playing oneself

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by hero-fan at 2004-04-24 10:26:12
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I know that in my gaming group, we often play characters which are fairly alien to ourselves. We will sometimes spend weeks researching a particular personality type to learn how to play it out.

However, the circle I game with consists almost exclusively of acting majors, psychology majors, and English majors, so we may not be the norm.

There may be those who claim it is impossible to act/write/understand anyone utterly and completely alien to oneself, pointing out influences in one's life, but to take identification to that extreme is a cheap semantic trick and therefore irrelevant.

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by Gary at 2004-04-25 11:15:53
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Enjoyable article, Ross.

Concerning playing oneself, I find myself wavering back and forth between thinking that you're not entirely wrong, but you're not entirely right, either. I've played some characters that were markedly different from myself, but they were neither idealized, nor were they wholly indicative of my reflective or negative selves.

On the other hand, I don't think it's really possible to realistically portray another character without being able to somehow identify with him or her. Whether we're pulling from our own real-life experiences, or something we read in a book or saw in a movie, we have to draw inspiration from somewhere.

It's a circular argument in the respect that there are some characters that we can't possibly, realistically identify with. As an example, playing a Vulcan character in a Star Trek RPG. How many people do you know who are completely logical and emotionless? How can anyone realistically portray a Vulcan without being a mere caricature of Spock, unless they have that sort of experience to draw from?

Then again, I'm not sure it's all that important. So long as we're having fun, who cares if you're playing a character who is identical to yourself? Does it really matter? I'm sure it must be a grave concern to someone, but it really isn't all that important to me as long as my group is enjoying itself.

In playing a role-playing game, how common is it for a person to literally and figuratively feel the emotions of the character he is playing? Do you emotionally manifest the rage of your half-orc barbarian as he hacks his way through whatever dungeon fodder the DM has presented you with? Do you break down in tears of despair when your character's best friend is killed in a freak airlock accident? Is there a genuine sense of yearning infatuation when your character locks eyes with a tempting redheaded barmaid? If my character insults yours across the gaming table, have I just insulted you as well?

If not, well, maybe you're normal. It is only a game, after all.

If so, well, is that entirely healthy? Do you take these feelings home with you after the game, or do you leave them with your character sheet in a folder or rulebook?

G

[RPGnet Columns]

Post originally by hero-fan at 2004-04-25 19:24:06
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hero-fan wrote:
> There may be those who claim it is impossible to act/write/understand anyone utterly and completely alien to oneself, pointing out influences in one's life, but to take identification to that extreme is a cheap semantic trick and therefore irrelevant.

Gary wrote:
> On the other hand, I don't think it's really possible to realistically portray another character without being able to somehow identify with him or her.