Thoughts on SL Role Playing

I don't claim to be any expert on SL RP, but I do feel I have some useful advice to pass along. Currently I play at The Lands of the Wheel of Time which is based on the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. I've proposed leading some RP workshops for our players, and here are some of my thoughts so far which I plan to cover in said workshops.

Today I'm going to blab about:

Your character isn't Superman, nor does he/she have to be in order to be fun and interesting.
I think a lot of people fixate on the idea that what makes their character fun is having a myriad of special abilities, back story, family ties, etc. There will always be characters with special abilities, relations to royalties, rare races, bla bla bla BUT I find many people go overboard trying to make their character outlandishly special instead of focusing on the simple things that make a character interesting. If everyone at the sim filled their character profiles with all kinds of special things would it really be that special? If I couldn't throw a prim rock without hitting a wolf brother or Wilder who could Foretell wouldn't it be rather... I dunno... obnoxious? It like a movie full of nothing but explosions. Hey, I like a big explosion now and then. But where is the content? Where is the plot? It's just not fun anymore.

So with that in mind, how do you simplify a character but make them still fun? Time to really grill down into what makes your character tick. What are their likes and dislikes and WHY? Why do they act the way they do? What are their strengths and weaknesses? And on that note, PLAY your weaknesses, they will instantly make your character more interesting. A weakness doesn't mean your character IS weak. Is your character insane, ultra religious, laid back, a perfectionist or snob? Do they follow the letter of the law, completely disregard it, break the law for certain reasons but are generally law abiding? Do they have a grudge against a particular person or group of people and why? Are they afraid of magic, oblivious to it, curious about it? Have they done something, or do they currently do something, they are ashamed of? Why did they do it and what effect does that have on them? Do they have something they wish to achieve before they die?

I could go on and on, but as you can see there are plenty of things that can make a character interesting without giving them an unbalanced specialty.