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(09-25-2014, 10:43 PM)Faye Wrote:(09-25-2014, 10:34 PM)J Wrote: I always find situations such as that to be rather fascinating. I've long since been a bit of an 'outsider' within the role-playing communities that I've been a part of simply because I'm very careful about who exactly I approach and associate with.
Interestingly enough I've found that many of the role-players who are praised to the heavens as being friendly and welcoming happen to be far from that when dealing with anybody other than their close friends or those willing to fawn over them. What's even more interesting is that many of those with a terrible reputation have in fact turned out to be incredibly misunderstood and friendly, eager to go out of their way to help people they don't even know.
As it stands, I think people in the RP community are more often praised for their writing prowess and role-play skill rather than their OOC friendliness. And those who are more talented are more likely to have an elitist attitude or be a bit more exclusive, and those who are newer or more uncertain of their skill tend to be more friendly and inclusive. (Not saying that goes for everyone, or even the majority, by any means--just a general personal observation.) Or maybe it's just the high school drama mentality that the popular people are "bitchy" yet everyone praises them to be in their good graces and be considered part of the cool kids' club.
I can only agree with that, I'd like to add a bit of my personal view aswell.Â
I've often heard 'elitism' mentioned as something atrocious, something to stay clear from. Fact is however, what most people consider elitism, isn't even elitism. Most people confuse discrimination with elitism, which tends to bring about alot of issues.
For example; I learned to Roleplay in very, very Elitist communities. The difference to what most would describe here however is that these 'Elitist' Roleplayers didn't right out run around being exclusive. Quite on the contrary. Aslong you where honest to yourself, showed the will to improve upon your skill, most of these so called Elitist went to great lengths helping you, including you into plots and so on, and that for a simple reason. New people provide new perspectives and a fresh feeling to roleplay. Always been that way. And the better the quality of each player becomes, the better the overall immersion and world you've created. In the end, if you showed the will to improve (and this has nothing to do with 'sucking up to people', but genuine interest for roleplay itself and playing in a fashion that can be beneficial to many people as opposed to just nurture your own satisfaction), you certainly would've never had 'bad' run ins with elitist. Quite on the contrary, they would help you along the way in any way they could possibly muster.
If it wasn't for these so called Elitist players, I would've never learned to speak english as well as I do now, (You would call them grammar nazis, for me they where essential to get a good grasp on the english language) and wouldn't have the grasp on Roleplaying as I do now, I would've never become as interested in literature, movies and many other things as I have.Â
Moreso, since Roleplaying 'does' require a thick skin when you have to settle an argument and dispute, there was a high emphasis on being able to talk things through to the bitter end. If you showed signs of being easily offended, unwilling to talk things through to a logical conclusion, began to shut down during arguments because "bueheh I'm so annoyed with this don't tell me how to play", In general, any form of not hearing out others, now that could've netted you an exclusion. Not because we where insensitive, but considering that we played very combat oriented plots, war driven storylines and so on, you often ended up in IC conflict, and the resulting arguments 'had' to be settled otherwise the unspoken of animosity would've created even more discord amongst players. I think one my fondest memories from the 'good ol' days' (I know that that is a bias considering you usually see things through rose-tinted glasses when thinking about those 'good old days) was that you could've even hated a person guts OOCly, yet still managed to roleplay with them just fine, if simply because you knew that what you felt as a person was not what your character would feel to another character.
Basically, If you could not sit down with a person and discuss your character, his actions, their actions or likewise, and where one of those 'Shut up, I know what I'm doing, it is my character and my RP" type of people, you could bank on a 100 Percent you'd get that shun eventually. There's a clear difference between having a firm opinion and being stubborn because you can't take personal criticism in any shape or form.
Which brings me to another point; Â I've noticed that there's 'aloooooooooooot' of Gossiping going around players. People being shunned for their characters IC actions out of OOC reactions. "You char insulted my char! I don't want to play with you anymore!" Is one such example. Also, it seems everyone knows what IC/OOC, no bleed through etc mean, and yet there's still a big amount of roleplayers who, while they know how to write and play their role, do not know how to seperate themselves from their fictive character. A certain degree of attachment is okay, since your character is a piece of work you've created, but some people take it really too far. Dare to upset another player through playing a character that isn't as sociable and friendly as the rest, And suddenly you find yourself in a gossip circle where your name gets mentioned in a very negative light. And that being your OOC name. I've never yet heard someone say 'his character is an asshole', when it comes to IC handlings. I only hear people go 'The player is an asshole, his character did A;B;C'. This I say firsthand, happen to various people, Which would lead back to that 'missunderstood' point Faye raised.
In the end, there's alot of facets to the old 'Elitist vs. Casual' dynamic, there's alot of shapes or forms it can take, and I am certain that I just came off rather brash and abrasive. But I do like to drive the point home that;
A; Elitism is 'not' a bad thing, Discrimination however is
B; Your character is 'NEVER' a reflection of your OOC personality. NEVER. A character being an asshole to you in no way means that the player behind the character does not like you.
C; I like to make long posts where I end up wondering if I trialed off to much or stayed on course. Think I missed it this time.
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