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(08-21-2015, 09:14 AM)LadyRochester Wrote: Ignacious and Nero,
I thank you both for providing the thread with sensitive arguments that didn't fall to personal insults or the "Your opinion offends me" spectrum. Bravo. I didn't phrase things correctly, but my point was pretty much to spark a discussion regarding what the player claims their character is, and what the audience truly sees.
If a player cannot properly portray intelligence, no mater how intelligent their character is claimed to be, others will perceive them as dumb. It's tough, but no matter how much you claim your character is a genius, if you cannot properly portray that due to your OOC limitations, you won't be taken seriously as a so-called genius.
People can be a little sensitive, but it comes from a good place. Â People don't want to tell a player that he's definitely punching above his weight, and his "witty" comments are just annoying people. Â Unfortunately, I think most people get that across by just ignoring and blisting the person.
You'd be amazed how many "trolls" are actually trying to RP and just failing at it because they don't understand the human interaction side of it.
I think, sometimes, what's lost is that RP isn't just personal liberation, it's performance art. Â The pinnacle of RP isn't how you write your character, but how well you advance the greater social narrative. Â Unfortunately, that means that people who aren't well schooled in the art of performance find themselves at a disadvantage without having a clue why. Â The person you're talking about in the OP probably saw NOTHING wrong with his portrayal. Â You're probably not the only person finding yourself noticing the deficiency. Â At least you had enough of a crisis of conscience to come here to ask about it. Â Most people either write the player off as a jerk and blist him or they try to cater to him, making the problem worse.
Perception by the other players drives their characters' interaction, and that's incredibly important in RP. Â The most popular characters to RP with aren't necessarily the best or most interesting, they're the ones that are the most fun to interact with. Â That means knowing what limits you can push and when you're just stepping over your capability and driving people away. Â Unfortunately, playing a "smart" player is playing with fire, and it's risky because if you can't pull it off, it becomes very glaring.
More unfortunately, the most common advice in this situation that other players give is to discount the audience. Â Which is fine, but it's not going to make playing with your character any more pleasant.
Better advice is to try not to play to the standard, but play the traits. Â If they make the standard, more the better, but at least your character comes off as you're capable, not obviously more than you're capable.