The art of role play
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:26 pmGreetings...
So, this is basically for players who want to learn about role playing. Maybe you don't even know what it is, or you simply don't know how to do it. It could be that you have done it, but would simply like to get better.
What is Role Play:
Role Play is, in its most simplistic form, pretending. Think back to your childhood. Did you ever pretend to be different things? Cowboys & Indians? Cops & Robbers? The list can go on & on... What you are doing with Role Play is taking that to another level. You are still pretending just like you did as a child, but you are doing so within a video game on the internet.
Have you ever went to the theatre to see a play? Or maybe a musical on Broadway? The actor(s) in the show are acting - i.e. "pretending" to be someone else than who they really are. If you go see Mary Poppins, the actress is not really an English nanny who uses magic to do a variety of wondrous things. She is "pretending" to be such while on stage. So, when you Role Play here on Whspering Pines, you are "pretending" to be someone else while you are logged in to the game.
How Does Role play Work:
Playing on Whispering Pines is an escape from the real world. It lets you forget (albeit for a brief time) what's going on in real life, and just relax and enjoy yourself. When you choose to Role Play while in Whispering Pines, this helps to immerce yourself into the game, and forget about the real world while you are here.
The first thing one must do is turn on the creative juices within the brain, and create who you want to pretend to be. How? Well, you've already taken some steps when you logged in and created your character. You have a name, some physical attributes (hair style & color, clothes, etc), and you have chosen certain skills that you wish to raise. All of this can help you define who this character is. Who you are in real life is in part determined by these same things. How you wear & style your hair, what your chosen profession is (which would include what skills you have learned), what you wear, get the idea? So too does it apply in a Role Play setting with your character.
Personality is another area. Again, look to real life. Think about friends & family, even yourself. How would you describe them? Happy? Sad? Angry? Always looking on the bright side of things? A total pessimist, seeing the glass as half empty? Someone competely aloof, in their own world so to speak? These things will define how that person acts & react in life situations. Someone who appears angry all the time would not easily become happy and celebrate for example.
When you log in, the idea is to not just play a game. It's not you sitting in front of a monitor, moving a computer generated character around the screen in a virtual world. I shall use myself as an example. My character is Thorin Greensleeves. In reality, I log in when I have free time, and use the character Thorin to play in an MMO game on the internet. But, with Role Play - when I enter Whispering Pines as a player by logging in to the sever, Thorin isn't just a character played by a person in front of a monitor. Thorin is real. I AM Thorin while I am logged into the game. What I say and do with the Thorin character in game is not ME, a person at a computer playing a game, it is Thorin the Elf. I am "pretending" to be Thorin, "pretending" that he is a real person, that he has a personality that could very well be different from my own (though in truth we are quite similar).
When I first logged into Whispering Pines, I created a character and gave him the name Thorin, and used the Elf race. I decided upon his skin color, hair color and style, and basic start clothes. Next I chose what profession gate to step through, and chose the Ranger gate. From that, I already have a good bit to begin using in Role Play. Physical attributes are one facet, and those are covered. The gate chosen gives me a start on his chosen profession. Any future skills I decide to raise, will only add to who Thorin is when I Role Play him in the game. Example - I went into the Ranger gate, so I use bows. I wanted Thorin to also have some close combat skills so he learned swords, fencing, and maces. Had I not learned those latter skills, Thorin would not use those types of weapons in the game. I would "pretend" that he did not possess the skill to use them, even though all skills are at 70% to begin with. I did not choose to level any of the crafting skills, as Thorin does not know how to do those things as I flesh out who he is. So, he will not craft in the game. Making sense to you I hope?
Personality is key. Note what I said above about it. As we are only "pretending", and we all know that this is not real, then just like an actor on the stage or on television, I could make Thorin any number of things. He could be unhappy all the time, he could be mean spirited, or he could be totally clueless to the world around him... dumb as a stump as some would say. Anything I do or say in the game would reflect the personality I have chosen. Thorin is far from dumb. And he is not mean spirted, nor is he unhappy. He has a specific belief system that dictates his actions - much like how followers of a specific belief system in the real world act certain ways. Christians, Buddhists, Muslims... those who follow those beliefs will act and react certain ways based on said beliefs. So does Thorin based on his.
When logged in, make the game world real. Little things that you wouldn't do in the real world, probably you wouldn't do them in Whispering Pines if it were a real place. Like, don't ride your mount inside a building. We don't ride horses or other animals indoors (on the whole), so try to avoid it in game. It's little things like that, that help bring the world alive and make it seem less like a video game, and more like an interactive experience. FInd creative ways to explain some things in game. We know as players that our characters can never truely die. At best we lose all our equipment because we failed to insure it or get it blessed. But in reality, death is real. We are never certain how much time we have left. We want to have a long life, and do what we can to make that happen. So, bring this to the world of Whispering Pines. Game wise, we know we can't die... but for Role Play purposes, we can. How do you get around the game mechanic that prevents actual death where you lose the character and have to start a new one from scratch? It's all in how you look at things. When you do "die" in game, you become a ghost. And you will always come back to life with a healer or rez gate. But, what if you said that your "spirit" is tied to the land somehow, but that if you did not put the spirit and body back together soon enough, you would truely die? We know this can't happen... the game won't allow it. But for Role Play, we "pretend" that it could happen, and it explains why we do our best to survive encounters, besides just to avoid the hassle of having to rez, spend money on insurance, etc. Being able to chat with the entire game server with the [c command - with Role Play you can simply say that the land is so infused with magic, that when one yells loud enough, it is carried over the wind to the entirety of the world. Just another example of explaining game mechanics in a Role Play fashion.
Why Would I Want To Role Play:
We have said it before. Escape. We leave the real world behind when we log in here, but adding Role Play helps us to escape that much deeper, and it allows the game to be that much more fun. It isn't about speaking a certain way, or acting this or that... it's not truely complicated at all. It's about going back to your childhood and pretending. Becoming someone else like an actor in a play.The more you do it, the better you become at it. It's not a contest to see who's the best. It's another avenue to up the fun factor.
I hope this lengthy article has been of some help to someone out there, and that I did not make Role Play more confusing to those who have yet to experience it. Take these thoughts for what you will, and if you have further questions on this subject, feel free to contact me.
So, this is basically for players who want to learn about role playing. Maybe you don't even know what it is, or you simply don't know how to do it. It could be that you have done it, but would simply like to get better.
What is Role Play:
Role Play is, in its most simplistic form, pretending. Think back to your childhood. Did you ever pretend to be different things? Cowboys & Indians? Cops & Robbers? The list can go on & on... What you are doing with Role Play is taking that to another level. You are still pretending just like you did as a child, but you are doing so within a video game on the internet.
Have you ever went to the theatre to see a play? Or maybe a musical on Broadway? The actor(s) in the show are acting - i.e. "pretending" to be someone else than who they really are. If you go see Mary Poppins, the actress is not really an English nanny who uses magic to do a variety of wondrous things. She is "pretending" to be such while on stage. So, when you Role Play here on Whspering Pines, you are "pretending" to be someone else while you are logged in to the game.
How Does Role play Work:
Playing on Whispering Pines is an escape from the real world. It lets you forget (albeit for a brief time) what's going on in real life, and just relax and enjoy yourself. When you choose to Role Play while in Whispering Pines, this helps to immerce yourself into the game, and forget about the real world while you are here.
The first thing one must do is turn on the creative juices within the brain, and create who you want to pretend to be. How? Well, you've already taken some steps when you logged in and created your character. You have a name, some physical attributes (hair style & color, clothes, etc), and you have chosen certain skills that you wish to raise. All of this can help you define who this character is. Who you are in real life is in part determined by these same things. How you wear & style your hair, what your chosen profession is (which would include what skills you have learned), what you wear, get the idea? So too does it apply in a Role Play setting with your character.
Personality is another area. Again, look to real life. Think about friends & family, even yourself. How would you describe them? Happy? Sad? Angry? Always looking on the bright side of things? A total pessimist, seeing the glass as half empty? Someone competely aloof, in their own world so to speak? These things will define how that person acts & react in life situations. Someone who appears angry all the time would not easily become happy and celebrate for example.
When you log in, the idea is to not just play a game. It's not you sitting in front of a monitor, moving a computer generated character around the screen in a virtual world. I shall use myself as an example. My character is Thorin Greensleeves. In reality, I log in when I have free time, and use the character Thorin to play in an MMO game on the internet. But, with Role Play - when I enter Whispering Pines as a player by logging in to the sever, Thorin isn't just a character played by a person in front of a monitor. Thorin is real. I AM Thorin while I am logged into the game. What I say and do with the Thorin character in game is not ME, a person at a computer playing a game, it is Thorin the Elf. I am "pretending" to be Thorin, "pretending" that he is a real person, that he has a personality that could very well be different from my own (though in truth we are quite similar).
When I first logged into Whispering Pines, I created a character and gave him the name Thorin, and used the Elf race. I decided upon his skin color, hair color and style, and basic start clothes. Next I chose what profession gate to step through, and chose the Ranger gate. From that, I already have a good bit to begin using in Role Play. Physical attributes are one facet, and those are covered. The gate chosen gives me a start on his chosen profession. Any future skills I decide to raise, will only add to who Thorin is when I Role Play him in the game. Example - I went into the Ranger gate, so I use bows. I wanted Thorin to also have some close combat skills so he learned swords, fencing, and maces. Had I not learned those latter skills, Thorin would not use those types of weapons in the game. I would "pretend" that he did not possess the skill to use them, even though all skills are at 70% to begin with. I did not choose to level any of the crafting skills, as Thorin does not know how to do those things as I flesh out who he is. So, he will not craft in the game. Making sense to you I hope?
Personality is key. Note what I said above about it. As we are only "pretending", and we all know that this is not real, then just like an actor on the stage or on television, I could make Thorin any number of things. He could be unhappy all the time, he could be mean spirited, or he could be totally clueless to the world around him... dumb as a stump as some would say. Anything I do or say in the game would reflect the personality I have chosen. Thorin is far from dumb. And he is not mean spirted, nor is he unhappy. He has a specific belief system that dictates his actions - much like how followers of a specific belief system in the real world act certain ways. Christians, Buddhists, Muslims... those who follow those beliefs will act and react certain ways based on said beliefs. So does Thorin based on his.
When logged in, make the game world real. Little things that you wouldn't do in the real world, probably you wouldn't do them in Whispering Pines if it were a real place. Like, don't ride your mount inside a building. We don't ride horses or other animals indoors (on the whole), so try to avoid it in game. It's little things like that, that help bring the world alive and make it seem less like a video game, and more like an interactive experience. FInd creative ways to explain some things in game. We know as players that our characters can never truely die. At best we lose all our equipment because we failed to insure it or get it blessed. But in reality, death is real. We are never certain how much time we have left. We want to have a long life, and do what we can to make that happen. So, bring this to the world of Whispering Pines. Game wise, we know we can't die... but for Role Play purposes, we can. How do you get around the game mechanic that prevents actual death where you lose the character and have to start a new one from scratch? It's all in how you look at things. When you do "die" in game, you become a ghost. And you will always come back to life with a healer or rez gate. But, what if you said that your "spirit" is tied to the land somehow, but that if you did not put the spirit and body back together soon enough, you would truely die? We know this can't happen... the game won't allow it. But for Role Play, we "pretend" that it could happen, and it explains why we do our best to survive encounters, besides just to avoid the hassle of having to rez, spend money on insurance, etc. Being able to chat with the entire game server with the [c command - with Role Play you can simply say that the land is so infused with magic, that when one yells loud enough, it is carried over the wind to the entirety of the world. Just another example of explaining game mechanics in a Role Play fashion.
Why Would I Want To Role Play:
We have said it before. Escape. We leave the real world behind when we log in here, but adding Role Play helps us to escape that much deeper, and it allows the game to be that much more fun. It isn't about speaking a certain way, or acting this or that... it's not truely complicated at all. It's about going back to your childhood and pretending. Becoming someone else like an actor in a play.The more you do it, the better you become at it. It's not a contest to see who's the best. It's another avenue to up the fun factor.
I hope this lengthy article has been of some help to someone out there, and that I did not make Role Play more confusing to those who have yet to experience it. Take these thoughts for what you will, and if you have further questions on this subject, feel free to contact me.
