Hi, so this is not a situation that I have seen in play so far but I think it is quite important to get a judgement on as part of the game philosophy. To start I wouldn’t like this to become a discussion on what a ‘bad’ player is and does, so lets shelve that as much as possible. Arses shall be arses.
So, supposing Beliefs are a declaration of the player’s intent to play more of a topic, what is the thinking around the crafting of beliefs whilst being aware of this. I know that if I write a belief on something it is going to be challenged and that situation or my character will be changed. Eventually, it seems like there must be a point where you say ‘no I wont do that’ to accomplish a belief. So if I as a player want my character to remain true to what I had created them like (in one way, not in every way) I could simply not ever write a belief about this characterisation. Likewise, by being self-aware it is possible to choose beliefs that are actually the opposite or only partially what we want for our PC - because we know that we will be challenged to stick to a belief but not so much to cave into pressure from the challenge? On a less insidious level, should the player have medium-long term plans for a character and their development - these will obviously shape the beliefs we write and being able to predict what the challenges might be we can effect our plans, even though as a character we have no clue of ‘if I believe something and try to do something for it, something must stand in the way’? It seems like the only way to play the game without being aware of beliefs and how they play out is to be so in character that you do not ever look at the player level of the game. Is this something worth aiming for, even achievable, or would it undermine the collective nature of ttRPGs?