Hello,
After having been in a recent Event populated by many PCs/Players, I noticed more than once, instances of Projection, in emoting reactions of a PC to something said/done by another PC.
Thought Projection is when you ICly emote what the Player Character is thinking. It is often used negatively in various ways, such as to insult another PC, or worse, to hurt someone OOCly, both done
on purpose. Through emotes, a Player can express their PC's thoughts "out loud" about a certain situations however, not a personal, internal thought about the character that is being interacted with...which usually are thoughts that the other PC can never react to, as no Character can obtain mind-reading.
For sake of not "calling out" any one Player, I will simply put here a few examples, on what Projection looks like, and doubly posted showing the removal of the projections:
*she eyes the man, to hear what strange things he will say this time*
*she eyes the man, to hear what
strange things he will say this time*
*Her lips twitch only briefly for mention of loss of life on royal soil. Irony at it's finest.*
*Her lips twitch only briefly for mention of loss of life on royal soil.
Irony at it's finest.*
*He looks the ridiculously dressed man up and down, determining he must be from the circus. His face shows disdain, as thoughts of a negative experience with clowns as a youth, holds him back from offering any initial greeting to the man.*
*He looks the
ridiculously dressed man up and down,
determining he must be from the circus appearing to try and determine where this man is from. His face shows disdain,
as thoughts of a negative experience with clowns as a youth, , as he holds back from offering any initial greeting to the man.*
A cleaned up example:
Imagine that, in role-play, you see—
Archie looks about and he doesn’t like the look of the wolf so backs away slowly, as if a little nervous. “Uhm… I… I think you should go and bother… someone else… maybe?” Attempting a small smile but having his hand on his sword, ready to draw.
What’s wrong with it..? It makes perfect sense; yes… it’s a textual and descriptive play, but the problem is… it contains Out of Character (OOC) information and role play does not require OOC information in a play… consider this:
Archie looks about and he doesn’t like the look of the lycan so backs away slowly, as if a little nervous. “Uhm… I… I think you should go and bother… someone else… maybe?” Attempting a small smile but having his hand on his sword, ready to draw.
This is the same play but with all projected (OOC) material struck out.
I cannot tell you the number of times I see 'thought projection' used to negatively describe another PC or situation. That is not cool. And, it does not provide a viable means for the Other to respond, which is a form of god-modding that could lead to metagaming (even if you, as a Player, think the other has the ability to respond to your PC's thoughts).
Below is a longer read on more Internet sourced information...I highly suggest you read it:
:Projection:
Welcome one and all to yet another one of Toxian City's classes.
This week we're going to focus on Projection; what it is, why we shouldn't be doing it, and how to correct this mistake in role play. Projection, along with Metagaming and God-moding, is one of the most problematic issues that arises in role play - but out of the three it's typically the easiest to correct. Hopefully by the end of today's class we'll have given each of you a stronger view of what Projection is and how to get around it.
So, let's start by clearly defining what Projection is. In role play terms, Projection, or Projecting, is when one role player imposes their thoughts, informs of their previous actions, or otherwise passes along information in a manner that the second role player is unable to respond to. For example: 'Jaco Guisse looks across the bar at the other male, thinking of how much he hated the man'. Since you cannot read my thoughts, it is technically impossible for the other role player to pick up on what I'm thinking about, based purely off of what I posted, and reply back.
Why is this a bad thing? There are many reasons as to why Projection should be avoided. First and foremost, Projection can often lead to unnecessary drama. By 'thinking' about how much you hate someone else, or otherwise expressing ill-will towards another character in a non-verbal, non-physical manner you can upset the other role player OOCly, leading to bad blood between the two of you. However, not all Projection leads to drama. Often times it leads to miscommunication. One role player may project their thoughts about a previous encounter with another role player, which a third party could misinterpret as something verbal - meaning that private thoughts are now being passed around like wild fire. Lastly, it kills role play when one player projects something and leaves the other role player unable to respond. Always leave your role play partners with something to reply to.
Like I mentioned, there are a handful of instances where Projection commonly, and often unintentionally, pops up. These situations may be when you are describing another character in a scene in a non-verbal manner, when you're trying to describe a scene in a post to help other role players catch up - but you are giving away information that the newcomer couldn't possibly come to know, or when you're trying to find a way to express your characters emotions. Now, these are not the only instances where unintentional Projection may arise, but they are the most common ones.
There are some instances where you may accidentally Project when you are encountering, or describing, another role player. By saying, 'Jaco Guisse spies the vampiress that, just the other day, he had fought tooth and nail in an alley way until he managed to escape her clutches,' you are giving away information to all of the role players around you that is of no use to them. You aren't saying it, you aren't writing it down and passing it as a note, your character is just taking a stroll down memory lane - and stifling the role play of those around you.
Instead, you could get the same message across, but help encourage role play, by saying: Jaco Guisse spots the vampiress as she arrives, leaning across the table to whisper to his companion, "There she is! She's the one that chased me down that alley the other night.. barely got away, had to fight for my life." In this manner you are getting the same point across, but now others know what is going on, In-Character, and can respond as they have heard you explain the situation.
When you are trying to help new people entering a scene it isn't uncommon to try and post - setting the stage. But understand that you should only describe things that they would be able to immediately recognize with their five senses. An incorrect example would be: Jaco Guisse's eyes dart between his captive and his newly arrived friend. Chewing at his lip, the alley way smelled of blood and filth, the door to his right ajar - the room beyond where he had been captured and beaten. Beyond that, and up the flight of stairs: his captors lair.
While yes, it's great that you're trying to help the newcomer understand what is going on - and to an extent what has happened, the other character can't possibly know what lies beyond the door, let alone upstairs. Instead of Projecting this information, have your character explain the information in some manner that the other character will be able to comprehend what's going on. Describing the immediate area is great, and encouraged. But for all of the other information you should either speak, or wait until you are able to physically show these other areas to your role play partner.
Describing emotions and thoughts are, arguably, the most common thing role players accidentally Project. When a character hates another character, many of us immediately begin describing our hateful thoughts toward them. However the other role player cannot react to thoughts, so either you will be ignored, or OOC problems may arise from this simple mistake. Remember, our characters can only catch things they hear, see, smell, taste, or feel. Therefore you should emote things that invoke these senses.
Miss Wright: I would like to add something here. It isnt just emoting hateful things, I think thats where people get confused a lot, its emoting any emotion, you can dart your eyes, curl in a ball rock back and forth, to give the impression your scared, but saying /me looks to the girl and suddenly becomes afraid is absolutely NOT correct. we are not narrating a story, we are role playing. People tend to give backstories as well, thats also narrating a story and not role playing. I am poking in because I want to say it absolutely frankly what this means since it is such a widespread problem
Instead of thinking of how you hate someone, have your character verbally say it. Essentially, you're just going to put quotation marks (""'s) around your thoughts, thus turning them into spoken words. If you don't want to say it, then perhaps you glare instead of look, maybe your fists are clenched and shaking, maybe your character's complexion is turning red as the hate builds. You may go as far as to role play attacking, with a punch, slap, or kick, the other character. All of these are able to be responded to. You can hear the words, see the anger taking hold of the other character, or feel you as you make contact with them. These can all be responded to very easily. The same can go with any other emotion. If you're feeling amorous, perhaps your grinning like a fool and blushing. Is that a banana in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me? If you're sad you're most likely sobbing or wailing. Etcetera.
Understand that most people who are Projecting are doing so completely by accident. Many newer role players in SL don't understand what Projecting is, and that's why we have classes like this. To try and spread advice and help make the role play in Toxian City better with each coming week. But even the Shelter can't catch everyone - players will slip through the cracks. When that occurs, all it takes is a friendly IM welcoming them to Toxian City, an ice breaker like, 'so, how long have you been role playing?', and then politely pointing out that they're projecting and that it's making it difficult to respond. Before you know it, you'll have helped better the sim and it's role play!
