Role Play Style Problems. The Novice Vs. The Experienced
Apr 10, 2014 2:48:45 GMT
CloudFish, Chesire cat, and 4 more like this
Post by faintsilhouette on Apr 10, 2014 2:48:45 GMT
Alright, so before I begin, let me make it clear I am NOT talking about anybody "bullying anyone" or being "a wolfspeaker" or a "Grammar nazi" any of that. We're not talking about that here. We're not talking about being excluded from RP's either. Take it to another thread if you want to talk about that. The topic of this thread is simple... why is it, if there is no visible problem on the surface, do experienced roleplayers and novices (except maybe perhaps in a teaching setting) tend to avoid each other like the plague?
Keep in mind while reading this, I'm simply sharing some humorous observations I've made over the years since I began roleplaying on various games from the Impressive Title/Feral Heart games. So why do they not RP with each other most of the time? I think it relies heavily in what one "type" expects from the other. Read below.
The novice typically:
1. Writes in script style. RPing in script style is not necessarily indicative of whether or not someone is a novice RPer, however, this is where the vast majority I have seen a lot of novice roleplayers begin, including myself. Script style is essentially the simplest and fastest way to get started, so this makes sense. A single post is usually, at most. a single sentence. It does not require as much effort.
2. Desires instant gratification. This sort of goes along with the script-style as it is the faster type of RPing, however there is another dimension to this to point out. Simply having one person do script style while someone else does paragraph style may create an issue. The novice RPer typically wants their paragraph-writing counterpart to "hurry up and finish" so that they can have their turn to post again. Eager beavers, what can I say? This also tends to be the recipie for a novice to want everything kept simple and spelled out for them. No underlying themes, moods, motifs, or anything else they might otherwise have to think for a little longer about.
3. Tends to enjoy writing more about their own character than reading about other characters. Personally, I blame this on the fact that to the individual [and this goes for the experienced RPers too],or the person playing them, usually their own character is the "best thing ever." Unfortunately, that is not and will likely NEVER be the case for everyone else. Your character may seem "cool" to you but its not going to be to everyone else and if you continue to gab about how great he/she is...well, even your fellow novice RPers will tire of you. The sooner you realize that they are ONLY important to YOU, the better off you will be. But ANYWAY, the point being, like I said, the eager beaver novice wants to write and write and write. Consequently, they often get SO eager that they find it easier to skim other's posts instead of reading them in their entirety. While this may or may not be welcomed by another novice, experienced roleplayers from what I have seen can usually tell whether you paid attention to what they wrote or not and naturally if it results in you making an error about the events at hand, they will want the novice to fix it. This puts a temporary stand-still to the eager-beaver novice and likewise is frustrating as they now have to go back and correct themselves. Not only that, but it always feels like, especially when RPing with a paragraph-RPer that it is never their turn because the spit out a reply so quickly while the other takes a while to post.
4. Focused more on action and less on character development. Pretty self explanatory. Novice RPers tend to jump straight to playing "the bad guy" (regardless of how skilled or not skilled they be at doing so), the "saint" who will more likely than not jump to the defense of any and any character for the sake of starting a conversation or fight, the "victim" who is constantly harassed by other characters (usually NPC's because MOST of the time sob stories don't happen via real-people's characters but I will admit it has happened to a number of mine. Its just more often the user playing the character "makes something up" like hunting dogs or hunters) " or last but not least, the overly aggressive or emotional character who will literally start a fight for no reason or motive whatsoever. They don't focus on a rich history, complex personality, or unique character. They just want action and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Additionally since they don't have complex characters, novices often have their characters "know" other characters without actually going through the motions of meeting them. I've seen more experienced role players do this too but the majority of them avoid it as their more complex characters are less predictable and harder to assume things about it.
5. Tends to RP about "a day in the life," and sticks to comfort zones. Novices frequently cling to a muddled understanding of realism, which may or may not be accurate. They tend to RP about eating, sleeping, hunting, finding prides, having cubs and so forth only to start all over again. Its simple and it is easy and for some people, this never gets old. (Unfortunately I can't agree with that mindset anymore but thats just me LOL) Their characters, personality and behavior wise tend to be less anthropomorphic and closer to their "natural" counterparts. In otherwords, the personalities tend to be less complex and less human-like in nature and the person doesn't focus on complex relationships between characters (And no, I'm not talking about mates. I'm talking about friends, enemies, allies, neutral parties, and anything else someone's character might be associated with). Instead, theres pretty much no gray area here. Friend or foe. That's it.
Experience RPers typically:
1. Writes in paragraph style. They tend to write an AWFUL lot, sometimes to the point of excess. Since paragraph style cannot be as easily defined as one or two sentences (like script style) the actual amount of text someone puts out tends to vary. Consequently, like likes like. Tongue twisted yet? What I mean by this is that people who typically only write 1 paragraph tend to roleplay with people who only write 1 where as someone who writes 3 or 4 will stick with someone who writes 3 or 4 but may find another role player who writes as many as 8 paragraphs to be writing too excessively. Or the person writing 8 paragraphs may find those who write less than they are simply aren't putting out enough information.
2. Does not want instant gratification and would rather keep things slightly more complex. They want dramatic surprises but NOT the kind found in movie cliches. Themes, properly maintained moods/tones, and underlying ideas that they must actually dig a little deeper to get and read between the lines to be able to understand, are often welcome. They also tend to take longer to post and usually grant their RPing friends the same courtesy. However, experienced RPers may become frustrated by those who post faster than they do, feeling like as if its ALWAYS their turn and that they can't catch a break.
3. Tends to enjoy reading about other characters than writing about their own. Its the sort of "If I wanted to write about my character, I'd go write a story about them" attitude.But they don't want to write a story, they want to RP and they enjoy reading about other people's characters, actions, and trying to decipher their motives as much if not more than they do writing about their own. Just a common trend I guess. This can, however, lead to some dependence on other people to carry the story along and that isn't necessarily a good thing.
4. Focused more on character development, less on action. Experienced roleplayers don't start a RP looking for drama or a fight straight off the bat. In fact, too much drama can be overwhelming and may drive them to get up and leave. Sudden first or second posts about suicide, injuries, humans, or anything of that nature is often too sudden for them. They like the anticipation and slow build up to more dramatic events rather than having the surprise of them falling into their laps. They also tend to dislike having characters "Automatically" know each other ESPECIALLY if the player does not know the other characters through some other roleplay and is new to them. Assumptions are not appreciated.
5. Concerned less about "a day in the life" and more concerned about events that stray from these norms. This isn't to say they wont make a post or two about hunting, or roving around looking for a mate but it is usually FAR from their focus of the entire roleplay. The repeated cycle of, find a friend, find a pride, find a mate, hunt, have cubs, start over tends to get very old, very fast for these folks. They want their characters to run into strangers and run into them often until they're friends. (or enemies with a personal relationship, or whatever category they may fall into down the road.)
THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE TWO!
So you'll noticed both sections are numbered 1 through 5. That is because in each section, the numbers correspond to the same subject matter.
1. Roleplay Style, script versus paragraph: The conflict between experienced and novice RPers here is blatantly obvious. One [novice] doesn't post much while the other [experienced] writes a LOT. This forces the novice to wait on the experienced RPer and forces the experienced RPer to make something out of tiny amounts of information, The experienced person wants to read a lot slowly, but isn't getting it. The novice RPer wants to read very little and write a lot quickly. This is a pretty obvious issue.
2. Instant gratification vs. Later gratification: Novices want instant gratification, drama right off the bad, and conflict as soon as they can get it, otherwise, they get bored. Experienced roleplayers, other hand, enjoy the slow buildup and don't want to be deprived of it and have sudden drama thrown in their laps. Again, obvious conflict of interest between the two.
3. Desire to Read vs. Desire to Write: Novices want to write a lot about their own character quickly but do not wish to take much time reading. Experienced roleplayers on the otherhand tend to enjoy reading about other people's characters more than they do writing about their own. Well, if the novice is a scripter and writes very little, that doesn't give the experienced one much to read. If the experienced one writes a lot, that forces the novices to slow down and wait and they don't get to write as much and they're forced to read a lot more. The actions of one create a not-so-ideal environment for the other. Simple enough.
4. Character Development Vs. Desire for Action. The experienced RPer cares less about action and more about the depth of the characters themselves while the novice wants action and could care less about the characters. That said, the novice has a hard time understanding complex characters of the experienced guy, and the experienced guy finds the novice's character very bland. The novice pushes for immediate action, while the experienced RPer is still pushing for more in-depth information about the novice's character. (Which they probably have not thought through that far.)
5. "A day in the life" Vs. "A day outside the norm" Novice RPers want to stay in a predictable routine. Its comfortable. Experienced roleplayers want to stray outside their comfort zone. The novice might find the experienced roleplayer being "outrageous" by being outside the norm by the experienced RPer may find the novice "boring" for doing the same thing over and over again.
So in conclusion, if the two [or more] players AREN'T grammar nazi's or wolfspeakers or bullies or any of the above....the reasons an experienced roleplayer and a novice roleplayer tend to stay away from each other are pretty obvious. We all get "stuck in our ways" for a while and this is about the best way I can explain it. Its not even the experience that makes the difference honestly. Its less about who is better or worse and more about it just being a conflict of interest due to /preferences/.
Anyway, I hope you all got a kick out of that. Any comments, ideas, suggestions?
Keep in mind while reading this, I'm simply sharing some humorous observations I've made over the years since I began roleplaying on various games from the Impressive Title/Feral Heart games. So why do they not RP with each other most of the time? I think it relies heavily in what one "type" expects from the other. Read below.
The novice typically:
1. Writes in script style. RPing in script style is not necessarily indicative of whether or not someone is a novice RPer, however, this is where the vast majority I have seen a lot of novice roleplayers begin, including myself. Script style is essentially the simplest and fastest way to get started, so this makes sense. A single post is usually, at most. a single sentence. It does not require as much effort.
2. Desires instant gratification. This sort of goes along with the script-style as it is the faster type of RPing, however there is another dimension to this to point out. Simply having one person do script style while someone else does paragraph style may create an issue. The novice RPer typically wants their paragraph-writing counterpart to "hurry up and finish" so that they can have their turn to post again. Eager beavers, what can I say? This also tends to be the recipie for a novice to want everything kept simple and spelled out for them. No underlying themes, moods, motifs, or anything else they might otherwise have to think for a little longer about.
3. Tends to enjoy writing more about their own character than reading about other characters. Personally, I blame this on the fact that to the individual [and this goes for the experienced RPers too],or the person playing them, usually their own character is the "best thing ever." Unfortunately, that is not and will likely NEVER be the case for everyone else. Your character may seem "cool" to you but its not going to be to everyone else and if you continue to gab about how great he/she is...well, even your fellow novice RPers will tire of you. The sooner you realize that they are ONLY important to YOU, the better off you will be. But ANYWAY, the point being, like I said, the eager beaver novice wants to write and write and write. Consequently, they often get SO eager that they find it easier to skim other's posts instead of reading them in their entirety. While this may or may not be welcomed by another novice, experienced roleplayers from what I have seen can usually tell whether you paid attention to what they wrote or not and naturally if it results in you making an error about the events at hand, they will want the novice to fix it. This puts a temporary stand-still to the eager-beaver novice and likewise is frustrating as they now have to go back and correct themselves. Not only that, but it always feels like, especially when RPing with a paragraph-RPer that it is never their turn because the spit out a reply so quickly while the other takes a while to post.
4. Focused more on action and less on character development. Pretty self explanatory. Novice RPers tend to jump straight to playing "the bad guy" (regardless of how skilled or not skilled they be at doing so), the "saint" who will more likely than not jump to the defense of any and any character for the sake of starting a conversation or fight, the "victim" who is constantly harassed by other characters (usually NPC's because MOST of the time sob stories don't happen via real-people's characters but I will admit it has happened to a number of mine. Its just more often the user playing the character "makes something up" like hunting dogs or hunters) " or last but not least, the overly aggressive or emotional character who will literally start a fight for no reason or motive whatsoever. They don't focus on a rich history, complex personality, or unique character. They just want action and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Additionally since they don't have complex characters, novices often have their characters "know" other characters without actually going through the motions of meeting them. I've seen more experienced role players do this too but the majority of them avoid it as their more complex characters are less predictable and harder to assume things about it.
5. Tends to RP about "a day in the life," and sticks to comfort zones. Novices frequently cling to a muddled understanding of realism, which may or may not be accurate. They tend to RP about eating, sleeping, hunting, finding prides, having cubs and so forth only to start all over again. Its simple and it is easy and for some people, this never gets old. (Unfortunately I can't agree with that mindset anymore but thats just me LOL) Their characters, personality and behavior wise tend to be less anthropomorphic and closer to their "natural" counterparts. In otherwords, the personalities tend to be less complex and less human-like in nature and the person doesn't focus on complex relationships between characters (And no, I'm not talking about mates. I'm talking about friends, enemies, allies, neutral parties, and anything else someone's character might be associated with). Instead, theres pretty much no gray area here. Friend or foe. That's it.
Experience RPers typically:
1. Writes in paragraph style. They tend to write an AWFUL lot, sometimes to the point of excess. Since paragraph style cannot be as easily defined as one or two sentences (like script style) the actual amount of text someone puts out tends to vary. Consequently, like likes like. Tongue twisted yet? What I mean by this is that people who typically only write 1 paragraph tend to roleplay with people who only write 1 where as someone who writes 3 or 4 will stick with someone who writes 3 or 4 but may find another role player who writes as many as 8 paragraphs to be writing too excessively. Or the person writing 8 paragraphs may find those who write less than they are simply aren't putting out enough information.
2. Does not want instant gratification and would rather keep things slightly more complex. They want dramatic surprises but NOT the kind found in movie cliches. Themes, properly maintained moods/tones, and underlying ideas that they must actually dig a little deeper to get and read between the lines to be able to understand, are often welcome. They also tend to take longer to post and usually grant their RPing friends the same courtesy. However, experienced RPers may become frustrated by those who post faster than they do, feeling like as if its ALWAYS their turn and that they can't catch a break.
3. Tends to enjoy reading about other characters than writing about their own. Its the sort of "If I wanted to write about my character, I'd go write a story about them" attitude.But they don't want to write a story, they want to RP and they enjoy reading about other people's characters, actions, and trying to decipher their motives as much if not more than they do writing about their own. Just a common trend I guess. This can, however, lead to some dependence on other people to carry the story along and that isn't necessarily a good thing.
4. Focused more on character development, less on action. Experienced roleplayers don't start a RP looking for drama or a fight straight off the bat. In fact, too much drama can be overwhelming and may drive them to get up and leave. Sudden first or second posts about suicide, injuries, humans, or anything of that nature is often too sudden for them. They like the anticipation and slow build up to more dramatic events rather than having the surprise of them falling into their laps. They also tend to dislike having characters "Automatically" know each other ESPECIALLY if the player does not know the other characters through some other roleplay and is new to them. Assumptions are not appreciated.
5. Concerned less about "a day in the life" and more concerned about events that stray from these norms. This isn't to say they wont make a post or two about hunting, or roving around looking for a mate but it is usually FAR from their focus of the entire roleplay. The repeated cycle of, find a friend, find a pride, find a mate, hunt, have cubs, start over tends to get very old, very fast for these folks. They want their characters to run into strangers and run into them often until they're friends. (or enemies with a personal relationship, or whatever category they may fall into down the road.)
THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE TWO!
So you'll noticed both sections are numbered 1 through 5. That is because in each section, the numbers correspond to the same subject matter.
1. Roleplay Style, script versus paragraph: The conflict between experienced and novice RPers here is blatantly obvious. One [novice] doesn't post much while the other [experienced] writes a LOT. This forces the novice to wait on the experienced RPer and forces the experienced RPer to make something out of tiny amounts of information, The experienced person wants to read a lot slowly, but isn't getting it. The novice RPer wants to read very little and write a lot quickly. This is a pretty obvious issue.
2. Instant gratification vs. Later gratification: Novices want instant gratification, drama right off the bad, and conflict as soon as they can get it, otherwise, they get bored. Experienced roleplayers, other hand, enjoy the slow buildup and don't want to be deprived of it and have sudden drama thrown in their laps. Again, obvious conflict of interest between the two.
3. Desire to Read vs. Desire to Write: Novices want to write a lot about their own character quickly but do not wish to take much time reading. Experienced roleplayers on the otherhand tend to enjoy reading about other people's characters more than they do writing about their own. Well, if the novice is a scripter and writes very little, that doesn't give the experienced one much to read. If the experienced one writes a lot, that forces the novices to slow down and wait and they don't get to write as much and they're forced to read a lot more. The actions of one create a not-so-ideal environment for the other. Simple enough.
4. Character Development Vs. Desire for Action. The experienced RPer cares less about action and more about the depth of the characters themselves while the novice wants action and could care less about the characters. That said, the novice has a hard time understanding complex characters of the experienced guy, and the experienced guy finds the novice's character very bland. The novice pushes for immediate action, while the experienced RPer is still pushing for more in-depth information about the novice's character. (Which they probably have not thought through that far.)
5. "A day in the life" Vs. "A day outside the norm" Novice RPers want to stay in a predictable routine. Its comfortable. Experienced roleplayers want to stray outside their comfort zone. The novice might find the experienced roleplayer being "outrageous" by being outside the norm by the experienced RPer may find the novice "boring" for doing the same thing over and over again.
So in conclusion, if the two [or more] players AREN'T grammar nazi's or wolfspeakers or bullies or any of the above....the reasons an experienced roleplayer and a novice roleplayer tend to stay away from each other are pretty obvious. We all get "stuck in our ways" for a while and this is about the best way I can explain it. Its not even the experience that makes the difference honestly. Its less about who is better or worse and more about it just being a conflict of interest due to /preferences/.
Anyway, I hope you all got a kick out of that. Any comments, ideas, suggestions?