This is a guide for those who may struggle to come up with a character to enhance role-play within the server. It will contain a few ideas which would appeal to those struggling to think of a character that would fit under the lines of "serious roleplay", including what name should be chosen. Names are quite important with characters, for example Mario is a jolly Italian man and Rodger Moore is a man who wiggles his eyebrows a lot when he talks which communicates that he's either a well spoken Englishman, or a bit dodgy.
By now you're wondering where you'd get inspiration for characters. The answer to that question is from your own imagination. Imagine you're an old man, late sixties and served in the Marines during the Vietnam war. You're an old veteran who's seen some shit hit the fan and you've been injured in battle and you smoked and drank a lot during the war. Recently, you've moved into Paralake.
Still struggling? Go watch a film, play a few games, watch TV or perhaps a book. Maybe you could look up some historic events (Vietnam war for example) and think of someone. Generally, my characters originated from media such as video games. Snake Pliskin being an obvious reference to Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid games, or Johnny Price being an inspiration from Captain Price from Call of Duty Modern Warfare.
When roleplaying characters, it is important to have a personality. My characters such as Snake Pliskin or Johnny Price were more combat focused as their roots from where their inspiration is from involved combat, and were militaristic. Alternatively, Luigi Bolognese was not a "combat character" and sported an accent that would resemble the portrayal of Luigi of the eighties Super Mario Bros Super Show.
In order to fully enhance your character, adjust your voice to what you'd imagine them to sound like. My characters that were inspired from media were accompanied with impressions of thier voice, Luigi Bolognese sporting a heavy Brooklyn accent that would resemble his portrayal in the television cartoon series of Super Mario Bros. Snake Pliskin also was re-imagined within PERP with an impression of David Hayter's portrayal of Snake.
At the end of the day, role play is acting. Here are some useful links which would help you enhance your character.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/guides/z3c2yrd/revision
