Quote from: BarefootGaijin;694983Another idea is that of catharsis. Perhaps certain players need or want to play out certain characters because they have unresolved issues that they can only tackle though playing 'the thug' or 'the crazy doctor/surgeon'? It is an enjoyable outlet, and who am I to take that away from them?

I'd tend to shy away from this kind of analysis since it encourages some individuals to either try to change behaviour that they feel is undesireable through RPGs (and that might be just playing a woman in a chainmail bikini) or ostracise players, and through much the same process winds up with games which are politically correct, whatever that flavour happens to be this week.

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;694983TL;DR - Getting players to do something different other than play out the same old tired fetishes week in, week out. How to?

Randomise chargen and character class choices, like in WHFRPG. I mean nobody really wanted to play a ratcatcher.

When I played point-buy, I tended to create characters I could role-play easy.  But with random chargen systems, I find it more challenging to role-play the character I generate.

I tend to stay away from GMs that lock random monsters in rooms and then hope that I unlock them.  That's just as bad as players that role-play the same fighter dude every time.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;695039That's just as bad as players that role-play the same fighter dude every time.

But why? How does the guy playing the same fighter damage your game? Is it something about the character, the player, or something else?

Quote from: Ladybird;695040But why? How does the guy playing the same fighter damage your game? Is it something about the character, the player, or something else?

He just wants to kill everything he sees and loot every single corpse.  Bogs down the game with combat rounds we didn't need to be doing, and waiting for his thinking about what items to write down in his items box.  Fighters tend to play different games than the rest of the group.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;695041He just wants to kill everything he sees and loot every single corpse.  Bogs down the game with combat rounds we didn't need to be doing, and waiting for his thinking about what items to write down in his items box.  Fighters tend to play different games than the rest of the group.

Fair enough. I can see why that would get really annoying, really fast.

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;695002Very valid point. I am not saying that those who 'revert to form' or tread a known path have nothing to offer.

There was a comment about other players being bored with someone always running basically the same character.

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;695002Maybe I am saying 'where are the people on the same page as me?' (bingo)

The idea that there are different personality types rang a bell in my head, or should I say sounded interesting. I know of Jung's archetypes, but I am now thinking of taking the idea of personality types and exploring those in NPCs as well as characters.

Unless you are the most amazingly creative GM who ever lived, and your players equally amazing in their imagination, you absolutely should use the archetypes, at least as a starting point. I've read books on the subject. It's the fastest way to establish a picture in people's heads of an NPC (One GM I play with uses photo from Google as illustrations, too, which does help the visualization). It's easy to take it too far, and have all your NPCs turn in to cardboard cutouts (and not very many different ones of those), but anybody who shows up more than once will rapdily start to develop a personality of their own anyway.

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;694983TL;DR - Getting players to do something different other than play out the same old tired fetishes week in, week out. How to?

Mu.

In forty years of D&D I've played one elf, three magic users, a cleric, and more fighters than I can count.

I gave up on the elf, the cleric, and the magic users at about level six or seven because they were boring.

I've never found playing a fighter to be boring.  Yet, teh INTARwebs are full of "How do we make fighters not boring?"

Different people like different things.  And right now, I'd like a beer.

Quote from: Shawn Driscoll;695041He just wants to kill everything he sees and loot every single corpse.  Bogs down the game with combat rounds we didn't need to be doing, and waiting for his thinking about what items to write down in his items box.  Fighters tend to play different games than the rest of the group.

No, that is not "fighters tend to play different games," that is "guy playing fighter is being a dickmonkey."

It takes two to Tango.

I like playing characters who have depth and evolve over the campaign run to become different than how they were when they started. However, the GM running the game may just want a bunch of Player characters who like to kill things and take their stuff. It is not just a matter of the Player making the choices, those choices must also be compatible with the setting assumptions put forth by the GM.

Quote from: Old Geezer;695177No, that is not "fighters tend to play different games," that is "guy playing fighter is being a dickmonkey."

this.  Also, the argument, "the way so and so plays his character makes the game boring for me." strikes me as very odd.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;695185this.  Also, the argument, "the way so and so plays his character makes the game boring for me." strikes me as very odd.

Yeah.  Especially when I've seen it move to "Jane always plays a barbarian and Joe always plays a wizard and it bores me.  If Jane plays a wizard and Joe plays a barbarian that would be perfect."

My reaction varies from "What?" to "Tongue my pee hole, shit-for-brains."  But I admit I'm showing an extreme case.

Quote from: Old Geezer;695188Yeah.  Especially when I've seen it move to "Jane always plays a barbarian and Joe always plays a wizard and it bores me.  If Jane plays a wizard and Joe plays a barbarian that would be perfect."

My reaction varies from "What?" to "Tongue my pee hole, shit-for-brains."  But I admit I'm showing an extreme case.

Not so extreme as all of that.  The concept of people who want frequent change for the sake of frequent change ... well, that just seems endemic in our culture.  (At least as long as the corporations that run ad campaigns want it that way.  Can't sell the 2014 New! Improved! Model! if people are still happy with the one they bought five years ago, after all.)

If player is happy with their character and the choice is not disruptive to the rest of the group what do I care if its always the same character type?

After all, the player is the one assuming the role if he/she gets bored with it they will be the one suggesting a change.

I think it would be interesting to have a game mechanic which encouraged players to try new classes and characters.
 
I am toying with the mechanic at the moment in an emsemble/Dune-esque game.

Quote from: Lawbag;695363I think it would be interesting to have a game mechanic which encouraged players to try new classes and characters.
 
I am toying with the mechanic at the moment in an emsemble/Dune-esque game.

This goes beyond making sense to me.  Does the system track what you played before?  

Personally, when I start a new game, I start a new game.  Anything that tries to relate to the last game (or last character) would be blithely ignored.