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(08-21-2015, 08:51 AM)Nero Wrote: The arguments being put forth in this thread, particularly the ones attempting to quantify wit and intellect, are more or less completely meaningless because what the question is essentially asking is: "Can people force you to perceive their character a certain way?"
And the answer is no. I think everyone would agree that the answer is no. Unless it's a D&D campaign where the attributes of a character are tracked and informed (e.g. Roll a lore check, score a natural 20, "With staggering speed, your character deciphers the runes effortlessly. This language seems similar to what you know of Ancient Whatsit, and the structure is odd, but you feel that you obtain the complete accurate meaning of the ancient tablet nonetheless"), then no one can force others to perceive their character a certain way.
Regardless of whether or not the player is intelligent, the player cannot force other characters to perceive their character as intelligent.
An intelligent character may be viewed as other characters as dumb. A dumb character may be viewed as other characters as the flowering genius of the era.
If other characters don't perceive your character as the way you want your character to be perceived, then the problem is not the other characters but the portayal--again, one cannot force others to perceive their characters or writing a certain way.
One example being put forth is the idea of conveyance; the difference between "<x> does <intelligent action y> with incredible comfort and skill" is different between "<x> rapidly flipped the disks on this Towers of Hanoi puzzle with certainty of the solution". One is telling. The other is showing.
In this situation, the question changes. The question becomes "Does telling someone about a character's attributes substitute for showing them?" And you'll get varying answers, but really what it comes down to is whether or not the audience is willing to tolerate lazy writing. I can of course simply "tell" you that my character is Picasso, Mozart, and Ice JJ Fish rolled into one amazing artistic package, and your character may respond to it by reacting as if they'd met an incredible visionary, but how the player behind the other character responds is up to them.
If they're willing to roll with it, then they proceed as normal.
If they're not really okay with being told rather than shown, then their character can react accordingly.
Attempting to force perceptions on other is, as a general rule, a bad time. Perceptions of characters or situations are made by their portayals, and if you can't convince the audience of a certain trait or attribute, or if they're not willing to roll with being told but not shown, then you're pretty much out of luck.
It's also worth noting that knowledge and intelligence are very different things. Â You can be of average or below average intelligence and have plenty of hard-fought knowledge. Â You simply needed to work harder to gain it, and you may not be able to apply it as quickly as other naturally gifted people. Â Likewise, you can be extremely intelligent and simply lack knowledge.
We all know someone like this. Â The guy who seemed to be capable of anything and actually accomplished nothing.
I think that, in addition to what's being said here (which I agree with), it's important to state what intelligence, wit, etc. actually are. Â You can be a perfectly good engineer, even a highly effective innovator, without being intelligent. Â As someone who works with a lot of engineers, I can say that there are plenty of highly intelligent people that I wouldn't trust to calculate the structure in my shed. Â Even if it takes an "unintelligent" engineer twice as long, I'd rather it be done right.
So no one's saying that players who aren't personally very intelligent can't play highly skilled or capable characters, but there is a limit to how much of a genius they seem to the rest of us.  And that can't be dictated.  If it takes them a few days to come up with a good solution (or a good comeback) then they simply aren't going to be able to play a character that seems intelligent.  And there's no real way to force that to happen.