Character feedback: Preston Prestoff

hey!

i've played preston prestoff for a while (years of being on and off) here and i've debated postin' one of these for a while.

just curious, what's everyone think?

here's the doodle i did for his flavor text, he's the blue-pompadoured quartemaster/visitor.

Preston is the last bastion of cool in a world devoid of hipness. I would die for Preston and his designer jacket and boots.

Alittle too cool really

Preston's just one of those guys everyone stumbles into at some point. He's gregarious and good at making friends with literally everyone. You actually can't hate him. I refuse to think it's possible.

He's gregarious and good at making friends with literally everyone. You actually can't hate him. I refuse to think it's possible.

Alittle too cool really

Preston is the last bastion of cool in a world devoid of hipness.

In terms of genuine feedback, I'd more or less need to just provide an amalgamation of this, with all the ups and downs it provides.

Playing a character that represents an archetype is incredibly dangerous, because it poses the risk of being obnoxious and detached from a serious roleplay effort. When someone's character can be boiled down to 'cool', 'flirtatious', 'rebellious', 'Martian', 'religious fanatic', or anything like that, it means that any attempts at withdrawing genuine reactions to the stations events will always be met with a kind of 'stock response', often completely inappropriate for a realistic individual.

Preston does not do this, but I'd argue that he comes dangerously close. If you did not do such a good job of roleplaying fear, I'd say that Preston was would be almost a caricature, especially from his name and appearance. But from what I've seen of it, you present the veneer of coolness as just that - a veneer. An aspect of the character, rather than him being a character of the aspect. This is a very admirable trait, and I'm impressed when I see it.

If there is one point I'm concerned about, it's your OOC relation to your character. Bear in mind I say 'concerned' rather than 'opposed to', because having a deep connection to your character in of itself is not wrong. But your icon is your character. From my understanding, he is the primary, perhaps only, character that you play. I believe you were the wizard 'Grand Pompadour' a couple of days ago. When cyborgified, your cyborg name was 'Presley'. People generally do that when they want to present an idealised version of themselves into the gameworld, and this in itself poses several difficulties, primarily that we hate losing in real life. So if we hate losing, and our character represents us, then we will take every step not to lose as our character, to always come out on top. Yet, again, this does not seem to be the case with Preston. Despite setting off so many red flags, you have managed to keep your characters actions under control (at least from what I've seen).

Therefore, I'd summarise with: Preston Prestoff is by no means an excellent character, at least in so far as the immediately obvious. Their very outwards presentation feels cartoonish, with their name and appearance giving the impression of a joke character by creation. But you, as a player, do an excellent job of representing them to the best of your ability, and strengthening them with a strong 'backbone' to the character which allows people to forgive his eccentric exterior. He is presented with weaknesses, flaws, strengths, and an actual personality that you purposely allow to shine through. Continue to keep a firm grip on your character, on your role within the story, and I think that Preston is a very well done character which subverts expectations of a strong character.

As above. The very notion that the character is not perfect, but rather 'flawed', is the very reason I find Prestoff as a bit of a roguish scoundrel yet still interesting.

Preston is slowly becoming one of my favorites on station, and it isn't because of his "troupe." I actually developed a bit more respect for him during that wizard round where he thought he only had 3 days to live. I didn't expect Preston to have a backstory that interesting, and it was so subtle yet well played off that I'm kinda excited to see where that goes.

He's, from what I get, shallow on the surface, but rather deep on the inside. I'd like to see it as Preston's defense mechanism. He acts a little conceited and aloof on the outside to kinda shadow off who he is on the inside. It's a common thing people do, and it's not one we see done a lot on the Aurora. Whether this is the players intent is beyond me.

So, he's a character you actually HAVE to build a relationship with to see the full potential of him. It's realistic, and people are quick to judge a book by it's cover if the cover isn't giant flashing lights describing what it's about. This is what makes Preston realistic, IMHO.

yes, he has a gimmick. Everyone gets so salty over the "blue rose" or "snowflake" concept, but I'd like to point out that making a character different from others, and yet is still highly plausible doesn't make him a blue rose. Everyone's unique. Everyone has a talent, a trait, a hobby, a job, a family and a crap ton of fears.

So, from the outside, he's a cool dude that likes his looks a little too much and can be wrote off as a gimmick. Actually sitting down with him and managing to get Preston to open up reveals he's got some actual lore behind him, and it's worth the hassle to dig out.

Constructive criticism?

I'm not one to actually tell someone their character concept is flawed (unless your name is Big Mama and you're a "fat African American cook" who uses piss poor southern ghetto slang and just gives me piles thinking about it. Yes, this existed. Yes, it made me salty). . I don't see it as my place, because I know for a FACT that my characters need work, Just like everyone elses.

He gets a +1.

I'm not one to actually tell someone their character concept is flawed (unless your name is Big Mama and you're a "fat African American cook" who uses piss poor southern ghetto slang and just gives me piles thinking about it. Yes, this existed. Yes, it made me salty). . I don't see it as my place, because I know for a FACT that my characters need work, Just like everyone elses.

OT, but, I remember this. I also recall being irritated at seeing such a 'concept' that was thought up by someone who thought it was really original to design such a character.

You're not really alone there.

thank you all for the really insightful, well thought-out feedback! it means a lot to me to see that the finer points of the character aren't being missed, and that the community is willing to engage in this sort of character analysis for a character who'd probably hurt himself trying to think about what the word analysis even means.

i did wanna hop in and reply a bit:

If there is one point I'm concerned about, it's your OOC relation to your character.

i'm actually really glad you bring this up; i don't have a lot of opportunities to explain what the hell preston even is.

my ooc relationship with preston is... bizarre. i've been playing the character for close to 4 years now - a lot of the nuances that he gets praise for, i can't really say i'm really any good at writing it in from the get-go, it's just that i've had a lot of time to develop his character. i definitely don't put enough time into developing other characters. after playing someone like preston, it's pretty hard to switch to anyone less social. preston rounds never bore me because people rope him into everything.

as far as idealized self-inserts go, i'd like to think i'm nothing like preston. my personal hobbies are things he'd dismiss, his personal hobbies i'd never get into, he looks good clean-shaven and i look better with a 5 o'clock shadow. he's got a bad case of runaway vanity while i don't have enough shame to stop me from driving to taco bell at 3 am in my boxers and an ugly shirt. jokes aside, i don't mind the identity of "that guy who plays preston," because that makes me easy to recognize, but it's safe to say preston isn't simply me with blue hair. the only quality about preston i really wish i had was the fulfilling job and actual stakes in a life and career greater than "pay bills or you die," but that speaks more about the auroraverse than him.

with all this development and definite attachment, here's the actually weird part: preston is my favorite character to see lose. he is, after all, the textbook definition of a ling or vampire victim, and watching someone leverage his weaknesses against him is really fun. since most antag actions are non-canon, i like taking the opportunity to explore his weaknesses and his response to trauma. even when people say something awful about preston - it's usually something i agree with. he's not a saint.

i'm really amazed at how much this thread has picked up already, and again, i love seeing that people do think about the character! this feedback is all great so far and really reinforces where i want to go with this character and any others.

Working with Preston as Rowan or Xichi has been nothing short of a delight, and honestly, your ability to RP this character is admirable. He's consistent. He's got a defined personality. You don't meta his relationships with other characters based on non-canon rounds (IE: Still seeing Rowan as a good pal and great worker despite her antaggy actions in prior rounds). He feels very real.

He reminds me of when I played Wynter: on the surface, people cry snowflake because of the way he looks, as if dyed hair is some sort of unrealistic thing. And the people that avoid him for that are missing out on a really good and fun character.

I don't have any criticisms on him, but I'd be happy to point out where you can improve if I see a way for you to do so. For now, my advice is to just keep doing how you're doing. He's definitely a fave.

Preston is like Han Solo but actualy cool. His character flaws and insecuritys that he hides under a style of cool are quite intresting