Posted by Diarmuid on October 13, 1999 at 01:34:33:
Aside from all the gameplay/gamebalance crap, I wanted to talk about a few things of this char, and perhaps see if anyone noticed/cared, etc. As I said in the farewell post, he was created to be, and tried to be, the absentminded professor type, the scientist in a world of magic, etc. But I have always said that it doesn't make sense for characters, like people, not to change over the course of a life. After all, you start out as a teenager and die as an old old man, living a full (fake) life. Shouldn't you change in personality, acts, etc, in all that time? So, I tried to start out very, very easily distracted. I even got lost/distracted during my interview with Serafim and had to have another interview when he left me and got bored. I used to let myself get distracted by the "flames licking my sleeves" or the other elemental hands stuff. I'd start reading a book an wait until someone emoted touching me before I'd notice them or do anything else. I'd let all my spells drop to make it even more realistic. Over time I let myself get totally distracted less and less, figuring that as Diarmuid aged, matured, learned alot more, he would be better able at focusing his thoughts, his actions, etc, though at times I would still lapse off from people. That was the origin of the "eh, hrm, what?" way of speech. Denoting his having missed what was going on around him. The "Indeed, quite, dreadful, etc" stuff came from the british side of the char. I wanted him to be profesorial but also a bit stiff-upper lipped, so to speak. Another thing: did any of you notice that not once, not ever in over 600 hours, did I use a contraction? I never said didn't, or can't, or won't, or any of that. I always spoke in sentences constructed to use complete words, even going so far as to often not use possessive s's. A way of sounding a bit more formal, falling in with the professor/brit concept I had going. I always tried to talk to whoever I killed/attacked after the battle was over. Being sphere Knowledge and tattooed by Justin for Knowledge/Judgment, I thought it was important to at least try to inform my foe why I'd done what I'd done (obviouslyu it wasn't necessary all the time with people who know why they were my enemy. Being a master helped with that since I couldn't attack anyone who was not already an enemy). I tried to formulate all of my verbal responses to fit at least party in the "You (who I am talking to) should change, you should see all the knowledge out there and apply better judgment to the situation. And if you do, you will see I/masters are right and you are wrong to be fighting me/us." Did any of that get across to any of you? As for being an Master/Adept/Leader it went through stages. At first it was simply to survive. Then as I grew a bit older it was to become a bit of a rallying figure for other masters, and perhaps players who were thinking of rolling up new chars. Given the sphere I tried to caution people not to throw their lives away, but I also thought it was important to at least try if you had a chance. As Adept and Leader, I thought it important to set the example that we shouldn't just sit around and wait for ragers or empire or whoever to log off, but try to do something, if we could. However, unlike a certain female conjurer (*grin*) I also tried to balance it with judgment, and not just go on suicide runs. And, of course, following in the professor/knowledge type role, I also tried to make studying and mastering spells and exploring, learning all about the world around us, a premium. As many of the heros can tell you, I tried to get groups to "go explore someplace interesting" constantly. Well, I invite commentary. And please leave aside the various "you suck" and other crap. Try to focus on the roleplaying, please. Diarmuid