Although I feel that this has been discussed before, but what are your opinions on typecasting? By typecasting I mean playing a similar archetype frequently. I will use myself as an example. I typecast myself as a superhuman, a half-human hybrid, or a Nietzschean character.

Any other thoughts would be welcomed.

EDIT: Double post due to glitch in internet.

I find that I often play stern brooding commanders in regards to personality; almost always human in race. Different races never really appealed to me nor did super natural powers. I think self typecasting is normally just the result of a creator's desire to role play a character which they themselves are not only comfortable with but also enjoying playing and a person will usually be drawn to create a character using similar, if not the same personality traits and niches because of this.

Being typecast by others is a whole another subject.

There's no problem with it, really. I know some people who've roleplayed for over a decade and always play one certain archetype of character, and it's just fine. It can become problematic if you have a steady group of friends you RP with and you always just port in the same character, because they'll probably get bored of interacting with essentially the same character over and over, but in a forum roleplaying environment you could probably get away with it without many people ever knowing you just play the one thing.

I can't really do that, but it all comes down to personal preference. I used to try to do it by always playing paladin type guys, but after a while I realized that having the same kind of character over and over contributed a lot to me getting quickly burnt out on roleplaying in general. After I started to switch things up and play female characters and charismatic charmers and magic users and so forth I found my interest in roleplaying to have much greater longevity.

To each their own though. Neither way of going about things is intrinsically better than the other.

The only way in which I "typecast" myself is in my use of exclusively non-human characters. Otherwise, I play anything from "innocent" toddler to "romantic" tailchaser. I like to come up with different personalities for every individual character.

Being a GM I have to play all types, and found a way to enjoy each and every archetype there is.

As a player? Usually tacticians, or the overly curious, or those who struggle to understand humanity. Often with romantic potentials in that.

Diva's and bastards. Though I keep saying that I find myself playing them less over the past years in favour of a more balanced palette.

I normally type cast all my characters as capable to some extent. Some are brooding types with reason for doing so, some are military soldiers, others are strategists, some are sarcastic, others play the main stereotypical hero unknowingly. Others just don't want to be where they currently are at the moment.

Typecasting is fine when it's not a symptom of Mary Sue-ing.

vancexentan said I normally type cast all my characters as capable to some extent.

Typecasting to a certain extent is as inevitable as the rising sun. We've done every combination imaginable under the sun multiple times, so, it's less a question of "how can I make something new?" More a question of "how can I make this old thing feel new?"