How far do you go in developing your characters?

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 May 2009 Posts: 62

I'm thinking about setting up an online "paper trail" for some of them. Facebook accounts, having them look at shopping sites, setting up Amazon wish lists, etc. Would that be a good idea or not worth the time?

I would use all of that for when a mugu looks like he's going to twig, so I can reassure him he's dealing with a real person.

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 6:28 pm

Just my opinion, it would probably be a waste of time. Most of the lads don't do research on their "clients".

I usually only have the very basics of my character in mind when I start a bait; age, sex, intelligence, temperment etc. The rest I develop as the bait progresses.

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 6:32 pm

I have developed ony character with its one name, phone number, address, age, birth date and occupation. He has also his own facebook profile. And that is all. I have also about three, four characters but I have developed only birth year and name for them.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 14 May 2009 Posts: 62

Yep. I have three characters right now. One is a stripper in New Orleans, one is an old man in Chicago, and one is a lawyer in New Orleans (the stripper's lawyer). I haven't developed them extensively yet.

I'm working on two others, a rapper in Los Angeles and a drag queen in San Francisco, but I have to be very careful with my research on that last one. Some of the websites I end up on require major eye bleach Shocked

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:11 pm

My mentor gave me some good advice, write down the basics of each character, age, sex, location, maybe some details on what the character does, and temperament. Then as you develop each character, add these details to your character sheet. that way, you only need to look at the sheet to remember who you are so to speak. As for the rest, you are giving the lads way too much intelligence..

Don't over do it with the details, the lads should do all the work, not you...

V

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:15 pm

Luckily, lads are far too lazy to check up on vics - they don't see them as real people (that could risk empathy), just words that generate money...

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:16 pm

good info above.

I have quite a few characters i use for straight baits, most of them evolve as the bait goes on. usually i try to be harsh to the lads, but as we know some of them are sensitive so, at times, my character has to appear submissive.

on the other end of the spectrum, my M00seknuckle characters are pretty well set in their ways and for those baits we have the website and many other details incorporated to add realism to our fantasy world.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 09 Sep 2009 Posts: 44

I would say it is a waste of time, although I have only joined eater I have been baiting a while and I highly doubt any scammer would look you up.

Cap.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 09 Sep 2009 Posts: 44

I agree with VForVendetta1605 I have always done this.

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:57 pm

I use characters from fiction. I especially like the novels of Sinclair Lewis because he developed characters with catchy names (George Babbitt, Doremus Jessup, Adelaide Grimmitch) and they tend to be rubes in the American Midwest. They fit the profile of provincial suckers that lads prize and I doubt that many lads read early 20th Century American fiction.

The advantage of using literary characters is that they come with ready-made personas, backgrounds, and temperaments. And the supply is endless. Shakespeare is a treasure trove.

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 8:59 pm

Captain Hollister wrote:

I highly doubt any scammer would look you up.

It doesn't happen too often, but they have been known to google on occasion.

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 9:12 pm

Interesting approach to realistic baitong. I do have one character on facebook.

I don't want my characters to be typecast...

Years ago when I joined, we were advised not to work harder than the lad does. Wink

Welcome to Eater! Have fun baiting the way you want to do it. Very Happy

Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:55 pm

I tend to make it up as I go along.I have a certain basic background that I use,then fill in the details as required.Lads do Google names sometimes.One of my baiting names is G3orge P4tton.A few mails into it,he started using a middle initial of S,which was General P4ttons middle initial.I just ignored it and went on.Don't know exactly what he was up to there,but he must have been checking.

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:12 am

I have two characters that I use to bait the same guy. The ditzy middle aged housewife who screams "target", and her tech savvy (but unfortunately for lad COMPLETELY PSYCHOTIC) niece. I started out just swapping characters in yahoo messenger, but that didn't work. So I grabbed the details the fake name generator spat out, created a second account for niece and write as both. I also have a thrid charcter, niece's mother, but I just her to be killed off and leave inheritance to niece, dangling a carrot under the lad's sorry arse.

Today, said niece has just given a sever pasting over the fact he missed the 5imba shuttle. I was gonna try work out a reason for him to miss it, but in the end he did it for me, claiming he LEFT, an hour before the shuttle was supposed to turn up. i'd just like to say that the Niece character is in fine form Very Happy

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:21 am

Ooooooh, psychotic! I'm thinking of taking an angle like this for one of my characters. It might give me an excuse to hurl profanities around my emails.

I want to make my characters a little more three-dimensional, to hopefully get lads to trust me. I just started a new round of baits as a corrupt local politician - "We do need to keep this secret. I'm already caught up in a rather large public scandal. Personally, I think I can have sex with whomever I choose - I've earned that right as a public servant - but apparently some people (including my wife) don't see things that way."

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:30 am

@ Thylos.

Yeah, the psychotic angle is good! You can call your lad ALL SORTS of names to get him annoyed, and your character being psychotic is a way to justify it. My niece character is 19 and swears like a trooper, and today, the lad accidentally gave me a reason to seriously chew him out, despite the fact I got HIM to travel.

And I like the idea of your politician character a lot. You can make ALL KINDS of sick suggestions, solely to see if you can gross him out. That line from the Blues brothers springs to mind: "How much for the little girl"???

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 1:31 am

^^^I remember for a while folks were talking about characters with *Insert NSFW* turrets syndrome. That can make for some... fun.

Then there's the ever famous...

http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=158047&highlight=lolcat

That's right, the Lolcat bait. Thanks Sunshine. U can has inspurashion 4 us all.

How far do you go in developing your characters?	View next topic View previous topic