Post by grumble on Jul 16, 2016 16:50:22 GMT -5
While reading the GDB (seems to have become more thoughtful and informative, rather than trolling, hating and vaguebooking, since the closure of random armageddon thoughts), I stumbled across a thread that got me thinking more about game world appropriate reactions to "otherness" that characters are expected to have, and I was wondering what the thoughts of this board were.
Some people prefer to RP like hatred is absolute and immediately dial it up to eleven, never once dialing it back due to character development due to experiences over time. I feel this is only appropriate with things as alien as gith, or mantis, but by all means, such people do exist in the real world, go ahead and play a few, but I don't believe it should be a hard rule, as I don't believe in absolutes.
Some people prefer to RP nicely, or repeatedly set up their backgrounds so their PC is nice to everyone. There are also people like this in the real world, but as with the previous example, for people like this there are often unforseen consequences for such naivety. By all means, play a few, but be sure and have them react realisticly for being repeatedly burned and develop over time some grudges and anti-this or that sentiment.
As I said, I don't believe in absolutes, I just believe in striking a balance between these two things. As any good story progresses, characters have flaws, differences from norms (hopefully not too extreme), and make mistakes. Some suffer misfortune, and mistakenly attribute it to some unrelated factor (magicker must've cursed my ale!), some may experience good fortune, like being rescued from certain death by an elf they'd just met (elf is laughing his ass off because he always wanted to steal from a mekillot), and attribute it to "This elf is a good person." instead of seeing the truth. The player can notice it OOCly, and just play into the long con ICly, because they know their character is a know-nothing, uneducated dipshit. I believe this is good roleplay, even if it doesn't necessarily follow the documentation the way mr. dial it up to eleven interprets it. It's called character development, and if you don't have it you may as well be RPing a cardboard cutout.
Can the gameworld change over time from enough instances of character development? I do not know. Some seem to fear it will happen, but I think they're not taking into account that the virtual population comprises the largest chunk of society. Should people really be criticized for playing a GAME to have actual FUN they enjoy? I don't think that's really fair, unless there's no comprimising and sharing the fun with others, who may have vastly different perspectives and preferences. Should they be criticized for instances over time of character development that turn them into some kind of "special snowflake"? I don't think that's fair either.
Does every human have to hate thievery? Or can they grudgingly respect the talent of some long-fingered bastard and view them as a rival, taking things so as to boast to that loathesome sharp "Oh yeah?! Well, I stole the Lord Templar's panties! Beat THAT, you lousy fuck!"... I'm not a big fan of always seeing perfect characters who never step out of line and always succeed. I mean, I said I don't believe in criticising others having fun, unless they're not really contributing and sharing in others' ideas of enjoyment, so, when any one playstyle is taken to extremes, it can make the game very unfun for others. And if playing a game feels more like work than having fun, then maybe there's better ways to spend one's time. Sure, the Sergeant despises thieves, because he doesn't like getting his shit stolen, but let's work some wiggle room in there, corruption, he doesn't care about Amos's shit getting stolen, he just wants a cut, now, the Sergeant has indirectly become a thief, and helping an elf, even though he despises thieves, and doubly so for elves, he likes money. It doesn't make sense to just automaticly go to rain hell-fire and runny shit over every thief you meet because you want to be perfect, because while this may be fun for you, it's not sharing.
So, I suppose my question is, what's your perspective on this? Should hate be an ALWAYS ON sort of thing? Should characters be so rigidly documented that nothing can ever change or fluctuate? I'm of the opinion it never should be. I believe, in any good story, there's usually a turning point, there's usually questionable attitudes, belief. There's usually opposition on all sides, and there's usually grudging comprimises that allow for development.
Some people prefer to RP like hatred is absolute and immediately dial it up to eleven, never once dialing it back due to character development due to experiences over time. I feel this is only appropriate with things as alien as gith, or mantis, but by all means, such people do exist in the real world, go ahead and play a few, but I don't believe it should be a hard rule, as I don't believe in absolutes.
Some people prefer to RP nicely, or repeatedly set up their backgrounds so their PC is nice to everyone. There are also people like this in the real world, but as with the previous example, for people like this there are often unforseen consequences for such naivety. By all means, play a few, but be sure and have them react realisticly for being repeatedly burned and develop over time some grudges and anti-this or that sentiment.
As I said, I don't believe in absolutes, I just believe in striking a balance between these two things. As any good story progresses, characters have flaws, differences from norms (hopefully not too extreme), and make mistakes. Some suffer misfortune, and mistakenly attribute it to some unrelated factor (magicker must've cursed my ale!), some may experience good fortune, like being rescued from certain death by an elf they'd just met (elf is laughing his ass off because he always wanted to steal from a mekillot), and attribute it to "This elf is a good person." instead of seeing the truth. The player can notice it OOCly, and just play into the long con ICly, because they know their character is a know-nothing, uneducated dipshit. I believe this is good roleplay, even if it doesn't necessarily follow the documentation the way mr. dial it up to eleven interprets it. It's called character development, and if you don't have it you may as well be RPing a cardboard cutout.
Can the gameworld change over time from enough instances of character development? I do not know. Some seem to fear it will happen, but I think they're not taking into account that the virtual population comprises the largest chunk of society. Should people really be criticized for playing a GAME to have actual FUN they enjoy? I don't think that's really fair, unless there's no comprimising and sharing the fun with others, who may have vastly different perspectives and preferences. Should they be criticized for instances over time of character development that turn them into some kind of "special snowflake"? I don't think that's fair either.
Does every human have to hate thievery? Or can they grudgingly respect the talent of some long-fingered bastard and view them as a rival, taking things so as to boast to that loathesome sharp "Oh yeah?! Well, I stole the Lord Templar's panties! Beat THAT, you lousy fuck!"... I'm not a big fan of always seeing perfect characters who never step out of line and always succeed. I mean, I said I don't believe in criticising others having fun, unless they're not really contributing and sharing in others' ideas of enjoyment, so, when any one playstyle is taken to extremes, it can make the game very unfun for others. And if playing a game feels more like work than having fun, then maybe there's better ways to spend one's time. Sure, the Sergeant despises thieves, because he doesn't like getting his shit stolen, but let's work some wiggle room in there, corruption, he doesn't care about Amos's shit getting stolen, he just wants a cut, now, the Sergeant has indirectly become a thief, and helping an elf, even though he despises thieves, and doubly so for elves, he likes money. It doesn't make sense to just automaticly go to rain hell-fire and runny shit over every thief you meet because you want to be perfect, because while this may be fun for you, it's not sharing.
So, I suppose my question is, what's your perspective on this? Should hate be an ALWAYS ON sort of thing? Should characters be so rigidly documented that nothing can ever change or fluctuate? I'm of the opinion it never should be. I believe, in any good story, there's usually a turning point, there's usually questionable attitudes, belief. There's usually opposition on all sides, and there's usually grudging comprimises that allow for development.
