The Art of Roleplaying
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Table of Contents:
1. Roleplaying and In Character Defined
2. Rolling with the Punches
3. Balancing Realism and Fun
4. What is OOC Consideration, really?
5. Retiring a Character
6. Respectful Disagreement -
Roleplaying and In Character Defined
So what is Roleplaying and all this stuff about being 'In Character?' Most players have a rough sense of what it is. But ask for a definition and you may get dozens of different answers. In this guide, I hope to communicate my personal definition of the two, and to help explain why I believe it is the best definition to apply.
Definition and Dissection
I define Roleplaying as: Assuming the role of an independent entity, and governing its behavior based upon the entity's conceptual design and past experiences. Yes, I know it sounds like a complicated definition, and some of you are probably reading this and wondering if I should be checked into a mental institution. Set aside that for a moment, and let me attempt to explain why each and every word of this definition is important.
"Assuming the Role" is a pretty simple part, and I'm certain most experienced players of CoA will understand that part at least. For those who do not, it simply means that a player takes upon himself to play a role. To talk, act, emote, and everything in between as the character he is playing. It's understood that a player doesn't use internet slang when speaking or try to make friends like they were on a social server or chat room. This is typically the core of what most people would define as 'Roleplaying' or 'Being In Character.'
So now, what does the "Independent Entity" part mean? It simply means that the role you are assuming is independent from you as a person. Okay, so what does -that- mean? That means that the character is not you, the player, but rather a separate entity that you just happen to be associated with. Why is this part important? We'll see more about this later, but the basic reason is that players should understand not to take things that happen to their character's personally, because that character is independent from their own personal emotional and physical well-being.
Finally, we get to the last part "governing [the entity's] behavior based upon the entity's conceptual design and past experiences." This part basically means that we play the character and determine his actions and feelings. However, we do so based upon the persona and concept we have designed the character under, and also based upon the experiences the character has had throughout his game life. This is important in relation to independence, because it gives you bearings on separating yourself from the character itself. Instead of thinking 'what would I do?' the question becomes 'what would -he- do?'
So we have the basic explanation of the definition of Roleplaying. What is the definition of In Character? It's simply the be constantly in a state of Roleplaying.
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Rolling with the Punches
Players have always heard the DMs use the expression 'Roll with the Punches.' I will attempt to explain it as best as I can, but if you don't have my definition of Roleplaying fresh in your mind, then please take a moment to return to the previous chapter and review it. The definition is integral to what 'Rolling with the Punches' means.
The term is essentially used to explain that the server and world is a dynamic one. While in single player, the world revolves around the character of the player; In a Persistent World, the player is another speck amidst hundreds of other factors that are at work at the same time. In this respect, the character is very much like we are in the real world: One entity of millions.
Due to this fact, the forces that be will be constantly be shifting and affecting every character that exists in the game world. This can be direct or indirect, and though for the purposes of this discussion I will be focusing on the direct cases. Good and bad things will happen to the character, whether the character understands them or not and even whether the player understands them or not.
There will be characters that work with yours, and others that work against him. There will be NPCs that work with your character, and others that will work against him. On occasion even the weather, the Gods, or sheer luck will either facilitate or interfere with your character's plans and goals.
The concept to understand is that in a Persistent World setting, the world will not revolve around your character, and things will move with or without you. DMs will play their characters (the NPCs) accordingly, and PCs will play their characters properly (hopefully). Like in real life, your character will experience good and bad times. It is simply the way things are.
Why is the definition of Roleplaying important here? It is important simply because it should govern the way you behave throughout these experiences. It is these good and bad times that will help define your character as he progresses in the world. It is these experiences that will help him grow or falter, much like our own good and bad experiences in real life contribute to our growth.
But this is a game. You play it to escape real life. Yes, that's true. Even I, a DM, play this game as a way to get an alternate reality that I find fun. But remember the other part of the definition I gave for Roleplay: Independence. What happens to your character should have no bearing on your own physical or mental well-being. Even if the character suffers five months or constant adversity, the player does not bear any consequence of that. In this way, there is no reason a player cannot have fun playing in either the good or bad times for his character.
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Balancing Roleplaying Realism and Fun
Regrettably, there will always be players who simply just don't find the bad times fun. We all like to 'win,' and modern society teaches us to strive for success and excellence, not strive for the journey. And yet, the journey is necessary to ever even have a chance for success. Thus, the best thing to do is to try and learn to have fun for the journey, and treat success as a rewarding byproduct; not the be all and end all.
Think about any truly rewarding experience you've ever had. What are you truly proud of in your lifetime? It's probably not the time Uncle Joe handed you a $2,000 dollar check and told you there would be one for you each week until you choose to retire. That'd probably be cool, and I'd love an uncle like that too. But in the end, would you be proud that you were handed a salary for nothing?
Your proudest moments are likely the ones where you overcame great adversity and challenge. And in some cases, you may have not even succeeded at obtaining the end prize, but the fact you went as far as you did amazed even you. It's usually the journey that's the most fun and rewarding, not necessarily what tangible 'rewards' you gain out of it; and roleplaying is no exception.
Still, you play for fun, and you can't have fun if you don't succeed. That's why some players have so many high level characters. But, oh wait. Why is it that they have so many characters in their vault, while players who focus on roleplaying and the journey tend to have a couple that have lasted months or even years? It's simple. The tangible rewards (Exp, Loot, Success) are hollow by themselves. While they provide initial satisfaction, without some journey to have accompanied receiving the reward, they soon lose their flavor and more is needed to sustain happiness. Because of this, players who dislike adversity or challenge tend to need to create multiple characters to keep themselves happy. Whether it is because they've finally reached the tangible (exp, loot, etc) rewards cap with an existing character, or because they're unmotivated to play a character that recently hit a bump in the road.
This realization also gives rise to another point about 'fun' and roleplaying your character realistically. Roleplaying realistically is a constant. People may debate on whether or not a player is doing so, but by analyzing the concept, past experiences, and current state of the character, one can generally get a feel for whether or not a character is being roleplayed properly.
On the other hand 'fun' is a subjective standard. The way we have fun is all different. For those who don't know, the server will not change to try to meet everyone's expectations of what fun is, because it is simply impossible to do so. Players who find success to be the only way to have fun, I encourage to go look at some Action servers (if you like loot and exp) or Single Player Campaigns (if you like to get easy success) because those are probably much better suited to your taste than CoA.
Still, I assume that many players with us (even if they bear love for a dominant love for success) have stayed with us for so long because there is some draw to the roleplay, the realism, and the challenge. My advice to you would simply be to understand my definition of Roleplaying, and most importantly recognize the independence aspect of it. Learn to have fun for the experience of playing the role and journeying a character through good and bad times.
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What is OOC Consideration, really?
So we've talked a bit about roleplaying, its definition, and the idea of realism of challenges as opposed to 'fun'. But I know some of you who've been around for awhile have heard 'OOC consideration' and are probably thinking that I'm a hypocrit since I myself have told players before to exercise 'OOC consideration'.
I promise you I'm not a hypocrit; at least not in this aspect. I believe OOC consideration to actually be a method of ensuring a player is roleplaying at all times, and not being himself through the character he is playing. Let me explain what I mean.
The most common time a DM tells a player to exercise OOC consideration is for pvp circumstances. Exercise OOC consideration when killing a character. Don't grief characters. But you're not griefing a character. You're being in character and roleplaying because your character is an evil bastard! Right? Wrong.
I'll use a common situation I've gotten over my years as a DM. The standard kill and loot that many characters in the past have exercised. If you bring them aside for an ooc chat, the general progression of the conversation tends to be similar to the following:
[DM]: I saw that your character killed that PC. Why did he do that?
[Player]: He looked at my character funny. So I killed him and looted him.
[DM]: Why did your character kill him and loot him for looking at him funny.
[Player]: My character is an evil bastard. I was just roleplaying him like you all expect me to.
[DM]: But then why kill him? Why not just beat him down? Would your character risk murder just over a dirty look?
1-5 minute pause
[Player]: I told you, he's an evil bastard.
[DM]: Okay, assuming your character really did kill him for in character reasons and that you were roleplaying him. Why did he loot him thereafter then? And how did he pick up 2 plate mails, 3 weapons, the gold, and the magic belt, cloak, and boots the dead character had?
[Player]: I told you. He's an evil bastard. He figured the loot was better taken than given to some other guy.
[DM]: And how did he loot all that in 5 seconds? He wasn't worried about getting away from the scene? He wasn't scared?
[Player]: I told you. He's an evil bastard. And you're the DM, you should try to fix it so we can't loot everything in 5 seconds.I'm an advocate for players to pvp appropriately. If a level 2 character gives a level 8 jackass a dirty look, I'd expect the level 8 jackass character to beat down the level 2 (preferably with an ooc tell afterward to explain the situation to the level 2 so he understands it was nothing personal). If a level 2 character tells a level 8 Talassan that Talos sucks, and Torm would own him, then spits on the Talassan's face, then proceeds to do this every meeting, I'd fully expect the Talassan to kill the PC or find some other form of pvp to make a point that Talos is stronger than Torm.
However, you often find situations like the one I illustrated above. The only justification is that the character is an evil bastard (or for good aligned characters, the character that was killed was evil and needed a smiting). Is this roleplaying realistically? Possibly, but let's consider this a moment.
In the real world, criminals often have some motivations that make them unlawful or evil. Their reasoning may be warped, but they've often rationalized some reason as to why their actions were justified. No one ever says to their lawyer 'I did it because I'm an evil bastard.' Moreso, criminals in most cases understand the varying degrees of offenses and punishments in the justice system. Even street punks who've never been to school know that if they rob someone, they'll get a little jail time if caught; as opposed to 20 to life for murder. Moreso, they know that once they make the robbery, they better get the heck out of there or the police will be along soon. So does it make sense that an 'evil bastard' will kill a person for a dirty look, then take his time to loot a bunch of items (half of which were likely very heavy)? Probably not.
The point is that OOC consideration often comes into play as a means to help players realize that they're not roleplaying as the character any longer, but are using a character avatar for their own personal hopes of acquiring loot, bragging rights, or both.
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Retiring a Character
Outside of cheaters, griefers, metagamers, powergamers, and bad dm quests / plots, there's probably nothing worse than a good character that goes bad. It's terrible watching a character whose just plainly lost all his favor and reason to exist, dragging on his life on the server for no apparent reason. Think of Micheal Jordan or Joe Gibbs, men who achieved great things in their respective sports during their time, but ultimately returned and more or less tarnished their reputations and how they will be remembered.
So when is it time to retire a character? When is it realistic that he should move on? This part of the guide may be abit confusing because at some point I'll be blurring OOC (Out of Character) and IC (In Character). But let me start off with the ideal situation.
Ideally, a player will have a good understanding of what this guide has been about: Roleplaying, Independence, and the journey. They will understand that they are separate entities from their character, and if they do ultimately end the character, that ending will not affect them in any physical way. Moreso, they understand that every journey has an end, and that for this character, it has.
A sign of this is generally shown by when the player can no longer conceivably think of any meaningful goals to pursue for the character. The character is now happy with his situation, and has accomplished enough. In these situations, if a player continues playing the character, one of two things often happen. The character may go into semi-retirement, and return only for plots or pvp situations that he should not be a part of, due to the fact that the character will no longer be frequently around to take the good and bad of those situations. Or the character just enters a state of limbo, and adds nothing to the world, except take up space. It's sad, but one of the most important things for a player to consider is when it may be time to end the character.
The more ooc situations comes to light when a player just loses all motivation to play. Hopefully, you've realized that the character is independent of you as a player, and therefore this will be a non-issue. However, if this is truly the situation you find yourself in, as I said earlier: this game is about fun. If you don't have fun with the character anymore, it's often better to just retire them altogether. The lack of motivation will transfer into your roleplaying, which is likely to ultimately be very poor until you find the renewed spark (which most players often don't find).
In either case, don't let your character's become stagnant. And always at least put it in the back of your mind to consider when may be the appropriate time to retire the character (whether the retirement comes expected or unexpected).
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Respectful Disagreement
Now that I've conveyed as much as I can think of on the subject, you've thought about it, and you respectfully disagree with some or all the points I've made. That's fine. Some DMs even may not agree with some of the smaller and finer points that I've made.
This guide is one I've made based on my own opinions in hopes of conveying what I believe will help many players understand the mindset they should have when roleplaying. Whether or not you chose to follow it or listen to it is something I'll likely never know for sure.
I know these methods work for me, and is one of the reasons I've played about 8 characters in v3, and enjoyed playing 5 of them enough to play them for over 3 months, with the longest being a year (the other 3 were dropped due to time constraints). They may not work for you in that way, but I am confident they will if you really take the guide seriously and try your best to understand everything in its entirety.
