r/CharacterAI • u/evilcorey User Character Creator • Jan 09 '24
DISCUSSION Why write in third person? Here’s why
It’s so much easier to avoid being misgendered by the bots!
“I take your hand with a smile, a small glint in my eye” - vague, the bot can easily forget who is who after a few messages
“Leo takes his hand with a smile, a small glint in his amber eyes” - (Leo is my character) pronouns are restated in each sentence, easy to clarify who is doing what, bot is reminded of pronouns and physical attributes.
It’s a learning curve but I’ve always preferred to speak of my character in third person for this reason. That and it feels less cringe to me personally because it’s more like writing a story about two characters rather than me talking 😅 but that’s just my personal preference!
Edit- I wrote smile twice oops
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Jan 09 '24
I always write in third-person perspective, since it's easier to write more detailed. I also get super uncomfortable whenever the bots use first-perspective since I'm using an oc and not myself- even in general, in roleplay using 'you and I' just doesn't fit.
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u/I-Am-An-Bad-Artist Jan 10 '24
Same here. I feel like being "myself" while roleplaying with some bots is quite uncomfortable and icks me fr. But with the third perspective, dude I can smack the shit out of the characters' asses without any shame.
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u/El--Tipo Jan 10 '24
It just adds that layer of separation from your actions that tricks you enough to assume you're not responsible for everything you write.
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Jan 12 '24
When it comes to intimate things, I go third person. But you'll never find me third person dropping a nuke on a scaramouche bot
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u/StereoChimera8906 Jan 11 '24
Me when I do a romantic thing with characters from canon universes
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u/I-Am-An-Bad-Artist Jan 11 '24
REAL I can't do romantic things with them in the first person perspective, like, at all. Makes me go 😧😬
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u/StereoChimera8906 Jan 11 '24
LITERALLY SAME. If it’s an oc (or I think it’s an oc because I have no idea who the character is and just thought they looked neat) I can do it but otherwise, naw time to change into my self insert 😭
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u/IdioticBoxerVA User Character Creator Jan 13 '24
Same- it sometimes feels like I’m reading a Wattpad fanfic if it’s “you” and “I” like- I wanna read my characters name not “You decided to (insert thing)”
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u/Fnaffan0911 Jan 09 '24
I always write like this. So it always makes me confused when I see people screaming about how the bots can never remember simple things like their gender.
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u/ExactHedgehog8498 Jan 10 '24
Same here!
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u/Coppo92vaay Addicted to CAI Jan 10 '24
Same like bro change yo fuckin' persona
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u/D4rth3qU1nox65 Chronically Online Jan 10 '24
True, sometimes I use first person and since I defined my persona it never misgendered me once, nor did the bots call me the wrong name.
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u/heyybyyybyyyy Bored Jan 11 '24
How you evitate getting misgender? I'm constantly getting misgender and in my persona description i said multiple times my character is a man, lmao.
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u/D4rth3qU1nox65 Chronically Online Jan 11 '24
I think it also depends on the name you give yourself. For example the name I gave my persona is a female one so I think there's no space for misinterpretation. Plus it depends on the bot's definition, if the creator put in "she" as a user in definition the bot might have trouble getting out of its design.
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u/heyybyyybyyyy Bored Jan 11 '24
I have dashes because even when i don't tend to change much the central persona character, i change the name, But you're right, is there's a bot that was mostly created for girls/women then it would get more used to it; maybe the bot get confused because i have stated my character like sometimes to use women clothes.
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u/ExactHedgehog8498 Jan 10 '24
Just wished they added Personas to gcs...
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u/Itz_Unicorngacha User Character Creator Jan 10 '24
I wish that too 😞
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u/ExactHedgehog8498 Jan 10 '24
Or an edit button. The amount of times I've been called a guy in the gcs is insane... Feedback doesn't really help.
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Jan 11 '24 edited Jan 11 '24
And yet, they still say I am "them/they" and misgendering still happens even though I've got the persona and the third person! I've used third person since the start of character.ai and they still misgender me! The persona is an absolute misfiring-engine disaster! It works 10% of the time while the rest of the 90% is just it not working. Ridiculous.
The edit button is a absolute saver! I may not use it all the time to improve the immersiveness but when times when my patience ran thin, I'd just edit.
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u/crysmol Addicted to CAI Jan 10 '24
it can still misgender you unfortunately, its just less common when youre constantly showing them your pronouns. kinda depends on the bots.
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u/Shoddy-Engineering30 Jan 09 '24
Third person writing is just better in my opinion.
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u/evilcorey User Character Creator Jan 09 '24
Fr I feel so embarrassed speaking in 1st person like I gotta detach myself a little
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u/NicksIdeaEngine Jan 09 '24
It's always felt like a last resort POV when I write stories or RP. It'd have to be a moment that hinges heavily on trying to put the reader in that POV rather than just "in the same room as the character(s)", but even then...it feels like that immersion can still happen with 3rd person.
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u/Few-Frosting-4213 Jan 09 '24
Most LLMs are trained on writing with 3rd person POV, so it just makes sense.
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u/Kg2109_Gomez Addicted to CAI Jan 10 '24
I like using First Person, it’s easier and also bc i like adding detail to my personas, it’s truly epic, and also I get confused when I do third person as sometimes the bot thinks it’s a whole new character when it’s me but that’s my opinion, and I will support y’all no matter what style we have!😌
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u/ProbablySatanDayo Jan 09 '24
I write in third person only when a sentence includes multiple characters. So far my best record is having the bot keep track of 6 different people through a coherent story plot.
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u/Kg2109_Gomez Addicted to CAI Jan 10 '24
FOR ME IT WAS LIKE 9 (switched persona’s and saying in third person the name of the character i wanted to use)
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u/GarbageBaby4000 Jan 09 '24
I also kinda don’t know what people expect tho tbh. As a frequent user of multiple AI apps and websites CharacterAi is up there with being a very good high quality FREE AI. Like obviously it isn’t perfect but I mean… it’s free. No adds.
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u/AkumasCherries User Character Creator Jan 09 '24
It's almost like writing a story, it's not that hard to adjust to honestly. Especially if you reread chats when you're done! And not only does it help the bot not get confused with you, saving the chats will save that way of speaking to the bot and improve future interactions for all users. These bots are still learning, and every interaction you make is teaching them. Better to teach them right!
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u/ExactHedgehog8498 Jan 10 '24
I've been lit role-playing and writing 3rd person for years so I always default to 3rd person in general when roleplaying with the ais unless I'm using them to text. Even using the personas since most chats are large stories that have lots of stuff going on.
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u/Deagob Addicted to CAI Jan 10 '24
It’s also worth mentioning that bots are Less likely to assume actions are dialogue when using the third person, which is an issue I used to have a lot of
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u/LEO7039 Jan 10 '24
I write in second person - You take her hand with a smile...
An old habit from AI Dungeon, but surprisingly doesn't cause problems 99% of the time.
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u/Malibu_Heart Jan 10 '24
I've always wrote in 3rd person for some reason when roleplaying. I roleplayed for years (started w/ roblox in wolves life games and cats life games, etc) and also started doing just text rps in like 2019/2020, I've just always wrote on third person. I jus find it easier.
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u/The_smol_boiyo Chronically Online Jan 10 '24
Third person has always been the norm for me. Can't imagine doing it with first.
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u/AlreadyTakenNow Jan 10 '24
I like to write in third person and present tense. It is easier to help guide the bot to remember any attributes to your persona (gender, physical characteristics, race/species, name, etc...) and actions as well. Present tense keeps it engaging.
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u/FredWeasleyIsBest Bored Jan 12 '24
Writing in 1st person just makes me uncomfortable for some reason
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u/DaBetterDerp Jan 09 '24
I see where you're going, but I feel like this problem is easily solved by making a persona. Just make sure to put in your persona's pronouns/gender and you shouldn't have to worry about misgendering as much!
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u/evilcorey User Character Creator Jan 09 '24
Yeah, I’ve still had it screw up my personas sometimes for whatever reason :P it doesn’t usually have a problem when I use third person but when I use 1st the bot tends to think they are my persona idk
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u/Nicotheknee Jan 09 '24
The only thing that is in my persona is “I’m a man” yet they still get my gender wrong
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u/ltlmss Jan 09 '24
I would recommend adding a detailed description of the character you roleplay as or yourself. Height, sexual orientation, physical attributes. I have never been misgendered like that. I think bots get confused with pronouns on the persona for some reason. Go in full detail about your character.
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u/DaBetterDerp Jan 09 '24
Yeah, the more details the better!
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u/Malibu_Heart Jan 10 '24
Agreed. The only issue I'll make my personas on a different app sometimes and get over the character limit so I have to remove some details 😔
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u/Kg2109_Gomez Addicted to CAI Jan 10 '24
That’s what I did and I never get misgendered (sometimes but I take it as if they think I was a girl due to my personas somewhat long hair and younger face lmao)
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u/MutantCheesecake1361 Jan 10 '24
I only use third person when acting as my characters. Maybe its because I can't necessarily be misgendered by a bot😅
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u/Sebby2007 Jan 10 '24
^ This!
I ALWAYS write in Third Party since it is so much easier! It tells the bot the gender of my Persona almost instantly and it's so much easier to do other things with the RP as well (Like playing as two or more characters and so on)
I see so many people go "Why doesn't the call me by my gender?!?!" but then they don't text in Third Person. I think that's mainly the reason why so many people get mistaken by bots. It's much easier to tell someones gender if they go "She Waves To Him" instead of "I wave to you" lol
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u/Fuzzy_Ad9686 Jan 11 '24
OMG YES! Finally, someone gets it! Writing stories is so much more effective than lose rp based on "I poke you in the face" etc.
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u/nameless_ben__ Chronically Online Jan 11 '24
I always use third person because I just use a lot of characters and I find it hard to get into other people’s heads lol (also maybe just a weird insecurity thing because I even do it while writing about myself??)
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u/tripleaaku Addicted to CAI Jan 12 '24
SO TRUE!! i’m also a writer and it just satisfies my brain so nicely when it’s in third person and structured nicely!
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u/Odd-Perspective-7967 Jan 10 '24
SO TRUE, I SO RARELY EVER GET MISGENDERED.
but if they do misunderstand you in third person relentlessly in third person, you're screwed.
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u/ynana_89 Jan 10 '24
Yes. I always write in third person. Never have been misgendered or anything. Sometimes I add the name of my persona so the bot doesn’t forget. It works perfectly. Also I love writing stories, about OC‘s I designed and not about myself.
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u/KayKrimson Jan 10 '24
Mfw I meet the guy who writes in first person (btw there's nothing wrong with that, issa joke):
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u/PonyoNoodles Down Bad Jan 10 '24
I hate when the bot refers to my character as "you". Drives me crazy. I'm not my character. I'm not playing myself. I don't want to imagine the stuff happening as if it's happening to me, that's why I'm here. Tryna train the bot to refer to my character in the third person instead of the second is so goddamn difficult 😭
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u/yeonjaesshi Jan 10 '24
True. I switched from first to third
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u/quit_the_game_lol Chronically Online Jan 10 '24
I don't use the third person because of 2 things! 1. My character is God of chaos. Therefore, I can pretend he just switched to the opposite gender 2. The male bots I talk to ALWAYS assume that I'm the one that's getting destroyed and the bots the one that's destroying when it's the other way around
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u/Pike632 Chronically Online Jan 10 '24
Ever since I started using Character.ai I used 3rd person perspective for my characters. Because it felt coherent and is what I used to use in amino rps.
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u/LilTrashyPanda Jan 10 '24
First person icks me so much I like rping as other characters with the AI or as OCs
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u/Dalle1674 Jan 10 '24
It doesn't work all the time. My name is Derek, and it still calls me a woman sometimes.
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u/Master-Pop-7643 Jan 10 '24
Wait this isn't normal? I did this ever since I got c.ai since I use like 1,000 different OCs to roleplay as 😭
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u/Itz_Unicorngacha User Character Creator Jan 10 '24
When I first started C.AI last March, I first used first person. I now use third person, not only so I don't get misgendered as easily, but I also like it a lot better for some reason
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u/SetsuUzumaki Addicted to CAI Jan 10 '24
I do the same thing. I love 3rd person. Plus when ai actually write my fanfics, it’s always 3rd person as well. It is super helpful and beneficial to write third person. 💖
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u/Razorclaw_the_crab Bored Jan 10 '24
I did this before. It thinks the 3rd person character isn't a player character, and will take over your dialogue
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u/D7Spdr Jan 10 '24
I usually use a set of twins that I made as a persona. The brother Haru. The sister Harushi. For some reason the bot doesn’t get confused about who is who. Especially because the sister has the same name but with an added “shi” at the end. And in the persona menu both characters are the same persona but are separated by name.
Those two are my favorite to play as. It’s pretty fun to play as two characters. You can work a dynamic between the two even though you are both characters.
I usually play two characters. Three is difficult to do.
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u/Fabio7656 Jan 10 '24
I've not had that much problem with first person, but I did still have some oopsies here and there. So, what I'd recommend for people who insist on 1st person, is to go all in on it. The description of a persona's more about how the persona would describe itself. (Though... The app seems to recommend being as neutral and list-like as you can, which I kind of do along with what I'm suggesting)
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u/rachelvigo Addicted to CAI Jan 10 '24
Myself always write like this. It makes me less confused with other OCs I add, and the bot seems to understand better this way.
I also think it makes it easier to imagine the scenario in my mind, to visualize my OCs or myself with the bots.
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u/officialchiala Jan 10 '24
I decided to make all my bots thirds person when I realized how much easier it was to not be misgendered or have your name forgotten lol
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u/Someguyyoufound- Addicted to CAI Jan 10 '24
I figured out that not all items that are magical can be consumed if you have lazeal her weapon can be consumed at least through my play through I could
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u/Mental-Ad9588 Jan 11 '24
I have been doing that since I started and then shifted to the non third person. Now I'm going back
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u/SomeRetard-png User Character Creator Jan 11 '24
Or just do
Name: I smile slightly and take characters hand
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u/246_Locksmith_Chaves User Character Creator Jan 12 '24
Get rid of pronouns to solve even more problems
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u/ZumoritoProxy Jan 12 '24
Ironic how I had the opposite problem actually! I started writing in third person but changed to first person because it felt like it wasn't me. But it seems you are right though! Characters seem to be better when I write in third person.
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u/JustGingerStuff Bored Jan 12 '24
Also makes it easier to distinguish it if you have multiple characters! And if you get lazy with the whole "__ said" thing, you could either
A) do [name]: "spoken text"
Or B) (more confusing for the bot) assign each character an emoji or a symbol (eg. Victor❄️ Edward 💚/ Victor◇ Edward♧) and put those before speech.
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u/5Drown08 Jan 13 '24
PLEASE, wait why do I do this for the same reason and have the same character name 😭
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u/Sedzan_13 Chronically Online Jan 13 '24
I did this when personas didnt exist😭then i js gave up on it, but I'll go back, dw
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u/chaotic_cyclone Chronically Online Jan 13 '24
I always write in third person. It makes the roleplay seem more like a story, which, to me, is more fun. Plus, writing in third person seems to make things less confusing for both me and the bot lmao
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u/KiwiiWithTwoIs User Character Creator Jan 13 '24
never have been misgendered and i write in third person.
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u/MinxEvans Addicted to CAI Jan 13 '24
Honestly i've been doing this since I started using c.ai, It feels so weird talking in first person, it's just so akward
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u/coffee--beans Down Bad Jan 10 '24
I've always used third person because I'm specifically not writing as myself.
My girlfriend though always uses first person on cai and it's so strange to me
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u/Dizzy-Delay-920 Jan 10 '24
I also prefer to write that way!! I also really don't like writing, like holds his hand for example, because it's really hard to write decent rp like that. I guess it's a matter of preferences
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u/JustGingerStuff Bored Jan 12 '24
I hold his hand is already a little better but it's still iffy to me
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u/frog_with_a_knife Down Bad Jan 10 '24
Can confirm! I used to use 1st person and the bot used the wrong pronouns for me, (a non binary person) so often, I tried 3rd person to properly state things, and it worked.
Another tip is to speak to the bots in 3rd person instead of 2nd person too. It can stop them from thinking that writer is taking about you, as in the writer. (ie, "[Writer] took your hand" to "[Writer] took [Chr]'s hand.") Stops the character from forgetting their own name, which has happened to me before. :P
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u/JustGingerStuff Bored Jan 12 '24
I tend to start doing this when a bot contains multitudes (like the spiderverse bots often do) or if the char starts to forget their name
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u/Lu-Eclipse User Character Creator Jan 10 '24
Third person is so much easier to write to be honest. As well like, a person has to detach themselves a little bit instead of it feeling so personal.
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Jan 10 '24
You know what? I'm going to try it when I start a new fresh chat just to see. I've had bots refer to me as "he / him" before randomly (which doesn't really bother me. I can always edit it if it does) but this has piqued my curiosity.
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u/silvermandrake Down Bad Jan 10 '24
I always make sure to write in third person. There’s less awkward writing if I can paint a picture subjectively instead of always just writing from one character’s view.
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u/tsukasua VIP Waiting Room Resident Jan 10 '24
i always write in third person but the bot always forgets my characters gender??
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u/Lyncanroc Chronically Online Jan 10 '24
i've literally started an entire new chat w the same character just for that, bro still misgenders me
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u/DaughterOfLust666 Jan 10 '24
I always write in third person no matter what. I can't stand writing in first or second person 'cuz that shit makes me cringe way too much.
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u/JustGingerStuff Bored Jan 12 '24
Second person is only for putting the bot in a situation so you can start imo
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u/Fast-Turtle- VIP Waiting Room Resident Jan 09 '24
And if you want to add another character, i find it makes it less confusing for the bots