Gang Character Development

[big bad leetzy 6]

Credits to the respectful owners and creators of this great guide. Enjoy reading it!

Written & composed by Paxie and MrAwesome

REALISTIC GANG CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

This topic will serve as a tutorial on how to realistically develop your character around a gang, but some features could be applied to normal roleplay as well. While roleplaying in White Fence, we have noticed that a lot of players lack the knowledge of how to properly join and develop their characters. Some people are decent roleplayers, but still lack realism in their roleplay which hinders their process in joining White Fence. However do not be fooled as this isn’t a guide on how to join White Fence, but a guide on how to roleplay realistically in general and should be taken into consideration by everyone.

 

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DEVELOPING YOUR CHARACTER



While creating your character there are a lot of things you should take into consideration and iron out before you come and hang around a gang neighbourhood. Some people like to write what type of character they’re roleplaying and their traits down to avoid confusion further down the line because it is easy to forget, especially when you create a complex character. Something that people don’t understand is that you develop your character in game through real experiences, and that’s how you gain traits. You don’t just come with an already developed character - what’s the fun in that? Character development is something that happens over time and through REAL in game experiences which really gives roleplay a meaning, because other than that you are simply acting out a role as if it was an act. Some people may enjoy that, but personally I enjoy developing my characters from zero. Real in-game character development makes everything a lot more interesting because you will engage in many different and often unusual scenes which will make your character develop in different ways that you didn’t even expect when you started out. This is what is really interesting when it comes to roleplay. Obviously you can make up the character’s childhood and earlier life, but don’t go so in depth that there’s no more room for any new development to take place. Basically, your character should be a blank slate with a set of rules next to it. Follow the rules of the character and write on the slate as his/her life progresses.

 

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YOU ARE NOT YOUR CHARACTER



Something that infringes so many people is their OOC connection to their character and his or her assets. Something that needs to be stressed to the max is that you are not your character. What happens to your character should not enrage you, make you happy, or make you sad. Having no connection with your character leaves an unimaginable amount of space for things to happen realistically. Let’s put this into example.

Someone attached to their character is going to be enraged when their gun is taken, try to refute OOCly, and try to find ways to win. Basically playing to win.

Someone not attached to their character, and a gun is stolen, would instead think of ways their character might respond. Fearful of the new gunman or enraged that their property was stolen. It leaves a plethora of possibilities that can lead to interesting roleplay.

 

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CREATING YOUR CHARACTER



Like said in the last paragraph about you not being your character, you have to create a whole new identity for your character to separate yourself. Like mentioned previously, create your character with a blank slate and a set of rules to stick by when you start roleplaying.



APPEARANCE

Appearance isn’t as important when joining a gang, but being different than the others will be noticed. Having yourself 6’1 and 200 pounds at the age of 16 isn’t only not realistic, but it’s mainstream. Maybe roleplay being short, and as an effect, get triggered when people make fun of your shortness. Some unique visuals for a person could be; short, skinny, lazy eyed, freckles, curly hair, large ears, stout, broad shoulders, long neck, and so on. The key to making your character is have him/her be unique. As stressed, a Roman statue of rock solid abs and the average height doesn’t always cut it.



TRAITS

The single most important thing to guide your character are traits. Having issues and or imperfections with your character’s personality is an excellent way to show your uniqueness and your ability to think outside the box. Here are a few traits; absent minded, artistic, athletic, adventurous, ambitious, brave, bookworm, bored, clumsy, couch potato, computer knowledge, charismatic, childish, commitment issues, coward, disciplined, daredevil, diva, dramatic, easily impressed, eccentric, evil, excitable, friendly, frugal, flirty, genius, good, grumpy, heavy sleeper, hot-headed, hydrophobe, hopeless romantic, insane, inappropriate, irresistible, light sleeper, loner, loser, lucky, mean, mooch, neurotic, neat, night owl, no sense of humor, nurturing, perceptive, party animal, perfectionist, proper, rebellious, slob, shy, snob, schmoozer, social, socially awkward, technophobe, unlucky, unstable, unflirty, virtuoso, vegetarian, vehicle enthusiast, workaholic.

 

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APPROACHING A GANG



If you’re trying to realistically develop your character into a gang member, you should roleplay that you’re from around the neighbourhood where the gang resides. A gang doesn’t want you to come up to them and say something like “hello i am looking for some friends to do illegal stuff with” Start off at an young age and roleplay simply being a teenager from around the hood and being dragged into the life. DO NOT ROLEPLAY A 25 YEAR OLD. In real life, gang members don’t survive their twenties. They either end up in prison or killed, or as street legends and high up in the gang.



Simply hang around the hood, show activity and most importantly CREATE ROLEPLAY. If all you do is stand around and /lean 1 or /dealstance, you will never be initiated into the faction. Gangs look for you to show character development. It may take longer for you to fully develop yourself into a true gangster if you start off from a young age, but believe me, it is worth it when you finally do. Fuck all of that /me is a well known gangster bullshit. If you actually develop your character properly, people WILL KNOW you are a gangster and fear you. There’s no fun in just being a badass off the bat. Roleplay fear accordingly when rival gang members come by, and be scared of people inside the gang you’re trying to join. I’m not saying you should roleplay a total pussy and stutter (which some people do and it’s cool), but remember that your character so far is literally a NOBODY.



If you see a group of outsiders, and a group of ragged members CLEARLY talking about some important business, don’t just walk up to them and start talking. Let them do their business. Instead, go and create roleplay with the other outsiders. Befriend other outsiders and roleplay proper relationships with them. Often you’ll see people standing about bored not really doing much, so change that. Ragged members WILL notice you creating roleplay for others and it will be appreciated. Later on in the topic we will have a section dedicated to ideas on how to create roleplay.



An important aspect to be considered when joining a gang is that you are POOR. You come from a poor income area and that is WHY you get dragged into the life - to make money. Don’t come around the hood owning a car at the age of 16. 16 years olds don’t have money. As you age you can roleplay getting a job at the local Pizza Stack or something and slowly introduce money into your roleplay, or make money off selling drugs once you get put on by a big homie. DO NOT PULL UP IN A SULTAN OR A HUNTLEY OR A FULLY PIMPED OUT SAVANNA. I don’t really care how you roleplay it, but it’s stupid either way. Roleplay making your money, being a hustler and all grinding that $$$ - buying your first car is a pretty big milestone in your character’s life.

DO NOT USE FIREARMS. Only use firearms once you have been introduced to them IC’ly and initiated into the faction. Your character may have to start packing 24/7 and carrying, but that should be your character’s decision to do that after for example being shot up by rival gangs daily. One of the big homies should teach you how to use a gun, but even if you get taught how to use one you shouldn’t start using them UNTIL YOU HAVE BEEN OFFICIALLY INITIATED INTO THE FACTION OR GAIN PERMISSION. Personally as a Captain in Varrio White Fence 13, when I know someone is about to get initiated and we have to kill someone, I make the outsider take their life and watch how they roleplay the effects of taking a human life. I had an outsider roleplay developing an addiction to nicotine and start chain smoking cigarettes after I made him end the life of a guy who snitched on him and nearly got him arrested. That’s the sort of roleplay that is wanted.



There is a BIG difference between carrying a gun, and murdering someone in cold blood.



After hanging around the gang for a while and being introduced to it’s many different activities, you will know when you’re considered an outsider. You may get /hire’d or not, it depends on the faction you’re trying to join. In Varrio White Fence 13, you can consider yourself an official outsider when you get put on with drugs to sell for the gang - but you will not get /hire’d until you are ragged. This is not the case with all gangs as some /hire outsiders, so it all depends.



Once you get your name known around the neighbourhood and the ragged members know who you are, your character should always be trying to prove you’re down for the hood. THIS DOES NOT MEAN ATTACKING EVERYONE WHO STEPS FOOT INSIDE THE NEIGHBOURHOOD. Even though gang neighbourhoods are dangerous in real life, it's not really like that. In real life, a lot of people live in gang neighbourhoods but may not be affiliated with the gang - that doesn't mean they should get beaten up or threatened whenever they walk around. Even if they're not in the gang, they're still FROM THE HOOD which warrants them respect. In fact, a lot of people who manage to not fall into the life and get out of the hood are respected. If you were in a gang in real life, you'd still have friends in the hood who aren't in the gang. If you live in the hood, no one from the gang there should fuck with you unless you cause problems. It's stupid.



Outsiders are slowly being induced into the faction, and this is where your relations matter a lot with the ragged members. If ragged members trust you and think you’re capable enough, they will recommend for you to get jumped in. If you cause beef and fuck up and just stand around not really doing anything, you will never get initiated. Outsiders know the gang and throw up the set even though they’re not affiliated with it YET. To progress in the faction, the most important part is creating roleplay for everyone else. That’s how you get noticed - not by leaning around and saying “Word.’ when someone creates conversation. Another VERY IMPORTANT thing is posting screenshots. Post nice looking screenshots if there’s no higher ups to roleplay with you and notice your roleplay. Higher ups are constantly looking for you to develop your character and pick up traits.



EVEN IF YOU'RE IN A GANG, YOU'RE STILL A NORMAL PERSON



Gangsters don't commit crime 24/7. They're normal people, just like me and you and do normal people shit like go out and eat, hang out with their friends, play video games, have hobbies. This is very important and brings up another point that I mentioned earlier, that you should become friends with other outsiders and develop relationships with them just as you would in real life. You should often do things with them separately rather than hang out in a huge group.

 

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ROLEPLAY ACTIVITES



Burglaries
Burglaries, trying to sell the stolen items through roleplay scenarios.
Steal items from vehicles, also may and try to sell them.
Gamble, roll dices.
Initiate a block / houseparty, get drunk / high / whatever with the group.
Tag.
Weight lifting, you can turn your surroundings into a Disney land with /do, if you're creative enough, there don't always have to be visible objects for it / there are also Gym's nearby.
Modify your vehicle, through detailed roleplay instead of just going to a vehicle garage and /mod, get creative with it. Maybe even get turning parts from other vehicles by stealing and them install them on yours.
Roleplaying a dog for your character or other pets
If your character is still at school, roleplay doing homework
Doing chores at home for your parents
Nightmares
Rap battle eachother, just cause you don't know how to rap IRL, don't mean you shouldn't try it with your character, it's called development.
Play games (video games, dice)
Watch TV
Family issues
Mealing, get together with the homies for a home-cooked meal, maybe even RP cooking it.
Tattooing, instead of just putting tattoos on your body with /appearance, /me's, /ame's or /do's, roleplay tattooing them.
Take drugs
Roleplay an addiction
Drink
Social media
Memorials, his could include lots of RP such as buying coronas and pouring half out for homies, or throwing shoes onto telephone lines to signify that someone's died on that street.
BMX tricks at a skate park
Medical issues like mentioned previously in this guide
Play basketball
Music videos, if your character is with the right background, musically, why not RP by doing a music video for it, record it and upload it as a In Character video.

[Copa Cabana 264]

A very great guide.

[ani4real 172]

epic 

[frostyworks 43]

When making new threads and pasting stuff inside you should also consider the readability for dark themes.

[west. 59]

Love the thread, good job.

[FroxZ 64]

1 hour ago, west. said:

Love the thread, good job.