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(08-19-2015, 06:02 PM)LadyRochester Wrote: Perhaps people do not understand my question.
Can someone who is not intelligent, play someone intelligent? I am talking about people who DON'T do their research or generally describe their character as "witty" and then fail to portray this because they aren't witty themselves in RP.
I am aware you're not your character.
I know this.
I know you're not your character.Â
I know you can roleplay a character who exceeds your knowledge.
I know this.
Like saying, "Heheheh, my character is really witty!"Â
And then emote something like
"Witty McWit feels his intelligence is threatened, and at the end of the debate, he responds: ' WELL U CAN'T SAY THAT CUS YOUR STOOPID!' "
Could you honestly tell me that's someone portraying an intelligent character properly?
Like... Honestly? This is an extreme case, but it seems like people are missing the point, or perhaps I didn't phrase it correctly.
It's easy to fake knowledge and "book-smarts", you simply whip out google and ta-da, there's your answer. But I speak of wit. Social intelligence. Charisma and word-play. Not knowledge. You can be knowledgeable and dumb. You can fake knowledge. You cannot, however, fake wit.
It sounds like you don't know what you're asking. A witty person is not the same thing as an intellectual person, though those two personalities can share some common characteristics.Â
Wit and intelligence are imperfect concepts, and are usually very subjective. Everyone can be witty or intelligent in their moments, and whether that makes them a witty or intelligent person is largely up to who you ask. Wit is largely recognized by creative language on the fly, so if you can pull off witty remarks, you can pass your character off as a witty character for the most part.Â
Ultimately, roleplaying any personality that is outside your own is possible once you've broken down the characteristics that commonly define that personality, and constantly look for opportunities to show those characteristics in RP. Wit is definitely one of the harder ones to do because it heavily relies on improvisation and quick thinking, but even that can be faked with sufficient preparation.
An intellectual is easier because being intellectual is less about how intelligent you are and more about how much you care about intelligence. You can functionally have little real intelligence, but still be an intellectual because you are inquisitive, care about learning, value intelligence in others, and so on.Â
Someone mentioned charismatic characters being impossible for non-charismatic people, but that is also incorrect, and I can speak from personal experience as a steep introvert with a very tiny sphere of friends who has successfully played two extroverted socialites who had big social circles and were generally well-received by everyone. It's just a matter of defining what makes a charismatic character what they are, and setting some guidelines for yourself to encourage more sociable behavior.
Obviously, the further the target personality is from your own, and the further it is from your comfort zone, the more discipline and work it will take to pull that character off. It's never impossible, but it might not always be worth it (especially for a main character) if it's always going to be an uphill struggle for you to actualize your character.
tl;dr - Yes, it's possible, it's just harder for some than others.