"Immies" vs "Ooies"

[Hardboiled Hero]

  I've always had a serious "problem" with RPG's..  Even in TTRPG's I've noticed that many of my friends always make characters that they see as basically themselves, or their avatar, in another world.  This leads to power-gaming and rules lawyering.. as a friend told me once  "What kind of person doesn't want to be as good as they can be?  Anybody would power-game their life if given the choice."  (I don;t really agree with this.. after all, were it true this guy would be studying engineering in his off time instead of role-playing).  However, if you accept the game on a mechanical level and simply make your best avatar within that system, then playing that avatar will fulfill your goals, and you will be able to stay immersed in that system.

 

  On the other hand, for me, playing RPG's is always telling someone else's story.. it's about the character's psyche, their decisions.  I've literally had one of my friends say "If someone plays bad people, it's because they're a bad person".  and I can actually kinda understand that, given that many characters are a person's avatar in a world that won't have real repercussions.  However, I've always been drawn to playing villains, anti-heroes or whatever, because I see role-playing as a way to understand "evil" without becoming "evil" (and also the "good" my characters do, doesn't somehow mean that I am "good").  While playing MMO's, I got into the habit of playing mostly female characters, which I eventually came to the realization is because (a)  I don't view the character as being me, and (b) I'd rather look at animated women more than animated men.  In TTRPG's there's also (c)  I'm more interested in trying to understand women than I am in trying to understand men.  You might have already noticed though, while I would say I care more about the immersion (because I'm looking for role-play/interactions over mechanics) I'm starting off less immersed..  I'm telling someone else's story, as opposed to putting myself in a story.

 

  This is all to bring me to the ultimate point I'm trying to make.. for those of us who are heavy role-players, the limitations on interaction and character design in an mmo breaks immersion so, at least at some points, the game is really just staring at a screen and pressing buttons.  The mechanics will always be a wall to us because we don't make our characters based on the mechanics. That's also why people who really care about immersion and role-playing are often the least immersed.