This may sound boringly serious or even ridiculous, but in their refinement of CK characters, developers might rely at least partially on the real empirical findings of modern genetics (deciding which traits and behaviours are in what extent inheritable) and borrow some ideas from the Five Factor Model in psychology (which describes five main, independent and quite stable dimensions of human personality). This shouldn't be too difficult - it needs only a careful consideration of a concept and in the end just calibrating certain modifiers mainly, I guess. But this may introduce additional realism and credibility into the game. (To be honest, CK1 already has personality types (assigned as a outcome of education) that remind a bit Keirsey Temperament Sorter types, but after a pop-up message informing you the character being "a sniveling bookworm" or "a great statesman" and getting respective traits you forget those usually.)
The core of the personality, some very basic Character Traits shouldn't be too volatile. By and large they shouldn't change during a character's life much. Others may fluctuate a bit more (depending on events) - those traits which reflect rather a world view, a conscious choice of a character, and that are not so much rooted in a biology (though the world view is also altered by genes, as some studies argue). Maybe there should be more Special Traits and probabilistic trait paths (you can get some trait only when you have already particular another - like being Stressed in CK1 can progress into various mental disorders and illnesses). I'm convinced there are some interesting things to figure out and enrich the game furthermore.
One thing that might make the personalities and their interaction more realistic and game more challenging would be expanding characters' "collective memory" feature. Currently it kind of exists, but mostly only in a form of accumulating prestige and piety (your deeds leave a general mark that influence your future), BB score (though it's too short term, it fades, your skulduggery isn't remembered too long), Canonized trait (you can't be a Saint without your father being canonized) and Kinslayer trait (everybody knows what you did last summer and treat you accordingly). All other traits represent rather a continuance of some person-describing condition through time and not so much the memory factor. More elaborated memory would make some actions and choices character takes count more, because key episodes of one's life would influence how the character is perceived by others in the future. This memory might be simulated simply by introduction of additional Special Traits, those that reflect most noteworthy past actions (some of the traits might be hidden and used only by AI). What might be those important events/actions that should be registered by a memory? Well, I don't know...
there shouldn't be too much of them and they have to be meaningful in respect of future interactions (though some might be just for flavour as well). But rebelling against a liege or current pope should leave a permanent stigma, for example; creating any main King title (Ireland) might give a special trait The Unifier etc. In case of AI characters, their "memory" about themselves may function also as a habit, a tendency to repeat some behavioural patterns.
As Doomdark said, the characters, their personalities and ambitions, will be at the heart of the CK2... What do you think, how to make the characters' personalities more deeper and interesting and feel more real?
The core of the personality, some very basic Character Traits shouldn't be too volatile. By and large they shouldn't change during a character's life much. Others may fluctuate a bit more (depending on events) - those traits which reflect rather a world view, a conscious choice of a character, and that are not so much rooted in a biology (though the world view is also altered by genes, as some studies argue). Maybe there should be more Special Traits and probabilistic trait paths (you can get some trait only when you have already particular another - like being Stressed in CK1 can progress into various mental disorders and illnesses). I'm convinced there are some interesting things to figure out and enrich the game furthermore.
One thing that might make the personalities and their interaction more realistic and game more challenging would be expanding characters' "collective memory" feature. Currently it kind of exists, but mostly only in a form of accumulating prestige and piety (your deeds leave a general mark that influence your future), BB score (though it's too short term, it fades, your skulduggery isn't remembered too long), Canonized trait (you can't be a Saint without your father being canonized) and Kinslayer trait (everybody knows what you did last summer and treat you accordingly). All other traits represent rather a continuance of some person-describing condition through time and not so much the memory factor. More elaborated memory would make some actions and choices character takes count more, because key episodes of one's life would influence how the character is perceived by others in the future. This memory might be simulated simply by introduction of additional Special Traits, those that reflect most noteworthy past actions (some of the traits might be hidden and used only by AI). What might be those important events/actions that should be registered by a memory? Well, I don't know...
there shouldn't be too much of them and they have to be meaningful in respect of future interactions (though some might be just for flavour as well). But rebelling against a liege or current pope should leave a permanent stigma, for example; creating any main King title (Ireland) might give a special trait The Unifier etc. In case of AI characters, their "memory" about themselves may function also as a habit, a tendency to repeat some behavioural patterns. As Doomdark said, the characters, their personalities and ambitions, will be at the heart of the CK2... What do you think, how to make the characters' personalities more deeper and interesting and feel more real?