Illarion.org

This topic is for an Illarion Roleplay Debate. It will be 2v1, Pendar and Misjbar versus Cliu and Hadrian, for lack of a fourth person. The resolve for this debate is:

"Background is necessary to create a meaningful character."

Pendar and Misjbar will be assuming the roles of Pro-resolve and I shall take the Con. First, I will go over the layout so you may follow along with the debate.

1. First Opening (Pendar & Misj)
2. First Opposing Opening (Cliu & Hadrian)
3. Second Opening (Pendar & Misj)
4. Second Opposing Opening (Cliu & Hadrian)
5. Cross-examination (Msn)
6. Rebuttal (Pendar & Misj)
7. Opposing Rebuttal (Cliu & Hadrian)
8. Closing (Pendar & Misj)
9. Opposing Closing (Cliu & Hadrian)

These nine segements will take up one post by one member of the corresponding team. The openings are used for stating the teams arguments to support their reasoning. The Cross-Examination will be two 10 minute sessions in Msn to ask questions. These will be logged and posted in one post. The rebuttal is to refute the opposing teams arguments. Finally, the closing is to wrap things up and bring them together.

The rule for the spectators are simple:
1. Do not post in this thread (We ask you kindly)

I see no harm in posting in it after the debate in through. Opening a new topic to discuss the ongoings of this debate would be fine as well. This is a first run test to see if forum members can respect the rules and enjoy observing (as well as participating in upcoming ones).

Note: If this forum is incorrent, please move it to the off topic.

So, once Pendar and Misjbar post (around Monday or Tuesday), the debate will be started.

P.S. Hadrian has now joined in.

Background is necessary to create a meaningful character.

The context of illarion is actually at core two major factors the composition of a virtual and world subsequent interaction of players with in it. So at a start your character enters into a world rich politics and interpersonal interaction. Before any one starts a character they have some idea of how that character is going to achieve that. Is he happy sad, warrior, crafter or for some us skill based or RP based. Does he smile a lot can he sing is he literate as well as what race and age he is. We decide what he looks like we begin to plot how he might dress so in essence we are creating a character that comes from some place. He does not fall from the heaven naked as baby and have to learn the sky is blue.
So he indeed has a back ground he already has stats and attributes we have assigned him he has a back ground even if we as players cannot be “bothered” to assign him one.
So we have a character he is short, he smiles a lot he likes to drink and makes friends easily from this we could assume he is trusting in nature. Then one of his new drinking friends gets him drunk and robs him. You as PO decide this is the final straw as that was your only 250 coins so your character becomes bitter and hates X thief until one day he kills X.
Or you decide it doesn’t matter you are not going to care about this and your character carries on as before. The decision made on the fly is almost invalid as you based it on your whim, your feelings about the evenings RP or players you were with. As you had no context from which to make your decision you had to make it on either flimsy or border line OOC motivation.
A character with a background and history to compare the “theft” or days events against will be able to react not on simply me as the player’s whimsical fancy for the moment. Instead he will react in reaction to the theme and history he was created and imbued with; in essence he will react true to character and be able to stick to that reaction as it is natural to the character I wish to play.
Often when playing a character with no history I have found my reactions lead my character in a direction or to behavior traits I could not hope to successfully maintain with this character, simply as they are not in keeping with my image of him. By assigning them an image we are giving them all the traits that a history would bring, simply failing to actually create that history so we can bring it into the game. Instead leaving cause and affect nature and nurture to whim and fancy or mood and guess work.
Brian

"mijs opening to follow"

My motto for this debate is: "Backgrounds are necessary for creating a deep, interesting, but most of all, believable character".

First off, a background adds a lot to the character's personality. A character is not just by nature arrogant, or aggresive or the likes. You get like that, through the way you were raised, the way you solved conflicts or problems in the past, and the way your friends were. And, to add to this, there are different kinds of arrogant, and different kinds of aggresiveness, which are all defined with this background. Without a background, you would be somewhat clueless how to RP this certain aggressiveness in some RP situations.

Secondly, the background gives your character a meaning, a goal in life. Was he raised by a farmer? That could mean he is going to follow his father in farming, and stays only interested in that, because his father did the exact same and turned out fine. Or, he is overly deviant, wanting to surpass, or do the exact opposite of his father, and is, through this, also rather reluctant to follow the will of others.
That background defines who he is, and without this background, you would be yet again clueless.

Third off, the depth of a character, is also defined by it's background. Wether you tell stories about the past, suddenly remember something your father once said to you, or maybe have dreams about how you had some trauma in the past, it will make you sound more believable. Though you can make stories up, this will be harder, and it will sound way more unbelievable, than if you thought about your past, background, history, beforehand.

Therefor I believe that everyone should first think about his background before starting a new character. It would, in my opinion, help most of the new newbies have a better start, because it will draw them into the game, and into the RP more.

And, it might even help some of the older players, to make their new character interesting, believable, but most of all enjoyable to play with, wether good or bad, right from the start.

Erik

I suppose we have spoken. Now our opponent's turn.

Although we have gotten slightly out of order, we will be back into order once Hadrian posts. Here is my opening:

This resolve is quite absurd. It is a fact that a character can be created with little or no background at all, and this character can be meaningful. This is not only seen in some Illarion characters, but also in renowned works of fiction. For example, the Byronic hero, an archetype for many novelists, has an important flaw in his character. This flaw is that the hero is hiding an unsavory past. While every person will always have a past, the fact that the Byronic hero hides his, points to the extraneousness of a background story. A perfect model of this hero can be seen in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. The novel takes place on the moors between two manors. As the book starts, our Byronic hero is picked up on the streets of England by Mr. Linton. This young boy, Heathcliff, becomes our Byronic hero. While Heathcliff, by nature, has a background, it is never discussed or given any insight. Instead, the hero’s past only spawns from a conjecture created by the reader. We can only speculate if Brontë had Heathcliff history in mind, but this novel shows that there is no need for a background to create a deep and meaningful character.

As notable fiction shows there is aspect in story writing without a background, a background can also harm a story and overall the character. A common argument for the demand of a background is that it provides insight to the character. Such as, the heroic warrior was once attacked by orcs when he was a child, therefore he tends to express judgmental or violent behavior towards them. This seems to be a fit example of story writing or background creating meaningful traits, but all this proves that events can be twisted to fit a character. When we look at the example closer, we may question ourselves.

“Why does the hero decide to become violent towards the orcs?”

Couldn’t this event make him more fearful as well. The fact becomes obvious. The player has a trait in mind and only uses background as an excuse to back it up. The background is not making the trait, but instead supporting it. The warrior could be naturally violent towards orcs without the harrowing attack. These events only are created to be twisted in a matter to suit the character, not created to be as an absolute or standard for all players. If used incorrectly, a background can have devastating and restrictive effects.

We do not always know others history or backgrounds. This brings mystery into the game and while background can strengthen a characters personality, it can also ruin it. A non-existent background is a roleplaying tool, just like the #me function. It can be used to create atmosphere for all the players interacting with the character. I do not think every player should not be aware of each of his characters background, but in certain cases it can make the character stronger. Roleplaying needs diversity. I do not want to see every character giving two paragraph for each “#me” every 10 minutes, or everyone lacking a background. Instead, I want to see diversity. One who knows how to use minimalism in roleplaying is just as skilled as one who can be very gracious with their descriptions. When molding a new character, one should not always stick to a standard, but try and progress their own style to benefit the players and themselves. Stating that a background is a necessity not only restricts further improvement but limits new ideas.

A background is not recommended for the following reasons.

A player new to the game, who has not in mind what the exact properites of the game are, might have a problem with this background; the background may be too incredible; or else require a profession which does not exist In Game. An example is saying in your background that your father was one of the best map writer that existed. This can't be added in the game, for it makes no real sense.

Also, all the backgrounds have to end with the same sentence, why the person decided to come to Gobaith. If the life was as perfect as it was over there, what is the person doing there, with no parents or anybody else known in that island. It is not possible that many characters are all runaways, or orphans; this breaks open the Roleplay. Because if you are a runaway, you are FORCED to hate grown ups, and authorities. And orphans normally show attachment to other people, due to lack of attachment to their parents; this distrubs the Roleplay greatly; simply because it is not done, or it is done too many times by too many people.

A pre-prepared background is also foolish, if you say that your father and your father's father were all smiths, then it is obvous that you will continue their job. Even if you end up finding out that you can't afford the tools, and will have to change job. It is too restrictive; if your parents were killed by orcs, than you MUST hate all Orcs; and this will either lead to the "Mass Murderer", or the "Bad Roleplayer" who end up making friends with ones.

The background is also a poor excuse for when things get rough with the GMs; if you have Mass-Murdered for no real RP reason, you could always blame your background; the fact that you were bullied when you were young.

Having said this, a background brings more trouble than it does good