There's a general rule in RP that unfortunately isn't something that's very formulaic.  It goes, "Anything can work, but if it doesn't, knock it off."
This applies to just about everything. Â I played a character once in WoW who was, to say the least, somewhat mentally imbalanced. Â If I had to put a tag to it, it would be paranoid schizophrenia. Â He constantly referenced things that weren't there, threats that couldn't possibly exist, and conspiracies that seemed plucked out of novels. Â However, the way I played him, it worked. Â People enjoyed RPing with me and went along with it, even though I doubt highly it was medically accurate.
Also, I have played quite a few sociopaths (people who can't understand human emotion outside their own) in my time. Â These are people who, in the bounds of video game logic, aren't strange, but in real life they'd be the scariest things walking the face of the planet. Â However, since they work in the game, they work.
On the other hand, I did play a recalcitrant recluse of a mage in a free-form thread. Â He was blind and very dependent on his brother. Â He often came off as afraid and somewhat pathetic on his own, despite his ability, and he was constantly nervous without his brother. Â I played that rather convincingly as an anxiety disorder, but it very quickly got irritating. Â Not to people who had the disorder (I played the anxiety correctly), but because in the concept of the RP we were doing, it got aggravating for the other players very quickly.
I think we sometimes forget that one of the first rules of RP is that if you're going to do something, make it work, and if it isn't working, stop. Â The point of RP is to have fun, both the person playing the character and the people playing their own who interact with them. Â Very rarely will someone put the brakes on to scold you for your poor portrayal of real-life symptoms if your character is entertaining and fun to play off of. However, they'll definitely do it if you're being an ass in public, even if being an ass in public might be an occasional symptom of a mental disorder your character has.
In the end, let's try to keep things in perspective, here. Â The first question you have to ask when playing a character isn't "is this offensive" or "is this right" but "does this work." Â Remember that we're writing characters here, just like authors. Â They have to work first, because no one wants to read something that's medically accurate but has nothing happen.
This applies to just about everything. Â I played a character once in WoW who was, to say the least, somewhat mentally imbalanced. Â If I had to put a tag to it, it would be paranoid schizophrenia. Â He constantly referenced things that weren't there, threats that couldn't possibly exist, and conspiracies that seemed plucked out of novels. Â However, the way I played him, it worked. Â People enjoyed RPing with me and went along with it, even though I doubt highly it was medically accurate.
Also, I have played quite a few sociopaths (people who can't understand human emotion outside their own) in my time. Â These are people who, in the bounds of video game logic, aren't strange, but in real life they'd be the scariest things walking the face of the planet. Â However, since they work in the game, they work.
On the other hand, I did play a recalcitrant recluse of a mage in a free-form thread. Â He was blind and very dependent on his brother. Â He often came off as afraid and somewhat pathetic on his own, despite his ability, and he was constantly nervous without his brother. Â I played that rather convincingly as an anxiety disorder, but it very quickly got irritating. Â Not to people who had the disorder (I played the anxiety correctly), but because in the concept of the RP we were doing, it got aggravating for the other players very quickly.
I think we sometimes forget that one of the first rules of RP is that if you're going to do something, make it work, and if it isn't working, stop. Â The point of RP is to have fun, both the person playing the character and the people playing their own who interact with them. Â Very rarely will someone put the brakes on to scold you for your poor portrayal of real-life symptoms if your character is entertaining and fun to play off of. However, they'll definitely do it if you're being an ass in public, even if being an ass in public might be an occasional symptom of a mental disorder your character has.
In the end, let's try to keep things in perspective, here. Â The first question you have to ask when playing a character isn't "is this offensive" or "is this right" but "does this work." Â Remember that we're writing characters here, just like authors. Â They have to work first, because no one wants to read something that's medically accurate but has nothing happen.
