Topic

Playing a Role, Playing it Real, or Having It Both Ways?

When I began playing Glitch, I had read three things about the game: (1) it had wonderful artwork, (2) it was non-violent, and (3) it featured collaboration among players. I specifically avoided further reading and research before playing, wanting my user experience to be shaped by in-game information.

As I began to make connection with other players, I discovered that many people seemed to be "playing it real," in the sense that their in-game actions were based on their real-world personality and real-world values transplanted into a fictional world. For me, this created both a dilemma and a sense of opportunity. It created a dilemma because I had decided early on to give my character a persona that diverges in some ways from my real-life personality. If I stay in character, those who are playing it real and thinking they are getting to know the person behind the character may be misled.  The sense of opportunity, on the other hand, comes from the potential I think this game has to create a kind of social capital that has real value in the real world as a consequence of in-game interactions and in-game community.  This makes Glitch different from other games I have played where social capital comes, if at all, through side-conversations and meta interactions that occur in parallel with game play. 

If I'm playing with friends I know well outside of the game, I can adopt the persona of a character who gives unsolicited fashion critiques and bossy advice -- and if I do it well, we all will be entertained.  When I'm playing with new friends I don't know well and people I don't know at all, it becomes more complicated.  Some may be able to separate the persona from the real person, but others may not.  So, over the past month, I've increasingly been "playing it real."  As a consequence, I've stopped doing some of the things that may have amused some other players.  However, this has given me the freedom to develop and deepen friendships based on my real personality, and that has more value for me than the entertainment I get from playing a role. 

Perhaps, over time, I'll figure out how to have it both ways.  However, as another player sagely observed in a recent thread here, you can't really roleplay with other people who aren't roleplaying. Unless you organize your actions to have no impact on them, you will either be entertaining them or harassing them, and the line between entertainment and harassment can be fuzzy.  For example, some might find an in-game fashion show entertaining, and might think that those who don't could simply ignore it.  However, a fashion show at Jethimadh Tower might get in the way of those seeking to explore or complete a quest.  A fashion show in Ajaya Bliss would almost certainly get in the way of those trying to mine there, even though my in-game character might think it a fabulous venue. 

So I'm curious to know what others think about this.  Are you playing a role, playing it real, or doing some combination of both?

Posted 14 months ago by Splendora Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Ok, here is my response.......

    I play it real.  I have never been able to really act like anything other than me. I feel like Im lying if I act like anything other than just me. The character I am dealing with is a person, with real feelings.  Eh, I guess with me...."Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is what weighs the most in my world.  I have felt deceived by others when they told me fictional stories about themselves.  I felt lied to, and wondered if there was any truth to the person I talked to.  In the end, those people have been removed from my friends, and I want nothing to do with them.

    That is just my opinion, though.
    Posted 14 months ago by Innie✿, Obviously Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I play my usual online gaming persona, it's mostly the same in all games I play and isn't far from my real life persona but there are certain differences.
    Posted 14 months ago by Fussycat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm mostly playing it real, because it's not really a place I come for true, full-on role-play. I love role-play, and I love developing the characters I play in various role-play heavy games. I'm just not very good with real-time role-play. Plus it means no dilemma when it comes to making friends.

    I say mostly playing it real because I will do actions that tend to have something of a role-play element to them, such as fanatically showing my devotion to Zille or saving those poor, poor piggies from foodless homes. Being a No-No Pusher (!!! wait, what? I'd never do that!)*... who knows what else might come up. I find throwing a taste of role-play in with my real personality is fun, but more in the actions, rather than the content.

    These actions might come from some real feelings to a degree, though certainly not always. For example:

    ->Zille is my favorite Giant thus far, but.. in reality I am not so fanatical as I might play my character to be.

    ->I do feel a bit sorry for the piggies, but I realize they're pixels, and at one point, before things blew up about hogtying/selling/donating, I even considered that in the distant future I might try to start a piggy black market once there were millions of pigs in the world. Now I'm saving them instead. :)

    ->No-No pushing*... in reality, I don't care for any forms of recreational drugs other than caffeine and the occasional enjoyment of some good alcohol. I have no urge to even try any other forms (and thus haven't). But I can have fun with purple and No-No!

    (*Disclaimers: I'm not an official no-no pusher IG... yet... >.> Though I have pushed one package and have pushed some purple before, in moments of goofing off with friends. But... for the right price.. if you seek the right avenues... maaaaaaaybe.)
    Posted 14 months ago by Little Miss Giggles Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yep, any roleplay really should be agreed upon by all parties. I imagine as Gltich evolves there'll start to be more and more groups which RP, those would be a great place for your character to live in.

    Personally I would only roleplay in a obvious way, so it was clear that I was roleplaying.
    Posted 14 months ago by SacredBob Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Unless I'm in a specific community or situation that is for roleplay, I mostly just play it real.

    Edited to say mostly because seeing Little Miss Giggles' post reminded me that I will be happy to push in-game drugs like Purple and No-No as they don't actually do any harm, but in real life I don't care for any either.
    Posted 14 months ago by Myuki Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, and I'd like to add:

    If you speak with me in IM, I'm definitely playing it as real as I do in any other online community.

    It would only be in local chat that I'd be spewing role-play tinctured words (i.e. "Zille is the greatest of the great Giants! All bow before Zille and make penance for wandering astray!" as I wander about mining).
    Posted 14 months ago by Little Miss Giggles Subscriber! | Permalink
  • For pete's sake, I worked hard and accelerated my Meditation Skill tree to get Piety. But I'm sorta kinda agnostic in real life. So I guess I'm Memorex here (not real.) But that doesn't mean I am irrational or a complex number. I'm not sure where they'd stick me on the Venn Diagram. Probably on a separate page with the footnotes.
    Posted 14 months ago by Parrow Gnolle Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I play a role.  This is a video game, an alternate reality, a chance for me to escape my normal humdrum life and blossom in a wacky world.  It's not real -- nor am I.  When you interact with me, you interact with Zimmi, not the person behind the keyboard.  I get enough "real" in the real world!  
    Posted 14 months ago by Zimmi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I have it both ways. I only role-play in a community, which is why I started an RP-Lite group, but outside of such communities I play it real.

    Whether I'm role-playing or not I still find the concept of the game refreshing and can change tracks from role-play to playing it real and vice versa with little problem.
    Posted 14 months ago by Mal'akh Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There is always a bit of role playing to my character. In Splendora's example, it is highly unlikely I would partake in a RL street fashion show, but would do so with gusto here. I have a dog in RL but not piggies, chickens or butterflies, nor would I ever consider maintaining a menagerie in my RL home. My adoration of piggies is pretty much limited to the pixel variety - I do not think you will be finding me petting RL pigs anytime soon. So, actions are definitely role play.

    Personality, on the other hand, is all real. I don't try to be the intimidating bully in RL or here. In RL I am a bit of a leader and organizer, so that seeps out here too. I hope my generousity and overall love-able-ness is the same in-game and out.
    Posted 14 months ago by Kookaburra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • If RL pigs were like the pigs here, I would keep them :)  That's kind of what I mean by real-life personality translated into a fantasy world.  I'll also rescue in-game pigs left in inhospitable places -- up to a point.  In real life, I'd rescue an animal in a bad situation if I could, so I'll do it here unless (1) I think other players are placing pigs in "bad situations" simply to see if they can cause grief or (2) the requirements of the game world begin to conflict with my ability to enjoy the game or with my responsibilities in the real world.
    Posted 14 months ago by Splendora Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I dunno if I really fit either: I always play as myself (granted, a self that is gladly accepting the opportunity to begin anew with new people, much like moving to a new town IRL) but should I find myself in a certain position, I act as though I would in that position.

    Mal'akh just started a church, and I volunteered to run the Church of Spriggan. I'm atheist IRL, but were I in a world like Glitch and were I to find myself in the priesthood, I'd fill that role with gusto. So that's what I'm doing.

    Am I lying? Perhaps, but it's a white lie.
    Posted 14 months ago by Reihox Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm very much in character in the game, but in the forums I'm in character half the time and not in character the other half. I should hope it's clear which is which - if I'm being "me", I type very much like one might speak, and if I'm being "Saro", I type very much like one might write fiction. I will often drive my character to do things to do things that make the game more fun, but might not be something I'd do in real life.
    Posted 14 months ago by Saro Subscriber! | Permalink
  • isn't there another dimension to this, though? glitch provides a free universe whose rules are not the ones of the real world - allowing your character a whole new set of possible actions and interactions - but similar enough to the real ones - so that things you do and try to be in-game actually have some pertinence to who you are in real life.

    if who we are in real life is shaped to a great extend by the restrictions placed upon us by the way this real life is supposed to be lived, isn't it possible to argue that by changing or removing some of those restrictions we can become more of ourselves through the characters we play in-game?

    i often get a feeling that the character i play is both me and a bit more than myself for being myself under a different set of circumstances, and this breach of limits is precisely the most pleasurable aspect of the in-game experience for me.
    Posted 14 months ago by awdrone Subscriber! | Permalink