What to NOT do when roleplaying...

[Tadir]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOU8GIRUd_g

[DAISHI]

OH SNAPS I got rolled.

[Noelle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOU8GIRUd_g

 

God damn it Tadir! D:

[Kashemia]

I got copy-righted Stupid Danish laws.

[Tadir]

^______^

[Kraehenfeder]

It's not just Denmark >.<

 

However, I dug out this again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aFKSvw4bjU

[Iroh]

It's not just Denmark >.<

 

However, I dug out this gain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aFKSvw4bjU

 

A water shrew? I'm confused.

 

EDIT: Yet more proof I should watch something completely before I pass judgement. That was hilarious.

[Kashemia]

It's not just Denmark >.<

 

However, I dug out this gain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aFKSvw4bjU

 

 

Hahaha, that's awesome!

[Alaiac]

My take on the thought issue is fairly straight-forward. Internal dialogues should be saved for a narrative format. 'In-person' role-play is not a narrative format. It is an interactive form of storytelling. Simply put, become your character. Do the people around you in real life know what you are thinking, word for word? No. No, they do not. They may be able to discern it from body language, tone, etc, but for your actual thoughts, unless communicated in some observable form, no one has any way of knowing exactly what they are.

 

It may be my theatre background, but I personally feel that knowing another character's inner dialogue helps to break immersion in the scene, as it is breaking the fourth wall and communicating directly with the audience, and not the other characters.

 

My two cents.

[Chveya]

I don't necessarily have an opinion one way or the other; I've used both styles, and can -not- use a style if it upsets someone.

 

The only 2 cents that I have to throw in is this: There is a -lot- of information that use non-verbal and non-facial cues, that we pick up on without realizing it. Everything from how you're standing or sitting, to the subtle changes in your voice's pitch, to the variations in skin flushing; and these are things we are usually not aware of.

 

We're doubly unable to communicate this information effectively in a digital format. We can't make our characters' bodies respond in those infinitely subtle ways. And if we are aware of them, it's still much faster - especially given our delightfully short character limit - to give a brief, vague inner-monologue moment than it is to go into the crazy level of detail it'd take to convey all that information.

 

I've RPed with someone who did all of that. For every post. Every. Single. Day. You could go out and have a cigarette between each of his posts. He'd consider himself slacking if he posted less than three paragraphs at a time.

 

That's fine, if that's your style. But in a game that limits your text, it may be easier and more intuitive for some players to provide shorter - albeit less 'proper' - cues to their characters dispositions.

[Kashemia]

Iroh actually added an interesting perspective that I had failed to take into account: Adding the thought for comical reasons.

Sometimes, that can totally work! I've been in several situations where the roleplay was rather funny, and where the adition of the character's thought just made it even more hillarious. So yeah, I can see a use for it now and then.

 

But as I already said, I don't believe in a right or wrong way to roleplay. Writing my character's thoughts is (usually) not for me, but that doesn't mean I won't roleplay with people who do it, or can't see the reason for doing it.

[Iroh]

It may be my theatre background, but I personally feel that knowing another character's inner dialogue helps to break immersion in the scene, as it is breaking the fourth wall and communicating directly with the audience, and not the other characters.

 

I'm an actor myself... and have you ever heard of an aside?

 

And then in TV and film, there's actual narration often.

 

Look, I'm not one to ever say most things looked down on in RP are fine... but thought narration, depending on the incident, is not always meta-gaming. Having a character type out a narration of what he or she is feeling can have a NUMBER of interesting uses, be it letting other players around you in on a joke you can't express as that character but CAN express as the player, or be it clue in others on little things your character's face or voice might be giving away to any character experienced enough to read people.

 

We can't convey everything we can convey in person through text when we are limited to ONLY actions. It's just not possible. Human beings are too complex for that. A picture, after all, is worth 1,000 words (at the least) right? So yes, normally, limit your emotes to actions... but every now and then, I'm sure thoughts fit and are ok, and it's not meta-gaming.

 

It's just one of those issues where you can't put a definitive label on something because there are just TOO many variables that will crop up. What you CAN do, however, is just say "don't ever let your character know exactly someone's thoughts just because they typed them into an emote." Now THAT is meta-gaming. That's a rule that everyone can live by, unless you are playing a character that can read minds... or something.

 

And sure, many may say if you don't type thoughts EVER than you simply remove the temptation for others to meta-game... and if you feel this helps you rather than hinder you, by all means go for it. Never post thoughts ever, only what another can normally "see." But telling someone else that to emote thoughts now and then is "bad" RP just doesn't fit the definition of what online roleplay really is: Telling a story with others through the format of text.

[Kraehenfeder]

But telling someone else that to emote thoughts now and then is "bad" RP just doesn't fit the definition of what online roleplay really is: Telling a story with others through the format of text.

 

And not just that, all of the players are individuals and free people. No one has the right to decide what is okay and what not for others.