Character Limit

[L△LIA]

Oh man. Okay, so this is more of a point for discussion than a straight-up suggestion, maybe? I am well aware that I'm one of, if not THE most guilty person on the site for this... but I feel like someone like me has to be the one to say this, because I don't know that someone with only 3 characters or something would really be taken seriously.

Here's what: Having 40+ (or 30+ or 20+ or I don't even remember what a REASONABLE number is anymore) characters is beyond excessive. I know this. And yet... look at me goooooo! It's like a freaking addiction and I'm not going to just magically stop myself, mang. That's why, when I'm being honest with myself, I feel like there should probably be a legit max on the number of characters any one RPer is allowed to have. No one (yes, I am looking at my character directory as I say this) and I mean NO ONE needs an army like this.

Seriously now. The thought of a limit makes me a little miserable (and I'm not suggesting it be something hellishly unfathomable like five), I get withdrawal just thinking about it, rofl... but at the same time, my fellow charwhores: wouldn't it be nice? A strange sort of relief? Having so many characters, isn't there a measure of guilt that comes with not using all of them properly? Also, let's be honest, we charwhores are a major reason people complain about an FC "shortage". Honestly, we're like hoarders at this point. Someone could make a reality show about us. It's literally impossible for any of us to develop this many characters. We want them, but we honestly don't need them.

What we need is a friggin' 12 step program and for the staff to save us from ourselves. XD

[meg.]

I'm not exactly innocent of being a charwhore myself. Hell, my directory is getting close to it's third page, and yet I still live on the plots board. I think the problem isn't having huge amounts of characters, but I know I have a good 7 or 8 that I don't know whatsoever, and have never written with properly. When you look at the activity on the character creation board as opposed to actual threading, the statistics are completely disproportionate. There are that many people out there who feel guilty threading because they have 294832492 characters they need to create. It isn't fair that us charwhores are taking up face claims and spots in the reaping when there are people out there who have a handful of well developed, active characters who would make much better tributes.

I don't think an outright ban on numbers is the way to go, but maybe some sort of activity check? Or, I don't know, incentives for getting rid of unused characters? Or maybe just some sort of rule balancing the numbers of a members characters and threads; it doesn't matter, there are many ways that it could be done.

Also, the numbers of males to females are really, really out.

Basically, yeah, I agree with you Lals. It's getting a little out of control.

[Tattletale]

I agree with both of them, and I think an activity check is a good idea. Not like the usual one, where we just submit our characters' bios and they're good to go, but where you also need to include a recent thread (maybe at most a month old and with movement, if it isn't a standalone?) in order for the character to be considered active. That was the system in another forum I joined (unfortunately, I don't remember the name) and I thought it was a good idea in keeping things under control. ^^

[Danny]

I agree with you, too. I think it isn't fair to the people that are just joining and a lot of the more mainstream face claim choices are already claimed, along with the fact that they're at an unfair advantage when it comes to reaping stats. Like Lalia said, a limit of 5 isn't really reasonable, and I agree with Meg that the female to male ration is very out of balance, and although I never really liked this/it was never a problem to me, there could be like a 1:2 ration for female:male or male:female, just to balance out the stats a bit, even though that's not the problem: the excessive amount of characters that go unused is the problem. I guess you could call me a charwhore, as I'm in the 20's now, and I don't get to use them all, which is why I like Tattle's idea of having a thread of around one month prior to the reaping that involves actual interactions. But, I think in some ways, people deserve to have so many characters because they need to express themselves or they need an escape, and what happens when you have muse but have no way to use it?

I think maybe a rewards system, but not something that we pay to you, and not something like money that is used for another purpose (betting/tesserae/sponsorship). What if it was just that every 50 posts let us make another character or something? I realize that some of us are disobeying that now, and it doesn't have to be something along those lines. It could also go with our ranking system in general (I believe it goes like 50 > 100 > 200 > 500 > 700?) Anyways, maybe a certain rank would give you more access to more characters, because it's kind of a reward for being active.

I mean, I'm sure there's a better solution to this, but I agree with Lalia when she says that there's really no way for us to develop all of our characters, unless we want to only focus on three characters, which I am guilty of doing.

[Meghan]

I honestly don't agree with a character limit because I think that some characters are going to be used less than others. I personally like to spread myself thin and thin focus on a few characters at a time. I like having the option of jumping from character to character, personally. I think before there should be an outright number limit or something, you should ask people to evaluate their personal characters. Different people can handle different numbers in my opinion, and I think if people are concerned about people having famous face claims for characters they hardly use, then they should consider giving up those face claims. One of the things I love about HGRPG is that we can write as many characters as we want, and it isn't based on posts or something. I and one of those glacial posters who posts only a few times a week, and that wouldn't be a fair representative of things, honestly.

don't shoooooot me

[/blockquote]

[Anna Banana]

I dont like the idea of a character limit, I mean it really shouldn't make much of a difference to people how many charries they want. If the problem lies in the FCs like some people mention than why not have there be some sort of penalty on the FCs. People more than once have talked about trading FCs or giving them up. You don't always need to have a famous FC. Heck how many people actually know some of the FCs that I use? I mean I love to make charries, and I've used all of them before in threads. I have almost 11 threads going with more than half my charries. It's not fair to those that actually use the charries to penalize them. I'm not trying to be rude or anything, I just love to use my charries, and I love them. Like Meghan said, how many people always say they are glacial posters, they would end up having no charries in that case. I don't know maybe I'm bitter or something lol, but seriously I disagree completely with a charrie limit. Just don't hate me okay, it's just my opinion.

[/justify]

[L△LIA]

Tbh, I don't agree with the idea of a thread-based activity check. 1) I feel like that would be too much work for staff, 2) we all write at different paces, and 3) muse for different characters comes and goes. If someone only has two characters, but doesn't feel like writing with one of them for a month or two while they focus on the other, I don't think that should be held against them.

I shouldn't have even mentioned the bit about FCs, because that wasn't really my point, just kind of a side note. You're also never going to fix gender ratios, lol.

My point is no one needs 30 or 40+ characters. Yes, it's great to have choices. Yes, I like being allowed to have as many characters as I want... but being restricted to a flat out 20 or 30 characters wouldn't kill ANYONE. That is sooooo not going to stop anyone jumping from character to character as they please. Again, I'm not saying we should be limited to 5.

I'm just gonna put it out there, because I know I'm not the only one this statement is true for: If there's no character limit, I will never stop. Someday I'll hit 100 characters. That is the point I'm trying to make, lol. And, again, I'm so so so not the only one.

[jess]

I don't agree with this idea. Also I'm a little lazy and it would take me, like, FOREVER to do that kind of activity check. plus, it's not my fault Most of my characters don't have any threads because I still need to find someone to thread with.

[cass]

Hi my name is Cass and I am addicted to making characters. I full on agree with this, but then i have my doubts as well -coming from a girl with forty character and still going- I mean I don't want a limit I love all my characters, but having a limit might be really helpful in stopping me from making more.

BUT

Having a limit might make it hard, like really hard. Because if you put a limit on the amount of characters you have and you say join a plot and you already have the maximum limit then what do you do? What if there is a character you want to make, but that means you have to get rid of one that you already have? But the thing is what if those thirty or less characters you have brought it down to are characters that you want to keep and not get rid of. So basically because I can't tell if any of the made sense what happens when you have the limit, but you get to the point where you have that amazing idea to make another character, but to do that you would have to remove one.

And for someone who has so many characters the process of actually removing them would mean that you would probably end up with say twenty characters that you love to bits, which means you wouldn't be able to remove any of them to make a new character.

I do agree that I'm going to keep making character, but what is seriously the harm in having them all there? If you aren't threading with them they will simply be archived and never used. Why not allow the option of just keeping them there. Yeah people have a lot of characters, I have a lot, but I love each of them, some I haven't written with yet, but that is because you can't just start a thread with them. Sometimes you are waiting for the perfect opportunity to use them and other times you don't have the muse to write them. Besides the very idea of getting rid of any makes me feel guilty as hell, I think of my characters as individuals. The only time I have ever been wiling to inactivate a character is when i have honestly felt nothing for them.

Well... there is my two cents worth. Idek what this all is, but it is how I feel about this idea. I think too many characters is crazy, but I also know that I don't think I could get rid of half of them to get myself down below the character limit, if there was one.

But like I also completely agree from where you are coming from Lalia. I believe I will reach the 100 mark one day if I am not stopped. I have horrible mixed emotions about the idea of a character limit. But I seriously think my emotions come from the point that I will have to get rid of some of them. Something that I really don't want to do. Other then that I don't see why there shouldn't be a character limit. It would just be really really really hard to stick to it.

[Nighty the foamy squirrel]

Personally I don't like the idea of a charrie limit, especially 20, I know 20 does seem like a large number but I was hoping for approximately 28 (2 in each district with one Avox and Capitolite) Plus say someone has 22 charries they really like and they have to kill 2 to meet with the charrie limit, I wouldn't want to do that. How about a limit on FC's instead? I mean, not everyone uses them, sure a majority do but I use 2 for example, the rest are just random pictures I found that fit my charries the best (And no one else has found thank pig) and it does seem like the biggest problem I can see with too many charries. It's not like someone with 30 charries is crowding the site or taking up memory needed to run it is it? I mean, plenty of people above 30 and Sarella for example has over 50. The amount of unused charries I say, and maybe a limit on FC's instead of charries should be a focus not the amount of charries someone makes. With the reaping thing you could tell people, to give a more fair chance to everyone else to only put 4 for each district. Instead of having a million in one.

On the note of charrie gender ratio: That's something that shouldn't be of concern in my head. Like someone prefers RPing females (Me) and therefore plays on their strong point and makes more female charries, or even the same with a male way, as long as there is enough females/males for the games and more females/males are coming in it shouldn't really be an issue. Some people prefer one sex over another.

Personally, don't see a problem with a ton of charries aside the ones I have stated and suggested fixes for above, I'd be quite unsettled by a charrie limit honestly too.

[✨ zozo.]

My name is Zoe and I am a dirty, stinkin', notorious charwhore. And although I'd hate to give up any of my bbs, perhaps a district limit is needed? I have 6 D1s and /that/ is getting out of hand, I know, but I have plenty room in other Districts! (I've never actually made a D6 before.) With 20+ characters I'll probably stop eventually (lol no). But I'd hate not to have the ability to create more characters, but I've definitely halted my D1 making for now.

[Onyx]

What I'd be worried about is that if people had to cut down on characters, do they choose to get rid of their own characters who they created and probably have the most muse for, or their plot characters that they made a commitment to someone else with? Because what if removing a plat character meant the plot couldn't work? But why should anyone have to keep characters that they applied for and were obliged to make over their own impulsive characters?

[✨ zozo.]

Feb 16, 2013 18:43:55 GMT -5 Onyx said:

What I'd be worried about is that if people had to cut down on characters, do they choose to get rid of their own characters who they created and probably have the most muse for, or their plot characters that they made a commitment to someone else with? Because what if removing a plat character meant the plot couldn't work? But why should anyone have to keep characters that they applied for and were obliged to make over their own impulsive characters?

^^^^^ this this this x 109374362834. At least half of my characters, if not more, are in a plot or have siblings. I'd feel awful having to get rid of them or take them out of a plot to subsidise my own 'creations', if you'd like.

[cass]

Okay I agree with that to, so much. Okay, I actually don't want one because I love all my babies. :D

[jess]

Maybe you could put a limit on how many characters you make at a time? Like, 2 characters is allowed every two weeks. Perhaps you could make 1 character per week. Just stopping people from creating characters is harsh, and I would hate that, but I would defs accept being allowed to create 1 character per week. For people with, like, 30+ characters it could be 1 every other week. Just to prevent too many characters, maybe?