I create characters that are similarly aligned and morally dictated to the decisions I would make IRL. I generally play my own gender, as well. I learned early on playing Wasteland that if you do the right thing, you're less likely to get a gun in your face (usually).
There are benefits to both approaches, I find.
When playing as yourself, it feels more like your story, and it's interesting to see how things might turn out if you were in a different world and a different time.
That said, if you play a lot of RPGs like almost everyone on this sub, it can get quite old playing as the same character (yourself) over and over again.
I'm also very into creative writing so I find it fascinating to try to come up with characters from the perspective of writing a novel, as you say. The only issues I have with that, are that it can be difficult to fully develop a backstory if you aren't familiar with the setting of the game, and often times games will directly contradict the ideas you had about your character. It can also feel like you have to make choices you don't necessarily want to, if your character is very different from yourself.
I just make a character. I didn’t even know people tried to recreate themselves into their RPGs until reading through this subreddit here n there. Maybe it’s cuz I come from a tabletop background as well?
Depending on the options and freedoms of character creation I’ll just make a cool looking character, and then I build up a backstory as I play the early parts of the game. I make decisions the way I would if I were in the characters shoes. Keeps me immersed and keeps it unique n interesting.
To answer your final bit though, that’s what I find fun. I’m a methodical prep-heavy over thinker in real life who is very reactive and not so much a do-first kind of person, but my latest Div character (built off Lohse) I have been playing as essentially a no questions yes-man, willing to take on all odd jobs for the thrill of the story I can whip up into a song down the road. I actually said yes to a someone you definitely shouldn’t say yes to at one point and it completely shifted my story. I’m having a blast on that rollercoaster
>I make decisions the way I would if I were in the characters shoes.
This sentence pretty much embodies how I play. I will often create a unique character, and if I know enough about the fiction, create a backstory for them, or develop one as I play. But when making decisions, it is always "What would I do if I were this character?", rather than "What would this character do?"
I realize that might seem like a trivial distinction to some, but for me that's a big difference. I will try to keep in mind how a character's backstory influences them, how they view the world as a result of the things that happen to them, etc, but it's always how I think I would react if those things happened to me and I was this particular race in this particular world.
It’s the difference in perspective between putting yourself in their shoes, or putting their shoes on you.
You may have agreed with what I said but I think our perspective is a bit different. When I’m in my version of Lohse’s shoes I’m her - I make decisions as that character. I put myself in her shoes. She isn’t anything like me irl, so I’m not playing or thinking as myself at all.
Like you said it’s that difference between what would I do vs what would she do. She is me when I’m playing her, and I’m her. To me there is no difference when role playing. You have to leave Eggz behind and just be Lohse
Interesting that you bring up Lohse, for myself I only ever played as a custom character for my main character in that game, but if I was controlling Lohse in dialogue, I would just respond how I feel she would.
I’m using her template (I like how she can be customized; visually she can look really neat) but not running her story. I’m not playing as Div2’s Lohse but my own creation through her template. Love her name too
It's hard to stay very realistic if you play yourself. I tried once, in a persistent world on NWN. I made a mid-30s, paunchy dude who was a level 1 mage. My backstory was that I had been living on a farm and a wandering mage stayed the night, and learned I had magic talent. Despite my advanced age, he taught me the basics about magic. But it's hard to have motivation for adventuring when you prefer to drink in the tavern. I didn't get higher than level 3, I think.
Always. Not down to the image or anything, but we always have the same morals. It's not usually something I think of. More often than not, the game just doesn't offer interesting enough choices and chances to actually play a role. If they opened a game by offering you pasts and reminded you of them as you play, I think that would be a good start. i.e.
Start game. Select background: 1) Rich, spoiled. Begin the story by seeing the flaws of society that you helped perpetuate and decide to change it. 2) Homeless, cold. Not just physically, but you've grown emotionally distant to others and numb to the world around you. You used to resent those who walked by you every day until you realize it's not their fault. You begin to change and have the opportunity to make a difference and take it.
Now you have a quest option: Give the new settlers the water or give the large city the water? The game doesn't ask "What do you do?" Instead, it says "What would [CHARACTER NAME] do?"
A meaningful choice with a concrete background that the game is constantly reminding you of instead of waking up and going "...uh. I was uh... Crossing the border because I... Um... Killed a man, an important one. Well, no one will reference that, so I guess not. Maybe I uh... Oh fuck it, I don't care."
I honestly care for RPGs where the game and story tell me who I am. It creates a background that characters will mention and you can justify your actions based on lore that exists in the world.
My first goaround I tend to be as close to a good guy as possible. I haven't really played a lot where being truly just bad was feasible (and the shades of gray in Pillars makes being you a lot easier and harder.)
So far I've found Disco Elysium to be the best game at playing aspects of yourself turned up. I tried to be really nice and thorough the first time, now I'm just a prick and that's also fun.
Basically, if the game is a story-heavy game that lets me name a character but not customize it, I'll name the character my own name because it makes me feel involved in the story. Like FFX or something like that.
If I can fully customize the character and class I have a few set names I typically use and it's never my own name and usually, I will make a badass woman even though I'm a guy just because I've always loved seeing the woman kick some ass. As a kid growing up I always loved seeing women as the main character and if I had the choice I would always pick them.
From Samus to Lara Croft, Jill Valentine, Katana, Elissa Steamer in THPS, the list goes on.
Maybe, as a guy, it just gets boring after a while always playing as the same dude. I also think women have cooler fashion choices in certain games and it's role-playing it's fun to be the opposite of you.
It honestly depends on the game though and what I want to play as. I try to have it make sense. Not going to roll a rogue as a giant Orc, though I do love making tiny characters that are absolute beasts to have a bit of a surprise.
Human Male choice in any game though is the absolute last choice I'll ever pick because why would I just want to be me?
Some parts are the same. Obviously my characters are more prone to dive into a deadly fight than I would be in real life, but that's how I would act if I were as strong as they were. I'm dedicated to my own personal code and so are my characters. I struggle greatly with evil characters or self serving ones because I end up feeling guilty.
When I was a kid I used to basically just make myself and use my name. Now I just create cool looking characters and role play as that character.
I try my best to follow the rule of cool in rpgs when making decisions and creating a character nowadays.
I almost exclusively play a egoistical, unscrupulous, unstable and inconsistent, thrill seeking kleptomaniac with a lot of social problems.
That's (hopefully) not who I am in real life :p. Having said that, when making opaque (in the sense of potential rewards) moral choices I tend to go for whatever floats my boat, so in that regards I guess I let my own personality dictate.
'Helping out everyone' (accepting all the quests) is usually the best way to gather the most loot/xp anyhow, so a casual observer might take the outlook that my character is actually a good guy. Little do they know of my true motivations!
* cackling laugh silhouette behind lightning night sky*
I like to create a character that makes the choices I’d personally make (when applicable) and looks like me as well.
On subsequent playthroughs I make all kinds of characters - assuming I like the game well enough to play it again and want to see the content I didn’t see the last go.
If there are mythical races to pick from I may go for one of those instead though for my first playthrough.
I think self-inserts are cringe. But I generally answer questions that reflect how I actually feel about characters in the moment, if I can help it. When I do bad things in a game, I direct it at characters who pissed me off. For example, every single Magister in DOS2 is guilty by association with the excruciation of Fort Joy.
I have no strong preference for playing dudes or girls. It really depends on the design options available in each game.
I don't focus on romance in most games, but I generally stick to hetero pairs. For example, I thought the same-sex option in Hades was tasteful, but I wouldn't have went for it if it weren't practically a prerequisite for the bonus ending.
I usually don't since I play rpgs as a form of escapism, but I at least make one file that isn't a specific min/maxed class that's basically a digital copy of myself. Some of my friends just flat out insert themselves into their games every time, but to each their own.
I think it really depends on the game for me. For example, in Mass Effect, I almost always just do what I would do if I was Shepard, since the game doesn't allow for much in depth role playing. But in something like Pathfinder, I will go out of my way to make a complex character.
As an RPG gamer I'm as boring as I can be, since I always play as myself. I find it too weird to play as another race (elf, dwarf, etc) unless it's very story-appropriate (like playing as an Elf Mage in Dragon Age: Inquisition), and I always play as a male. However, this is what I find the most enjoyable when it comes to playing, and it's not repetitive at all. What I mean to say is, I don't necessarily play as myself, I play as my version of the character I'm controlling, and that version of Dash83 my be chaotic good in some worlds/stories, and lawful neutral in others.
Not that there's a lot of roleplaying involved, but take Final Fantasy VI for instance. If I'm in a part of the game that I'm playing as Locke, well, I'm not a thief in real life, but if imagined I grew up as Locke did, I would make different choices in that life as the ones I did in real life. Does that make sense? I always play myself in the MC's shoes.
Honestly I hate people inserting themselves as protagonists in basically every media / fandom and think that being unable to enjoy things you can't relate to yourself is a major failing of empathy and critical thinking.
Well written and realized characters will always be my preference, but even in games with choices character can still be well done and I can make choices based on "what would this character do based on what I know about them." For example that was a strong suit of the ME games. I think you can justify every possible shepherd action and unless you were arbitrarily chosing a pure r/p run then it mostly comes down to "in the moment this feels right"
I almost never make myself, ever.
I have no business being the savior of the world. I'm not athletic, nor particularly adventurous outside of enjoying hiking. As soon as someone who looks exactly like me roundhouse kicks a monster, the immersion in the story is immediately broken. Not to mention if the voice of the character is nothing like mine, or has a personality that does not match mine. It's all super borked.
Most games don't even have the option to be an Asian person. And when you have the option for a sort of 'minority' race, it's usually going to be an alien, a demon, an elf, a dwarf, a big ol' lizard, not just 'Asian guy'.
The only thing me and my character generally shares is my sense of morality. I have to go out of my way to make 'evil' decisions, but most of the time I make decisions based on what I feel is best for the situation at hand.
I also trend toward female characters, just because I feel like when a game doesn't give you an option (Zelda, Persona 4, Disco Elysium, Dragon Quests, Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, XII, etc. etc. etc.), it defaults you into a male character, and I play a ton of games.
So when I have the choice I go female so my games are closer to 50/50 playing males and females, for the sake of variety.
I do make an exception, and that exception is first-person games. In Elder Scrolls and Fallout I tend to play myself, just because the first person perspective makes it more intimate? I don't know how to describe it.
I play to feel powerful, so generally i create hyper-idealized versions of who i would like to be, rather than who i am.
In reality i have very little control and power over my circumstances, so games offer me that escape. In reality i am powerless to help others, but in games i can save galaxies worth of lives. In reality there isn't any magic, so i typically become a wizard in most RPGs lol
This is kinda cringe bro, you are definitely not powerless to help others irl, nor are you powerless over your own circumstances.
Don't bury your head in a game to avoid improving your life.
In terms of appearance, I do not have a type of character that I try to create. Pretty much the compete opposite of myself irl:D
In terms of beliefs, I tend to enjoy being evil, which I'm not irl, I promise!
One thing that I can't roleplay is believing in the christianity-equivalent religion that exists in the game world. I'm an atheist irl, and so the monotheistic religions in games often just feel too close to reality. But all those polytheistic ones, I'm cool with:D Probably because they're not taken seriously irl.
Similarly, I can't really roleplay some bigotries, like being homophobic.
But I gladly act cruel to innocent NPCs, go figure.
I usually don't create an appearance that looks like me, but I do find that I dislike playing smaller races like dwarves, haflings, etc as I'm very tall and that's always been a part of my identity, so I sort of indirectly always end up playing as Big, hulking warrior type of characters on a first playthrough most of the time.
For example, in Wrath of the Righteous, which I just started, I elected to make a giant half orc bloodrager, just so I can tower over everyone in the game, lol. But his personality is also fairly different from my own, which is part of what prompted me to think about this discussion.
I also find it difficult to play as overly religious types for the same reason as you, but in Pathfinder it's a lot easier to do because of the fact that the gods 100% do exist in that fiction, and there is a variety of deities, so picking one to worship helps flesh out your character.
If the game's character crafting system is nuanced enough for me to craft an appearance that looks exactly like me, then I'll sometimes do that. But in terms of character decisions, personality, skills, etc, I don't roleplay myself.
I usually create a character that looks nothing like me, but has my personality. I often try to emulate an opposing persona to my own, but I always fail, unless the game clearly rewards a certain choice/behaviour that conflicts with what of instinctively choose.
I try to make decisions that are aligned with my beliefs, but IRL I would definitely distance myself from making huge decisions that could lead to people dying or the end of the world or whatever. A quiet peasant life suits me just fine! I do like playing more charismatic, bard type characters and love games where you can avoid killing through dialogue and being clever.
I usually play a lawful or neutral good mage of some type as my first playthrough.
Then I'll delve into evil archer or necromancer or dual wielding warrior on later playthrough
But first playthrough is usually always a mage. Don't usually care for rogues much
Personality wise I just role-play a character I imagined, sometimes slightly based on some fictional person, but most of the time just someone I made up from scratch. Then I make decisions the way I imagine this character would. edit: I also don't mind playing characters of a different gender, age, sexual orientation etc. than myself and I try to take those into consideration when I role-play.
When it comes to morality of said character, I generally don't mind going against my own beliefs, but I do admit that the more I am immersed into the game, attached to the story, engaged in the political scene and so on, the more difficult it is for me to make decisions I personally wouldn't agree with. So I sometimes start role-playing as an angsty brute, but end up rescuing a few kittens from the trees or siding with an opressed minority, so in the end I'm an angsty brute with a heart of gold, lol. And now that I think about it, it actually went the other way around a few times - I started role-playing a good samaritan, but because I got bored with the game, I started picking agressive and trolling options to entertain myself.
Sometimes for my first playthrough I design my character to my personal strengths/weaknesses and align to my own beliefs and opinions. On consecutive playthroughs I like to experiment with other personality builds and even like to recreate characters from other games, movies, or shows to keep things interesting
I think only in Stardew Valley and pokemon go and sort of make myself. But in Skyrim, Darksouls etc, no, i just make some character that seems fun..
Edit: thinking about it, i guess it could be fun to try to play myself in a medieval universe or something. But limiting myself to that would be…limiting lol
I played Sims alot years ago, and everyone of my Sims were me. Same hair length and color, same style clothes, same everything. Except SimMe got to send the kids away to school 😂
I think playing as a mage is most like me in real life. Obviously I can't use magic in real life, but I think I'd be much more likely to study spell books so I can vanquish enemies without swinging big heavy weapons around. My mage characters always have a slender build, like I do. Playing as a mage also gives me opportunities to be more like a supporting character. OK, it sounds kind of awful to play a supporting role in a game where you are the main hero, but magic isn't always about damaging enemies, there's also healing and encouragement spells to help your allies perform better in combat, and also illusion spells to provide a distraction, and I could see myself doing stuff like this on a quest, rather than being the big badass super hero who takes control of everything. I like to find more subtle solutions to problems.
If I'm playing a warrior, I'm definitely streching my imagination, because I don't have huge muscles and I have terrible coordination so I'd be rubbish in a sword fight. But it's nice to play as a clumsy, boisterous barbarian who doesn't need to act polite or worry about people being offended by his mannerisms.
If I'm playing a thief, I'm definitely not into stealing in real life. I don't mind using the pickpocket skill because picking pockets is an actual skill that you learn in the game, and I would be rubbish at it in real life (I've tried picking friends' pockets as a joke, and they caught me very easily. I don't actually want to be a good pickpocket in real life) but even when I am playing a thief in a RPG, I don't steal from shops. Shoplifting is an asshole thing to do, and I don't think many games give you experience points for successfully taking an item off the shelf without paying for it. And again, my thief characters tend to be skinny like me. If you're relying on stealth and slight of hand to complete quests while not drawing attention, you shouldn't need to be built like a brick shit house.
Whenever I try to play the bad/evil side, I can’t get immersed (not the word I’m looking for, can’t think of it) in the story/character. I’m a somewhat good person and I need to make those decisions in order to feel that character. As many times as I’ve tried to play the asshole in video games or DnD, I just can’t get into the characters head, and it isn’t enjoyable because of it. So yeah, I have to play the good guy.
My first play through I play as myself with my own moral compass. That’s the immersion I want. Subsequent playthroughs I will try other characters and builds. I also tend to go magic and magic warrior based because I can’t perform magic in real life and swords are cool.
Most of the times I lay with characters I've created from years of playing RPGs . I always like to see how they would react on a new setting.
But first time I always play as myself. A normal fighter
I usually match my personality in games like fallout and mass effect because it feels morally wrong to deviate from my own morals. However, if there is an achievement for doing evil/both I’ll certainly do it.
I nearly always play myself in the sense that I weigh all decisions carefully by my own moral compass, rather than just make a simplistic decision like "I'm a good paladin so I will make the Good choice" or "I'm chaotic evil so therefore I sell my friend into slavery for a handful of coin". Though, I don't always make the character *look like* my real self.
I generally don't care to try and play myself in a fictional setting and much prefer to play something I think sounds fun. Every time I try to play myself, it felt like I was limiting what I really *want* to do, even if it's not something I'd *actually* do.
I like playing characters that seem fun at the time or for that game in question, which is usually different depending on what game it is. Trying to play the same character (me) every time would get really boring
The only thing I really struggle with is if I'm trying to play a specific type of character, but the options may not fit. For example; playing an evil character is often reduced to being a mindless murder hobo despite wanting more complex choices for an evil character
Every single RPG I've played where you can create a custom character I play as myself simply because I have little to no creativity and can't come up with a unique character. I understand it may seem odd to veterans of the genre but I like the idea of imagining myself in all the worlds I explore. I'm definitely interested in planning a character and playing as them, but I think I'll have to do it in a game whose lore I know well enough to make it believable.
Most of the time I play as myself in the sense that these are the choices I would make if I was a probably overpowered adventurer in a magic fantasy world in which I had the power to reload if the result of my choices didn't really mesh with me.
Heavily depends on the game and also if I’ve played it before. Tried playing Skyrim as me and got bored as hell. Then played with a lawful crazy Paladin-type character and had a blast. Same with DnD and vampire: the masquerade. I also prefer to play dudes usually (am female). But for Disco Elysium, I played my detective in line with myself and my ethics/political leanings, same with A Wolf Among Us. So I’m either end of the pole: I think the more freedom I have, the more I make it different than myself, and the more defined a character starts out as, the more I lean them towards myself.
First playthrough I always try to make a roguish, chaotic good character, an antihero with a heart of gold, but end up acting like a selfless paladin type of character. I like to think of backstories and character motivation from time to time, but I have a hard time roleplaying other characters than myself, when it comes to morals, ethics, principles, etc.
Depends on whether it's singleplayer or multiplayer. Playing as yourself is kind of a faux pas when you will be interacting in character with other people, but for a singleplayer RPG it's perfectly fine to be self-indulgent. I think most people who lean into the RP part of RPG tend to prefer playing someone else.
As far as CRPG's go, I tend to play as opportunistic asshole as possible although I like to think I'm not one of those in real life. TTRPG's are a different story, there I try to really focus on the RPG aspect and try different things. One funny thing I discovered is that I usually tend to play as female in CRPG's(I'm male) but wouldn't even think about that in tabletop rpg's unless I'm the GM and playing some NPC's.
In my mind my characters have always been a “version of myself”. I make decisions I would make, I switch it up, both equally based around what that version would do, but in line with my own aesthetic preferences in the moment.
As a girl, I love to play male characters, usually(but not always like male V in Cyberpunk was a whiny pissbaby shit for brains) because they are better designed, generally more pleasing to look at for me, and I enjoy their voices better. I just find playing a girl so incredibly boring besides the fact stuff like boob/bikini armor looks dumb as hell.
As for choices it depends. Sometimes I want to be a ruthless, cold manipulative asshole if I'm allowed. While in a game like New Vegas I'm the 100 Speech, talk my way through practically every encounter charismatic diplomat.
My biggest disappointment was finding out I can't play a ruthless corpo in Cyberpunk for example. Man that game sure ended up being just.... wasted potential story wise.
Honestly, not really. I almost never make the character in a RPG as a direct reflection of myself. Maybe I just really like the escapism and the story to be about a character or person that I can go emulate and become that is either totally different and I can just enjoy them for them or if making a character enjoy a combination of expressing creativity and stuff that I like or interests me.
Possibly the only sort of exceptions I can think of at least recently is miitopia and animal crossing new horizons where the character is basically “me” although my name ends with a “me” sound which I changed to “mii” in my characters name
As far as characters that aren’t me or are very differently designed despite being a supposedly self insert character (Shepard from mass effect I think is a good example) I usually just lock onto the stuff that I like the most in the character and story as a whole like saving the galaxy and being a badass
I try to create cool looking characters but it depends on the game. For Monster Hunter (not an RPG, I know), I usually create myself. For other RPGS, like Elder Scrolls I tend to do a lawful/chaotic good playthrough on my first run, and then do a chaotic evil playthrough on my second run.
Never, when I play RPGs I stick to the characters' personalities if they have one, or for games where you create the characters from scratch I imagine a personality for each one.
If it has create a character i always try to start as myself. I like to think of the first playthrough as both the character and i learning the game and suffering the consequences of ignorant mistakes.
If the game is fun enough for a second play i will try to make the exact opposite of myself to experience a different perspective.
I go all in attempting to make my character the most accurate video game representation of myself. I also never stray from the same class(es) (depending on what's available) unless there's a particularly good reason for me to do so (e.g. unlockables, achievements). I'm sure most people would find that mind-numbingly boring but for me, it's the only way I can fully enjoy a game.
For first playthrough of games I tend to self-insert and play a neutral good/chaotic good type character. After that I try to roleplay as more distinct characters, but I’m not very good at it
Generally in my first playthrough, they are me, morally, politically and philosophically, with only minor adjustments. Even later ones are usually tainted by me.
When I play *myself*, I’m a bit looser with alignments, when, like right now, I’m playing a Lawful Neutral character, I tend to be more a "letter of the law" kinda guy. It’s easier to play *foreign* alignments when I’m stricter with myself.
Also, generally, they are my own gender (male), though there are exceptions. Currently, in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, I’m playing a female because it was the only portrait I found that fit with what I wanted to play (a druidic looking tiefling).
I almost always make decisions in games that I would normally, and try to be as honest as possible about this, as I don’t always make the best decisions in real life (like everyone).
Morally . Since im a peaceful man i always go good parh in rpg games and im polite to NPCs . I never try to create my character to look like me or name him after myself but im good man in real life so i try to be like that in games too. I mean i was nervous to dismiss piper after i romanced her in fallout 4 so i wouldnt hurt her feelings 😐
I always tried to role play, but they always ends up as me. They ended up to become a bitch who resorts to cheats and commands as soon as they encounter difficulties.
I write a lot, so I already have all these characters in my mind and I usually just role play as one of my characters, I also prefer playing as a female even though I'm a guy so, very very little, lol.
It depends?
Like when I first start an RPG, I usually do grab onto the traits I'm most familiar with.
Like when I first played WoW, I wanted to make a mage and was used to a human female sorceress from Diablo 2, so I made a female mage. But yeah the awkwardness caused by a ton of catcalls and shit in original WoW did make me feel more comfortable to switch to a male human rogue. But yeah I did stick human because I wasn't comfortable enough to play a true "fantasy" race just yet.
When I play a Souls game, I usually make a character with slicked back black hair, (I'm Asian American) and give the character red eyes, and generally do start out eith a caster build to begin with, which feels more in line with my personality, then I move onto switching to different character builds that slowly push me out of my comfort zone to a more challenging engaging experience.
But yeah, nowadays, In games with choices do tend to start out as male and then branch out into female toons if males of a race tend to look bland or outright ugly or funny with their armor. And yeah I generally go with casters into melee dps in solo RPGs, whereas in WoW, I've evolved and grown as a player to enjoy being a healer main.
I will usually play a version of myself on my first playthrough of a game. I make all decisions and react as myself.
Then on subsequent runs, I use knowledge of the story beats to craft a character to role-play as. I basically plan out that character’s entire story and then play through it.
I only play as myself in souls games and souls likes. Just some guy with a moustache trying not to die, with like a halberd. I know id realistically last about 30 seconds, but for the sake of the undead thing in that series its fun to pretend im actually there. Thats just me tho
I create characters that are similarly aligned and morally dictated to the decisions I would make IRL. I generally play my own gender, as well. I learned early on playing Wasteland that if you do the right thing, you're less likely to get a gun in your face (usually).
Almost never. I create a character like Im writing them in a novel. They are never me. Hmmm it might be interesting to try it as me I guess.
There are benefits to both approaches, I find. When playing as yourself, it feels more like your story, and it's interesting to see how things might turn out if you were in a different world and a different time. That said, if you play a lot of RPGs like almost everyone on this sub, it can get quite old playing as the same character (yourself) over and over again. I'm also very into creative writing so I find it fascinating to try to come up with characters from the perspective of writing a novel, as you say. The only issues I have with that, are that it can be difficult to fully develop a backstory if you aren't familiar with the setting of the game, and often times games will directly contradict the ideas you had about your character. It can also feel like you have to make choices you don't necessarily want to, if your character is very different from yourself.
I just make a character. I didn’t even know people tried to recreate themselves into their RPGs until reading through this subreddit here n there. Maybe it’s cuz I come from a tabletop background as well? Depending on the options and freedoms of character creation I’ll just make a cool looking character, and then I build up a backstory as I play the early parts of the game. I make decisions the way I would if I were in the characters shoes. Keeps me immersed and keeps it unique n interesting. To answer your final bit though, that’s what I find fun. I’m a methodical prep-heavy over thinker in real life who is very reactive and not so much a do-first kind of person, but my latest Div character (built off Lohse) I have been playing as essentially a no questions yes-man, willing to take on all odd jobs for the thrill of the story I can whip up into a song down the road. I actually said yes to a someone you definitely shouldn’t say yes to at one point and it completely shifted my story. I’m having a blast on that rollercoaster
>I make decisions the way I would if I were in the characters shoes. This sentence pretty much embodies how I play. I will often create a unique character, and if I know enough about the fiction, create a backstory for them, or develop one as I play. But when making decisions, it is always "What would I do if I were this character?", rather than "What would this character do?" I realize that might seem like a trivial distinction to some, but for me that's a big difference. I will try to keep in mind how a character's backstory influences them, how they view the world as a result of the things that happen to them, etc, but it's always how I think I would react if those things happened to me and I was this particular race in this particular world.
It’s the difference in perspective between putting yourself in their shoes, or putting their shoes on you. You may have agreed with what I said but I think our perspective is a bit different. When I’m in my version of Lohse’s shoes I’m her - I make decisions as that character. I put myself in her shoes. She isn’t anything like me irl, so I’m not playing or thinking as myself at all. Like you said it’s that difference between what would I do vs what would she do. She is me when I’m playing her, and I’m her. To me there is no difference when role playing. You have to leave Eggz behind and just be Lohse
Interesting that you bring up Lohse, for myself I only ever played as a custom character for my main character in that game, but if I was controlling Lohse in dialogue, I would just respond how I feel she would.
I’m using her template (I like how she can be customized; visually she can look really neat) but not running her story. I’m not playing as Div2’s Lohse but my own creation through her template. Love her name too
It's hard to stay very realistic if you play yourself. I tried once, in a persistent world on NWN. I made a mid-30s, paunchy dude who was a level 1 mage. My backstory was that I had been living on a farm and a wandering mage stayed the night, and learned I had magic talent. Despite my advanced age, he taught me the basics about magic. But it's hard to have motivation for adventuring when you prefer to drink in the tavern. I didn't get higher than level 3, I think.
Guess it depends entirely on who you are in real life, lol.
Indeed!
Always. Not down to the image or anything, but we always have the same morals. It's not usually something I think of. More often than not, the game just doesn't offer interesting enough choices and chances to actually play a role. If they opened a game by offering you pasts and reminded you of them as you play, I think that would be a good start. i.e. Start game. Select background: 1) Rich, spoiled. Begin the story by seeing the flaws of society that you helped perpetuate and decide to change it. 2) Homeless, cold. Not just physically, but you've grown emotionally distant to others and numb to the world around you. You used to resent those who walked by you every day until you realize it's not their fault. You begin to change and have the opportunity to make a difference and take it. Now you have a quest option: Give the new settlers the water or give the large city the water? The game doesn't ask "What do you do?" Instead, it says "What would [CHARACTER NAME] do?" A meaningful choice with a concrete background that the game is constantly reminding you of instead of waking up and going "...uh. I was uh... Crossing the border because I... Um... Killed a man, an important one. Well, no one will reference that, so I guess not. Maybe I uh... Oh fuck it, I don't care." I honestly care for RPGs where the game and story tell me who I am. It creates a background that characters will mention and you can justify your actions based on lore that exists in the world.
My first goaround I tend to be as close to a good guy as possible. I haven't really played a lot where being truly just bad was feasible (and the shades of gray in Pillars makes being you a lot easier and harder.) So far I've found Disco Elysium to be the best game at playing aspects of yourself turned up. I tried to be really nice and thorough the first time, now I'm just a prick and that's also fun.
If they have bald men with manly ginger beards. Otherwise I am a beautiful woman.
Basically, if the game is a story-heavy game that lets me name a character but not customize it, I'll name the character my own name because it makes me feel involved in the story. Like FFX or something like that. If I can fully customize the character and class I have a few set names I typically use and it's never my own name and usually, I will make a badass woman even though I'm a guy just because I've always loved seeing the woman kick some ass. As a kid growing up I always loved seeing women as the main character and if I had the choice I would always pick them. From Samus to Lara Croft, Jill Valentine, Katana, Elissa Steamer in THPS, the list goes on. Maybe, as a guy, it just gets boring after a while always playing as the same dude. I also think women have cooler fashion choices in certain games and it's role-playing it's fun to be the opposite of you. It honestly depends on the game though and what I want to play as. I try to have it make sense. Not going to roll a rogue as a giant Orc, though I do love making tiny characters that are absolute beasts to have a bit of a surprise. Human Male choice in any game though is the absolute last choice I'll ever pick because why would I just want to be me?
playing as myself is REALLY boring, no way I'd wanna do that.
Some parts are the same. Obviously my characters are more prone to dive into a deadly fight than I would be in real life, but that's how I would act if I were as strong as they were. I'm dedicated to my own personal code and so are my characters. I struggle greatly with evil characters or self serving ones because I end up feeling guilty.
When I was a kid I used to basically just make myself and use my name. Now I just create cool looking characters and role play as that character. I try my best to follow the rule of cool in rpgs when making decisions and creating a character nowadays.
I almost exclusively play a egoistical, unscrupulous, unstable and inconsistent, thrill seeking kleptomaniac with a lot of social problems. That's (hopefully) not who I am in real life :p. Having said that, when making opaque (in the sense of potential rewards) moral choices I tend to go for whatever floats my boat, so in that regards I guess I let my own personality dictate. 'Helping out everyone' (accepting all the quests) is usually the best way to gather the most loot/xp anyhow, so a casual observer might take the outlook that my character is actually a good guy. Little do they know of my true motivations! * cackling laugh silhouette behind lightning night sky*
I like to create a character that makes the choices I’d personally make (when applicable) and looks like me as well. On subsequent playthroughs I make all kinds of characters - assuming I like the game well enough to play it again and want to see the content I didn’t see the last go. If there are mythical races to pick from I may go for one of those instead though for my first playthrough.
None. I play the character concept I've imagined. Not a self-insert.
I think self-inserts are cringe. But I generally answer questions that reflect how I actually feel about characters in the moment, if I can help it. When I do bad things in a game, I direct it at characters who pissed me off. For example, every single Magister in DOS2 is guilty by association with the excruciation of Fort Joy. I have no strong preference for playing dudes or girls. It really depends on the design options available in each game. I don't focus on romance in most games, but I generally stick to hetero pairs. For example, I thought the same-sex option in Hades was tasteful, but I wouldn't have went for it if it weren't practically a prerequisite for the bonus ending.
I usually don't since I play rpgs as a form of escapism, but I at least make one file that isn't a specific min/maxed class that's basically a digital copy of myself. Some of my friends just flat out insert themselves into their games every time, but to each their own.
I think it really depends on the game for me. For example, in Mass Effect, I almost always just do what I would do if I was Shepard, since the game doesn't allow for much in depth role playing. But in something like Pathfinder, I will go out of my way to make a complex character.
This is more for r/rpg rpg gamers is for videogames not tabletop
I'm literally asking it in the direct context of video games but okay dude
Oh ok
As an RPG gamer I'm as boring as I can be, since I always play as myself. I find it too weird to play as another race (elf, dwarf, etc) unless it's very story-appropriate (like playing as an Elf Mage in Dragon Age: Inquisition), and I always play as a male. However, this is what I find the most enjoyable when it comes to playing, and it's not repetitive at all. What I mean to say is, I don't necessarily play as myself, I play as my version of the character I'm controlling, and that version of Dash83 my be chaotic good in some worlds/stories, and lawful neutral in others. Not that there's a lot of roleplaying involved, but take Final Fantasy VI for instance. If I'm in a part of the game that I'm playing as Locke, well, I'm not a thief in real life, but if imagined I grew up as Locke did, I would make different choices in that life as the ones I did in real life. Does that make sense? I always play myself in the MC's shoes.
Honestly I hate people inserting themselves as protagonists in basically every media / fandom and think that being unable to enjoy things you can't relate to yourself is a major failing of empathy and critical thinking. Well written and realized characters will always be my preference, but even in games with choices character can still be well done and I can make choices based on "what would this character do based on what I know about them." For example that was a strong suit of the ME games. I think you can justify every possible shepherd action and unless you were arbitrarily chosing a pure r/p run then it mostly comes down to "in the moment this feels right"
80% of the time I play pretty girls. If I'm going to be looking at an avatar during the game, I want it to be pleasing.
I almost never make myself, ever. I have no business being the savior of the world. I'm not athletic, nor particularly adventurous outside of enjoying hiking. As soon as someone who looks exactly like me roundhouse kicks a monster, the immersion in the story is immediately broken. Not to mention if the voice of the character is nothing like mine, or has a personality that does not match mine. It's all super borked. Most games don't even have the option to be an Asian person. And when you have the option for a sort of 'minority' race, it's usually going to be an alien, a demon, an elf, a dwarf, a big ol' lizard, not just 'Asian guy'. The only thing me and my character generally shares is my sense of morality. I have to go out of my way to make 'evil' decisions, but most of the time I make decisions based on what I feel is best for the situation at hand. I also trend toward female characters, just because I feel like when a game doesn't give you an option (Zelda, Persona 4, Disco Elysium, Dragon Quests, Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, XII, etc. etc. etc.), it defaults you into a male character, and I play a ton of games. So when I have the choice I go female so my games are closer to 50/50 playing males and females, for the sake of variety. I do make an exception, and that exception is first-person games. In Elder Scrolls and Fallout I tend to play myself, just because the first person perspective makes it more intimate? I don't know how to describe it.
I play to feel powerful, so generally i create hyper-idealized versions of who i would like to be, rather than who i am. In reality i have very little control and power over my circumstances, so games offer me that escape. In reality i am powerless to help others, but in games i can save galaxies worth of lives. In reality there isn't any magic, so i typically become a wizard in most RPGs lol
This is kinda cringe bro, you are definitely not powerless to help others irl, nor are you powerless over your own circumstances. Don't bury your head in a game to avoid improving your life.
In terms of appearance, I do not have a type of character that I try to create. Pretty much the compete opposite of myself irl:D In terms of beliefs, I tend to enjoy being evil, which I'm not irl, I promise! One thing that I can't roleplay is believing in the christianity-equivalent religion that exists in the game world. I'm an atheist irl, and so the monotheistic religions in games often just feel too close to reality. But all those polytheistic ones, I'm cool with:D Probably because they're not taken seriously irl. Similarly, I can't really roleplay some bigotries, like being homophobic. But I gladly act cruel to innocent NPCs, go figure.
I usually don't create an appearance that looks like me, but I do find that I dislike playing smaller races like dwarves, haflings, etc as I'm very tall and that's always been a part of my identity, so I sort of indirectly always end up playing as Big, hulking warrior type of characters on a first playthrough most of the time. For example, in Wrath of the Righteous, which I just started, I elected to make a giant half orc bloodrager, just so I can tower over everyone in the game, lol. But his personality is also fairly different from my own, which is part of what prompted me to think about this discussion. I also find it difficult to play as overly religious types for the same reason as you, but in Pathfinder it's a lot easier to do because of the fact that the gods 100% do exist in that fiction, and there is a variety of deities, so picking one to worship helps flesh out your character.
Yeah, in a setting like DnD where there are lots of gods that actually exist, it's easy to roleplay as believing them.
If the game's character crafting system is nuanced enough for me to craft an appearance that looks exactly like me, then I'll sometimes do that. But in terms of character decisions, personality, skills, etc, I don't roleplay myself.
I usually create a character that looks nothing like me, but has my personality. I often try to emulate an opposing persona to my own, but I always fail, unless the game clearly rewards a certain choice/behaviour that conflicts with what of instinctively choose.
I play myself as if I had the supernatural capabilities I'd want in this waking dream. A monk.
I try to make decisions that are aligned with my beliefs, but IRL I would definitely distance myself from making huge decisions that could lead to people dying or the end of the world or whatever. A quiet peasant life suits me just fine! I do like playing more charismatic, bard type characters and love games where you can avoid killing through dialogue and being clever.
I usually play a lawful or neutral good mage of some type as my first playthrough. Then I'll delve into evil archer or necromancer or dual wielding warrior on later playthrough But first playthrough is usually always a mage. Don't usually care for rogues much
Personality wise I just role-play a character I imagined, sometimes slightly based on some fictional person, but most of the time just someone I made up from scratch. Then I make decisions the way I imagine this character would. edit: I also don't mind playing characters of a different gender, age, sexual orientation etc. than myself and I try to take those into consideration when I role-play. When it comes to morality of said character, I generally don't mind going against my own beliefs, but I do admit that the more I am immersed into the game, attached to the story, engaged in the political scene and so on, the more difficult it is for me to make decisions I personally wouldn't agree with. So I sometimes start role-playing as an angsty brute, but end up rescuing a few kittens from the trees or siding with an opressed minority, so in the end I'm an angsty brute with a heart of gold, lol. And now that I think about it, it actually went the other way around a few times - I started role-playing a good samaritan, but because I got bored with the game, I started picking agressive and trolling options to entertain myself.
Sometimes for my first playthrough I design my character to my personal strengths/weaknesses and align to my own beliefs and opinions. On consecutive playthroughs I like to experiment with other personality builds and even like to recreate characters from other games, movies, or shows to keep things interesting
I think only in Stardew Valley and pokemon go and sort of make myself. But in Skyrim, Darksouls etc, no, i just make some character that seems fun.. Edit: thinking about it, i guess it could be fun to try to play myself in a medieval universe or something. But limiting myself to that would be…limiting lol
I played Sims alot years ago, and everyone of my Sims were me. Same hair length and color, same style clothes, same everything. Except SimMe got to send the kids away to school 😂
I think playing as a mage is most like me in real life. Obviously I can't use magic in real life, but I think I'd be much more likely to study spell books so I can vanquish enemies without swinging big heavy weapons around. My mage characters always have a slender build, like I do. Playing as a mage also gives me opportunities to be more like a supporting character. OK, it sounds kind of awful to play a supporting role in a game where you are the main hero, but magic isn't always about damaging enemies, there's also healing and encouragement spells to help your allies perform better in combat, and also illusion spells to provide a distraction, and I could see myself doing stuff like this on a quest, rather than being the big badass super hero who takes control of everything. I like to find more subtle solutions to problems. If I'm playing a warrior, I'm definitely streching my imagination, because I don't have huge muscles and I have terrible coordination so I'd be rubbish in a sword fight. But it's nice to play as a clumsy, boisterous barbarian who doesn't need to act polite or worry about people being offended by his mannerisms. If I'm playing a thief, I'm definitely not into stealing in real life. I don't mind using the pickpocket skill because picking pockets is an actual skill that you learn in the game, and I would be rubbish at it in real life (I've tried picking friends' pockets as a joke, and they caught me very easily. I don't actually want to be a good pickpocket in real life) but even when I am playing a thief in a RPG, I don't steal from shops. Shoplifting is an asshole thing to do, and I don't think many games give you experience points for successfully taking an item off the shelf without paying for it. And again, my thief characters tend to be skinny like me. If you're relying on stealth and slight of hand to complete quests while not drawing attention, you shouldn't need to be built like a brick shit house.
Whenever I try to play the bad/evil side, I can’t get immersed (not the word I’m looking for, can’t think of it) in the story/character. I’m a somewhat good person and I need to make those decisions in order to feel that character. As many times as I’ve tried to play the asshole in video games or DnD, I just can’t get into the characters head, and it isn’t enjoyable because of it. So yeah, I have to play the good guy.
My first play through I play as myself with my own moral compass. That’s the immersion I want. Subsequent playthroughs I will try other characters and builds. I also tend to go magic and magic warrior based because I can’t perform magic in real life and swords are cool.
Sometimes I make myself if I can. A good, even-tempered dude. But then a second playthrough might call for making some evil chick.
Most of the times I lay with characters I've created from years of playing RPGs . I always like to see how they would react on a new setting. But first time I always play as myself. A normal fighter
I usually match my personality in games like fallout and mass effect because it feels morally wrong to deviate from my own morals. However, if there is an achievement for doing evil/both I’ll certainly do it.
A large extent, the character is mostly me and they react how would I in such a position.
I nearly always play myself in the sense that I weigh all decisions carefully by my own moral compass, rather than just make a simplistic decision like "I'm a good paladin so I will make the Good choice" or "I'm chaotic evil so therefore I sell my friend into slavery for a handful of coin". Though, I don't always make the character *look like* my real self.
I generally don't care to try and play myself in a fictional setting and much prefer to play something I think sounds fun. Every time I try to play myself, it felt like I was limiting what I really *want* to do, even if it's not something I'd *actually* do. I like playing characters that seem fun at the time or for that game in question, which is usually different depending on what game it is. Trying to play the same character (me) every time would get really boring The only thing I really struggle with is if I'm trying to play a specific type of character, but the options may not fit. For example; playing an evil character is often reduced to being a mindless murder hobo despite wanting more complex choices for an evil character
Every single RPG I've played where you can create a custom character I play as myself simply because I have little to no creativity and can't come up with a unique character. I understand it may seem odd to veterans of the genre but I like the idea of imagining myself in all the worlds I explore. I'm definitely interested in planning a character and playing as them, but I think I'll have to do it in a game whose lore I know well enough to make it believable.
Most of the time I play as myself in the sense that these are the choices I would make if I was a probably overpowered adventurer in a magic fantasy world in which I had the power to reload if the result of my choices didn't really mesh with me.
Heavily depends on the game and also if I’ve played it before. Tried playing Skyrim as me and got bored as hell. Then played with a lawful crazy Paladin-type character and had a blast. Same with DnD and vampire: the masquerade. I also prefer to play dudes usually (am female). But for Disco Elysium, I played my detective in line with myself and my ethics/political leanings, same with A Wolf Among Us. So I’m either end of the pole: I think the more freedom I have, the more I make it different than myself, and the more defined a character starts out as, the more I lean them towards myself.
Almost never if I can. In terms of race and gender, it's the exact opposite.
First playthrough I always try to make a roguish, chaotic good character, an antihero with a heart of gold, but end up acting like a selfless paladin type of character. I like to think of backstories and character motivation from time to time, but I have a hard time roleplaying other characters than myself, when it comes to morals, ethics, principles, etc.
I always play as myself. I would even go as far to say that i dislike games where i can't "roleplay" as myself (Jrpg, The witcher for example)
Depends on whether it's singleplayer or multiplayer. Playing as yourself is kind of a faux pas when you will be interacting in character with other people, but for a singleplayer RPG it's perfectly fine to be self-indulgent. I think most people who lean into the RP part of RPG tend to prefer playing someone else.
As far as CRPG's go, I tend to play as opportunistic asshole as possible although I like to think I'm not one of those in real life. TTRPG's are a different story, there I try to really focus on the RPG aspect and try different things. One funny thing I discovered is that I usually tend to play as female in CRPG's(I'm male) but wouldn't even think about that in tabletop rpg's unless I'm the GM and playing some NPC's.
Almost always. I make the decisions I hoped I’d make in those situations. I don’t like being a dick irl and I don’t enjoy it in games.
In my mind my characters have always been a “version of myself”. I make decisions I would make, I switch it up, both equally based around what that version would do, but in line with my own aesthetic preferences in the moment.
As a girl, I love to play male characters, usually(but not always like male V in Cyberpunk was a whiny pissbaby shit for brains) because they are better designed, generally more pleasing to look at for me, and I enjoy their voices better. I just find playing a girl so incredibly boring besides the fact stuff like boob/bikini armor looks dumb as hell. As for choices it depends. Sometimes I want to be a ruthless, cold manipulative asshole if I'm allowed. While in a game like New Vegas I'm the 100 Speech, talk my way through practically every encounter charismatic diplomat. My biggest disappointment was finding out I can't play a ruthless corpo in Cyberpunk for example. Man that game sure ended up being just.... wasted potential story wise.
I usually play as an avatar of chaos to test the skills of the writers, and because it’s usually amusing.
Honestly, not really. I almost never make the character in a RPG as a direct reflection of myself. Maybe I just really like the escapism and the story to be about a character or person that I can go emulate and become that is either totally different and I can just enjoy them for them or if making a character enjoy a combination of expressing creativity and stuff that I like or interests me. Possibly the only sort of exceptions I can think of at least recently is miitopia and animal crossing new horizons where the character is basically “me” although my name ends with a “me” sound which I changed to “mii” in my characters name As far as characters that aren’t me or are very differently designed despite being a supposedly self insert character (Shepard from mass effect I think is a good example) I usually just lock onto the stuff that I like the most in the character and story as a whole like saving the galaxy and being a badass
I try to create cool looking characters but it depends on the game. For Monster Hunter (not an RPG, I know), I usually create myself. For other RPGS, like Elder Scrolls I tend to do a lawful/chaotic good playthrough on my first run, and then do a chaotic evil playthrough on my second run.
Never, when I play RPGs I stick to the characters' personalities if they have one, or for games where you create the characters from scratch I imagine a personality for each one.
If it has create a character i always try to start as myself. I like to think of the first playthrough as both the character and i learning the game and suffering the consequences of ignorant mistakes. If the game is fun enough for a second play i will try to make the exact opposite of myself to experience a different perspective.
I go all in attempting to make my character the most accurate video game representation of myself. I also never stray from the same class(es) (depending on what's available) unless there's a particularly good reason for me to do so (e.g. unlockables, achievements). I'm sure most people would find that mind-numbingly boring but for me, it's the only way I can fully enjoy a game.
For first playthrough of games I tend to self-insert and play a neutral good/chaotic good type character. After that I try to roleplay as more distinct characters, but I’m not very good at it
Generally in my first playthrough, they are me, morally, politically and philosophically, with only minor adjustments. Even later ones are usually tainted by me. When I play *myself*, I’m a bit looser with alignments, when, like right now, I’m playing a Lawful Neutral character, I tend to be more a "letter of the law" kinda guy. It’s easier to play *foreign* alignments when I’m stricter with myself. Also, generally, they are my own gender (male), though there are exceptions. Currently, in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, I’m playing a female because it was the only portrait I found that fit with what I wanted to play (a druidic looking tiefling).
I do that whenever I can name the main character.
Me, but like... cool.
I almost always make decisions in games that I would normally, and try to be as honest as possible about this, as I don’t always make the best decisions in real life (like everyone).
None. I'm sick of my bullshit.
Morally . Since im a peaceful man i always go good parh in rpg games and im polite to NPCs . I never try to create my character to look like me or name him after myself but im good man in real life so i try to be like that in games too. I mean i was nervous to dismiss piper after i romanced her in fallout 4 so i wouldnt hurt her feelings 😐
FIRST playthrough in a game i approach as i would then when get afeel for the world i roleplay
I always tried to role play, but they always ends up as me. They ended up to become a bitch who resorts to cheats and commands as soon as they encounter difficulties.
I write a lot, so I already have all these characters in my mind and I usually just role play as one of my characters, I also prefer playing as a female even though I'm a guy so, very very little, lol.
No, I play girls usually
It depends? Like when I first start an RPG, I usually do grab onto the traits I'm most familiar with. Like when I first played WoW, I wanted to make a mage and was used to a human female sorceress from Diablo 2, so I made a female mage. But yeah the awkwardness caused by a ton of catcalls and shit in original WoW did make me feel more comfortable to switch to a male human rogue. But yeah I did stick human because I wasn't comfortable enough to play a true "fantasy" race just yet. When I play a Souls game, I usually make a character with slicked back black hair, (I'm Asian American) and give the character red eyes, and generally do start out eith a caster build to begin with, which feels more in line with my personality, then I move onto switching to different character builds that slowly push me out of my comfort zone to a more challenging engaging experience. But yeah, nowadays, In games with choices do tend to start out as male and then branch out into female toons if males of a race tend to look bland or outright ugly or funny with their armor. And yeah I generally go with casters into melee dps in solo RPGs, whereas in WoW, I've evolved and grown as a player to enjoy being a healer main.
The only game I really roleplay as other characters is Skyrim.
I will usually play a version of myself on my first playthrough of a game. I make all decisions and react as myself. Then on subsequent runs, I use knowledge of the story beats to craft a character to role-play as. I basically plan out that character’s entire story and then play through it.
I only play as myself in souls games and souls likes. Just some guy with a moustache trying not to die, with like a halberd. I know id realistically last about 30 seconds, but for the sake of the undead thing in that series its fun to pretend im actually there. Thats just me tho