Controlling people in dreams... manually, or give them free will?

So, I usually don't lucid dream. I didn't manage to get my RCs right and many techniques have failed me, but last night I became lucid when I played with my android in the dream and found that it had one display on each side. Surprisingly this worked great, perhaps I'll put more use to that but this isn't about that.

Basicly, when I became lucid I was around a bunch of people I grew up with in school. We all spent 6 years together but nowadays we don't know each other. I've heard of people controlling other people in dreams and all that but I tried to simply talk to one of them. I showed her my "powers", told her I could change shape into anything she wanted and take her anywhere she wanted to go. I had no control over her at all and it's like she had her own personality. Like she was an actual person. She'd surprise me with things she said but otherwise stayed "in character" of what I remember her like.

So, how do you guys handle other people in dreams? Do you try to take control of them or give them free will?

Also, related question... do "characters" with free will ever get crazy?

In my opinion it's more fun to let Dream Characters get on with their own thing when I'm in a dream. It allows for surprising and interesting encounters, which just make everything more fun! Sometimes the things that DCs say will be a bit mental, or off the wall, but that's all part of the fun.

Personally, I think one also needs to be careful to not form bad habits in dreams. If I got used to manipulating others in dreams, I may be more likely to be manipulative in real life, in my opinion. Yes, I know it is not the same, and dream characters are not real people, but it still may be habit forming. And I would not want to risk eroding my mental barriers in that direction. I want to try to be basically a good person no matter whether I am dreaming and even if no other person is involved.

I agree with you Johanna I personally don;t think we should manipulate DC's and instead let them take their own course along with dream. I find it more fun to let dream characters interact by themselves.