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."
<span style="font-family:System">Hogosha Exile</span> The Journal of Benjo Dokosai
