OOC: A Stark Look at Role Play
In the wake of HBO’s rendition of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, I come to you, my role players, about the concept of good role play.
I come to you not about the written characters in Martin’s prose, but - instead - the television renditions thereof, presented in an episodic manner. Easily digestible tidbits, masterfully eked out hour by hour in a way that kept the characters compelling and watchable for an entire ten episodes where the ratings climbed to over three million viewers for the season finale.
What makes a compelling character? We put much stock in the creation and role playing of our characters in a long standing world such as Azeroth or any MMORPG; where the characters are not as easily disposable and fragile such as they can be in a tabletop campaign. We portray our characters in many lights, wearing many hats, and sometimes moving along many motivations: some overt, some covert. What we know about our characters may be different from what the role playing public knows, but this is not what makes a character compelling.
In HBO’s Game of Thrones, you had characters of stout honor, characters whose motivations were shrouded in secrecy, and characters whose motivations came out only in exposition scenes played out between two or three actors. When one creates one’s role played character one must think of things such as: What would my character live for? What would my character die for? Where is my character’s sense of honor? Of duty? Of love? What are my character’s motivations? What flaws does my character carry? What are my character’s weaknesses? Power in a character comes easily enough; in a world such as Azeroth, power is easily displayed through feats of strength and reputation.
One thing that the television show excelled at was its handling of exposition. Not making it a tiresome thing to watch, it was handled in such a way that made the revelation of a character’s motivations (or Westeros history) more interesting for the viewer. In an online role playing situation, exposition can be handled in many ways: through forum posts; in stories; on a Wiki page, etc. One must be careful when engaging in collaborative role play and suddenly slipping into exposition; monologuing has been known to lose the attention of other players, or perhaps even a character’s eye.
Game of Thrones carries with it an ensemble cast, and in open forum role play - such as we have in Azeroth - also carries an ensemble cast. This means we must not only work with many characters of divergent personalities and motivations, but also players of many divergent personalities and motivations. We must be courteous of other players, while engaging their characters in a genuine way that does not betray our own characters’ personalities. This means understanding where other characters stand, respecting other players’ wishes, and respecting their characters as well. It may not be in the interest of one’s particular character to respect the wishes of the character of another; this is where consequences come into play.
Much like in HBO’s Game of Thrones, as in life, one’s actions in role play carry with them consequences. Should one’s character act in a certain way toward a character, one should expect a reaction. Call it the theory of roletivity. In HBO’s Game of Thrones, disrespecting the honor or secrets of someone is likely to get a character in some serious trouble. This is much like life. This is mirrored in role play on Thorium Brotherhood and Ravenholdt (an RP PVP server I was on for a short while). On Thorium Brotherhood, should one’s character disrespect the wishes of the character of someone else, expect a reaction. Expect consequences. Conflict exists on Thorium Brotherhood; it is one thing that makes this server unique.
The episodic nature of HBO’s Game of Thrones can teach role players a thing about role playing one’s character in stints: revealing small bits of character development out at a time, rather than opening floodgates all at once. Role play is not a pilot episode; one does not need to cover an entire lifetime of hardship at one’s first meeting with another character. Role play is about character interaction and relationships between characters; do well at developing relationships and one’s characters build reputations (for good or ill) and the player gains notoriety as one who is easy to play alongside. To reveal too much at the onset of role play, steps dangerously into that realm of diving too far into exposition - and leaving behind the idea of collaborative role play.
In short, take away these lessons from HBO’s Game of Thrones:
- Keep exposition to a minimum and in other forums than in-game
- Keep role play episodic rather than treating it as a pilot episode - not everything need be revealed in one swoop
- The theory of roletivity: every in character action has an in character re-action - conflict exists, be prepared for it
- One’s characters do not have to play well with others, but one should respect other players and their space and stories
- Flesh out a character as much as possible over time, but remember the exposition rule
As with any recreational activity, whether it be sport or television or role play: This is meant to be fun. Should you cease having fun in a storyline, or begin to become anxious over what is happening with your character, it is time to call it to a halt. This is a game, not a job. At no point should pretendy time be causing such anxiety. Remember: Your character does not exist; you do. Your needs, as you, eclipse the needs of your character.
No matter how much they like cheese.
I come to you not about the written characters in Martin’s prose, but - instead - the television renditions thereof, presented in an episodic manner. Easily digestible tidbits, masterfully eked out hour by hour in a way that kept the characters compelling and watchable for an entire ten episodes where the ratings climbed to over three million viewers for the season finale.
What makes a compelling character? We put much stock in the creation and role playing of our characters in a long standing world such as Azeroth or any MMORPG; where the characters are not as easily disposable and fragile such as they can be in a tabletop campaign. We portray our characters in many lights, wearing many hats, and sometimes moving along many motivations: some overt, some covert. What we know about our characters may be different from what the role playing public knows, but this is not what makes a character compelling.
In HBO’s Game of Thrones, you had characters of stout honor, characters whose motivations were shrouded in secrecy, and characters whose motivations came out only in exposition scenes played out between two or three actors. When one creates one’s role played character one must think of things such as: What would my character live for? What would my character die for? Where is my character’s sense of honor? Of duty? Of love? What are my character’s motivations? What flaws does my character carry? What are my character’s weaknesses? Power in a character comes easily enough; in a world such as Azeroth, power is easily displayed through feats of strength and reputation.
One thing that the television show excelled at was its handling of exposition. Not making it a tiresome thing to watch, it was handled in such a way that made the revelation of a character’s motivations (or Westeros history) more interesting for the viewer. In an online role playing situation, exposition can be handled in many ways: through forum posts; in stories; on a Wiki page, etc. One must be careful when engaging in collaborative role play and suddenly slipping into exposition; monologuing has been known to lose the attention of other players, or perhaps even a character’s eye.
Game of Thrones carries with it an ensemble cast, and in open forum role play - such as we have in Azeroth - also carries an ensemble cast. This means we must not only work with many characters of divergent personalities and motivations, but also players of many divergent personalities and motivations. We must be courteous of other players, while engaging their characters in a genuine way that does not betray our own characters’ personalities. This means understanding where other characters stand, respecting other players’ wishes, and respecting their characters as well. It may not be in the interest of one’s particular character to respect the wishes of the character of another; this is where consequences come into play.
Much like in HBO’s Game of Thrones, as in life, one’s actions in role play carry with them consequences. Should one’s character act in a certain way toward a character, one should expect a reaction. Call it the theory of roletivity. In HBO’s Game of Thrones, disrespecting the honor or secrets of someone is likely to get a character in some serious trouble. This is much like life. This is mirrored in role play on Thorium Brotherhood and Ravenholdt (an RP PVP server I was on for a short while). On Thorium Brotherhood, should one’s character disrespect the wishes of the character of someone else, expect a reaction. Expect consequences. Conflict exists on Thorium Brotherhood; it is one thing that makes this server unique.
The episodic nature of HBO’s Game of Thrones can teach role players a thing about role playing one’s character in stints: revealing small bits of character development out at a time, rather than opening floodgates all at once. Role play is not a pilot episode; one does not need to cover an entire lifetime of hardship at one’s first meeting with another character. Role play is about character interaction and relationships between characters; do well at developing relationships and one’s characters build reputations (for good or ill) and the player gains notoriety as one who is easy to play alongside. To reveal too much at the onset of role play, steps dangerously into that realm of diving too far into exposition - and leaving behind the idea of collaborative role play.
In short, take away these lessons from HBO’s Game of Thrones:
- Keep exposition to a minimum and in other forums than in-game
- Keep role play episodic rather than treating it as a pilot episode - not everything need be revealed in one swoop
- The theory of roletivity: every in character action has an in character re-action - conflict exists, be prepared for it
- One’s characters do not have to play well with others, but one should respect other players and their space and stories
- Flesh out a character as much as possible over time, but remember the exposition rule
As with any recreational activity, whether it be sport or television or role play: This is meant to be fun. Should you cease having fun in a storyline, or begin to become anxious over what is happening with your character, it is time to call it to a halt. This is a game, not a job. At no point should pretendy time be causing such anxiety. Remember: Your character does not exist; you do. Your needs, as you, eclipse the needs of your character.
No matter how much they like cheese.