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<blockquote data-quote="Guest 6801328" data-source="post: 6865866"><p>No.</p><p></p><p>I mean, sure, that's how you like to roleplay, and if you're having fun you're doing it right. But it continues to amaze me how many people think that this one type of roleplaying...and honestly a kind of trivial, simplistic version of it...is The One True Path of roleplaying.</p><p></p><p>Those same people often think that "immersion" is when everybody stays in character. "Oh, no, Fred used an anachronistic word...my immersion is broken."</p><p></p><p>I compare this to speaking in pig-latin for the entire session: sure, it's kind of tricky to remember to do it all the time, but is it actually challenging in an <em>interesting</em> way? (Maybe for some?)</p><p></p><p>When I roleplay I don't even remotely try to stay in-character all the time. It just bogs things down, and frankly most "acting" I've seen from gamers is pretty terrible. <em> If you don't have something that actively contributes to the development and portrayal of your character, if you're just making everything more complicated for the sake of not breaking character, then you're wasting precious table time. </em> </p><p></p><p>What I appreciate is when, after a number of straightforward "Um, I roll attack. 10 Damage" and "Can I use Investigate?" and "Yeah, I'll spend the 200g and upgrade my armor", somebody does one thing that's just beautifully in-character. </p><p></p><p>And often "in-character" takes a while to develop. You start off with a fighter and some kind of backstory, but you don't really know who he/she is yet. But as the game evolves you slowly figure it out.</p><p></p><p>But more importantly, when you limit roleplaying to just trying to pretend to be your character for the sake of some kind of external pseudo-immersion, you're forgetting the more important form of roleplaying, which is to <em>feel like your character</em>. See the difference? One is putting on a mask for other, and the other is wearing the mask for yourself.</p><p></p><p>And when you pretend to not know something, you're not really being your character because you're not feeling like your character. Your character is thinking "gaaaaah.....what are these things that keep regrowing limbs!" but YOU are thinking "I wonder how long we have to keep this up before we can use fire?"</p><p></p><p>Not very immersive.</p><p></p><p>Again...sure, don't give anything away to other players who genuinely are immersed. But that's not roleplaying...that's courtesy.</p><p></p><p>Do you see the difference? Painting a portrait of an interesting character is...interesting. Slavishly pretending to be the character is...not. At least not to me.</p><p></p><p>Fine roleplaying is like makeup: if you can see it, it's too much, and any more than that is just garish. The right amount is just enough to accentuate the features you want noticed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Guest 6801328, post: 6865866"] No. I mean, sure, that's how you like to roleplay, and if you're having fun you're doing it right. But it continues to amaze me how many people think that this one type of roleplaying...and honestly a kind of trivial, simplistic version of it...is The One True Path of roleplaying. Those same people often think that "immersion" is when everybody stays in character. "Oh, no, Fred used an anachronistic word...my immersion is broken." I compare this to speaking in pig-latin for the entire session: sure, it's kind of tricky to remember to do it all the time, but is it actually challenging in an [I]interesting[/I] way? (Maybe for some?) When I roleplay I don't even remotely try to stay in-character all the time. It just bogs things down, and frankly most "acting" I've seen from gamers is pretty terrible. [I] If you don't have something that actively contributes to the development and portrayal of your character, if you're just making everything more complicated for the sake of not breaking character, then you're wasting precious table time. [/I] What I appreciate is when, after a number of straightforward "Um, I roll attack. 10 Damage" and "Can I use Investigate?" and "Yeah, I'll spend the 200g and upgrade my armor", somebody does one thing that's just beautifully in-character. And often "in-character" takes a while to develop. You start off with a fighter and some kind of backstory, but you don't really know who he/she is yet. But as the game evolves you slowly figure it out. But more importantly, when you limit roleplaying to just trying to pretend to be your character for the sake of some kind of external pseudo-immersion, you're forgetting the more important form of roleplaying, which is to [I]feel like your character[/I]. See the difference? One is putting on a mask for other, and the other is wearing the mask for yourself. And when you pretend to not know something, you're not really being your character because you're not feeling like your character. Your character is thinking "gaaaaah.....what are these things that keep regrowing limbs!" but YOU are thinking "I wonder how long we have to keep this up before we can use fire?" Not very immersive. Again...sure, don't give anything away to other players who genuinely are immersed. But that's not roleplaying...that's courtesy. Do you see the difference? Painting a portrait of an interesting character is...interesting. Slavishly pretending to be the character is...not. At least not to me. Fine roleplaying is like makeup: if you can see it, it's too much, and any more than that is just garish. The right amount is just enough to accentuate the features you want noticed. [/QUOTE]
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