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(08-19-2015, 11:26 AM)LadyRochester Wrote: Before any of you start sniffling, staring at your screen with foggy eyes, banging your fists against the desk as you cry: Â "BUT WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE INTELLIGENCE!?"
I would like to say that I am asking about people who roleplay characters and EXPLICITLY state they are geniuses, only to, you know.. Have their characters hardly achieve anything "genius"-worthy because their own wit can't quite catch up to their character.
In essence, can someone fake intelligence without being intelligent themselves?
Keep everything respectful and civil. I just like to spark debate. This is a matter of opinion... Mostly.
No. Â Sorry, but, it's impossible to operate outside your own ability. Â Rule #2 of roleplaying is, literally, to not RP beyond your means. Â Know your limitations.
I should explain. Â You don't necessarily have to BE what your RP characters are. Â Certainly, Orleans is a somewhat sociopathic mercenary, and I'm an architectural designer in Ohio. Â I don't have to be a killer to play a killer. Â However, we are taking on dual activities as writers and actors. Â And, unfortunately, there are simply attributes we can't do.
If you are not capable of being smart, you can't play a genius character convincingly. Â If you aren't capable of being charismatic, you can't play a charming character convincingly. Â You may not have to be angry, but if you can't even manage to understand anger, you cannot play a violent and angry character. Â You can play what you don't do, but you can't play what you can't play.
This is all related to how people react to your character. Â If you say your character is a genius, but you can't be intelligent in conversation and you can't problem solve, other players will not believe you and will, understandably, think that your character thinks he's smarter than he is.
More common is someone trying to play a womanizer without having the slightest clue how to be sly and charming. Â I can't tell you how many men slide into a room, thinking they're playing a smooth ladies' man, and come off as a comical asshat (or, worse, get angry because they're hanging out in a corner grimacing angrily at the table and can't seem to attract a woman to hear their sob story).
Even worse (though less common) is the person playing the crazy, murderous sociopath that, at the first sign of drama, becomes a pussy cat. Â Play the character, not yourself, and if you can't play the character, don't.
I know my limitations. Â I don't play any female characters. Â None whatsoever. Â I've tried, and I've failed to make it convincing. Â I know I don't do it well. Â The "women" I've played have always come off as very domineering and masculine, even though I've been trying not to. Â And I'm an experienced RPer, I've been doing this for almost two decades. Â But I want to be convincing and I simply can't, no matter how much research I do and how hard I try, get a good female character going. Â Some of you are good at playing an alternate gender, but I can't to the standard I maintain for myself.
You can always try to broaden your horizons and play someone much, much different from yourself. Â Some things, though, you can't do. Â Even if you pretend to know things in FFXIV, people will know, if you're not smart in real life, that your character isn't as smart as he wants to be. Â It simply bleeds through.