Self-discovery through roleplaying??

[Rafael Ceurdepyr]

This may be an awfully philosophical question, but what have you learned about yourself through a character you've played? Anybody come to any scary conclusions? Started off playing what you thought was a character very different than you and realized later he wasn't really? Sounds kind of like a sociological research question, but I'm curious (an occupational hazard for a bard!).

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

I take my gaming seriously, but not that seriously. If I get into the character, I'm trying to play someone else. I do my best to keep my issues separate from the characters. So I haven't discovered anything scary or disturbing. I already know that stuff any way.

I have learned some things about teamwork and "sharing the spotlight." As a DM I'm honing my creativity and learning how to improvise and self-critique. These are practical skills that I've learned to apply to other aspects of my life as well.

 

[RangerWickett]

A friend of mine has a term she uses -- "Mary-Jane" or "Mary-Sue"-- to refer to characters people play that are basically just like themselves, but with absolutely no flaws. They're prettier, smarter, more athletic, and never have to worry about real-world issues. My friend always uses the term in a derogatory way, but I can see how a bit of escapism could be healthy for some poeple.

I DM most of the time, so I like to think that playing a lot of different people requires me to, at least slightly, think about people's personalities and behaviors. I discovered there was this one NPC that everyone really seemed to like, because she was generally helpful and cheerful. So that's how I like to be. I'm a bit too absorbed in some of my own projects sometimes, but I try to rationalize that I'm working so I'll get to a comfortable enough point in life that I can devote more time to helping my friends.

I had a friend whose character had all the same personality flaws as her, and I had to be really careful DMing her. I was rather, how shall I say, shocked, when, well, . . . um, she practically had her character do the D&D version of committing suicide. She had been feeling useless for a while, rolling badly, her ideas not working out as she'd intended. So when it came down to the climax, while the rest of the party was fighting to stop the ineffable evil, when the monster attacked her, and her only way to run was to jump off a bridge to her death, that's what she did.

It was really difficult to deal with. She was a bit of a character actor, so I wasn't sure if it was her playing her character as feeling depressed and useless, or if she was actually depressed herself. The rest of the players were having a good time, and were really into the situation, which was a little desperate, but not hopeless. The rest of the group, thankfully I guess, assumed she was doing it in character, and so they leapt to grab her. One of them dangled to hold onto her while another PC held the monster at bay, and a third fired a rope with an arrow tied to it so she could grab on.

Afterward, I talked with her, and she said she was surprised that her friends had saved her. I laughed and assumed at the time that she meant she didn't think the characters would have risked themselves. But the more I thought about it, the more I became confident that she actually thought her friends in real life didn't care about her.

Man, high school really screws with some people.

 

[Chimera]

Back in the 80's I played a PBM (Play by Mail) game called RimWorlds. A space ship based game that ranged from approximately 300 players when I started, to about 25 when it finally folded a decade later.

I was a Plestron. We were the Bad Guys (tm). "Evil" Lizards who hated Humans with a passion.

Only....we weren't really all that evil.

We were refugees from our home galaxy, where we had been kicked out by a far superior opponent who just about wiped us out. We were in the RimWorlds region of space to find and settle a new homeworld.

Then there were these Humans. Disgusting, utterly INSANE, dirty beasts. Can't be trusted, can't be understood by our logic, can't be negotiated with because we could never trust them to keep their word. Not worthy of being a spacefaring race. Definitely not to be trusted with weapons. So in trying to establish our own space, we were forced into war with the Humans.

They saw us as marauders who destroyed without reason. We were stomping rats and trying to secure an area of space for our own people. Yes, sometimes that required offensive operations. You don't keep your own nest free of vermin by allowing them to breed unchecked in the neighboring fields, do you?

They saw us as Lawful Evil in D&D terms. We saw ourselves as Lawful Good. We were honorable, trustworthy, generous. We cooperated among ourselves to a degree our opponents could not match. We freely gave piles of money to new or needy players to help them get on their feet. We were a team, a nation.

It was an interesting lesson in playing something from an entirely different, but self-consistent perspective. We were the Heroes. But to them, we were the Enemy.

 

[eris404]

This may be an awfully philosophical question, but what have you learned about yourself through a character you've played? Anybody come to any scary conclusions? Started off playing what you thought was a character very different than you and realized later he wasn't really? Sounds kind of like a sociological research question, but I'm curious (an occupational hazard for a bard!).

This is a cool question. I have learned that I tend to play the same character types. I usually play someone in the background, not the leader, not the hero, but someone who helps the leader or hero or group as a whole. I tend to play The Cleric. Even my bard character has levels in cleric and tends to use the "inspire" abilities, A LOT. When other players want to do things I think of as vicious (such as killing a helpless critter), I'm the one who objects.

I've learned that I hate playing evil characters. We're playing a "vile" campaign as the "bad guys" and I'm just not into it. I don't want to be mean, even to imaginary people. I also noticed a slight increase in tensions between players in that game, something that bothers me as well.

I've learned that if I can't get into the character I'm playing, I can't really get into the game. The longer it takes for me to get into the character and "figure her out" the less I enjoy myself.

So no, no great startling revelations, just a couple of small observations.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

This may be an awfully philosophical question, but what have you learned about yourself through a character you've played? Anybody come to any scary conclusions?

I have learned that I am a powergamer who likes a good story.

I have learned that I have more fun when I relax.

I have learned that telling people that I exclusivly played female characters for two years tends to make them remember that they have errands to run right away.

I have learned that other people enjoy the spotlight as much as I do and that I should share.

I have learned that imitating heroes from literature is not as satisfying as developing the character myself.

I have not learned that every single character NEEDS a swim skill and thus I gimp all my PCs that way. I simply can not imagine not knowing how to swim. I can imagine not knowing how to read, but not knowing how to swim is disturbingly alien to me. Freaky, huh?

-BG

PS: RW, consider the term "Mary-Jane" yoinked. I love it!

 

[Rel]

What I've learned about myself is that I don't abide irrationality, stupidity and willfull ignorance too well. I can play a Half-Orc with an Intelligence of 6 in a one-off game and have a good time. But I can't play a stupid character, or an irrational one, in an ongoing game. And I tend to argue with those folks who do play such PC's. Thankfully they are few and far between.

This largely stems from my penchant for being a sound tactician. I enjoy making the best decision about how to proceed in a situation (not just combat) based on the information that my character has. I never balk at making what I know might be a questionable decision based on my knowlege so long as it makes sense to my character.

But I don't have a lot of patience for those who make poor decisions on purpose just because they say, "My character is impulsive like that." These characters often wind up dead and I can't bring myself to feel too bad about it.

 

[TheGemini]

I always try to play up character flaws. I think this is because in real life I struggle constantly with them. So why is it fun playing a flawed character? The best way I know how to explain this is with a real story:

Many stutterers have low self esteem and this only exacerbates their stuttering. They get in some social situation, feel bad about themselves as a stutterer, and then find it harder to relax and converse. A vicious cycle. One of the exercises is to actually go to a mall or something and MAKE yourself stutter. By having every interaction full of stuttering, they find that who they are and what they are is not defined by it. They are defining the stuttering -- the stuttering isn't defining them.

Also, in the exercise they often realize that people are actually very kind and patient and accepting of them despite what they're doing to sabotage the interaction. The stuttering isn't determining their "loveability" or whatever. Their ability to control the situation brings out their confidence.

So that's how playing flawed characters is insightful and therapeutic for me vs. my flaws. But it also makes me very aware of people at the table who are intolerant or perfectionistic!

 

[DarkSoldier]

A friend of mine has a term she uses -- "Mary-Jane" or "Mary-Sue"-- to refer to characters people play that are basically just like themselves, but with absolutely no flaws. They're prettier, smarter, more athletic, and never have to worry about real-world issues. My friend always uses the term in a derogatory way, but I can see how a bit of escapism could be healthy for some poeple.

"Mary Sue" is a fan-fiction term defining a character just like that: a thinly-veiled author avatar, whom the established characters fawn over to the point of horrendously breaking character.

The term first appeared in a Star Trek fanzine back in the 70's, as a name given to a relative of one of the characters, who in true Mary Sue form, helped everyone with their problems, saved the day at the cost of her life, and everyone mourned her.

 

[RangerWickett]

Learn something new everyday.

It's a good thing I'm perfect in every way, or else my characters might be accused of being Mary-Sues. Dark Elf Mary-Sues. In leather.

Skimpy leather.








Just kidding.

It's actually suede.