First Person or Third Person

[MummyKitty]

During a gaming session as a player, do you use first person or third person to describe your character's actions? If you say, "I think it's crazy to attack the dragon but that's what I'm going to do!" that's first person. If you say, "The brave warrior Henry feels some hesitation but he's going to attack the dragon." that's third person.

It seems like most of the PbP (if not all) are written in third person, which is probably the easiest and clearest way to do it, but I'm curious how people usually do it in their FTF gaming sessions.

 

[Three_Haligonians]

Both!

Let me explain:

When I'm leading or playing, I do the same thing: I start with third person, saying things like "He answers your question by saying..." etc... but that's only because it's the start of the session and I'm not really in RP mode. Very quickly I get into the swing of things and switch to talking in first person, complete with intonation and emotion and all that good stuff...

..which is -much- more fun IMHO.


J from Three Haligonians

 

[Aeric]

I'd never heard a player refer to his character in the third person until about ten years ago when I met my friend James. He GM'd more than he played, so I chalked his odd habit up to that.

Then I started doing it. I usually speak in first person, but every once in a while I'll speak in third person when describing my character's actions, especially if it's a character of the opposite sex.

 

[BASHMAN]

I had a friend who was so into rpgs that we used to joke he had difficulty discerning reality from game. At that point we tried to mandate him to speak about his characters in 3rd person. However, he still was always talking about them, and was no less enthusiastic. So i guess you can have fun with it either way.

 

[tetsujin28]

During a gaming session as a player, do you use first person or third person to describe your character's actions?

Yes.

 

[Yair]

First person. I may occasionally describe things in third person when I'm trying to describe something very complex or technical, but mostly it's first person.

Of course, it's in Hebrew

 

[jdrakeh]

I'd never heard a player refer to his character in the third person until about ten years ago when I met my friend James. He GM'd more than he played, so I chalked his odd habit up to that.

Then I started doing it. I usually speak in first person, but every once in a while I'll speak in third person when describing my character's actions, especially if it's a character of the opposite sex.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not the James you're talking about, but your experiences mirror my own. That said, I note that many younger roleplayers that I've met speak exclusively in the third person when describing character actions, but I think a large part of this has to do with what certain rule sets encourage (and many of today's most popular rule sets tend to emphasize certain tactical spects that are, in fairness, better described in the third person).

I personally, prefer people who speak in first person when describing action, but that's because I equate roleplaying to extemporaneous theatre with rules (flame away!). Constant narration in the third person shatters suspension of disbelief for me, forever reminding me that I'm playing a game which, in turn, often makes me wonder why I'm not playing HeroQuest or some other game that produces the same results with a lot less effort.

That is, for me, role playing games without... you know, playing a role, are kind of a waste of time.

[Note: Note that this isn't a Role Playing vs Roll Playing rant - as a longtime fan of The Fantasy Trip, I know that playing a role can co-exist with hex-based combat and miniatures. I know that the two are not mutually exclusive. This is merely me wondering why one would bother with an RPG, if dropping all of the roleplay, when an actual wargame would produce the same results with a lot less work (note that I'm also a former hardcore wargamer).]

 

[Odhanan]

During a gaming session as a player, do you use first person or third person to describe your character's actions?

Interesting subject. No player at my game table, ever, referred to him/herself with the third person. But I knew roleplayers some time ago -particularly with the Vampire RPG- referring to their characters in-game with it.

Somehow, these guys where always considered as snobs. They visibly had some notion of RPG as a tale told at the third person. Something making the adventure more pitoresque maybe, more colorful in the manner of so many novels and stories we've read down the years.

Is it "right" or "wrong" ? Neither, but all the players I know who do not try to pretend (and by this I mean trying to be educated and somehow above the others) refer to their characters with the first person.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

I vary from time to time. It depends a lot on how I'm describing things.

If I'm engaged in a conversation, and I declare an action, it's usually an "I".
If we're in the midst of description or asking questions, it's in third person.
I also tend to talk about my characters by name in situations where they disagree with me, or where I'm not entirely sure of their mind, like when the cautious wizard and adventure seeking player collide.

Also, I tend to describe things in the third person when I describe other elements of the situation as well, or when I'm giving another player information.

I DM a lot though, so I'm good at switching my voice and style to fit the situation.

 

[demiurge1138]

As a DM during combat, 3rd person. RPing mixes from third (establishing) to first (dialogue). And when I play, I almost always use first person.

Demiurge out.