I am not who I RP to be

[mrm3ntalist]

[Aspect of Sorrow]

PS Be as rude as you want if you see me in game!, I wont take offense. . but my PC might

Just 'ew' at Draya.

[Grimcheese]

I'll admit that I am who I RP to be, to varying extents, because no matter how fancy the masks I wear are, by the end of the day they still have to fit my face.

BG caters to a large amount of people who may or may not have differing playstyles, so conflicts are inevitable, but that does not necessarily mean they need to turn ugly. Communication, patience, and consideration do go a long way towards having a better time, not just in this PW but in many other things.

[Boddynock]

I'll admit that I am who I RP to be, to varying extents, because no matter how fancy the masks I wear are, by the end of the day they still have to fit my face.

BG caters to a large amount of people who may or may not have differing playstyles, so conflicts are inevitable, but that does not necessarily mean they need to turn ugly. Communication, patience, and consideration do go a long way towards having a better time, not just in this PW but in many other things.

If this is the case then I would challenge you t step outside that comfort zone and design and then play a character that is totally 100% not you. Many of us, myself included, use different pieces of ourselves in our character development. For me, Guy makes use of my military background. Boddynock got my love of science and research. Liam got my outgoing attitude and love of singing. Just to name a few.

But, all that being said, one of the most gratifying experiences in PnP D&D was playing a character who was as close to my polar opposite as I could get. Followed by playing one that was essentially me. It is a real eye opener.

[Grimcheese]

If this is the case then I would challenge you t step outside that comfort zone and design and then play a character that is totally 100% not you. Many of us, myself included, use different pieces of ourselves in our character development. For me, Guy makes use of my military background. Boddynock got my love of science and research. Liam got my outgoing attitude and love of singing. Just to name a few.

But, all that being said, one of the most gratifying experiences in PnP D&D was playing a character who was as close to my polar opposite as I could get. Followed by playing one that was essentially me. It is a real eye opener.

I have played characters as far removed from my RL self as can be before, and like your own experience, it was indeed an eye-opener, though perhaps in a different way from yours. It was very gratifying, very satisfying, with its own ups and downs and successes and failures (more failures than successes, tbh), but in the end, I realized that I was roleplaying another side of the same die. A "me" that is as polar opposite and as far from my comfort zone as I can get is still me, albeit a "me" that will never see the light of day in real life and can only flex its muscles as a fictional character.

A mask still has to fit.

[Boddynock]

If this is the case then I would challenge you t step outside that comfort zone and design and then play a character that is totally 100% not you. Many of us, myself included, use different pieces of ourselves in our character development. For me, Guy makes use of my military background. Boddynock got my love of science and research. Liam got my outgoing attitude and love of singing. Just to name a few.

But, all that being said, one of the most gratifying experiences in PnP D&D was playing a character who was as close to my polar opposite as I could get. Followed by playing one that was essentially me. It is a real eye opener.

I have played characters as far removed from my RL self as can be before, and like your own experience, it was indeed an eye-opener, though perhaps in a different way from yours. It was very gratifying, very satisfying, with its own ups and downs and successes and failures (more failures than successes, tbh), but in the end, I realized that I was roleplaying another side of the same die. A "me" that is as polar opposite and as far from my comfort zone as I can get is still me, albeit a "me" that will never see the light of day in real life and can only flex its muscles as a fictional character.

A mask still has to fit.

I find the mask analogy to be misleading. Yes a mask must fit for you to wear it, bot the outside does not have to resemble the inside in the slightest bit. A more apt analogy in my opinion would be a puppet. You are the one pulling the strings, yes, but a puppet can be whatever you want. In the case you mention above if your character was truly as far from you as you can imagine and you still came to see it as another version of yourself...I would say that is a failure of imagination. I do not mean that to be an insult, as no one can imagine the things that they cannot imagine, it is the nature of human knowledge that we cannot know what we do not know.

The other possibility I see here, is if that you still came to see a character who was your polar opposite as yourself, is that you are a truly gifted method actor...lol...

But this sort of thing is a challenge precisely because it IS so hard to imagine doing things we have never imagined doing, bordering on impossible. I have done a lot of interesting character development things in tabletop. One such thing, and another good exercise if you are trying to get better at RP (I freely admit I am not the best RPer on the server, but I am much better in tabletop games where I get less distracted, lol) is to play a character concept that someone else created. We did this a few times and were so strict that you only got exp at the end of the session if the person who designed that character thought you stayed in character (basically acting practice when you think about it).

[CommanderKrieg]

Don't worry too much about it Mac. The people who will mistreat you OOC about what you do IC aren't the people you need to please. I had a character that hated humans, spit in people's eyes, bullied orcs, and threaten anyone/everyone. When I went on break I got a few PMs telling me I am a disgusting awful person and they hope everything in my life goes to hell. I have played a basket of (hero) and only had ooc love for everyone. I am sure it's the same with yours.

We are a community. The evil players are just as important to the good players as the good are to the evil. Each character brings life to the world. If you want an immersive PW you have to have the occasional (hero) walk by and be a (person) just because they are a (person)! It's all part of a good PW environment.

[Velaris]

I've been reading the back and forth on this and although I can see how you feel about rp (Boddynock) I think you are failing to understand what Grimcheese is saying.

In the case you mention above if your character was truly as far from you as you can imagine and you still came to see it as another version of yourself...I would say that is a failure of imagination.

Playing something as far from your comfort zone as possible is very different than your idea of playing what you consider as a polar opposite. There is nothing you can imagine for your character, in truth, that you yourself are not capable of, in terms of your conduct or behaviour.
If you believe this to be the case, perhaps you have not experienced the extremes of your own self yet, which I believe many people never do, or are afraid to admit that they are capable of acts of both extreme "good" and "evil".

I think what Grimcheese is trying to express, and Grim please feel free to clarify if I am incorrect, is that there are limits to what can be comfortably let out of ourselves. To do so, a 'mask' must be worn, to keep a mental distance from this aspect of ourselves. This is still taking ownership of these feelings or aspect as part of us.
"This is a part of me, though it pains me to admit it"

Your analogy of the puppet avoids responsibility and ownership of your 'polar opposite', "this isn't me, but I can be this way" when all aspects of human behaviour I believe are within each of us. If you can be that way, it is most certainly still you.
It is merely a matter of how we choose to set our limits on what we will or will not do.

Cogito, ergo sum

[burbles]

I think I would enjoy that kind of RP, but there is a problem if another player is ready or willing to play along. Are they? How could you know? How can I know? We need to communicate more with players, since there is no reliable mechanical way to know if RP is on A kind of "RP Consent" club, maybe?
I RP continuously on (other) forum, but real-time "texting" is a bitch. I hate to make other players wait and even small distraction harms the immersion of others. It's well and good when you have an established character, but for me this situation when we have lvl 1-30 interacting is much more detrimental. Few characters I play are at the time developed enough to enjoy all kinds of RP. But if you RP with someone for a while, I don't think they should be offended by your IC actions, unless they are out of the blue and seem OOC.

[TarnishedSoul]

I hope I'll be forgiven for a bit of threadcromancy, but Mac's OP does well to summarize my own points of view: I am not the same as my PC. While we share some similarities, as might be expected, her flaws are 1) listed in the biography that I've created, and 2) well-defined and well-established. When my PC reacts to situations and people, it is because I as a player am thinking, "Based on my concept, and based on the circumstances of her life at this moment, what would she do in this situation?"

Players, please stop OOC bad-mouthing, blacklisting, ignoring, and removing from Skype the players of PCs with whom your PC does not agree. Taking the IC actions of a PC as some sort of personal affront isn't conducive to the shared story we're supposed to create here. Be mad IC - sure! But please remember that there is an actual living, breathing person on the other end of any vitriol you direct at someone else over #firstworldgameproblems.

[Rhifox]

What she said. Absolutely the most important thing in RP. IC conflict is not and should not become OOC conflict.

[TheLier]

What she said. Absolutely the most important thing in RP. IC conflict is not and should not become OOC conflict.

Quoted for truth

[Moltrazahn]

+1

The moment in character actions start affecting your out of character ones, it's time for whomever is playing to take a brake from the game(or character).

[Flasmix]

+OVER 9000!!!!

I'm not who I RP as either. IRL, I'm not a hot little 20 year old girl who is a nympho for other girls. I'm a 30+ man who enjoys RPing with other 30+ men who RP as hot 20 year old girls for ERP purposes.

[Moltrazahn]

+OVER 9000!!!!

I'm not who I RP as either. IRL, I'm not a hot little 20 year old girl who is a nympho for other girls. I'm a 30+ man who enjoys RPing with other 30+ men who RP as hot 20 year old girls for ERP purposes.

I think i love you.