The Problem with Roleplay "Experience"

“I’ve been RPing for like seven or eight years, now, and I’ve been a staff once or twice—”

“Fifteen.”

“What?”

“I’ve been RPing for fifteen years. And I’ve been on admin on three sites, one of which was mine. Back in the day we had about two hundred members, people posted pretty much every day. Pretty great.”

…

Ever had this conversation with someone? If you haven’t, just wait, or don’t even wait, just mention how long you’ve been on RPing forums in passing. The life story tends to be around the corner moments later. I’m completely guilty of this too, as is pretty much everyone, because it’s true that, at the end of the day, everyone likes to talk about themselves, which isn’t going to be changing any time soon. The problem I want to talk about today isn’t really so much about ego as it is about standards and expectations.

A Functional Roleplaying Community

I suppose it’s a sign of how many topics I’ve covered on this blog that I’m writing tonight on a more ‘meta’ aspect of roleplaying. Specifically, I’m interested in talking about the idea of the roleplaying community itself and what may or may not be an effective model. A lot of my argument draws from my own experience, which I submit is far from all-encompassing, but I’ve seen communities do well, and I’ve seen them do poorly, and I don’t think it’s a matter of pure chance. Experientially driven as my argument is, I believe there is a strong line of logic to follow here, so let’s get down to business and defeat some Huns.

The idea of a “Functional Roleplaying Community” is an important consideration because roleplaying is really a social activity. It takes two to tango, and once you have two people, you can argue you have a community. The larger the community, the more opportunities you have, and being surrounded by a host of fantastic writers and brilliant creative minds does good things for your own writing. A strong roleplaying community should help foster new ideas, challenge your way of thought, and keep you on your toes. In contrast, though, a weak and dysfunctional roleplaying community will do the opposite. This might work best to walk through a simple “What—Why—How” structure.

God-Moding

Or is it god-modding? Not that it strictly matters, because you know what I’m talking about, but the lack of a unified term makes for good representation of the problem itself. For the sake of this post, I’ll try and be consistent and refer to it as “god-moding” simply because that’s what I’m used to, and it makes more sense to me, but you could make a reasonable argument for either. Like meta-gaming, this is a term that probably gets most of its popularity from the tabletop scene, but it’s spread to all other forms of roleplay. Our desire to play the deity part is because we are already human.

If this term really did gain traction through tabletop games, then the primary fear there would be simple fairness. If one character “god-modes” then it upsets the tentative, statistical balance, which is usually reserved for upending by a designated game-moderator or dungeon-master. Also like meta-gaming, the rules are simple here too: you control your character and no one else’s. To disrupt this balance is poor sportsmanship and damages the integrity of the game. We make rules against god-moding in roleplay for the same reason we make rules against going out of bounds in sports. In football, the quarterback has to throw the ball behind the line of scrimmage. In basketball, the player has to dribble the ball to move it. In soccer, the player can’t use their hands. In roleplay, the writer cannot play as God. This is fundamental.

It’s also complex, though. For this reason, this post is one of my longer ones, even though I’ve done my best to keep it concise and on point. Bear with me; there’s a lot to think about here.

Metagaming

A little while back I made a post regarding the “Roleplay Standards” that I hold and expect from other people. I’m really pleased with how the list turned out, but I want to use this post to expound on one of the items—something you’ll find in the rulebook of almost any RP site you’re visiting: Metagaming. The term is kind of clever sounding, but to break it down, you might define ‘meta’ as “a prefix added to the name of something that consciously references or comments upon its own subject or features.” In other words, Metagaming might be literally defined as the act of commentating on the functional properties of the “game” or “roleplay”. My understanding is the term originally gained a lot of use for tabletop games, but one way or another here it is, and it really is a helpful rule for a roleplay. The language I chose to use in my standards went something like this:

“The knowledge, emotions, and values of a writer are separate and different from that writer’s character. This distinction must never be compromised or confused.”

I stand behind that rhetoric pretty firmly, and I think it speaks for itself. For as seemingly obvious as it is, though, I think some people miss certain elements, and that’s what I want to talk about here.

Character Traits: Poor Judgment

Last time I discussed characters who possessed the notorious trait of being “Stubborn” and what that might look like. Stubbornness is an interesting trait because it’s very accessible and common among people, and many quickly apply it to their new characters, at least in name. But there are lots of character traits that are both accessible and common, and yet you tend to see characters who are ‘Stubborn’ far more often than you see a character whose author will willingly ascribe them to have ‘Poor Judgment’. I think there is a convincing reason why that is, though.

As I mentioned previously, stubbornness is very easily a flaw that is not a flaw. It gives the character, at face value, an appearance of humanity, but it is often not written convincingly at all. Most stubborn characters are chronically correct, and their stubbornness usually helps the plot or character more than it hinders it. I don’t bring this up simply for the sake of being repetitive, however; rather, I want to contrast it with a different trait, one that is much harder to escape from humiliation with. Characters who possess notably poor judgment are hard to come by, and yet people with notably poor judgment seem a dime a dozen. Feel like we’re missing something here?

Hypothetical Character Flaws

Here’s a concept for you: a hypothetically flawed character. This character, on the surface, is not a perfect person because of their flaws, but in practice it remains to be seen how truly flawed they actually are. I am talking, of course, of “practice” in the context of roleplay, here, but you could make a similar argument for fictional narratives as a whole.

In my head, this how I’m thinking about it. If a character’s ‘goodness’ is the sum of their good traits (Strengths) minus their bad traits (Flaws), you get a character who lands somewhere in the realm of “Good” (More Strengths than Flaws), “Neutral” (Strengths and Flaws roughly equal), or “Bad” (Flaws outweigh the Strengths). Some people might refer to “Bad” as “Evil” if you want to use the DnD scale, but you see where I’m going with this. So let me mess with that formula a little bit.

Theatrics Ruin Writing

A gust whistled through a broken window, the only sound in the abandoned flat besides the thrumming of the storm outside. Dragging his feet, defeated, a lone man limped across the floor, looking to his left and right frantically while wiping his bloody nose between haggard breaths. Punctuating the silence, a flash of lightning followed by an immediate peal of thunder shook the building, and the man yelped. He tried to spin on one foot, but his ruined leg was claimed his balance, and he collapsed in a tumble, biting off a curse in the process.

As if from nowhere, a figure emerged in front him, stepping out of the shadows, and then he really screamed. Whatever noise came out of his mouth, though, was swallowed by another peal of thunder, and the cracked window howled all the louder. A cloaked figure seemed to tower in front of him and, despite the obscured face, he recognized him.

“Y-you! You’re the guy who killed my brother. P-please, we didn’t mean—” His fumbling voice broke off into a low whine, though, as the figure raised handgun, brandishing death itself as it pulled its hood back.

“Tell him I said hello, yeah?” the voice responded, and he blinked in-spite of his own terror. It was a woman? His mouth tried to form confused words, but a gunshot chorused with the thundering storm outside, and the night grew darker.

…

…Not doing it for you? Yeah. Let’s talk about it.

Character Traits: Stubborn

Cooking up a character is relatively easy, not entirely dissimilar from cooking up a meal. Doing it well is another matter entirely. Too little spice and the food dries out—too much and it smolders in your mouth. Some flavors and textures complement each other, and others do not. Some are niche and some are staples. 

Writing a good character is hard enough as it is. It becomes harder, though, when people mix up the components into a hodge-podge and expect it to work on its own. Some people have an iron gut for characters—anything will do—but a balanced and believable character is hard to come by, and, when you do, it’s even harder to go back. Character traits are essential for breathing life into your character, but it’s important to know what you’re using, before you mix it into the bowl. I'd love to talk about a lot of them, but one at a time will do for now.

Standards of Roleplay

1. Believable characters make for more interesting roleplay, even in a fantastical setting.
   
   
2. A strong character is flawed on multiple levels. A true flaw is not a blessing in disguise and should pervasively hinder the character throughout the roleplay.
   
   
3. A character is made unique, individual, and interesting by how they interact with the world and by the choices they make. Power, talent, and ability are secondary at best.
   
   
4. Limited freedom is a powerful source for creativity. Restrictive roles in the setting do not hinder a character or story—they enhance them.
   
   
5. The knowledge, emotions, and values of a writer are separate and different from that writer’s character. This distinction must never be compromised or confused.
   
   
6. An excellent roleplayer must be both a strong writer and a talented storyteller. One without the other holds very little value.
   
   
7. Roleplay is, by definition, social. The best roleplayers pay meticulous attention to the other writer and rely on their responses to craft their own.
   
   
8. The most valuable roleplaying partner is an active one; joining a roleplay is a commitment never to be broken lightly.
   
   
9. Roleplay is active, dynamic, and character driven. A writer’s plan is useful but held loosely.
   
   
10. Roleplay is a chance to experience spontaneous interaction in a unique setting. Using it to fulfil a craving or escapist desire is a poor basis for writing and will easily undermine any item on this list. 

(Certain items from this list, while rewritten, draw heavily from another list masterfully written by a good friend of mine named Genavie. Her original work can be found: here) 

The Struggle: Strengths and Weaknesses

Every interesting character has their strengths and their weaknesses; the first enables them to compete in the storyline, and the second makes it difficult for them to succeed. Whether it’s their raw intelligence coupled with overweening pride, incredible strength paired against low wits, or tact and guile against callous character, each individual struggles and fights against things. These characteristics are, importantly, not external but rather internal, byproducts of the individual’s own character and not the events around them, though both will motivate the story. This balance between strength and weakness is of utmost importance to develop interesting, character-driven stories in all fiction, but it’s incredibly difficult to do well. Just the few examples I listed seem fairly trite, but executed properly they form the foundations for some of the most interesting characters you and I know. So how do they do it? Let’s look at it from a roleplaying perspective.

Write Real Characters, Not Rational Ones

One of the greatest blessings and curses of roleplaying is that every writer has an audience. Whether it’s posting the character sheet or responding to the roleplaying thread the character is in, each person expects what they’ve written to be read. On the one hand, this is great because it gives writers a real, living experience for their creations to live in. But on the other hand, this also means that even the people who really aren’t writers, at their cores, can still play creative fiction on their unsuspecting victims.

In practice, what you end up getting is a pretty steady demographic with roleplaying. Every roleplayer I’ve met has fancied themselves a fairly intelligent, rational person in their own minds. That may very well be the case, and there’s nothing particularly wrong with it, but it does have some serious implications for the sorts of characters you run into in your adventures. As we have already long since established, people are inherently drawn (usually unhelpfully) to write portions of themselves into characters. You should tread lightly.

When to Write a Short Post

Not too many posts ago, I discussed what I referred to as the “Disease of Long Posts” in roleplay, getting into what makes a so-called “Long Post” and why it’s really harmful to the roleplay. Today I want to look at it from the other perspective, though I suspect there will be a portion of overlap in it. Approaching your posts with an understanding of their length is absolutely crucial to your success as a roleplayer, and it should be an issue the writer is continually sensitive toward.

Ever been on a web-site that banned members for making a “short” post? Some places will classify them as spam, others will say it’s simply poor writing, but all around there’s a sense that fewer words mean diminished quality. Naturally, there’s a really important question we have to ask ourselves:

Does this make any sense at all?

Roleplayers Love Feedback

Roleplayers love feedback. It’s true! But I don’t mean critical feedback, where you go “I really liked what you did here, but this could use some work” I mean feedback in the communication sense. Presumably how this works, according to modern experts in communication, is that feedback is the response to a message sent by the sender. It’s a good thing we have armies of PhDs and experts to analyze our communications and decide that, indeed, effective communication requires a two-way path.

And yet, this may seem obvious, but so often we absolutely miss it, especially in roleplay. In fact, we miss it so much of the time that when a roleplayer actually gives another person “feedback” in a roleplay, it’s a huge deal. When I think of the greatest moments I’ve had in roleplay—or other people’s moments they’ve recounted to me—it never involves just one person. It’s always about the tradeoff, the exchange of information between two people that creates something memorable.

So if this is so powerful, so pleasant and so memorable, why does it seem so rare?

Written Character Histories are Evil

At the very beginning of this blog I talked through all the major points people run into on character creation. I started from conception to appearances, then histories, and finally personalities, but I’d like to revisit the history section today. When I first discussed it, I pushed away from the idea that many larger roleplays press, which states that longer histories are indicative of a more thought-out character. To a gauge a character’s depth on the author’s ability to summon an encyclopedia’s volume of information for their 20 year old character is obviously dumb, but it may be worse than that.

The more I think about it, the more I become convinced that character histories are, in fact, quite evil. When I say character histories, though, I should be clear that I mean written ones. Every character, even if you roleplayed a creature created immediately before the RP, has a history or biography. You, as the writer, should know your character’s history at least loosely, but I think asking roleplayers to write one up is a mistake.

The Disease of Long Posts

I took quite a break from roleplaying this year, one that I had meant for good but eventually realized was futile at this current time. Six months later, here I am again, writing mostly for myself in the hopes that I could understand the nuts and bolts of roleplay better. Tonight I want to talk about “Long Posts” though I suspect there will be some irony in the length of my own explanation and discussion of the topic. In my mind, “Long Posts” are damaging to a roleplay and should be avoided whenever possible. And yet… they really do seem like a disease. Every time I visit a place that would call itself among the upper-tier of roleplayers, a bold claim to say the least, I always see the same thing: Long Posts. 

People seem to cling to them like hope incarnate, and they begin to live and breathe the Long Post until they know no other way but it. Abandoned to this senselessness, they are consumed. But what is a Long Post? Why is it bad?

The Two Elements of Writing

Over the last year or two I've noticed a conversation that's come up more than a few times, and I now feel comfortable enough with the idea to actually write about it rather than just talk. In this post, I'd like to get more in depth with what I consider to be the core two elements of writing, specifically for creative writing. As always, my aim is that by looking at things in more detail, I can flesh it out more for myself and hopefully progress more as a writer. Looking at core things like this can be useful to evaluating writing, whether it's your own piece or not. As writing quality can increase, so can roleplay quality, which leads to more enjoyable roleplays altogether!

Obviously quality will always be something subjectively measured, but theoretically quality roleplay will involve both you and the other roleplayer actually enjoying the scenes you're putting your characters through. I've said this all before, but I think it's certainly worthy of repeating. Roleplay is about two people at once, so that means you've gotta balance two people's happiness at once. 

I think the argument for how to do this begins at the very core itself of writing a story. I would argue there are two basic elements of writing that everything else can fall under, and this applies to all creative writing, not just roleplay. Onward! (I put a page break and a picture!)

Respect

So this evening, I figured I could go over respect. It’s a word we use a lot; we say things like “I respect that” or “I can respect his opinion” or “Show your respects” or whatever else you can think of. We talk about earning respect or feeling respected, and in general we consider it a pretty positive thing. Whenever you’re talking about it, though, you’re always referring to this sense that you feel the respect is either deserved or it isn’t. Okay, so where am I going with this.

We all want to be respected; that pretty much goes without saying. The question is whether we deserve to be respected, most of the time. A lot of times we feel like we don’t get the respect we deserve because we put in effort, time, or whatever to serve someone, and they don’t acknowledge us with the proper level of homage as is befitting to our station. Sometimes we might even feel like we’re respected when we don’t deserve to be, like someone’s making a bigger deal out of something we did than should be made. Usually we warm up to the second one a lot quicker than the first.

Scalability of Worlds

Roleplay by its very nature can be done in a variety of sizes. Whether it’s two people isolated as they roleplay in the big-wide world or whether it’s a thousand people on the same forum in the same universe, you can make roleplay either way. Typically speaking you’ll probably roleplay with a group of two to four people, but the background is important. It makes a difference whether or not you’re sharing a universe with one other person or a hundred other people. Sure you can fill in enough non-player-characters so that technically the place is “full” like a city full of people would be, but it’s a different experience entirely when there are hundreds of other humans in the same vicinity.

Most people don't pay attention to this factor. They assume that roleplay is, as a hobby, identical in every circumstance. They get used to an environment to the point where they’re very comfortable there and assume themselves masters of roleplay, and when they go someplace else and see things different, they instantly assume it’s bad. While I think there are actually a lot of constants in roleplay as far as quality goes, that it’s not simply a bunch relative-truths, one of the things that certainly does change is the size. I’ve begun to call this scalability in roleplay, and it’s important.

My Plans!

So much to write, so little time! This is actually a bit of an interesting place for me to be, because usually I try and keep myself quite un-busy. Free time is fun, and I like being able to relax to that, but as of late things have actually been fairly hustled. Roleplays are moving for once, my school schedule is incredibly wonky, and I have hobbies like writing this blog and working on my cars that dip in to consume time as well. Perhaps further cementing this notion that I’m perpetually out of time, the things I want to do I have all these grandiose plans for. Right now there are three different topics that I want to write about, and there are all these things I want to do on my cars too! Given the opportunity, all these things I’ve planned to do might heap up and go from plans to requirements.

My only hope to battle such things is to take them on one at a time, of course.

Discipline

For a few months I’ve really wanted to write about this, but I’m glad I waited until now to do so. While I’ve aimed to do about one post per month, November was sidetracked until now because of competing in the NaNoWriMo event! After several long weeks, I was able to push out a very, very rough draft of a novel, just breaking the 50,000 word mark on the last day. It was quite the ride, and I’ve learned a lot, especially related to this topic of discipline.

Like almost everything I’ve brought up on this blog, to say that writers (and consequently roleplayers) require discipline seems like an obvious claim to make, but it wasn’t until a few months ago that the pieces really came together for me. I found myself looking at people I’d gotten the opportunity to roleplay with over the years, and I realized some of them were seemingly immune to the roleplaying cycle of disparity I described a while back—at the beginning of this year actually.

As I’ve said before, my goal in looking closely at roleplay isn’t, in fact, to simply be a heady elitist who think he knows best. My goal has really been to just solve that question that’s been bothering me most: why do people always seem to fluctuate in and out of roleplay, never able to maintain consistency and consequently never really get anywhere? For a good majority of this blog my key argument for striving for quality in roleplay has been because I believe that it facilitates roleplay that lasts longer. But I was looking at some of the people who I regard most highly in roleplay, and I noticed a connection between a number of them.