dare have any emotion toward them. Which gives me an idea...
ALSO, continue to read if you're eyes and brain don't hurt. owo
I have another insane character, an albino griffin who has his reason for being psychopathic/insane.
Rejection from his father, and he chose to become insane after all the drama he caused out of anger. He doesn't just kill anyone all the time, but he might kill someone if they even ever knew someone that his father viewed greatly, and maybe even kill the one he viewed like that.
Probably not the best reason, but Pierce, his name, used to be a drama queen so... yeah. His past story kind of formed into what he is now,
Yep. So.. guess that's it. I'm not the most creative person but sometimes may need to be more creative with their insane/villain character's back stories sometimes... at least that's my opinion.
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Wikipedia isn't the most reliable source to find information. But I do agree it could help someone develop a character with mental issues better if they were to do some research on the disorders.
Ah, I didn't say what I meant to very well... I've found Wikipedia to be a good way to find them in the first place, but by all means look through multiple sources for details on whatever you're researching because at least one of them will likely have misinformation.
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I have a character called Warp. But the only reason she could be dubbed as 'insane', is due to her background. I chose to have her as an Army type of Wolf. You know, used for the real rough parts of war, shootings, sniffers, bombs and such. She's saved plenty, gotten shot once in the leg, a limp now there. But she uses it to her advantage in a way. Because she grew up being part of the Army(not the UK, or the USA, or anything like that. An army in a small town, that was given a bad name by others because they do not ship their goods to other countries.) She's seen death so many times, and torture. Warp isn't her real name, infact, due to all her memories and the things she's seen, she forgot her own name and the town calls her Warp. She, like you said above in your post, has goals. She doesn't kill for the sake of killing. She preys upon others(animals, humans etc), that treat others horribly, torture, abuse etc. In her mind, ridding the world of those, would make it a better place. In HER mind, she's doing a good thing, even if others see it as it's a bad way. o~o
So yeah. She has goals, she has motives. o~o
I agree considerably towards this post though. I see plenty of just..RAOIHSKUHGKDFGHD RAAAAH -Kills- xD
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I do have three characters that could be qualified as insane.
The first one was Heulog, but she wasn't insane in herself. A parasite dubbed as the Sun Demon had entered in her brain, and it was the parasite which was insane. It could temporally take control over Heu's body, but the only one it killed was Arwydd, Heulog's brother AND a murderer. The poor Heu later died of a disease.
The second, Soulfrost, is more weird than insane. She loves to ship and hates kits. BUT, she collects pretty eyes. She would keep one and eat the other. She, however, never take the eyes from a living person.
The third, Machlud, is Heulog's son. Scarred for life by his mother's premature death, he began searching for something that could revive her.
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I am wired in a certain way I cant have evil/killer/insane charries :3
I only use good ones.
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I don't think that I have ever had a character that hasn't had some 'mental' condition xD They're not necessarily evil, however. Isaac has sever Paranoia, an often has episodes where he- in the simplest terms- 'Freaks out' and just have a need to run and hide from imaginary creatures he cannot see or anything.
For my 'villain' I have Ink, Who isn't necessarily 'crazed' or anything, he's simply power-hungry, he needs to be in control 100% of the time or he just has tantrums xD. He did, however try to take power from his father (the king), who he then got in a fight with and lost his eye, banished from the kingdom and now wonders around looking for a way to become 'all powerful' to take back the kingdom he thinks is rightfully his...
I guess I don't have any truly 'insane' characters, as 'insanity' is something hard to diagnose. I have a Schitsophrenic character- I'm not even sure if it IS schitsophrenia, he hears a voice which sometimes overwhelms him and makes him see horrid visions if he doesn't 'behave' or do what he's told and stuff. But in the end, he doesn't really want to hurt people- even if he IS forced too.
I do research the conditions that my characters have, and draw on my own experience for Paranoia. I look at other characters and even real-life people who have the same conditions as my characters and read about how they cope (or not) with dealing with the condition, as well as look up procedures in mental hospitals to know their routine and what they do if a patient has a violent episode, I don't really like going in 'blind' as I know I'll be a little n00blet and I would hate to offend someone like 'My <insert relation> has that, you're playing it wrong!' or something, and I know how stupid people look when they get facts about their character wrong (I'm talking in general, such as calling a lion pride a 'pack' and such) and I really don't want to fall into that category.
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I remember sitting a cave and this demon wolf with wings kept laughing in what was meant to be an evil cackle I think (He just all caps HEHEHE).
Then he walked up to me and said "IM GONNA KILL U BECUZ THATS THE POINT OF DIS CARRIE!"
It provided me with a bit of fun to be honest, he chased me relentlessly and then drowned himself.
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I swear I posted here o.o ~ Oh well, I can post again >:I
I don't have many insane characters, but the ones I do have don't just kill for the sake of killing, in fact, far from it. They always have some sort of motive behind their act whether it be something simple, or complicated.
One of my insane characters is Fallenspirit/star. She was fine until the murder of a close friend. It was after that she spiraled out of control and began to see his image everywhere... She was present while he was being torn open and had to watch as he flashed a smile and took his last breath. The sight itself was enough to drag her into a deep depression and then spit her out as insane. However, rather than killing every. Single. Cat in sight, she targets ones that look most like the murderer of her friend. She wants to avenge him and believes that any cat that even remotely resembles the killer should be removed from the face of the earth. Since she didn't catch the cat's name, she feels it better to rid all similar or identical cats so that she is 100% sure she's bought down the right cat and avenged her friend's death.
Still, with all this killing, there may be a chance it becomes more than just one here and there that looks like the criminal... It could become something she's passionate about, something that she feels gives her purpose.
Other than Fallen, my only other 'insane' character, is Alex. He doesn't exactly have a motive, he's just power hungry for all the wrong reasons. One day I'll figure out why, but until then he's just Alex the Rellik. xD
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I remember sitting a cave and this demon wolf with wings kept laughing in what was meant to be an evil cackle I think (He just all caps HEHEHE).
Then he walked up to me and said "IM GONNA KILL U BECUZ THATS THE POINT OF DIS CARRIE!"
It provided me with a bit of fun to be honest, he chased me relentlessly and then drowned himself.
I would have laughed at him after drowning himself.
But I must agree with this, most characters I meet have little to no background, and are just evil and vicious for no reason whatsoever.
My character, Asylum, of course is insane. The name gives it away. But as a demonic being, you sometimes can't expect much else. But she has her reasons. Family reasons. Her father would reject and abuse her when she failed to do what he could not. Gee, what a fantastic father.
She kills a lot, yes. But that's only to blow off steam. The only reason she does it is when thoughts of her father pop into her head, and she just grows enraged. But it isn't always immediately when they come to mind, she sometimes holds off until she finds the right moment to do so. Sometimes these thoughts come out of nowhere and are off topic of current events. But who can blame her? She watched him kill her mother, and she's hated him for it ever since.
Asy may have a certain disorder, but, I have never found the time to research. Even though she's been an OC of mine for nearly three or four years now.
Yes, characters should have a background and a good reason for their actions. I've seen characters without bios all together, and claim to be evil and insane in local.
One person I found was quite amusing. They came into Ascension, looked at my friend's character, and poofed. She later came back as a new character, that looked very similar to my friend's, and they claimed that they were an evil, insane killer. The creativity is so low, I can't- *Dies a little inside*
But hey. You can't blame the kids. They don't know what they're doing when it comes to characters. They don't know what it takes to make a good character.
And then others are just lazy.
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My character was insane caused by the wrong brain chemicals shutting off, i don't mind it too, but atleast everyone just to have ONE not like a bizzilion of them. Tell me, i love feralheart till someone walks up to me and i don't wana rp and they just acr all insane,and even try to powerplay. not with my character, my character was created to due with my depression and hatred, because i know alot of people have these problems. I play with this character for awhile and go with my friends and do funny killing rps, and i feel better due to getting the deppression stress of my back, in this case, somehow a insane character helped me, and my character isn't nescarlly bad he just has personallity problems, and sometimes switching his personalitys like multiple personalities disorder, meaning he could be a kind and gentle wolf, then turn into a insane psycho-path killer.
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My character was insane caused by the wrong brain chemicals shutting off, i don't mind it too, but atleast everyone just to have ONE not like a bizzilion of them. Tell me, i love feralheart till someone walks up to me and i don't wana rp and they just acr all insane,and even try to powerplay. not with my character, my character was created to due with my depression and hatred, because i know alot of people have these problems. I play with this character for awhile and go with my friends and do funny killing rps, and i feel better due to getting the deppression stress of my back, in this case, somehow a insane character helped me, and my character isn't nescarlly bad he just has personallity problems, and sometimes switching his personalitys like multiple personalities disorder, meaning he could be a kind and gentle wolf, then turn into a insane psycho-path killer.
This thread is 3 months old, all the way back in September xD Please don't necro threads.
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That's why that many people that RP evil characters are normally bad at it. I roleplay on Garry's mod, on a game mode called Half Life 2 RP. In this RP you roleplay as a citizen from the Half-life 2 universe. To be Combine officers, you need to apply on the forums of that server. Many officers and rebels are bad at RP, simply due to the fact that they have the "lolz i haz gun so i shoot you nao." mentality. They are awful, because the main reason they want to be an officer or a rebel, is simply because they want a weapon and a uniform. They don't want to RP.
There are several officers who CAN RP VERY well. Some even do remorseRP (Where you roleplay your character being remorseful after they are forced to kill a citizen.) There are VERY FEW rebels who can RP well. Even when the officers try to have an 'evil' persona, they RP awfully, and laugh while they kill citizens. I was amputated (A term used in the Half-Life 2 universe when an officer executes a person they imprisoned) by an officer, who sawed my leg off, then shot me while laughing his head off. This is bad RP, because Combine officers are still human. So if you're a human, you probably wouldn't laugh while shooting a fellow human. Overall, the quality of these RP's are mediocre at best.
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I don't see what the problem is with not continuing old threads, not many people post on game discussion every minute so it kinda gets boring if you ask me, because im always on game discussion to see what people have came up with, reason i never created a thread is because it could end up in a disaster. >>
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I don't see what the problem is with not continuing old threads, not many people post on game discussion every minute so it kinda gets boring if you ask me, because im always on game discussion to see what people have came up with, reason i never created a thread is because it could end up in a disaster. >>
Well necroing old threads is against the rules on the forum. If the thread died down a long time ago, you can try reviving it by making a newer similar thread. Staying on topic is another rule too.
Come on... I don't think your thread would end up in disaster. I think the only way it would end in disaster is if you post something that people find offensive; such as flaming/harassing others for any reason. As long as you make a thread that doesn't break any of the forum rules, everything will be okay. Don't be shy.