Character Focus

I've spent a great deal of time in my life, making characters.

Whether for stories, games, or just sheer boredom, I love building a character from the ground up. I've written back stories for characters that will never be revealed, they just exist in a different world that will be referenced on occasion. It's how I roll.

I play WoW, and I write long, detailed backstories to every character I play. Every. One. Through this they have a sense of self, and a motivation that many never understand, but to drive it home, I never spout it out at the first chance given.

For some, a backstory is a platform to leap from, for others; it's a secret without being a magical twist later on.

One of them, has a long history of pain and suffering, brought on mostly by their own bitterness. It's not a redemption story, and he never "finds peace". He simply finds a measure of contentment and goes on with his life, when asked why he does things, he simply replies "because."

I've met people who spill their life story like a toddler with a cup at the slightest provocation. Which is at the same time strange, and sort of realistic. But not this guy, he refuses. Even to people who know him, who understand him, he just doesn't talk about it. He has a friend, who does however, so his story is out there, but you'll never get it out of him.

That is depth, that is how one creates a character that isn't two dimensional, by giving them a motive for life beyond plot development.

From the "Iron Rose", a few of the characters follow this mentality, the way of having their own story that's bursting at the seams, but never is quite spelled out.

No one knows why Izo so willingly quits his job and signs up with Rose.

No one knows why Hafwen lives alone, and has no other friends, despite all her positive qualities.

No one even knows Rose's parents names.

The beginning of this thought train came from a video game I recently bought; Prototype. Its' narrative is... confusing at best, it gives literally less motive for anything your character does than anything I've seen since the first Mario Bros.

You wake up in a morgue, two guys say your name and run away. The military kills them, and then sees you, a walking corpse, and shoots you. You don't die, because you're fucking Zeus. No really, their codename for you is Zeus.

While all that would cause a game to be terrible, this game gets one thing right above all others: you feel like everything they say about you is spot on. You move through the city with an ease that makes Spider-man jealous, while you're not invincible, you may as well be if you're clever.

You can lift a truck, and freerun with it up the side of a building, and throw it two blocks.

It all fits, you're amazing, you're god-like, and it just fits the story (what little you get to know about) so very finely that you forgive it's shortcomings.

It's like the Doctor Who of super violent games.