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Ive been a gamer for a long time. One of my favorite games is Dungoens&Dragons. Now the reason for this thread is about the characters that my friend and i play and how it differs how we play in game from our real-life selves. Im a very dark person (goth if you will) with the black clothes, spiked jewlery, and a piss off attitude where as my friend is completly the opposite. He very religious (not spirtual, yes there is a dfference) and and condems me to hell for what i wear and what i listen to.... that kind of thing. When we're in game I play the most pious, genorous, self sacrificing Paladin some peolpe have seen. Where as my friend plays the most meniachal, evil, murduring sorcerer he can (and he does it well...). Does anyone else think this is screwed up? (plus i hope it makes sense.)

This post has been edited by ramza_beoulve on 31st March 2005 06:20

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A hero is somone who steps up when everyone else backs down.

Your greatest adversary hides inside your mirror.

Not at all. That is the beauty of gaming you can be someone your not in real life. As you said you are a "goth' but your a "paladin" in the game. Your friend is very religious and I am guessing his family brought him up that way but of course we all have out tendincies and I am sure this is the way he likes to bring them out. Of course I am not an expert about psycology/sociology I just f#^@$^ teach it.

This post has been edited by BGrugby on 31st March 2005 06:58

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War is for the participants a test of character; it makes bad men worse and good men better. - Joshua Chamberlain

U sir R a n00b >:-( - Cactuar

I'll take a stab at it, make that grade 11 course work for me (only two years ago, should still be fresh in my mind).

You're switching roles to be blunt. Playing the life on the other extreme.Through this "other you" you are experiencing lifestyles that you would not even in your wildest dreams ever imagine.

I'm the same. My alter-ego Racthoh is a warrior elf who goes around killing every human he sees until he can achieve peace. Would I ever do that in real life? Of course not.

I think if you wanted more analysis, you'd probably have to describe your own personal life a lot more. Stuff like childhood, feelings towards parents and vice versa, school life. The list goes on.


And as a note, DnD is awesome and no I don't think you're screwed up.

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This is my world: (Got my second chapter up, 3rd Chapter about 80% complete)
http://www3.sympatico.ca/daniel876/homepage.html

Nothing wrong with that.

It's all about role reversal. It's like the guy that dresses in drag.
A little bit of an extreme example but people do it nonetheless.

The point is- People have an urge to experience the opposite of their norm. Going outside of your traditional lifestyle ect- It's what Roleplaying was created for. It also keeps life interesting.

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If you've been mod-o-fied,
It's an illusion, and you're in-between.
Don't you be tarot-fied,
It's just alot of nothing, so what can it mean?
~Frank Zappa

Sins exist only for people who are on the Way or approaching the Way

I've taken a year of social studies in college (leeching on whatever I could that was related to the study of the brain; psychology included) and write AI systems in my spare time (genetic algorithms and neural networks, mainly.) My uncle is a psychologist, and I often have in-depth discussions about the brain with him, and sometimes psychology as a whole.

Drawing from this in-depth, though far from complete, experience, I can only come to one stunning revelation that will undoubtably interest you.

You guys are playing a game.

That's it.

Though that's hardly an interesting answer. You guys are playing a game in order to find an escape from reality, and thus your current roles in life are hardly relevant in this situation. Let's face it, if you wanted something realistic, you'd be playing some kind of school simulation.

"As you pick up the pen and jot down your name, you notice movement from the corner of your eye. You turn your head in the movement's direction and notice Joey is attempting to pass a note to Sylvie."
"Oh crud. Uh... ok... ok. I finish writing my name on my exam sheet and raise my hand to tell the teacher!!"

That you picked a character whose morals are possibly less corrupt than yours (seeing as that's what you're implying ) and that your friend picked a somewhat darker and eviller character than his IRL self either means you're trying to fill in a void in your lives by doing things your personality and personal code of conduct would forbid you of doing, or that... well... you guys are playing a game. You're looking for a fun time. You feel a paladin is beneficial to your party as they can both heal and damage so dealing with a pussy peous cleric or a boring dumb brutish fighter isn't necessary, and your friend feels his character's destructive potential far outweights the need to swing a sword.

Or hey, they're just cool classes, you guys want a fun time, and picked what sounded best.

(For the record, I believe "phycology" is the study of excrements. You're looking for "psychology.")

This post has been edited by Silverlance on 5th April 2005 22:25

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

Heh this sounds alot like me, and as everyone before me said this is pretty natural. For me I'm the best guy you can know and pretty generous (no religion but I do have morals and standards), but when I start making up characters one of 'em is a version of me as a "Megalomaniacal Power Hungry Villain that'd conquer all the known world". And of course I'm not like this as you see me know, there's enough @$$holes in this world.

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The Cait Sith Avatar has Returned!

Check out my DeviantArt profile! ....If you don't mind that is

I hear this a lot. A good friend of mine plays a Fighter who is quite possibly the dumbest person you'd find on the face of whatever planet we're playing on. In real life, he's both intelligent and interesting to talk to. Playing what you're not is fun.

Although I must admit I haven't done that so far. I usually play a character I myself am like (or would like to be). My current character is an Elven Bard who is rebelling against his Elven heritige. He's an intellectual with a lot of fancy speech who believes that no opinions, including his own, can never be something resembling the 'truth. And while that's a philosophy I'm not half as adamant about as my character, I do agree with it.

I don't think your imaginary personality has anything to do with what you are and/or what you want. Now, if you would look at your internet personality, I think *that's* where it gets interesting (seeing as there your superego isn't half as important as it is normally).



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The Collapse of Heaven and Earth

That's pretty funny, Ramza. XD

I think most RPers pick roles for themselves that're different from themselves in one way or another. Usually that means being a nice guy IRL and playing the primary Kefka-ish villain IC, or being the biggest bitch on the face of the planet and playing the perennial Good Girl White Mage, or something like that. Personally, I fancy myself something of a character RPer (kinda like a character actor)... I've done everything from hyper, fangirl-ish foxgirls to noble samurai-like swordsmen with amnesia to hedonistic femme fatales and back again to evil sorceror-warriors with no end to their lust for conquest and bloodshed. Why? 'Cause it's fun to experiment with many different male and female archetypal roles... broaden my palette, y'know?

I like to put in a few contradictory character points to try and keep them all from being stereotypical though, but that's a whole 'nother discussion. I also use many different races for my characters: whites, blacks, hispanics, asians, Arabians/Egyptians, you name it, I've done it. Bottom line, nothing odd about that at all.

This post has been edited by Zephir on 5th April 2005 20:43

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~Status Report~

* Completed... Dragon's Head
* Completed... Soldiers of the Empire: Disciples (release pending)
* In Progress/Undecided... Of Love and Betrayal
* Planning/Assembly... Where it all Began

Quote (Silverlance @ 31st March 2005 08:31)

(For the record, I believe "phycology" is the study of excrements. You're looking for "psychology.")

This seemed like it needed a post, apologies for the offtopic, since editing out moderator edits is a warnable offense:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=phycology

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 5th April 2005 23:32

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 5th April 2005 18:29)

This seemed like it needed a post, apologies for the offtopic, since editing out moderator edits is a warnable offense:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=phycology

Indeed. I forgot the rules mentionned that the moderators would play around with my post to put in their own little comments at their own whim even when it did not deal with moderation issues. My bad. From now on I'll let you pepper my posts with your little remarks. Friends?

Quote

I hear this a lot. A good friend of mine plays a Fighter who is quite possibly the dumbest person you'd find on the face of whatever planet we're playing on. In real life, he's both intelligent and interesting to talk to. Playing what you're not is fun.

Quoted for veracity and to remain on-topic. The purpose of a game is to have fun; doing what you do all the time is boring and not as exciting as giving the world a completely new outlook and approach. Even if it means doing something as drastic as roleplaying a character of the opposite sex or with a strongly opposing set of morals and beliefs.

For quite some time, I've played a pacifist, polite, frail, female cleric in an AD&D game. I'm an easy-going, agnostic guy who grew up in a neighbourhood which would not let anyone turn into a push-over. Despite the character being so dramatically opposite, she turned out being the funnest character I ever roleplayed and made things fun for everyone. Often, in fact, the most "opposite" characters were the ones that made the game so memorable.

Let's face it, we're not playing FFT because we're expecting to deal with offices, deadlines, and large quantities of coffee. We're playing FFT because we're expecting magic, monsters, and a very unusual storyline that would never happen IRL. The grass is always greener, as they say, and games allow us to cross over and roll around in some new grass; this is what makes them so fun. Likewise, this is what makes playing a character who's so different a fun thing.

Wouldn't be surprised if crossdressers got the same thrill doing their thing. At least, in a loosely similare way. Eery food for thought.

This post has been edited by Silverlance on 6th April 2005 00:44

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"Judge not a man by his thoughts and words, but by
the quality and quantity of liquor in his possession
and the likelyhood of him sharing."

It's not weird at all. You just want to experience the other side (to say what's already been said like 20x)

OR.... you've played so many different characters that you're finally getting around to this one [pixie mages, eastern(asian...don't ask) elves, cyborg fighters,
nightcrawler, a rogue who thinks he's a mage, a cleric who thinks he's a mage.

Anyways, those are my hypotheses, though I could be way off base

Freud me. What a crazy coke fiend he was.

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The clouds ran away, opened up the sky
And one by one I watched every constellation die
And there I was frozen, standing in my backyard
Face to face, eye to eye, staring at the last star
I should've known, walked all the way home
To find that she wasn't here, I'm still all alone

-Atmosphere "Always Coming Back Home to You"