AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic - Charcter discriptions vs. character biography

This is something that has bothered me over my time playing on Amia and I want to open a discussion about it to see if my opinnion matches others or if I'm just being an easily annoyed jerk. Well I am an easily annoyed jerk but I don't think this has to do with that.

I find a lot of players put far to much information in their character biographies that show up on inspecting the character. What I see is something that I feel should be posted in the PC stories and character discription part of the forums more so than on their ingame inspected biography.

Don't get me wrong I enjoy reading most of the pc stories but it is a lot easier to seperate what I know as a player vs. what my character knows when I read it on the forum. When I see an entire story upon inspecting a character I feel as if my character knows all this stuff about somebody I happenned to walk past on the way to the market hall.

My opinnion is that the in game character bio should be fairly short and blunt. It should be a brief discription of the character. When I pass you in Cordor I should be able to see your eye and hair color, How tall you are and your approximate weight and body style. I may notice scars or tattoos if they aren't covered. You might have some interesting markings on your armor or cloak and you may have some sort of faction emblem that lets people know what orginizations you belong to. But I shouldn't know the story behind any of those scars or tattoos just by walking by and glancing at you.

Part of the fun of RPing is to get the story from the character about the interesting armor or talking to them about the importance behind their unusual tattoos. It just takes a lot away from me when I know the story behind the character before I get a chance to role play with them. Not having all that information metegammed to me and not by me by inspecting the character.

That's just my opinnion and I wanted to air it.

Thank you for holding the majority's opinion on an issue that's been beaten to death.

I believe this was already discussed here, too.

Knock it off, Bini. There's no need to post like that.

I'm inclined to agree on Beciv's point. Character bio's should be far more popular than they are, and they should be simple. Only stuff that one is likely to 'see' as they pass by should be written.

Also, I hate seeing stuff like "You get the feeling that...." or "What you see definitely makes you uneasy...." or something like that. It shouldn't be in a character's bio that dictates how another pc is going to react to what they see. Just my opinion....

Sorry Beciv, I was being an easily annoyed jerk.

It happens Bini.

Thank you Remal for linking a previous post.

Sometimes a topic isn't beaten to death, it's merely a reminder to all the players that missed the first posting like I did.

Or maybe a player didn't post on the first posting and would now like to post on the second, again that's me.

To all the budding novelists out there, it'd be really great if you would take that bio off the character description so I can enjoy your story on the forums. It's really hard to enjoy a nice bio of your character in game.

And height, body type, hair color and eye color are really helpful when you're describing a character. Even for PC's that are notorious for looking the same...like say...drow.

IIRC, it's always been this way. I can understand why people would get inspired and excited about their character and write this fantastic story in their bio, but yeah, I agree it should be moved to the forums.
The problem is accessing that bio, you can't really just tear it out and paste it onto the forums...
You'd have to re-write the entire thing by referencing screenshots or somesuch, and that's rather tedious. I've had to
do it a couple of times.

Last edited by Liz on Fri, Mar 01 2013, 21:45 PM, edited 1 time in total.

Your character bio is automatically saved as a text file in your local vault. No annoying screenshots are needed.

EDIT.... never mind, I'm a idiot.

All the files in my Localvault are .bic files. What am I missing/doing wrong?

Gah, never mind. I was thinking of character journal files. See, this is what happens on days when I've run out of coffee.

If you get leto, you can load them up in that to get the descriptions you set (if you save the file, or wrote in on creation) I believe.

Bigger cups!!! LIke the one I have. 1 liter coffee cups mean less refils and more time to make another pot

If I remember you can just open the characters .bic file (make sure you've saved the character to the local vault if you have altered your bio since creation) with a text editor, a simple rich text document kind of thing will do. It contains just about everything about your character. Inventory items, item descriptions, previous and current bio's, attribute stats, etc..

But it can be annoying to find it, especially if your file is large, but then you can just use the search function in the text editor and search specific words you know are in the Bio. Other than that just use LETO like suggested if you have the same Bio you typed up and used on creation.

But in future I'd recommend writing your Bio's in word/any text doc, copy and paste to the Bio field on creation (Be sure to delete those annoying squares!) and saving the file so you have an easily accessible copy of your Bio.

Note that word pad is much easier/better to use with the .bic file(s) than note pad, too.

Lizzie wrote:

See, this is what happens on days when I've run out of coffee.

Fresh pot?

I think if you have to scroll down, your bio is probably too long. A paragraph is good.

I hate writing my characters descriptions. While I may have passed year 12 English (after reading a ton of books, no less!) I still can not conjure up the creativity to write a description of a character from my own imagination. it is mostly due to writers block though, or if I see one mistake in what I managed to already write, I just scrap the whole thing. The ones I do manage to (successfully) write, after a period of time, I usually find them lacking or outdated. I have tried 'copying' the descriptions of characters from books, adjusting a few bits to fit my character exclusively, but then I just erase it for no apparent reason because I find it imperfect or such.

It really does get annoying sometimes, especially when you have a character you actually like, and you want to have that same character have more than just some pixelated model to represent them in a graphically limited world.

I feel bad every time I give up and settle for listing the basic details; Height, weight, eyes, etc.

There are any number of pretty good writers around here who I'm sure would be thrilled to help you out if you're not confident in your own writing. "Help me describe a character who looks like so-and-so movie actor, whose presence feels like this that or the other," is probably enough to get you a few paragraphs of engaging prose from many members of the friendly and helpful Amia community.

Heck, I'd help you out if you want. I like a writing challenge. And you can always decide not to use it.

And yeah, if I see a bio that's backstory and not "what you see", then I skip it. I'd rather find out IC than through a textwall.

Personally, I always find it much easier to write the description as part of a little scenario. Typically them seeing my character in Cordor.

"You see a tall, flat-nosed, and rather hideous man returning your gaze through a curtain of brown hair. Standing in full plate armor-" Etc etc.

Far easier than just an outright description. End with them wandering off, or shying away from the gaze, or whatever suits. Instant description.

"I see you."

Think about that impact instead. Doesn't give anyone unnecessary or extraneous information, and makes them feel (maybe mildly) uncomfortable.

It's become pretty routine for me. Physical description, possibly what they're wearing and how they carry themselves, something vague about voice or mannerism.

My latest PC became reality only because his description popped into my head: "Surly, burly and bald." I should have left it at that, but the routine is too strong. I wrote a paragraph of details. Bad me.

Just be creative. I tend to write my character descriptions in a manner that is meant to support the style of the character. That is, for my brooding, philosophical half-orc monk I wrote, 'The brooding large creature anticipates a tragic close.' His philosophy in short is that there is no equilibrium between order and chaos the way things are and that all life should end so that stability could prevail. He is also a very taciturn character, so the conciseness and the enigma of the description try to allude to his temperament. The word 'creature' refers not only to his self-hatred as a perceivably inferior being, but also to his externality in life.

I may seem a bit egoistic using my own character description as an example, but that box is reserved for unchained creativity, which, in my opinion, is essentially what the game is about. Break your silly routines and conventions and come up with something personal. But yes, to a certain degree I think that too lengthy descriptions are boring and untoward as they call for a better attention span than that of a gold fish, which few of us possess.

Uncle-Opustus wrote:

Break your silly routines and conventions and come up with something personal.

Richard_Edmund wrote:

I hate writing my characters descriptions. While I may have passed year 12 English (after reading a ton of books, no less!) I still can not conjure up the creativity to write a description of a character from my own imagination. it is mostly due to writers block though, or if I see one mistake in what I managed to already write, I just scrap the whole thing. The ones I do manage to (successfully) write, after a period of time, I usually find them lacking or outdated. I have tried 'copying' the descriptions of characters from books, adjusting a few bits to fit my character exclusively, but then I just erase it for no apparent reason because I find it imperfect or such.

It really does get annoying sometimes, especially when you have a character you actually like, and you want to have that same character have more than just some pixelated model to represent them in a graphically limited world.

I feel bad every time I give up and settle for listing the basic details; Height, weight, eyes, etc.

I'll tell you the two most important things I've learned when it comes to writing anything ever.

1. Show don't tell. If we cannot strike an emotion from an image, the image is likely a dead one. We've stripped it of its emotional energy and therefore it is useless to us, cliches do this. I can't tell you how many characters 'walk with an air of mystery or confidence'. Also, we don't want the backstory if it isn't coming from the horse's mouth, and you the narrator are not your horse. But if you show us something really detailed, like a smile, show us a smile that is like the hooking leg of a grasshopper, now you've conjured something, I am watching you. Yes?

2. Never look away. Which goes to the next point. Don't show us too much at once. We can't see your eye where your nose should be, unless you're a surrealist, an indefinite. Take the time to look at the whatever it is carefully, and describe it as it could be, or is. If we are looking at an elephant for example, let it be an elephant, don't change it into a symbol of oppression. Let it stay an elephant who smiles like an elderly person smiles, no big ideas, no schemes! Your character should be just a man or a woman, nothing more or less. I hope that makes sense.

I'm not sure which I hate more. The Life Story descriptions, the empty descritions, or the ones that WYSIWYG when character modelsare all the same size, have the same general facial features (with each head of course) frequently don't have eye color, and certainly don't have weight or build beyond fat and average.

But yeah, doubt this is ever gonna get better, some people just can't be bothered. *shrug*

I like to do both. I tried a new style with Castiel's description which was intended to try to satisfy both ends of the spectrum. It has two versions of the description. One is titled "The Short" and comes first. It's a quick basic description with eye color, hair color, general appearance and immediately noticable important traits.

It's followed by another description "The Long" which is a long paragraphed super detailed breakdown of her appearance and fun details. If you don't want to be bothered to read it, you'll do just fine by reading the short. If you're the type of person who loves the long detailed bios, it's there for you too. =)

and actual character histories in a bio make me sad. At the very least, hit enter a bunch of time and make a spoiler tag.

Get LETO here
Keep in mind that if your description has changed since you created your character, you will need to make a backup by saving your character (In-game menu, top right button)

You can't use that to alter your character's descriptions here as they exist server-side. Yes, you can save a local copy and alter that, but only PaladinOfSune and whoever else is a server admin can use the LETO tool to change our descriptions, portraits, and whatnot so we'll see the changes in-game.

Bini wrote:

You can't use that to alter your character's descriptions here as they exist server-side. Yes, you can save a local copy and alter that, but only PaladinOfSune and whoever else is a server admin can use the LETO tool to change our descriptions, portraits, and whatnot so we'll see the changes in-game.

Due to new system limitations, descriptions can ONLY be changed in-game. Server admin's cannot do this for you. Portraits and everything else is safe.

I can alter your descriptions, actually, but heck if I'm going to! Do it yourselves.

What Zap is referring to, btw, are the previous posts above where people didn't know how to access their descriptions. You can do so via saving a local copy of your character, and opening it via Leto.

PaladinOfSune wrote:

I can alter your descriptions, actually, but heck if I'm going to! Do it yourselves.

What Zap is referring to, btw, are the previous posts above where people didn't know how to access their descriptions. You can do so via saving a local copy of your character, and opening it via Leto.

I stand corrected! <3

I bet she is actually only sitting...

I hate changing bio in game though maybe we canconvince bribe Sune to put a DC cost on changing it via Leto? Since his side would be copy and paste only but still time consuming.

Im unsure if anyone would consider paying a DC or two for this though...

Suney?

Nope. The tools are there, do it yourself.

Really easy to change your bio if you know how to fool the chat bar character limit. Type your bio in a text document, including the chat commands. It would look something like:

/s f_bio N This statuesque M.Sue is 6'1'' and somehow 130 pounds. She is super pretty and you feel compelled to boink her silly.

Then copy it all into you clipboard (ctrl-c). Tab back to NWN, click on the chat bar. Enter a single space, then backspace. Then (ctrl-v) your bio, and hit enter. This'll ignore the chat bar character limit and change your whole bio in one go.

NinjaClarinet wrote:

/s f_bio N This statuesque M.Sue is 6'1'' and somehow 130 pounds. She is super pretty and you feel compelled to boink her silly.

Omg, you stole my bio. Biothief!!

O wait, that can't be me... it doesn't have the bit where my unusually-colored eyes convey untold depths of pain and experience.

But how much does it cost to change someone else's bio, hmmmmm?

You can also put examine into the a quickslot and look at your bio that way, it will also be what everyone else will see

Halecta wrote:

You can also put examine into the a quickslot and look at your bio that way, it will also be what everyone else will see

I had wondered if there was a way to do this, cool, thanks for the info

Yossarin wrote:

Uncle-Opustus wrote:

Break your silly routines and conventions and come up with something personal.

Like my cleverly done Venn Diagram of my favorite foods for Gerald.

Anyone...?

Now I might be against the grain here but typically I make my description not unlike the first time you read about the main character or protagonist in a story. An "entering the room" kind of feel or the like. As the old saying goes first impressions are important and I want my character to leave a solid one.

Liz wrote:

NinjaClarinet wrote:

/s f_bio N This statuesque M.Sue is 6'1'' and somehow 130 pounds. She is super pretty and you feel compelled to boink her silly.

Omg, you stole my bio. Biothief!!

O wait, that can't be me... it doesn't have the bit where my unusually-colored eyes convey untold depths of pain and experience.

pain and experience from the boinking?

Charcter discriptions vs. character biography

Who is online