Discussion And Role Play Within Ryzom

[gaspode1]

I was recently involved in what I think could be called a fairly controversial thread.

I felt I wanted to post something now, as my thinking has moved (dare I say improved) considerably as a result of reviewing everything that was said in that thread.

Any reference I make to that thread is only because that is what caused my change in thinking - not because I want to reopen any old wounds.

These are only my current opinions based on my current thinking and perhaps will evolve still further as a result of reaction to this thread.

I make no claims to original thought here; I'm just drawing together some points that others made (which I finally realised the importance of), saying them in my own way and, hopefully, arriving at a logical conclusion. Maybe what I say is already realised by 99.9% of role players but, if so, at least you will know I am now singing off the same song sheet.

I should next say that, although I felt comfortable with the arguement I expressed in the previous thread, I felt VERY UNcomfortable about the way I had to express it (at least, as I perceived things at that time).

The Damascene revelation I had was when I REALLY thought about the point that a veritable saint can role play a character filled with negative attributes. (I previously recognised the fact, but only in a general vague sort of way). The point finally really hit me that if (s)he plays the character well, then you can hate the character but still love the player.

From that I realised how vitally important it is to be clear about whether you are writing as a player (a human being) discussing things with other players OR are you speaking as a character in a game talking to other characters in a game.

The end result may be similar but I think it can take a lot of the sting out of an arguement if it is 'my character speaking to your character' rather than 'me speaking to you'.

I suppose it goes without saying that, looking at things in this way, it wouldn't make much sense for me as a person to (try and?) talk directly to a character in the game.

Separating things this way makes it clear that you cannot argue along the lines of 'I'm a nice person so, even if my character displays negative attributes, you have to consider him to be a nice character'. By extension 'I'm a character who does nice things such as x, y and z so, even if I do a negative thing, you MUST view me as a nice character'.

It is quite reasonable for a character to make a case for themselves by telling other characters of their positive attributes but the positive/negative will be weighed in the balance by other characters in drawing THEIR conclusions, which could go either way.

I then looked again at the structure that Nevrax has very kindly provided us all with and I thought, in particular, about the General Discussion forum (a place for people to discuss things) and the Roleplaying forum (a place for characters to discuss things). I now think that much of what I said in the previous thread should have been said by my character within the Roleplaying forum - a subtle but important difference.

Going forward I intend to try and make the player/character distinction clear by posting in the appropriate forum if I start a thread. Because I'm not sure how many people regularly check the Roleplaying forum I may have to make a second posting in General Discussion to point people towards the Roleplaying forum. For me it is worth that bit of extra effort.

An advantage of this approach, for me personally, is that Oneofone can argue a case with a lot more humour than I use, because HE is not afraid of being accused of being flippant over a serious topic.

Others may disagree, so when I read the General Discussion forum in future, I will try & think carefully about whether any comments made there are really the player or the character speaking (gets a little difficult if someone appears to speak as both within the same posting but I'll do my best). I could then make it clear, if I make a posting to their thread, whether I was speaking as Gaspode (a person) or as Oneofone (a character).

Oh well, I reckon I've rambled for long enough. Hope this all made sense and, if anyone has read this far, thanks for your patience