I'll go into this saying I'm not just a little into Typology -- I'm
really into it. So my link will be a little bit different than all the rest.
Type: ENFPThoughts: I am undeniably an ENFP. In my adolescent years I'd often test as an ESFP, but in the way of tests these things have a tendency to rely on behaviorism, which can cause people at a lower level of growth, people with a pointed lack of self-awareness or people with certain backgrounds and motivations to test poorly. As I've grown older, I've tested ENFP consistently. For me that is just right, but it isn't always so with others, for some of the reasons I've already listed.
Thus, I've learned to think of the sixteen types less in the Meyers-Briggs sense and more in the tradional Jungian sense. Personality types are about the way we tend to prioritize thought. They do not account for the content of our lives. They can be an incredible tool for those who seek to know themselves. And even for the dubious (looking at you Eideen) they can be an wonderful way to construct well-rounded fictional characters.
I swear, I'm going to make a vlog on this one day.
Anyway, roleplay is in part about possibilities, right? In other words, it is about exploring the butterfly effect that your character's actions might have on others and the world.
Well, the dominant function of an ENFP is their Ne, or their Extraverted Intuition. Ne tends to look at all the disparate aspects of things as seperate but related. It is divergent thinking. My thoughts are often like a mind map or graphic organizer, tumbling over one another as I realize all the implications that a single thing might have and further, how these implications may relate to other, unforseen events and possibilities. In this, you can see the attraction to roleplaying. I want to see how my choices unfold. It's addicitive to me.
Then, the auxillary function of an ENFP is their Fi, or Introverted Feeling. It is a judging function by which they first develop standards of behavior that
make sense to them -- it is only later that they measure the world by those standards. Fi creates a person who values subjective meaning and who values the expression of the single over the many. It may very well endow a person with the intense desire to know and understand others on an intimate level, in their quest to study the human condition. So what better way then, to write characters and watch them as they grow and change?
I also believe it is my Fi that compels me to create characters that are very individual, but perhaps without crossing over into special snowflake territory. For what it's worth though, when I was younger I crossed that line and
often. Ever heard of a half-tiefling, half-dryad with heterochromia? One blue eye and one gold. Looking back, it's a little embarassing.
and what is a half tiefling anywayOn the lower half of my function stack, I have Te, also know as Extraverted Thinking. It is my tertiary function however and this position in the stack is the one that all people to go a little bit overboard with. What that means is that I tend to take on a lot of projects all at once and loathe to be perceived as anything short of a workaholic, even if it takes a toll on my life. I do this in my roleplaying here on Mizahar like anywhere else. Five characters and a staff account? Sure! I once did that and had two jobs. Only three threads at a time? Psh, bring em on! I can handle it all. No problem! Wait, are those tears or sweat?
Finally, the repressed function. Glorious Si, or Introverted Sensation. Our repressed function tends to be the thing that our dominant function leans on too heavily, causing us to struggle with it. We can use it and often do, but it is in essence, our love/hate aspect.
Introverted sensation is the perception of solid reality as it relates to the self. It deals with memory, ritual, organization and visual symbolism. It can be fantastic in that it endows me with a lot of visual creativity. It works hand in hand with my Ne too, in that it turns me into a sort of codebreaker -- Ne runs through possibilities while Si uses real world experiences to determine what is most likely to be true or what is most likely to work. But then it bites me in the ass in that I loathe routine and suffer from such a dearth of organization that it drives me absolutely insane.
It is the common sense function too, in that it is the thing that reminds you for example, that running warm water over a stuck jar lid is more sensible say, wrenching your arm out of the socket trying to get it open. You remember that it works, that you've done it before even and then you go and do it. So having this repressed means I have moments of incredibly good sense... And then suddenly display an astonishing lack of sense altogether.
As it relates to roleplaying, I'd say that it shows up in quests and threads a lot. I get literally stuck sometimes not knowing where to take things next, because Si is short-circuiting and my mind is overwhelmed with too many possibilties, with nothing to hold them fast. It is also responsible for the fact that I hate the minutae of administration. There, I said it.
Anyway, I'm pleasantly surprised to see the diversity in this thread! If anyone wants me to do a video on the functions and how they relate to character building, I'd be more than happy to. It's a subject I've dedicated a lot of study to.
I’m also a generalist at heart and hence the reason why I diversify so much in my character’s skills.
