For 15 years now, whenever I play an RPG that lets me choose the name of my character, I've chosen Merikk Scythe. I just loved the sound of it, and now of course the name has found its way into my own stories.
But in the last two years or so, ever since I started developing "Dark RItual", I began using the name Vincent Craft for my RPG characters. I've also made the conscious decision to ask myself, "WWVD"? What would Vincent do?
The result has been interesting. My games played as Merikk usually involved more wise-cracking and player wish-fulfillment, but as Vincent, I find myself making a mix of both good and bad choices that get my character in trouble and make for a very interesting story, if the game allows my choices to impact it.
Most recently, I finished playing "Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic" for the very first time. As I mentioned over on "Paeter's Brain", I made some choices near the end that finally pushed me over to the Dark Side.
After going back to a previous save, I finished the game on the Light side, having a very different experience. I certainly felt more resolution ending on the light side, but despite putting poor Vincent through the ringer, his choices did give me a more emotionally involved, if tragic, story experience.
So if you ever play an MMO and run across either "Merikk Scythe" or "Vincent Craft", be sure to say "hi"! Then again, I don't like playing MMOs, so it probably won't be me. But you can thank them for being a fan and then e-mail me right away since I would probably poop my pants in amazement that anyone would use one of those names for their character!
-Paeter Frandsen
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