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+--- Thread: What is "Good" Role Play? (/showthread.php?tid=8681)
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What is "Good" Role Play? - song - 05-21-2008
Hi all. Saw Angelfires "where are the real RPers?" post and almost didn't post there because it is so darn subjective to so many on here.
I know there are philosophical discourses all over the forum on this but that can be a bit much for your average Joe (please don't refer me to that metagaming, creationists, etc, etc. thread--I want something simple).
For example, I recently held a short discourse with someone which was for all purposes a historical exam on my knowledge of feudal Japan and the social political structure of its varying periods. (I have a Hogosha character)
It so happens that I lived in Japan a short while and like that stuff--but good grief--if that's the standard every player is expected to meet--ouch! Not to mention going through the entirety of Japanese history and "concluding" what Freelancer's Kusari would be is not an "exact science" anyway.
So without writing a thesis on human psychology, rhetoric and philosophy I want to dive back into my first sale's job and the advice I got on what makes a concept attractive and sellable to customers. I think it would be a great principle to apply here:
Simple, Fast and Fun
People need a structure, a background and a goal or purpose that is clear to them. In pursuit of the wholly mythical "pure" role play, this can easily get lost.
Pure role play would mean that I do everything based on a character perspective alone and that everything that happens to him and everyone he deals with come from that same perspective. It would not require a fifteen minute //ooc conversation to explain or require a forty-five minute "story of my life" each time I encounter a new player. We would all have to be oblivious to //ooc behavior in game--absolutely stymied by it. When we address it in game, publicly, we break "pure" role play instantly.
I can't tell you how many times I have thought out my plot line for my character, acted accordingly and within two minutes have someone say, "You can't do that! That's not what that character would do!"
How the heck would they know what my character is going to do? They have no idea.
They might know what an npc does and they might no what the info card says--but they don't know what my character is doing.
Immature players use this as an excuse to rant threats in-game. More mature players use it as an opportunity to discourse how they think you should be playing and then post on the forum about it.
I can't role play if I have to stop every five minutes and win a debate to continue--nor should I have to.
A pure, higher, more elite--whatever you want to call it--would deal with what I am doing as role play and in character. He or she would try to figure out what I was doing instead of taking the template of their understanding and placing it over mine.
So I just wanted to say, I love the role play aspect. But like a movie director, I might have scripted characters and a storyboard behind the scenes for my vision that you don't get if you aren't always watching. I might build a character story around a ship or weapon I want--but I'll play that character consistently and realistically. I might not spend thirty minutes in-character telling you about my wife and family but their are other things I would talk about--just like real life, some are talkers and some are not. Go to a gang area in the US and demand a resident their explain his story to you--haha. You just keep walking and don't ask.
One of the early Christian historians had a great philosophy:
"Preach often--use words only when necessary."
What is "Good" Role Play? - whitelineracer - 05-21-2008
Exactly, it's not everyday you pass someone in the street and they say. "What are doing? Why? What for? Those shoes don't look like you bought them in this town. That T-Shirt made in China why the hell are you wearing it?. Who's your daddy, and who does he work for?
Someone who demands an entire RP history in passing can eat my thrusters as far as I'm concerned.
However I do love RP, and will engage in light banter with anyone:)
Inoue Sakuraba; slave to his father, beloved of his mother.
What is "Good" Role Play? - song - 05-21-2008
' Wrote:Exactly, it's not everyday you pass someone in the street and they say. "What are doing? Why? What for? Those shoes don't look like you bought them in this town. That T-Shirt made in China why the hell are you wearing it?. Who's your daddy, and who does he work for?
Someone who demands an entire RP history in passing can eat my thrusters as far as I'm concerned.
However I do love RP, and will engage in light banter with anyone:)
Inoue Sakuraba; slave to his father, beloved of his mother.
Lol--nice reply.
Exactamundo!
Hehe--I might use that "why are you wearing that t-shirt" line in-game some time.
What is "Good" Role Play? - Angelfire - 05-21-2008
*cough*
Frankly I don't give a rats ass about RP history and whatnot.. I just want to chat with someone without the lolling and stuff... hahahaha!
Edit: Seriously... In my books, an RP 'session' is awesome... the back story and history etc. are great reading materials but are not crucial for fun ingame communication...
The thread I started was merely so that we could see who was keen to engage in those kinds of chats.
eg.
'Hail Trader...'
'Hail Angelfire'
'How are you today?'
'Prospering, Sirius seems quiet bla bla bla.'
...just a normal conversation as we would have if Sirius was a real place and we were really pilots...
..or deeper sessions if the opportunity was there:)
What is "Good" Role Play? - song - 05-21-2008
' Wrote:I just want to chat with someone without the lolling and stuff... hahahaha!
Edit: Seriously... In my books, an RP 'session' is awesome... the back story and history etc. are great reading materials but are not crucial for fun ingame communication...
The thread I started was merely so that we could see who was keen to engage in those kinds of chats.
Oh--no slap at you was intended at all Angelfire. Your request made perfect sense and I got it. It just prompted me to think of some of the other role play "perceptions" I have seen on here...and I spent thirty minutes last night with someone who followed me around demanding I explain to them why my character was in an area and what my motives and goals were.
My response to him (after half an hour) was, "Your inability to understand what my character is doing things for isn't my problem."
The real problem is that as he didn't get it, he assumed that gave him the right to follow me with a barrage of ooc comments while I was trying to play.
This would be that "...posting on the forum thing" I first mentioned.:rolleyes:
I'd stop and chat with you--but then I would have to kill you. I'm one of those people in real life who likes a lively debate but can't stand, "Hey--what ya doin'?" conversations. Lol--it's why I don't use messengers and xfire.
What is "Good" Role Play? - bluntpencil2001 - 05-21-2008
Do what your character would do.
It's like acting without a script.
What is "Good" Role Play? - song - 05-21-2008
' Wrote:Do what your character would do.
It's like acting without a script.
Yeah--without a script but with a story board (for me most times).
We do it in real life all the time. You have a meeting to attend, are thinking of your agenda and a telemarketer calls to discuss their product. You go, "Sorry" and hang up (I actually am more polite than that).
We all are walking through our own story boards. We have goals and are working at getting there. We tend to disregard, remove or avoid things that get in the way of our goals. Same in game. No one is obligated to become involved in another's story--they might have a meeting to attend (though we should be open and try to interact when we can--which I do).
What is "Good" Role Play? - Angelfire - 05-21-2008
' Wrote:I spent thirty minutes last night with someone who followed me around demanding I explain to them why my character was in an area and what my motives and goals were.
My response to him (after half an hour) was, "Your inability to understand what my character is doing things for isn't my problem."
The real problem is that as he didn't get it, he assumed that gave him the right to follow me with a barrage of ooc comments while I was trying to play.
..pah..pettiness: focusing on the things that matter least at the expense of the things that matter most!
It does indeed get tedious when lawyers chase you around the galaxy.. thats when I go into 'auto dumb' and let them fill my screen with pink... 'knock yourself out councillor!' hahahah
What is "Good" Role Play? - Jinx - 05-21-2008
very often - convincing RP includes not saying much more than a simple "hello there, too".
now, if sirius was like a giant and very empty space where meeting others is something to tell your grandchildren. - then ... yes, one would stop, have a good and lengthy talk etc. ( sort of what people did in the middleages when they brought the corn to the miller and had all the recent gossip there ) - happened maybe 2 or 4 times a year... .
now, sirius is more like a giant highway. - you hardly ever have a moment that you do NOT see someone else around. actually, ( if you count NPCs as full members of sirius, too ) - you d have to travel very very far away into hidden systems ( like omicron lost ) in order to be really alone.
so... RP is what a character in such a busy enviroment does. - its good RP to stop every time to have a chat, but its also good RP to not reply at all to every "hello there" call.
there is a difference between encounters of course. - since none of the sectors in sirius is really a liberal and free sector, - militaries or the dominant factions rule as if they rule with an iron fist. - passers by are scanned and asked for their intentions. and of course, in that case, one either takes up the role of the intimidated victim of such a regime or someone that stands up against it in various forms and shapes - that is verbally or even physicly. nevertheless, we only have archetype roles. - even individual chars are archetypes, cause we have to play by the raw pattern we get from the NPC factions.
so, of course you can develope a personality and a unique role as a LPI officer, but in the end, you are still a LPI officer, no matter if you play the good cop or the slightly violent one.
but there is no one that can say whats good RP and whats bad RP. there is just something like a feeling if it is "right" or "wrong". a LPI in an outcast dreadnaught could be brilliant RP - still it would feel "wrong". but that doesn t mean the RP is bad or anything. Thats how much RP can justify the role.
comparing it to RL doesn t really work well, cause RL is much more complex than allmost every game. RL makes a single person take up countless roles depending on the situation. - a human in RL is not bound to a role at all... he can act this way when he s out with friends and completely different when he is out with other friends. - he can be a devout member of a church and still be the antichrist in persona. - such a complex webbing of personalities and roles would never work in a simple game like freelancer.
in freelancer we decide what role we take and are rather limited in what we can make out of it. - once the role hits a certain limit, - it starts to become "wrong".
What is "Good" Role Play? - song - 05-21-2008
' Wrote:..pah..pettiness: focusing on the things that matter least at the expense of the things that matter most!
It does indeed get tedious when lawyers chase you around the galaxy.. thats when I go into 'auto dumb' and let them fill my screen with pink... 'knock yourself out councillor!' hahahah
It would be really cool if we were all given one uber bomb as admin placed equipment. it could only be used once and never replaced.
When fired, it would destroy the ship and on respawn it would come back as a starflier in NY with neutered rep and no cash or weapons.
Oh please please please.
Think of the dynamic tension it would spawn in-game. He he he.