I'm wondering if something like this can be used instead of a background for players. This is a real-life personality test, used by psychiatrists, actually. It's also a bit entertaining and insightful.

It's a series of questions in story format, all of which require open answers and a bit of imagination. You're presented with a situation, you have to describe what you see, how you see it, what's it like, and last but not least, your actions.

Before we begin, make sure to make the distinction: whether you're giving your own answers, or whether it is your character. So the first pre-question is:

0.1. Are you speaking for yourself, or for your character? State character's shadowrunning alias if so.





Now on to the test itself... oh, one more thing - it is meant to be administered orally, not in written form - so do not read the next question until you've answered the previous one.

1. You're in the desert. Sun, sky, sand. Everything is hot. You're lost, alone. As you march on under oppressive heat, you see a camel. In your own words, describe what the camel looks like, and what will you do once you see him.




2. As you continue on your journey, you find a jug in the sand. Describe the jug, what's inside, and what will you do once you find it.




3. You continue on and finally come out of the desert - onto a sea shore. Describe the sea, and your actions.




4. On the shore, you see the building of your hotel. Walking into the lobby, you find that noone is there; even the receptionist is gone. There's the bell you can ring for help, but noone comes when you do. Your room key is just over the desk, on the board with all the other room keys. What do you do?




5. You finally go up in the elevator to your room, and in the hallway, right in front of your door, you see a dog. Describe the dog, and your actions.




6. The next questions are not related to this story. What's your favorite animal, and why?




7. What's your second most favorite animal, and why?




8. Do you like coffee? If yes, why, and how do you like it? If no, why not?





This is it. Write your answers in this topic and I'll get back to you with the key to the test. It means a lot more than you think.
You can take this test for more than one character.

Speaking for myself

1. Like a camel. I'd say he's tan. I ride the bastard. Or kill and eat it. Whatever. Camel's are huge, so actually, I think the thing'd just get away or kick my sorry ass.
2. I think of the jug as being old and being made of red clay, because I'm ignorant and am not all that familiar with pottery, and I would expect pottery in a desert 'cuz I'm weird like that and doubt there's very many vending machines serving Dasani . So plastic bottle type jugs are out. Hopefully it'd have water, which I'd drink.
3. It'd be um, watery? It's a bloody sea for god's sake. The sky'd be dark and gray though. Feel rather strongly about that, actually. I don't think of seas as friendly, I guess. Still, I'd run into it and float for a while to cool off. Stupid desert.
4. Considering I'd be pretty desperate/miserable at this point, I take the key and investigate. I'd really want a shower.
5. It'd be a li'l black and white dog, like my dog Maggie. This whole line of questioning is weird so it may as well BE Maggie for all I care. I go take a nap.
6. Dog, I suppose, it's my chinese zodiac sign and I own one. I don't particularly LIKE dogs though; the dog was an ill considered gift but apparently I am human enough to grow attached to the dumb thing anyway, even if the li'l bugger is a pain in the butt.
7. Cows. They're tasty, and bulls are rather impressive when you piss one off.
8. No. I don't particularly mind coffee but it's not something I'd go out of my way to get. I dislike the idea of growing accustomed to a substance. I don't need outside influences to help me get through the day, thank you very much.

P.S. I am quite comfortable speaking that way during a psych evaluation. I've taken a few of 'em.

These questions are so bizarre and vague I really just don't understand the test and cant answer the questions.

You see a man. Who is this man, and why is he trying to kill you?

You see a Ninja, are you a Pirate, a felow Ninja, a Samurai? Please explain your answer. Show all Work.

What is your favorite sexual position? Why? Diagram it.

Would you rather have Captain Crunch, or Cocoa Puffs, or neither? What if you had to choose one or be shot?

I don't really see how any of these things can go anywhere near evaluating a person's personality, except to decide that I'm stubborn, hard to get along with, mean, and sarcastic.

I'll shoot ya'.

You'd be surprised. I know tons of people who eat up this kinda stuff like candy.

1. Arr, the camel looks like the scurvy dog what marooned me on this desert island!  I shoot him with me musket and plant me flag on his carcass!

2. The jug has three x's on it and contains rum, which I merrily imbibe, and it makes me stronger and more able to trude on despite the fact that alcohol dehydrates a normal person, yar!

3. Yar, the sea, me harsh miststress!  I comandeer a vessel and raise a crew of bloodthirsty sea dogs to sail to hell and back!

4.  I take all the booty out of the hotel and set it afire!  With flaming cannonballs because those are cooler than just torches arr.

5.  Elevator me arse!  I scale the walls on ropes to get all the booty.  I give me fellow dog a drink and clap him on the back, then shoot him!

6.  Me favorite animal be the parrot because it makes me look all captain-y to have one on me shoulder.

7.  Me next most favorite animal is the monkey, for the same reason.

8.  Nar, coffee is for landlubbers!

We took one of those 'list these animals in the order you like best, name a person with a color' tests in class a week ago. The answers are surprisingly accurate.  This one looks like a similiar thing. The key is the key to it.  Nifty. 

I'll wait for 2-3 person to post their replies before I decipher what it all means.

Voight-Kampff test.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voight-Kampff_machine

I'd take the room key and go up to my room, quite honestly. (If the key is the key, like you said, afterall.) Once I got situated, I'd look around and look for other people, signs of other people, and any evidence at all whatsoever if there were other people there.

If I did not find any, I'd go back down, take all the other keys, and begin to loot the rooms. However I'd both expect and assume that all the other rooms would be empty, if not for the basic accoutremants of a hotel room. If this was so, and there was nothing of interest in them, I'd get the hell out of the hotel with all my stuff.

Truthfully.

Never mind, White Knight. Answering just one question won't get you a personality profile... I think you're missing the point there.

Describe the history of the papacy from its origins to the present day,
  concentrating especially but not exclusively, on its social, political,
  economic, religious and philosophical impact on Europe, Asia, America and
  Africa.  Be brief, concise and specific.

Estimate the sociological problems which might accompany the end of the
  world.  Construct an experiment to test your theory.

Take a position for or against truth. Prove the validity of your position.

In all aspects, the papacy was the worst thing to happen in Europe since genocide of neanderthals (aka "the dwarves") by humans around 30000 BC.

Alright, enough of the circus, here's what the test means... kudos to Whipstitch for being a good sport.

The desert is a metaphor for the blank slate state of a newborn baby. This is where you begin your journey in life. The first person you meet and get to know is the camel. The camel represents your parents. How you see it shows how you see your parents, and what you do with it is what you would do with your parents.

1. Like a camel. I'd say he's tan. I ride the bastard. Or kill and eat it. Whatever. Camel's are huge, so actually, I think the thing'd just get away or kick my sorry ass.

Riding the camel, milking the camel, skinning the camel (oh I've heard worse) are not the nicest things to do to your parents, but a lot of people take advantage of them to get ahead in life. So there you have it.

2. I think of the jug as being old and being made of red clay, because I'm ignorant and am not all that familiar with pottery, and I would expect pottery in a desert 'cuz I'm weird like that and doubt there's very many vending machines serving Dasani Tongue. So plastic bottle type jugs are out. Hopefully it'd have water, which I'd drink.

The jug contains what you think is the most important thing on your journey (the journey of life). Some people would put gold in their jug (meaning that it's all about the "money"), some people would put dust or sand in there (meaning that they see no meaning of their existence). You put water in there, and you drank it - good job. It means that you know what you want and you will enjoy it and live to the fullest when you come to that moment. Perhaps not worrying about tomorrow but hey - that's your personality.

3. It'd be um, watery? It's a bloody sea for god's sake. The sky'd be dark and gray though. Feel rather strongly about that, actually. I don't think of seas as friendly, I guess. Still, I'd run into it and float for a while to cool off. Stupid desert.

The sea is where you must depart from the camel. It's a different experience for different people. It contains untold mysteries beneath the waves. The sea is your love. Dark, grey, not friendly? Yes, you are understandably a bit scared of love, but not scared enough to not jump in! Good job. The worst thing I've heard was people not even approaching the sea, being afraid of sharks, and seeing a shipwreck on the shore. That's "bad experience" right there.

4. Considering I'd be pretty desperate/miserable at this point, I take the key and investigate. I'd really want a shower.

The key question is about taking charge of your life, or letting other people take over it, waiting for the key to happiness be brought to you on a silver platter. You don't wait around for that - it's a good thing.

5. It'd be a li'l black and white dog, like my dog Maggie. This whole line of questioning is weird so it may as well BE Maggie for all I care. I go take a nap.

The dog is a symbol for your friends. How do you like them, how do they like you. Looks like you have no friend problems at all "Hey Maggie" *plomp, snore*. You trust your friends and they seem trustworthy enough.

6. Dog, I suppose, it's my chinese zodiac sign and I own one. I don't particularly LIKE dogs though; the dog was an ill considered gift but apparently I am human enough to grow attached to the dumb thing anyway, even if the li'l bugger is a pain in the butt.

Your most favorite animal shows how you see yourself - it has all your best and worst qualities.

7. Cows. They're tasty, and bulls are rather impressive when you piss one off.

The second favorite animal is how others see you. At best and worst.

8. No. I don't particularly mind coffee but it's not something I'd go out of my way to get. I dislike the idea of growing accustomed to a substance. I don't need outside influences to help me get through the day, thank you very much.

Coffee shows what you think about sex. Coffee = sex. So, um, right. Well, that's all folks.

Interesting.  I drink my coffee black.  And all day long.

I must be amazing in the sack.

-CM

Hmm, no, that makes you addicted and not particularly caring about health issues.

You're missing a big point here: the answers themselves aren't as important as how you say them. It's not what, it's why.

Why do you drink coffee black and all the time? Do you like the taste? Do you add sugar? Why not? Do you like the smell?

All the little things bring out an amazing amount of details about how your brain works.

But if you're going to use the "key" to the test as a sort of a cheat sheet to get "the perfect personality", well guess what - there are no right or wrong answers here. And there's no such thing as perfect personality, because personalities are made out of little imperfections that make every person unique.

Aside from the whole 'Hot Coffee' bit which I found amusing, I really think that this test, and tests like this in general, are like Astrology.

No matter how many dudes who've 'proven' it, you'll always find many many more who think it's utter rubbish.