(04-14-2014, 04:58 PM)Ignacius Wrote:

(04-14-2014, 03:59 PM)K Wrote: Unless you're a creature that lacks the ability to empathize then I don't see how you could not experience strong or harsh emotions for your characters. I have felt a variety of things through, or on behalf on my characters, even if they themselves didn't. In addition, I have also been through a lot when exposed to other characters even when I was totally uninvolved with the scene taking place or even so much as not even having ever roleplayed with the character. This is what makes RP exciting and interesting. If you couldn't feel anything from it then I don't understand why one would do it in the first place.

I've played a character before that has nailed a woman (literally with carpenter nails) naked to a table and interrogated her by skinning a tattoo off her hip and tossing it down on her face.  He finally got her to talk by preparing to slice off her finger to show her the ring she was wearing, having her tell him it had come from her husband, and threatening to have them find her husband to torture him as well.

It was fun, it was tense, it was dramatic, it was absolutely 100% not something I'd ever want to empathize with.  I've had a great many heroic roleplaying characters in my time, but I've also played characters that, at various times, have burned down an orphanage after killing everyone inside, had a witness killed and disposed of in order to get a murderer acquitted, and had one character bring a yearlong forum RP thread end by killing his own fiancee on behalf of his employer after leaving his entire gang to death.

(04-15-2014, 10:31 AM)ArmachiA Wrote: I always try to get inside my characters head and feel what they feel when trying to play a scene and I have a lot of empathy when something bad happens to one of my good characters (Not so much with my evil ones) and I have cried at overly emotional scenes - just like reading a good book or watching a good movie will do.

I think in order to play our characters accurately, we have to try to feel what they feel in the moment. Whether it's a funny scene or a serious scene, we have to try to get into their head. In essence, we're actors and thats what actors do.

(04-15-2014, 05:19 PM)K Wrote: My post was targeted specifically towards the OP's experiences. Of course there are exceptions out there too but I was simply making a broad claim rather than a universal one. In your case where you play a character you morally despise then I guess it would be a case where you are getting most of your enjoyment from the reactions and developments of the characters around you, though if I am mistaken then by all means correct me. In any case, I'm sure you can at least empathise with other peoples' characters.

(04-15-2014, 05:44 PM)Ignacius Wrote: Which, thank God, because I've had to roleplay someone that had to display realistic and understandable emotions in a serious dramatic RP, and I was bored to tears.  RP isn't a time I want to meet people who think and act like real people.  RP is a time I want to go nuts with other people who are going nuts!  The next time someone's head gets taken off in combat, I want people scrambling for the best sociopathic one-liner.

"I guess he's seeing things from a new angle, now."

(04-15-2014, 05:44 PM)Ignacius Wrote: Which, thank God, because I've had to roleplay someone that had to display realistic and understandable emotions in a serious dramatic RP, and I was bored to tears.  RP isn't a time I want to meet people who think and act like real people.  RP is a time I want to go nuts with other people who are going nuts!  The next time someone's head gets taken off in combat, I want people scrambling for the best sociopathic one-liner.

"I guess he's seeing things from a new angle, now."

(04-15-2014, 05:44 PM)Ignacius Wrote: Granted, a character I could actually empathize with would be boring as Hell, because this is a video game and it would be a dull one if the exciting parts had to be bookended by serious roleplay about the very real philosophy of mortality, loss, and the Hell of war.  But I'm well aware these aren't real people.  Sometimes, what best keeps me disconnected from everyone's characters is my suspension of disbelief.

(04-15-2014, 06:32 PM)Natalie Mcbeef Wrote: I pretty much completely feel the emotions my character has. I think that's what you need for really good rp. Emotions aren't logical, and the only way to figure out what they would be realistically, is to experience them. It has it's downsides obviously, I've been in some RPs that were so painful to my character and myself personally, that I almost couldn't finish them. Overall though it lends itself to really immersive RP. As people have said, much like actors, we are playing the role of our character, and like good actors we should get into character.

(04-15-2014, 06:50 PM)Zhavi Wrote:

(04-15-2014, 06:32 PM)Natalie Mcbeef Wrote: I pretty much completely feel the emotions my character has. I think that's what you need for really good rp. Emotions aren't logical, and the only way to figure out what they would be realistically, is to experience them. It has it's downsides obviously, I've been in some RPs that were so painful to my character and myself personally, that I almost couldn't finish them. Overall though it lends itself to really immersive RP. As people have said, much like actors, we are playing the role of our character, and like good actors we should get into character.

Just pointing out that I can write emotion without needing to feel it at the time of the writing. Case in point: your character breaks a bone. You are able to write the pain without experiencing it firsthand as it's happening. It's the same with any emotion -- you know what it's like, you've observed how other people deal with the same emotion, you alter it to fit the character. I can get that not everyone wants to rp that way (to each their own) but why are so many people insisting that without actively experiencing the emotions as they're happening for the character the rp becomes bad? I admit to a sense of puzzlement. I can understand what the character feels and desires without needing to feel it at that moment myself, without losing out on my sense of enjoyment and immersion. :s


(sometimes I even have a sense of unholy glee when putting my characters through awkward/embarrassing situations. heh heh heh)

(04-15-2014, 06:32 PM)Naunet Wrote:

(04-15-2014, 05:44 PM)Ignacius Wrote: Which, thank God, because I've had to roleplay someone that had to display realistic and understandable emotions in a serious dramatic RP, and I was bored to tears.  RP isn't a time I want to meet people who think and act like real people.  RP is a time I want to go nuts with other people who are going nuts!  The next time someone's head gets taken off in combat, I want people scrambling for the best sociopathic one-liner.

"I guess he's seeing things from a new angle, now."

I don't really understand this at all. What's uninteresting about playing believable characters? I mean, we can't all be sociopathic, weathered adventurers who have seen so much death and killed so many that it's as easy as pressing a couple buttons and watching things get shiny. If Antimony sees someone get killed, she's not going to just brush it off all "Ah, sentient blood! What a perfect accoutrement to my afternoon tea"-like. She's going to react like a person to whom death is a seriously frightening, grief-inducing, terrible event. And I don't really understand how that's boring. It's human emotion and gut and instinct, visceral and ugly and indifferent to the wants and needs of its bearer.

I mean, I can understand someone not wanting to rp a "normal" person (I've rped my fair share of... weirdos, for a lack of a better word), but to not even want to interact with "normal" people? That's confusing as hell. xD

(04-15-2014, 08:24 PM)Ignacius Wrote: Honestly, it really is that way.  There might be drama in and around it, but I get bored, quick, when the focus of an RP is the drama.  Mostly I think that's because I hated high school and if I wanted to listen to people's "feelings" all the time, I'd have paid more attention when I worked at Target.

No, I'd rather talk about squeezing somebody so hard their head pops off.

Seriously, though, I interact with normal people having crazy dramatic moments every single day.  I don't want to make a hobby of doing it with imaginary people at home.  I'd rather explore the drama associated with combat, crime, and justice.

Actually, I'll be honest, I'd rather just RP where the drama can sometimes take a backseat to the sudden outbreak of violence.  Nothing like sitting in a bar listening to people talk about their love life and wishing somebody would just throw a punch already.

(04-15-2014, 08:24 PM)Ignacius Wrote: Mostly I think that's because I hated high school and if I wanted to listen to people's "feelings" all the time, I'd have paid more attention when I worked at Target.

(04-16-2014, 01:11 AM)Melkire Wrote: This thread is full of people referencing melodrama and other people mistaking them as referencing emotions in general, and vice-versa. Can we please stop doing that?

inb4 someone mistakenly reads this in a negative or disapproving tone of voice and the thread continues to devolve in a series of misunderstandings before hitting rock-bottom at full-blown drama. There, now I've reverse-jinxed it, and it stands no chance of happening.