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(08-20-2015, 02:58 PM)Kaiz Wrote:(08-20-2015, 01:06 PM)LadyRochester Wrote:Â(08-19-2015, 09:09 PM)Kaiz Wrote: 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.
As I mentioned in my post, it was a phrasing problem. I do not speak of intellect or knowledge, I speak of raw sharp-mindedness and wit. I don't mean to offend anyone, and if someone takes this personally, I apologize. This isn't a personal attack against those who play witty characters.Â
However, I part from the belief that unless you're given a script, you cannot fake possessing mental faculties you truly lack. If you claim your character is intelligent enough to come back with quick-witted responses, then you, as a roleplayer, have to come up with those witty responses as quickly as your character would. For someone who isn't sharp-minded, this is nearly impossible. This usually leads to the character falling flat, because you as a roleplayer cannot keep up with the character you want to portray.
My father is an actor. He has done all kinds of acting, including Improv. Role-play is a lot like imrpov, because you don't follow a script, it's fully reactionary. He has told me that in order to portray a quick-witted person, one must be sharp minded, otherwise you won't be able to play the part.
That's just it, though. RP isn't improv. I don't know of your father roleplays or is just approximating based on what you've shown him, but as someone who grew up in acting and improv and who also RPs, they are very different. Â The amount of pressure on you in improv is totally different from RP and your posting speed can very considerably without problem.Â
Also you can absolutely have a script to follow in rp, and no one will necessarily ever know about it unless they're sitting behind you at your computer watching you glance at your notes.
RP is very definitely improvised when it's occurring in the game. Â If there's a script, it's just a story you're acting out (we're not doing a Matrix RP if we're just reciting the lines from The Matrix). Â And there is absolutely an audience out there, they're just also playing with you. Â The pressure you feel is differential by the standard you hold your own performance to.
The pinnacle of RP is to have a character people want to RP their own characters with and want to be around for their stories, and that's fundamentally a function of audience response from other writers.