How To RP as from a Director's Perspective (who has made a billion and one mistakes)

[silverwolfcc]

Characterization: What is IC?

There are three schools of thought on how to stay within the blurred lines of characterization. One is that if it isn't explicitly stated in canon, it's out of bounds. On the other end is that if canon doesn't explicitly state otherwise, it's allowed! These two contrasts are used in many degrees of humanity including religious canon and constitutional law, so perhaps it's not unsurprising that it's used even to dictate actions taken by people pretending to be fictional characters. Still weird though.

The third is a more "common sense" approach, that involves figuring out the author's intent, what will be "fun," and what is the lines of logic or reason. A character clearly stating "I don't like bread," with extra incentive not to lie about it obviously can be assumed not to like bread. Figuring out if a character who canonically cheats on his wife and has a long term affair behind her back would cheat again with a new person is marginally more subjective, but certainly not without the bounds of logic, but figuring out what it would take for a very loyal and devoted character to cheat when they're never shown to have a canon romantic relationship (and to figure out what it would take to get them into such a relationship in the first place) is a lot trickier.

Remember grade school math where you always had to show your work and thought processes? Think of it like that. Most sane people will better understand your reasoning, and logic if you can explain it reasonably. For instance, "I just did it for fun," will irk people. And to be fair, if your author did something you didn't like to your favorite character and that was their response, would you be soothed? If you're worried you're toeing a line, and don't want to ask for help, just be prepared to back up your thinking.

Likewise, always remember to take patterns into account. If a character is never shown to have an opinion on weather, it's probably okay to make one up if you need to. On the other hand, if the character has been shown in various degrees of horrible weather and doesn't seem to mind it, it's probably a bad idea to write them as disliking it. It wouldn't have been hard for the author to show them disliking the weather, and it's a lot more difficult and presumed unnecessary to show them liking. Always remember there is a "Show, don't tell," rule, in which case authors will show the character in the weather and let you make up your own conclusions. If you decide this means they hate bad weather, be prepared for fans to smack you upside the head, even though this is a tiny nitpicky thing that most people reasonably wouldn't give a fuck or pay attention over. Fandoms: they will nitpick everything. And for what it's worth, such a thing can break the illusion, especially when they sit there going, "Wait, but this character has been shown dancing in the rain! Why does the player think they hate it?" If you can point to further development like the character's best friend drowning in the rain, and the character expressing greater fondness for sunshine, then they're more likely to understand, and recognize your point.

Always have reasoning. Even shitty reasoning is better than none. Even if they don't agree with you, ie: "Yeah those things happened, but the character only went and danced in the rain after all that, and it's about reconciling with the rain!" Maybe you will both learn something from the experience, and that too, can be a lot of fun! Ideally, you're not going to RP a character you don't have fun thinking a lot about and exploring the many options of, so getting more perspective or a differing perspective from an outside source should be a good thing! A fun thing.

Keep in mind if you rely on stereotypes like purple cowboy boots to suggest that an unspecified character is gay; you still might be right, but you won't win many friends for it. Try to keep most of your guesses and speculation to things that come up. Going crazy is fine and all, but the crazier you go, the more irritated people might get. Just ask about the time I turned my character into a giant Willie Wonka's Factory blueberry and had him chased by Cap'n Crunch as a Moby Dick reference. I dare you. If you're willing to accept people bitching at you, that's your choice, but go too far and listen to their advice/suggestions too little, and you will get a negative reputation and not everyone will want to play with you. Doing things other people don't like does that for some karmic reason that you can go spend hundreds of dollars on psychology textbooks to find out, or just accept, "because people are herd animals with reinforced specific acceptable behaviors. Break too many of those, and you'll be exiled and shamed from your village. For shame." I'm only marginally exaggerating, there are places dedicated to keeping an eye on the exiled, and poking them back out of the metaphorical village with sticks. Not usually for being out of character, but they can get equally insane.

Questions to consider:
What canon event(s) points to your decision?
- Are there any which point against it?
What do you think the author's intention was with this?
- What does this mean as far as characterization?
Are there moral themes in the canon you should keep in mind?
- Your character should also still represent these when in doubt. -> For example, Naruto himself is about determination, even in the face of hatred, so unless it is a special event there is no reason he should ever tell someone to give up. Even if it's during an event, if your Naruto tells a friend to give up on another friend, there's probably going to be some backlash. But hey, at least it's not as bad as Filler Hell, right? Right??
Cooperation: Roleplay is a cooperative effort. How are you cooperating with the others? Are you not?
- If you play a dickish asshole character, your character would be ooc to cooperate, that's okay, but make sure you try to cooperate with the other players yourself ooc at least.
How does this affect me, my character, other players, and other characters?
- You cannot account for everything. I have tried my hardest to let everyone involved I could think of know my plans, I contacted all of the people involved ooc, I had my character ICly discuss plans with CR, and I've still had people get upset. Sometimes it happens. That's okay. But if you plan a big event for something that makes no sense and affects everyone's characters, and you give no forewarning, the backlash will teeter a lot closer to that exile line. Especially if it's deemed ooc. It'll still piss people off the more it affects them, but if it has literally nothing to do with them, their characters and you have your reasoning, it's a lot more acceptable.

All that said, this does not mean that you should spent every waking second of every day giving your hardest to be IC and that this will keep you from accidentally angering someone, getting into an argument about characterization, or that everyone will automatically have fun. I personally enjoy arguments about characterization because I'm weird, and I don't mind arguing about fictional speculative bullshit. Not everyone wants to get that emotionally involved though, and sometimes they just have a petty small complaint. People miss things, you, me, them, and they can infer things wrong and it gets messy and stupid.

So:

Take a big step back, take a deep deep breath, and remember it's just for fun. If you want to have your character be nice despite being a villain, it's probably better to not play a villain. If you want to have your villain character develop and grow through his friendship with heroes, there still might be people who get annoyed, but you can't please everyone. And is being IC more important than the chance to explore what will happen if this character goes through these events that everyone involved is excited to try? Having a happy audience who loves your performance can feel great, but it's not always going to happen. Don't kill yourself trying to please them, because that won't please them either. They're allowed to disagree and not like something. You can both be right. It's a hobby for fun and de-stress, chill out, relax, enjoy things more than fussing, please.

I like to be IC, I want to be IC, I strive to be IC, but I tell every single one of my friends, "I will always care more about you having fun than the satisfaction of knowing I'm right." I've taken what seemed like wild guesses on characterization at the time, and had it come true word for word two years later. At the time, I got a lot of flack for such a wild guess, and two years later... the only person who still gave a damn was me. The people who'd been pissed off I no longer spoke to, it would be too petty to hunt them down just to say "SEE? SEE? I WAS RIGHT!!!!" and that is how I realized to not be so over-invested. Being IC is great and fun, but it's no a guarantee of anything. Don't sacrifice yourself over something stupid. As long as my friends are having fun, I'm a lot happier than any amount of knowing I am perfect and haven't strayed from canon once can bring. I've been there. You can find out for yourself, and maybe you'd rather be IC, but that's your call. Don't let it be someone else's.

And if your idea of fun is pissing everyone else off; get out. You are the entire reason the exile mob exists so shut up.


IC =/= OOC, IC = IC, and OOC = OOC

This is a rule in most comms and games you will find. It doesn't refer just to characterization, but to blurring the lines between yourself and your character(s). If your character gets in a fight with another character, this does not mean you are in an argument with that player or that that player doesn't like you. I am more comfortable going for "negative CR," or Character Relations where the characters hate each other, and possibly want to murder each other (I play violent characters) with people I know and trust, but I tend to trust everyone to follow this rule and understand that just because my character is being an asshole doesn't mean that I personally want to be one. This must be more emphasized however. Characters have the right to be assholes to each other. Some people are not comfortable with this however, and I assume they have good reasons. If you are not comfortable with antagonizing characters and don't play against troll characters on purpose, just put a note somewhere so the obnoxious characters don't come to you.

And do not take the IC actions personally on yourself OOC. In this case the OOC does not refer to bad characterization, but your interactions as a person with other real people.

In the paraphrased words of Keima from TWGOK: Reality is reality and fiction is fiction, and of the two, fiction is a lot better!

If you cannot differentiate the two, roleplay is not a hobby for you.

This is not to say empathizing with your character is a bad thing! Getting emotional over your characters is pretty common, and indeed, for many people a large part of the fun! But sometimes your character is going to be brutally mutilated, or you might decide to have your character do something you would never personally do. It's really important to remember the distinction. It's even more important not to think of other players as their characters. It's incredibly rude for one, and it's delusional for another. It's okay to say "Shiki-mun" or "Shiki-player" until you get to know them better, but it's not okay to call the player their character. And if you refer to yourself as your character, you will get side-eyed. At best.

In real life, I have a little brother who is a lot like Luffy from One Piece. I call him Luffy-bro. But this is not because I think he is Luffy, or that I think he can't do things that would make no sense for the character of Luffy. It's a nickname. I don't reinforce my "reality is reality, 2D is 2D, they aren't each other" often because I usually don't need to. I'm a lot like Smoker. I am fond of his style of clothes, I have his passion for justice (and love ice cream) and I love motorcycles and I'm grumpy and we share some other things. However; I do not force his role on me, and when I RP Smoker, I take extra care to not add things just because I've experienced them.

Likewise; things that affect my character of Smoker I try not to let affect me and vice versa. There are occasions where I mess this up. Real Life issues that are "too close for comfort" when it comes to my characters and RPing it becomes less fun, and more anxiety inducing and a chore. This is bad. If I'm not having fun, it's really hard to help other people have fun and becomes a bad thing all around. So there's a good reason to be careful. Beyond that though, don't be a dick to players. Period. And if someone's character is a dick to yours, it doesn't mean the player will be mean to you. This may seem obvious, but more problems and drama have been caused over that line of miscommunication than you would ever believe. Keep it clear.

IC = IC, IC = OOC, OOC = OOC. If you are drunk in real life, you can still decide to get your character drunk, but don't confuse what happens to your character as happening to you or vice versa. If you get in argument with another player about plans or characterization, taking it out on their character with yours is considered incredibly passive aggressive, and just plain creepy. And wrong. And don't just have your character be friendly with your best friends' characters, let it develop. I find I have more fun having my characters fight with my best friend's characters, but that's because of how much I trust them to keep this line clear. Stay open. Let things happen.


Styles of RPing: