(04-15-2014, 06:50 PM)Zhavi Wrote: Just pointing out that I can write emotion without needing to feel it at the time of the writing. Case in point: your character breaks a bone. You are able to write the pain without experiencing it firsthand as it's happening. It's the same with any emotion -- you know what it's like, you've observed how other people deal with the same emotion, you alter it to fit the character. I can get that not everyone wants to rp that way (to each their own) but why are so many people insisting that without actively experiencing the emotions as they're happening for the character the rp becomes bad? I admit to a sense of puzzlement. I can understand what the character feels and desires without needing to feel it at that moment myself, without losing out on my sense of enjoyment and immersion. :s
Because it's a style of acting. Some actors don't get into character to the extent of others. There's a famous story of an exchange between Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier, that - I'll just quote it here:
There's that famous, but likely apocryphal, story about Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman when they were working together on Marathon Man. To prepare for a scene, Hoffman had gone for a few days without sleep and looked pretty rough. Olivier asked him why he was putting himself through such an ordeal and Hoffman replied that he was trying to be convincing in the role. Olivier replied, "Try acting dear boy".
YOU are Olivier, this people getting into the zone and inside their characters heads are Hoffman. Both are VALID forms of acting and the two have merits and flaws all their own.
I prefer the Hoffman approach because I feel I can be more authentic. That's all.
Quote:(sometimes I even have a sense of unholy glee when putting my characters through awkward/embarrassing situations. heh heh heh)
It should be known I love putting my characters through a lot. I believe in character growth through adversity. Armi has been stabbed by the enemy (4 times since the games launch), shot, kidnapped, almost killed my her friend, possessed by a voidsent, had limbs broken, been beat up, fought Garleans regularly, lost to Garleans reguarly, killed people in war, etc etc. I enjoy that kind of RP as well. I enjoy, also putting my character through those situations.
But Armi has also struggled with making friends, finding who she is, falling in love, had her heart broken, taught someone how to make cupcakes, danced at social ball, learn to drink like a sailor (Still working on that), cried over boys, had long emotional talks, held hands in the rain.
A well rounded character does all of those things and I think, as someone is stating in this thread, that saying thats all characters they see do may be disingenuous. If you saw Armi talking in the bar* you'd have no idea she'd almost been blown up by a bomb a week ago (True story) and assume I only do social rp because you don't see me running off and trying to get revenge or find Armi's missing friend or whatever.
*AS a note: You won't see Armi talking in a bar currently, unless her friends force her to go as she recenty had a bad break up and has been reeling over that for 2 weeks SO FAR. I try to be as authentic with pain as possible. If she's hurt, she's out. If someone gets hurt, it takes awhile for her to process, etc ,etc. The bomb also caused quite a fright and she's dealing with that as well. It's not just "This happened, oh well time to go to a bar."
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