Help?

[Enverdi]

I think I suck at RP.

Can anyone offer tips, etc?

I sort of play Verdi as me, because that's all I know. I've tried to play different characters but they feel cold to me and I can't really get into them.

I've been trying to give my latest something, but I feel that if I'm not distinctive, it's not worth it.

So yeah, again, any tips?
_________________
Why use logic when you can just...make stuff up?

[Dzynna]

While I'm no expert, I'll do my best to give you a bit of advice. Granted this is long and I tend to wander a bit, but it is all in the interest of advice for someone who is actually asking about RP.

Playing a character as yourself can have definite problems. Every time you are in a bad mood, your character most likely is as well, and ditto for the good moods. This is pretty OOC in nature.

I have always just started with the basics (name, age, profession, strong personality quirks) and filled in the details as I went along. Some people like to have a complete history and full details on the character before getting started. I can tell you that either works, it all depends on how YOU feel most comfortable.

For example, when I created Riwa:

I chose her name, age, race, looks, and profession at the same time my husband (RL husband) was creating Riwa's Technician brother, Sawa. The only choices I made about her personality then was she would be a mostly sweet but still slightly temperamental teenage girl who was extremely hyper.

Since then - she's developed quite her own personality. She has a fixation on sweets (chocolate and soda mostly). She has REALLY gotten into her profession and loves her 'job'. There's more, but I'll stop here so I don't get too long-winded. The point I'm trying to make is - she is nothing like me (and just for the record, neither is Dzy). If I am in a bad mood, hell yes it is hard to RP Riwa's bubbly self, but I do it because it is SO rare for HER to be in a bad mood.

Another thing - don't transfer one character's likes/dislikes to another. There are people Dzynna can't stand who Riwa has no issues with. Heck, there are people -I- can't stand who my characters are nice to, and vice versa.

What I'm trying to say is, don't let OOC things affect your RP.

Also, you talked about distinction, and this particular issue tends to get my goat. You don't have to create some super exciting character. Not every character needs to be exquisite in nature. I can't tell you how tired and ::yawn:: boring 'perfection' has become in MUDs. You don't have to look like a god/goddess or a devil. You don't have to have some super interesting life story. Every joe and their grandma seems to need to be like this - and it winds up being the 'norm' and being boring. Whenever Aelae comes to town - I've watched. Almost every single one of you wants to look like some Adonis/Aphrodite OR wants to be Dracula/Memnoch. Please.

Basically - show some variety. Some uniqueness. People won't remember your character for their incredible body/face. People won't remember your character for some intense and superb back-story somehow relating you to royalty or a God. People will remember your character for the RP you are able to do.

And if anyone doubts that above statement, let me ask you (without cheating and looking at my past posts or logs). What does Dzynna look like? What is her backstory and her family tree? What kind of personality does she have? No need to answer, I've proven my point.
_________________

Dzynna Zol
-------------------------------------
The Retreat
--------------------------------------

[soundless]

yeah, i'm going to echo what Dzy said. make a base concept and work from there once some 'in field' stuff is experienced.

i originally had yaru made to be a happy go lucky kid who rarely got in trouble. the general HR atmosphere has made him grow up rather quickly, and he's definitely a lot more violent than i originally intended.

as for yisi, all i have set up for her is that she's rather aware of how society works but still has one of those overly bubbly personalities. she's the type of lady who has those inspirational kitten posters that say "hang in there!" along the bottom. she wants to please everyone, which makes sense since her job is to get money from everyone for government projects. so far people have been extremely nice to her, so i don't see that changing. even a few bad apples will probably not dishearten her, but i'm not 100% set to have her break or just keep trying to smile if things get tough.
_________________
A bright-eyed Thekko Ku Kalla dressed in a dapper sailor suit takes to flight and careers through the air toward the Modan Kucho and slams into him!
With a high-pitched cry, The Modan Kucho collapses in death.

[ragonda]

i find that like a newborn you create a basic character and you build it up adding new episodes into its life as it experiences more until you reach a point where the char starts to take on a rp char of its own .

if i wake in a bad mood i tend to rp a storyline into dreg so covering for the fact that dreg may show some of the moodiness i may be experiencing in rl .but not revealing the cause of my rl mood but developing a cause for dregs moodiness if that makes sense

[Enverdi]

I get what you all are saying, but how do I work that into an existing character?

And yes, Verdi sharing my feelings has made for some very uncomfortable situations. Tanis, for instance, made my time in Hael excrutiating. However, since we aren't together IRL anymore, it's easier. That shouldn't be the case in either extreme.

Even if you look at what Enverdi is wearing, it makes no sense. There's no unity, no uniformity. His personality is everywhere, much like mine, making it hard for me to conform him to one idea, personality, style, etc. The only thing that stands out in my mind is how he looks...fairly average. His plastic surgery included "eyes that hint at a deeper intelligence", "a mop of hair", and a "martini glass-shaped birthmark". I'm paraphrasing a bit, but he's not got abs or buns of steel, a face chiseled by angels....

It's tough when I put myself into a game like this, also. This is my relaxation and sometimes I really enjoy people enjoying my company. It may sound strange, but it's very relaxing to be wanted around. That really throws a wrench in a lot of roleplaying. I've also felt very out of place in any character that isn't Verdi. Not in my own skin. Is that weird?
_________________
Why use logic when you can just...make stuff up?

[Dzynna]

I'm going to formulate a reply to this tomorrow. Too tired right now to make coherent thoughts.
_________________

Dzynna Zol
-------------------------------------
The Retreat
--------------------------------------

[Nelle]

The fact that Enverdi doesn't have the angelic features/hard body and is ecclectic in his appearance can be a much more endearing thing than you perhaps realize. Like everyone else of my generation, my favorite guy from "Pretty in Pink" was Ducky, the guy that dressed with his own sense of flair, was flamboyant to cover up how how and insecure he really was and obviously cared deeply and sincerely about the girl enough to push her into the arms of his rival with his blessing.

Maybe all you really need is a slight tweak, a sidways step of thinking to pull it all together with Enverdi for you to be completely, totally thrilled with him.

As far as starting another char.. what might help is to first get Enverdi exactly where you want him, so that you're not trying to accomplish with a new char what you're also trying to accomplish with him. Then you're free to focus on letting a completely new personality, complete with flaws and quirks emerge to the surface for you to play with. Don't worry about failed tries. In DR, it was my 11th solid char that I'd created to be nothing but a hunting hound that ended up being the major roleplaying personality and is now my only played character. I still have the others mostly out of nostalgia, and they all still have their quirks and strong points tucked away with them.

You know you have truly brought a character to life when you log in and you feel yourself slipping into "Enverdi" mode.. and everything else moving aside for that.
_________________
Stay true to yourself no matter the cost and you'll always know who you are.

[soundless]

[Enverdi]

[Dzynna]

[Nelle]

Thank you, you two. *smooch*

With what Yaru said.. I actually tend to agree, but at the same time I'm doing the total opposite of what he advised. Yeah, bad me. A few months ago I moved in with my DR main's ingame husband. While our playing time has dropped slightly, our roleplaying is too hardcore to change anything ingame, and so far the only people that know a difference at all are those we've told. Then again, we've been playing together for five real life years and our chars are pretty solid. We're both fully aware that if the real life thing falls apart, it'll spell doom for our chars, but we've known each other long enough that we feel secure that this was the right choice for both of us and I've never been happier in my life.

It's been nothing but positive for us both, and it adds an extra quality of fun for us when our chars are in separate rooms, but our laptops are side by side and we can watch what's going on in both rooms. He even watches me play HR from time to time, but so far I haven't been able to talk him into trying it out. On a downside, it has obviously changed Nelle's life here, and that was difficult to come up with a solid RP reason for. Tshar's player has been nothing but supportive, for which I'm grateful.

All that said, I do believe that 97% of the time, Yaru is right. I've seen such situations fall apart over and over again. It's just like dating someone you work with. If something goes wrong, it's about impossible to keep it from affecting the workplace.
_________________
Stay true to yourself no matter the cost and you'll always know who you are.

[Enverdi]

Want to know what's really bad?

Tanis (Chris) and I played in game together, lived together, had a relationship together, and worked together. Now we are no longer a couple, but the rest stays the same.

Im not sure how to skew things a bit to make it work for me a little more. I don't know. I'm just lost, haha.
_________________
Why use logic when you can just...make stuff up?

[Kit]

The girl I'm currently dating (well, for the past two years) has no interest in MUD type roleplays. I've tried to get her into DR when I was there and into here and she lasts about 2 days. We tend to roleplay in a cyclical (5-10 people writing 1-2 pages of fiction, 3rd person character specific) format...and as it's not a 'you do this' 'someone does that to you' there's never any strain. A lot of people here see the 'you' as meaning them exactly.

While I do like to roleplay here, I tend not to unless it's with some established roleplay. I was involved with the Blackfire thing in DR, which was partially player run, but there's not much of a player base with consistant RP to follow here.

Keeping Kit in character for me is pretty easy. With his level and experience, he's more like the mad scientist type...and I really like that. He has his minions, his little psuedo-order, and Kitae that wants to marry him which gives me some constant RP around, but nothing to amazing or particular.

Anyway, having LARPed with my girlfriend, and the one before this one, I have some idea as to how RPing with a gf/bf can be. Besides, when you're in a relationship OG there is very little reason to have the same relationship IG. Relationships in games get boring a lot of the time. Why? Because a lot of relationships are spending time together. While you can do that IG, it gets old, fast.
_________________
"I reject your reality and substitute my own!" -- Adam Savage

AIM: KitMurphyHR
Email: yojibalinese@hotmail.com
Technician Database: http://tech.haelrahv.net/

[Nelle]

For me, playing an IG relationship is very different than the real life relationship. For example.. my ingame chick can be having a horrible fight with her husband, including screaming and backhanding [barbs] and yet we'll be sitting here side by side laughing and going 'Oooh, tha was a good one'. We leave the IG stuff purely ingame, and the OOG stuff strictly OOG. I've been able to do that in the past with someone that I lived with and also worked with.. the home issues stayed at home and the work issues stayed at work. We respect each other highly as people outside the game as well as talented roleplayers, so it's never been an issue. I'd be truly silly and oversensitive for taking an ingame problem outside into our real life.

Verdi, the sum of what your character has been through is what makes him who is he now. Use what's happened to him ingame to mold him now.. with temperance to shape how you'd like him to be. For example.. if he would normally be bitter over a failed relationship but you don't want to RP a bitter person.. temper him to have that bitterness instead be a touch of experienced sadness, someone that's done a lot of inner searching for a more objective view of how sometimes people can be in love but incompatible, someone that is friendly but has walls preventing anyone getting close again [to be altered if someone special works to get past those walls] or even someone more vulnerable than he was before because he just wants to be loved and accepted for who he is. There are a lot of options of a path to take. People all react differently to the same situation, so don't limit him to how you would personally react but instead explore what would happen if he reacted 'this way' instead.

The beauty of roleplay lies in the abily of creative options. I much more prefer playing with people that create chars with the abilty to grow and learn, that have qualities and flaws and don't feel the need to go overboard with dramatic and traumatic situations.
_________________
Stay true to yourself no matter the cost and you'll always know who you are.