How long have you been playing your character, and how do you keep it interesting?

[Aradin]

Just kinda curious to see! I'm at about ten months on Revyn now and still having lots of fun, but it got me wondering about how other players settle into a long-term character. I feel like everyone probably has different methods.
How long have you played your long-term character(s), and how do you keep their story fun to live? Why do you love to stick with them instead of making a new PC and starting a new journey?

As an aside, there are a few characters I know about that have been kicking around for a real long time. What's the longest in the history of Arelith any one character has been played (if such a thing can even be remembered)?

[time_limited]

Right now a RL year on Longinus.

How did I keep it interesting? It's simple - RP!

Longinus is involved deeply in politics, faction management, cooperation with others etc.

I feel like no matter how much free time I had for playing i still couldn't keep up and close of all my character is involved in.

Join/create an active faction which has a common goal - you will not run out of interesting things to do for a loooong while.

[Zahlfire]

I played Carnelia, a traveling Hedgemage halfling of no known allegiance, for about a year. She was just a very interesting and fun character to RP as. She felt very engaging and seemed to have a friend everywhere.

I also played Citri, a pirate witch that spoke with a very heavy Scottish accent. What started as a joke became a really fun character whom people could barely understand and often misunderstood. Which of course lead to some interesting RP when trying to steal gold from others and they have no idea what you want so they just jump overboard. Nothing like trying to rob someone and they give you a whole ship.
I played Citri for about 16 months.

I'm now playing a new Sorceress who's been around for a couple weeks now. We'll see how far she gets.

While I did play Carnelia and Citri the longest, I had quite a few alts in my character vault as well along the way whom I played for anywhere from a few days to half a year.

The biggest factor in keeping a PC engaging in my opinion is having people to bounce your PC off of. The most boring and slowest times for my characters have always been when their friends weren't around or the server wasn't particularly active.

[Hazard]

I like to play a character for a couple years AT LEAST, I have gone as long as 8 on some, but these days I have been keeping it 'short' .. What I would call short, to just 2-3 years.

I keep it interesting by immersing myself in that character and their world, and then whatever happens is organic and a surprise even to me. It's great. It's my favourite (legal) escapism.

I either let it flow naturally, or if I'm not feeling it I shelf them until I am. I've found I can't force it. It either happens or it doesn't, and if it doesn't it's way more fun for me and the people I play with if I switch to a character I'm 'feeling' ..

[Xerah]

I do a year at most, but probably more like 4-6 months on average. It’s even quicker if I’m in a RP position of power as don’t want things to stagnate so if an opportunity came up where I could leave, pass things on to someone else and roll, then I’d probably take it. This is what happened with my chancellor of Cordor character and the one who led the RH for a few months.

[Party in the forest at midnight]

I take a long time to develop my characters, I often start them as neutral and let the story decide if they are good or evil. Which means there's a very long buildup with them. I can't get into a character if I come up with too much story ahead of time, I'm not someone who can come up with a well defined concept and then play it and then finish it in a few months. I'd rather have a more generic base concept, and let the story and in-game events define who he is further.
My most meaningful evil character was one where he was abandoned in a time of need by people he thought were friends. This specific moment made his fall that much more meaningful because there was now a frame of reference as to why he was evil in his story. His reasons for falling all had names. He had huge revenge schemes.
My current character I've had since EE came out, is it 2 years now? He was a hot-headded young wizard back then, and has changed quite a bit as time passed.

I generally don't feel bored with an established character, I come up with new things to do. And as the character develops, so do their goals.

I also generally focus on one character as well, I have a hard time playing alts because I just can't get into them.

[NMan7496]

I've been playing Mather for seven months now and to keep him interesting I keep setting lofty, longterm goals for him to strive for, that way he is always pushing for something. His current goal is probably closer to an impossible dream, but, hey, that's what paladin's goals are often like.

Additionally, I get involved in other people's stories and try to help move those forward. Not only does this foster good RP centered around someone else, but it also leaves me with people I can call on when I make a push towards one of my goals.

But, honestly, just having something to work for, but is not really urgent, is what keeps Mather interesting.

[Void]

Just kinda curious to see!

I rarely invest into long term characters, and typiclaly go for a "single-player experience", where you run one character for 1..3 months and then kill them off. That's up to 2.5 years in arelith time.

Going beyond that results in situation where your character might go "out of the loop", because all their friends mysteriously disappeared and they feel no connection to the world anymore, plus the world might become demanding, slowly turning into second life.

Revyn due to his position is less likely to experience this kind of problem, however.

[LichBait]

Ilphaeryl is over 3 years old now. Made her in 2016 sometime. Political RP is always a blast, and being a decently established figure lets you invest in the stories of others and provide a potential narrative hook for them to get involved in.

[D4wN]

My first Arelith character was 10RL months old. Eventually the RP got really stale on her and I felt I kinda had done everything I could with her. I made another character and I've played her now for 7RL months. Her story is nowhere near to a close. She helps create lots of stories and I find a lot of enjoyment in bringing RP and story development to other people. She also gets involved lots in politics and leads a faction of really great and active players. It's truly the community and other people that keep your character engaging. Just gotta find the right people you can enable story for and who can enable it for you.

[Baron Saturday]

Would love to see Batty's reply to this. Though I suppose considering the Witch a single character would be silly...

[let it trip]

Interacting with as many people as possible.

[a shrouded figure]

I have crippling character ADD... lately it’s been a swarm of level 14’s before I meet someone that sparks a new character idea be it role play or mechanical and I end up making a new character.

[rat0a]

My characters are long investment to me, I don't even RP age!

That been said I usually play my main for around 2 RL years, also I log my old characters every now and then but I don't get them involved on some important RP.

I do have secondary characters that I play on and off for years like my 2015 out of the Box Drunkard Paladin! He is been around way Before The Radiant and the destruction of Warftown and he haven't reached level 30 yet! I been playing this one quite a bit lately!

Hell's the other day I logged my first character, A Tormite Doll to dust her off, she goes all the way to 2011 When Benwick was a thing! She feels old though

[Yma23]

Generally I'd say I get through a character every six months to a year. It gets odd because sometimes I'll drop a character, leave them for a time, then come back to them. But I'd make a guess that if you factored in just playtime, and ignored large gaps, it'd be around nine months for most of my characters.
As for what makes them long term playable?
I suppose I get bored of characters when I feel their own internal character arc has ended. But they're also more fun if they have things to 'hang' or 'react' off other characters.