Death's and Accounts

[Erroneous 0]

One of the major elements in SAO was a character's death was the end, there were no second chances and you'd loose that character forever much like Hardmode in Diablo. However this element was extended to not only the "character" but also the "player" behind that character, you lost it all big time.

How should this be established here in this role-play?

[*:3f4njh28]My favorite idea is that your "account" is both your "character" in-game and "player" in the real world. If your character dies you basically loose your account here on the forum. It will be locked (not deleted) and unable to post indefinitely unless suppose someone (a fellow player) wins the rare character resurrect and uses it within 10 seconds of your characters death. As it stands right now, I have enabled the use of multiple accounts per email on this forum. Meaning that I (Erroneous) can make multiple accounts on this forum with the same email used over and over again. Playing on as a new "character" in-game as a whole new "player" in the real world. Now you would have the option to build as many characters as you want whenever you like, not just be forced to do so when you died. So you could establish backstory and character development as much as you like. And when the unfortunate time came when you died you could use your next account and continue business as usual.

[*:3f4njh28]Other's have suggested having one account and role-playing in your posts as different "characters" and "players", all under 1 account and 1 display name. This to me sounds like it would become confusing, as you wouldn't know who the person was playing as unless they stated. Furthermore their display name may only tie in with one character and you'd forget their other characters. There wouldn't' feel much a sensation of death as the person just continues one with a new name in posts only. Whereas you could look back and see the dead players no longer posting and as if they struggled through an adventure and see where it ultimately came to a close if you read back. Not only this, but when we have "avatars" so show off a persons appearance, the same avatar would be shown for all characters and it be confusing to describe your other character's appearance and ignoring what's shown on the right.

So I put this decision to all of you in a vote, you can use the poll or make your statements in a reply.

[Nevina 0]

Just to add a bit to the discussion, I'm one that voted for one account can have multiple characters. I prefer using one account for OOC purposes. If someone changes their name upon death, that means OOC their account name is different and it'd be harder to keep track of conversations. If I'm scheduling future plots with someone, have a death, then mid-plot-thread suddenly a new name is going to be jumping into the conversation. I'd rather use my one name for all OOC purposes and it's just easier for me to have all my characters under one belt rather than switching between accounts every time I want to make a post.

When roleplaying, most people mention their character name at least once, if not more, in an rp post. If you change character name but not account name, you're still plastering the character name over every rp post, so readers will already know who you're playing as.

I like the idea of allowing users to create a second account if they want to have a more mysterious approach like Edan's version, where a dead player can have a new account to have a completely new identiy. But I'd also like to allow users to have a character name that isn't the same as their account name. If my character dies, I still want people OOC to know me as Nevina. Newcomers who've never seen me as Nevina wouldn't know to call me this.

tl;dr - I think players should have the option for both methods to fit their individual needs.

[Erroneous 0]

If my character dies, I still want people OOC to know me as Nevina. Newcomers who've never seen me as Nevina wouldn't know to call me this.

A compromise, we could have it they can not post (disabled) in the SAO IC and OOC forums/topics for that account. But can freely post in the General OOC forum with the dead account?

[Nevina 0]

Wouldn't I still have to switch between accounts though to post between OOC and RP?

Edit: And I thought my post idea of allowing both options was a compromise too XD

[Guest]

I think players should have the option for both methods to fit their individual needs.

Agreed.

[Erroneous 0]

I suppose in the profiles or at registration a user can choose to opt in/out of having their account restricted if they die. The GM's are gonna have fun time on their hands.

[Mythee 0]

(*walks in wearing a hawaiian t-shirt and sunglasses, carrying luggage* Heyyyy! I'm back! Long time no see! xD)

Methinks the multiple accounts and account restriction would complicate things. Some peeps may be uncomfortable posting/being addressed by a username other than what they're used to, and switching between accounts constantly sounds a little impractical.

[Namine 0]

The idea is though that once you're dead that's it. At least for the SAO phase. Once we start with the AFO phase users can re-create and revert to their former name if they want and maybe perhaps keep their original name in their signature so things don't get too confusing? Something to consider. I can't imagine it being that bad though. I see it like the becoming Dot Hack on dothack.org only with this you're also making a new character, not just a new name.

Also good to see ya Mythee.

[Aeif 0]

This is a bit off-topic, but honestly, I feel like anyone would be hard-pressed to do anything in a forum under ten seconds.

[Crim 0]

Well, here is different concepts we can use for both ideas since they both sound good.

1 account/Muti Character: We can have it so you have no more then two-three active characters at one time and we could do this by using Character Tags(coining term :P) With Character Tags, it would be similar to that of any MMO Signature that allows you to post your character name/Skills/Picture.. something like this and bare in mind, i just made this off the top of my head.

So at the top of each post with the Muti Character, a player can post which character they are playing as and some basic stuff about them. Also probably a Link to a Character sheet wouldn't hurt much either. Also a simple link would do to the character sheet but as a visual reference, it couldn't hurt. Also with that being said, we could do up a Character sheet that members can post for review by a staff member (to make sure states are all good and what not) and have a thread dedicated to character sheets/achivements/Back Story

With the Muti Account approach: We can use a similar idea above but instead, you can post a Signature of your Main account in your account Signature area so that way people know who's main you are.

[Erroneous 0]

This is a bit off-topic, but honestly, I feel like anyone would be hard-pressed to do anything in a forum under ten seconds.

Well obviously real-time versus role-play time would not be the same. :P There'd be some sort of method to indicate when in the RP it has been 10 seconds to revive someone.

With the Muti Account approach: We can use a similar idea above but instead, you can post a Signature of your Main account in your account Signature area so that way people know who's main you are.

Not sure if we'll be keeping signatures. As it stands I've already eliminated all the social messengers from profiles such as YIM, AOL, ICQ, MSN, Jabber and homepages since all these are unrelated to the RP.

[Mythee 0]

@Crim: I love the idea of having a signature-tag-thing for each character you play! Upon their death maybe it could be darkened out with Status:Deceased written onto it or something, albeit smaller ones than what you posted would probably make siggies less obnoxious when people have two or more characters, haha.

And likewise, Namine. I missed you! Crim's idea of having sort of formally character-representing tags gives us the best of both worlds. It'd be like having sub-accounts (IC) all under a single forum posting account (OOC).

edit: An alternative to putting them in signatures could just be official character sheet pages? I've been on a forum that has those. You can make a sheet for every character you have, accessible from your forum profile page.

[Crim 0]

Well, people can use the Img code and post it at the top of the page before they post. Using sites like Facebook or Photobucket to store the image online and this will also give them easy access to changing there sigs as they level/Die.

So here is a true question, if we have 1 account/ mutiple characters, can one person use two accounts to RP by them selves in a way?

[Namine 0]

The character sheet idea would seem alright to me. I've been on forums where that was an option and haven't had too many problems with it.

[Crim 0]

So here is a true question, if we have 1 account/ mutiple characters, can one person use two accounts to RP by them selves in a way?

Any idea's on this quote?

Also, ill come up with a more detailed Character Sheet tomorrow if no one has thought of one because ill be asleep soon ;)

[Kay 0]

Uh about the poll I'm not sure if anyone else posted this but I think one account will do but when your character "dies" a name change and new character will have to be born.

[Crim 0]

We could but some people might want multiple characters at launch so the one account/muti character would work the best. However, if you plan to stick with one character one account at a time, i dont see why not.

[Crim 0]

Double Posting but because this idea stopped.. Our Poll is pretty solid with an 2-8 with 8 being One account muti Characters. And also with the subject of Death being talked about on another topic

Topic Locked

Solution: See Poll

[Erroneous 0]

I still am entirely against the whole multiple characters per account concept.

All of our problems to me stem on the fact things would be easier if 1 account equals 1 player, then all the profile fields could be catered to build that player, the post count and ranks system could equal the level for that player, signatures would only have to reflect 1 character and not fifty players creating a wall of text which is why I'm against signatures to begin with, marriages could quickly link to person to person, skills could be displayed and managed by GM's in profiles, inventory can be listed in profiles and not shown to be shared among a whole group of characters per account, and groups/guilds can be assigned to each account/character. And finally avatars can reflect each individual player without having the need to copy/paste, save and resave constantly to build consistency which could handle itself out.

Therefore I'm still 100% against 1 account multiple characters, thinking it's stupid and builds confusion to new time RP'ers and is asking for a ton of moderation on both the writers and the viewers; over a system I'm completely for giving users multiple accounts to make things nice and neat and organized without the fuss.

[Nevina 0]

Can't seem to unlock topic on my phone. But anyways,

I don't really like post count as level indicator cause then it's about spam so if we don't go by post count then multiple characters don't matter.

Marriages I don't see why they can't just post that in their profile?

One profile per character already separates them out for gms to see. Inventory posted in said profile would obviously belong to that character.

The only downsides I agree with is signatures (if they even get approved) and avatars.

edit: I should also add that I still don't mind both ways being an option and letting the user choose