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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 4916769" data-attributes="member: 177">Caveat:&nbsp; we have demonstrated before that we don't all use the same definition of &quot;role playing&quot;.&nbsp; It is rather difficult to determine if it can be done with all characters if we don't all agree on what it is.That being said, for my personal money, what can and cannot be role played has little to do with statistics, but instead has to do with psychology - if the character has motivations, reactions, and modes of cognition that the player can wrap their head around, then they can role play that character.In a theoretical sense, there's the concept of the &quot;varelse&quot; (as Orson Scott Card put it), a being with whom communication is not possible, so that no common ground can be established.&nbsp; If varelse beings exist, it would not be possible for a human to role play one.&nbsp; In a practical sense, if you hand someone a character that is blind, deaf, mute, and quadriplegic, I don't think it would at all odd for them to return the character with the words, &quot;I cannot play that&quot;.&nbsp; Not just in the sense that they'd have zero fun, but in the sense that they may legitimately feel they do not have a frame of reference that allows them to figure out how such a character could or would respond to stimuli.These, of course, are extreme examples just for consideration of the point.&nbsp; It isn't like these things come up often.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 4916769, member: 177"] Caveat: we have demonstrated before that we don't all use the same definition of "role playing". It is rather difficult to determine if it can be done with all characters if we don't all agree on what it is. That being said, for my personal money, what can and cannot be role played has little to do with statistics, but instead has to do with psychology - if the character has motivations, reactions, and modes of cognition that the player can wrap their head around, then they can role play that character. In a theoretical sense, there's the concept of the "varelse" (as Orson Scott Card put it), a being with whom communication is not possible, so that no common ground can be established. If varelse beings exist, it would not be possible for a human to role play one. In a practical sense, if you hand someone a character that is blind, deaf, mute, and quadriplegic, I don't think it would at all odd for them to return the character with the words, "I cannot play that". Not just in the sense that they'd have zero fun, but in the sense that they may legitimately feel they do not have a frame of reference that allows them to figure out how such a character could or would respond to stimuli. These, of course, are extreme examples just for consideration of the point. It isn't like these things come up often. [/QUOTE]

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