MySqlCommand getCharacterCommand = new MySqlCommand("SELECT * FROM `chars` WHERE `name` LIKE ?name", this.conn);
getCharacterCommand.Parameters.AddWithValue("?name", "%"+ characterName +"%");
MySqlDataReader getCharacterReader = getCharacterCommand.ExecuteReader();

if ( getCharacterReader.Read() ) {
            for ( int i = 0; i < getCharacterReader.FieldCount; i++ ) {
                // do something here
            }
        } else {
            // error - no result
        }