By their characters shall ye know them.
Mar. 16th, 2004 02:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sobriqueAfter a discussion with a friend, the thought occured.
What does our choice of character in roleplay games say about us?
Now I'm sure everyone has picked up a character for a bit, who's a bit two dimensional, but generally rather tough - the 20 strength half orc barbarian, or the 'generic fighter'. None of these characters typically have names. Ok, maybe they have something written on the char sheet, but essentially they become 'Ed's barbarian' or 'Half orc mook 1' or 'Rip off of $character from $book|$film'
These don't count. What I'm referring to are the characters that grow a persona of their own. I'm sure many roleplayers have encountered the phenomenon. When you play a character, and do something IC 'because they would' rather than because it's an advantage.
Gradually, as the character develops and becomes 'real' certain personality traits appear.
I would speculate that in order for a character to become 'real' it requires drawing on a certain aspect of our personality. It's just not possible to roleplay something which we can't relate to.
For example, I have yet to see a bloke play a believable female character. Ok, the char sheet may have a different gender, but the character always seems to be a blatant stereotype or again just an entry on the character sheet.
But anyway, the consideration is, what do your characters say about you?
How long do you 'stick with' a character before getting bored?
Are they idealists or realists?
Are they moral or amoral?
Impulsive or contemplative?
Now I'm not saying that any given character is accurately 'you'. After all, it's a chance to play a different role. What I'm saying is that the characters that appear to have more depth to them are going to tend to be drawn on part of your personality. And so by looking closely, one can see a pattern start to appear of the roles and personae that we are able to roleplay.
What do your preferred roles say about you?
What does our choice of character in roleplay games say about us?
Now I'm sure everyone has picked up a character for a bit, who's a bit two dimensional, but generally rather tough - the 20 strength half orc barbarian, or the 'generic fighter'. None of these characters typically have names. Ok, maybe they have something written on the char sheet, but essentially they become 'Ed's barbarian' or 'Half orc mook 1' or 'Rip off of $character from $book|$film'
These don't count. What I'm referring to are the characters that grow a persona of their own. I'm sure many roleplayers have encountered the phenomenon. When you play a character, and do something IC 'because they would' rather than because it's an advantage.
Gradually, as the character develops and becomes 'real' certain personality traits appear.
I would speculate that in order for a character to become 'real' it requires drawing on a certain aspect of our personality. It's just not possible to roleplay something which we can't relate to.
For example, I have yet to see a bloke play a believable female character. Ok, the char sheet may have a different gender, but the character always seems to be a blatant stereotype or again just an entry on the character sheet.
But anyway, the consideration is, what do your characters say about you?
How long do you 'stick with' a character before getting bored?
Are they idealists or realists?
Are they moral or amoral?
Impulsive or contemplative?
Now I'm not saying that any given character is accurately 'you'. After all, it's a chance to play a different role. What I'm saying is that the characters that appear to have more depth to them are going to tend to be drawn on part of your personality. And so by looking closely, one can see a pattern start to appear of the roles and personae that we are able to roleplay.
What do your preferred roles say about you?
