How far do YOU take your role playing?

[Luminara]

No, I don't mean ERP.  No, I don't need an example in this thread.  Or my Inbox.  Or in-game.  Or in person.

 

I don't talk much in the game.  I don't have any global channels in my tabs, and since I'm playing in the middle of the night, there aren't as many people around as there would otherwise be, so I'm generally left to my own amusement.  But I do, very rarely, receive a /tell.  And the latest one had me wondering about this topic.

 

The character I was playing when the /tell came in was my sentinel, one of the trio of Sisters I've been working on.  The badge I selected for this character, was Silent Sentinel.  It was appropriate for the internal story I've developed for her, and since I'm always alone, it was doubly appropriate.  Being silent is part and parcel of playing solo, after all.  So when I saw that /tell, I actually had to pause and figure out if I should respond, and if so, should it be role-played (which would've been an uncommunicative ellipses), or an actual reply.  My real world sensibility and manners won the momentary internal battle and I responded politely.

 

So when do you break character?  What's your self-imposed limitation?  Do you just use whatever chat formatting is generally accepted as speaking out of character on your server (or in your social circle), or do you remain in character at all times?  If you're only speaking with people you know well, perhaps even people you know in reality, do you stay in character then, or do you talk with them like you would at work or at the PTA meeting or wherever?  Or do you create your characters to reflect you, thereby allowing you to always be in character without actually role playing?  What if you've had a bad day?  What if you're having the best day of your life and want to scream your triumphs to the world?  Do you have personal rules for role playing, or do you just go with the flow?

[FoulVileTerror]

I have a few mute characters as well (after a fashion; they're a little more complex than that).

In situations where it would not be appropriate for my character to speak, I send an OOC message.  Easy-peasy.

If the other player is actively trying to roleplay -with- my mute(s), then I give the appropriate in-character message, followed by an OOC message explaining it.

 

As I harp on and on about:  Healthy roleplay is like healthy sex.  Informed consent is the best practice.  As long as everyone is on the same page, you're in pretty good shape.

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by FoulVileTerror
Missed a crucial "not" before "be appropriate."

[DoctorDitko]

You should play as you like! If you're not having fun, you'd better be getting paid, 'cause it's not playing!

 

I may have mentioned before, but on Live I made a Storm Defender called Antipodea who was from McMurdo City, in a slightly dystopian future where most of Australia had migrated to Antarctica to escape the anthropocene apocalypse.

 

As I played her, I found myself more and more talking to teams in character. I act as though I was logging in from Antarctica, and even using New Zealand Daylight Time (UDT +13) as a time reference. Granted, I was unemployed at the time, and my entire entertainment budget was $15 per month for CoH, but it happened almost without my noticing, and when I did, I simply shrugged.

 

So, I guess for me it depends on how immersed I am in the character.

I broke character when a teammate started having what I considered alarming health complaints, so make of it what you will.

 

Some folks use (parentheses) for out-of-character dialogs, and I respect that. Maybe that's an idea?

 

[Greycat]

Hmmm.

 

I'll often have what a character would do in my mind. As far as how they act, or how I respond? It's *heavily* situational.

 

If I'm on SG night, for instance, most of my replies are IC - we actually kind of keep local IC (with what seems to be standard parenthesis if we're going OOC on something,) the SG chat is IC, and we've got our global which is "OOC bs-ing" by default.

 

If I'm elsewhere, I'm generally talking/replying OOC, since most people don't know my characters. I'm *rarely* in Pocket D, which is kind of my exception to that (and even then half the time someone's talking to me obviously OOC.)

 

General "this is my life" chat... has nothing to do with my RPing and goes into Discord. 🙂

[jubakumbi]

I usually have most all video game characters _do_ whath they would do, not me.

For chat, especially private tells, I view those interactions as more with me the player than the character.

 

None of my characters say much, but I do make macro binds sometimes on Percy Verance so he can do Flex Emotes while the Rage crash occurs in the middle of hug groups of mobs...these are the things I do to RP, I use the emotes and stuff in the game, but I don't chat in character much, if at all.

[Luminara]

6 minutes ago, FoulVileTerror said:

As I harp on and on about:  Healthy roleplay is like healthy sex.

 

I wouldn't know healthy from unhealthy.  It's been 20ish years.  Maybe I should abstain from role playing, too.  😮

[FoulVileTerror]

The basic rule is:  If you're doing it by yourself, then you get to decide everything.

But the moment you bring anyone else in to it?  Then there's a need for considering that other person / those other people.

That's at least the way I try to operate.  I find it's served me fairly well in both regards.

[Glacier Peak]

I keep my RPing within the guidelines set by the code of conduct.

[HelBlaiz]

I have one or two mute characters, and if I'm feeling in character, I'll write out a description of their reaction or pantomimed response. Providing only ellipses even if the character wouldn't say much seems like bad form as a first impression.

Edited October 8, 2020 by HelBlaiz
autocorrect

[Yomo Kimyata]

I'm wildly inconsistent overall, but I have a number of soft-roleplay alts and a very small number of hard-roleplay.  If someone sends me a tell though, I break the fourth wall, even on the strictest character.  Because at the end of the day, I'm not the character.  I'm the person behind the character.

[EmperorSteele]

I NEVER stop.

Luckily, all my characters (despite age, gender, lived experience, etc) have the exact same personality as me, so it's all good!

=P

[fitzsimmons]

Depends on the toon but with a couple of 'em it's not a stretch.  "Irritable" and "Fart Monster" are two examples.

 

Funny you mentioned ERP.  My IRL outfit of choice when playing is white underwear, combat boots, a red cape and nipple clamps.  It ties the whole thing together nicely.

 

Regards,

Dave

[Myrmidon]

We once teamed with a Pick Up that typed everything with an speech impediment. Our team Tanker, Kiloton, has a rather unhealthy addiction to Unstoppable and he died in the middle of a fight, thereby causing our Pick Up To yell out in chat “KENO, NO!”

 

This, in turn, led to the best tag line in our SG. Anytime we go to LFG to find other teammates, we refer to it as going to Kenotown.

Edited October 9, 2020 by Myrmidon

[Davy]

If I die in game, I die in real life.

[EmmySky]

All my toons are female because I am female.*

 

That's about as far as it goes.  I am me.  Me am I.  As @EmperorSteele said above, all my girls have the exact same personality as me!  Course, that begs the question, if there were more than one Emmy, would the world be better or worse?  Hmm, rabbit trail.

 

In short, I don't role play...I think.

 

* also because the huge toon lumbers and the male toon runs like something is stuck up his wahzoo

[Lines]

7 minutes ago, EmmySky said:

Course, that begs the question, if there were more than one Emmy, would the world be better or worse?  Hmm, rabbit trail.

If everyone was EmmySky, everyone would get along.

[EmmySky]

39 minutes ago, Lines said:

If everyone was EmmySky, everyone would get along.

No, no they wouldn't.  

[Veloice]

Interesting questions!

 

There was a time I was maybe unhealthy in the lengths and depths on my roleplay. These days, I generally restrict openly roleplaying to intended sessions (such as with my supergroup, or when friends are in Pocket D), rather than all the time. Being on Everlasting, I do often get into teams with at least some people roleplaying, which I'll engage with, but it's usually only very casual, light roleplay which I'm perfectly fine with. I'm generally able to disconnect and consider something OOC if needs be. Everlasting is quite nice in that many people use (( )) OOC brackets, so that's always an option too.

 

I think the most immersion breaking things for me are a small minority of the characters in Pocket D, some of which offend me to my core and definitely don't belong in a game children can be (and are) playing, but that's a whole different topic...

[Heraclea]

My chief form of in game roleplaying is that each character eventually fills the number pad with banter binds and trash talk.  This started with Heraclea, who wanted actual taunts with her Taunt.  These all go to Local to prevent them beeping up team/league chat, with the possible exception of one that's used to heckle cutscenes.  ('Possessed by a dust bunny?  I bet your momma's so proud.')  These serve an in game purpose in that they let the team know what my target is; if I have targeted the AV or found a stray bud, this lets them know while adding a bit of character.  This is also the chief tool for characterizing my characters. 

 

The elaborate soap operas some people make for their characters are mostly internal. 

[Troo]

As a demon role-playing a human playing a game using one of many many characters. I take it as far as I can throw it. (which is pretty far.. depending on mood.. and inclination)

 

Did I answer correctly or was that TMI?

[Coyotedancer]

16 hours ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

I'm wildly inconsistent overall, but I have a number of soft-roleplay alts and a very small number of hard-roleplay.  If someone sends me a tell though, I break the fourth wall, even on the strictest character.  Because at the end of the day, I'm not the character.  I'm the person behind the character.

 

This.

 

I'm only a very casual roleplayer (at most), but it seems more reasonable to me to answer a tell OOC unless it is very specifically aimed at the character I'm on rather than at me as a player.

[Doomguide2005]

For me it ranges from minimal to I'll respond to another's roleplay but less likely to initiate it myself.  And some of that variation is what motivated creating the character.  Sometimes I'll create a character more to see how a powerset (or sets) work and at least initially there's no real concept behind them other than that sounds fun or interesting.   Other times the theme, concept and story come first even if that mostly resides in my head (and might show up in their descriptive text ... eventually)

[Nerio72]

I don't roleplay really I don't think. I occasionally do say things that my toon might but I don't think that's roleplaying per se. Most are cockier than I am IRL... Is that roleplaying? 🤔😉

I didn't know about the quote thing, now I'll know if someone does it 🙂

[Rerun]

Roleplaying is all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

And there's always this... (my PSA for the day)

 

 

[Sir Myshkin]

I used to moderately RP on Retail with a group and an SG I lead with a storyline and everything, and only casually stayed in character when a PUG was fully on board (no OOC).

 

When coming back here I didn’t know what to expect (and moved to Everlasting when it opened out of pure coincidence before it became the “RP server”). I decided to start an SG which I’d planned on turning into more than just my own collective hub and determined it would be a place for characters who’ve become self aware. Called it the “Cult of the Leaked Code” a home for characters who praise and worship the “source code” that gives them life and see their players as benevolent beings.

 

In a sense I play each character to their design, but their knowledge of being “piloted” means they may occasionally say something out of their control (ooc) which allows me to be lazy, oddly break dimensional barriers, and still have fun with each character without caring about “rules.” 😉 

 

Im basically playing a stable full of Deadpool/BugsBunny who reverse fourth wall break themselves all the time!