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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Baron Opal II" data-source="post: 8940897" data-attributes="member: 6794067">I apologize, I am not communicating. Let me start over.I believe that this position is correct in that it is an obstacle. If someone is seeking an emotional experience similar to that of a performance, it will be difficult because of the perspective a player has over their character. It is a game piece, cared for in the sense above, where through the rules it interacts with the milieu along with the other player's characters. It can be marginally or highly defined in its physical, mental and emotional values- all appropriately measured and quantified. And, importantly, limited. The definitions of labels and values make it applicable to the use at hand becoming a tool. It is the means by which a person interacts with the game. You don't want your tool to break, thus depriving you of the ability to interact with the milieu. So, you take care of it in order to facilitate your participation.I contend that through prolonged play a player may come to care about their character, as mentioned in the article. They are able to appreciate subtleties and nuance that make this character different from any other character with similar, or even the same, attributes. The reason that prolonged play is required is that the player must experience through their character a multiplicity of situations and events. These build the personality of the character itself. The player comes to realize that what they may want is at odds with the character's desires. This is not something that can be written on a character sheet with labels and values; prose is required for understanding, at the very least.A powerful example to me I mentioned previously. My friend playing the character Connor came to realize that the character themselves would not want to adventure any more. Connor would retire, and, interestingly, a loss was felt by the other players and DM. If it was just numbers and attributes, there would not be a feeling of loss, only inconvenience, perhaps. This is not something that would have been felt in the first adventure. I could describe Jet's personality with "Honorable, Courageous (Untested), Loves Elegant Dance", but that won't let you play her the same way I would. Certainly not with the same depth of understanding.  You haven't spent the time with her to get to know her. As I write this, I can only think of four of my own characters that I can envision as characters I would care about- seeing them as more than game pieces. They share a characteristic of being played in games over an extended period, but they aren't the only ones in that respect. I've had other characters that I played for several adventures, but the rest never advanced beyond a certain fondness reserved for favored tools.This is where RPGs can have an artistic quality that is more easily to be obtained than a computer game. It is easier to care about an RPG character due to the broader scope of interactions and extended time of such.</blockquote>

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