On Extreme Role-playing Within XIV

[Setesh45]

Well, I mean in IRL such actions do cause a sense of lasting damage, but in terms of RP if that is their character I do not understand what made them feel uncomfortable, wouldn't it have made more sense to express the discomfort through the RP session verse just ignoring the person altogether? Just seems like the player was being avoided because others were personally comfortable not their characters.

Yes, the behaviour made them personally feel uncomfortable. People who roleplay are emotionally invested in their characters and in the roleplay.
The guy also wasn't a random person but a part of the guild and an IRL friend to another guldie. Unfortunately, this person got invited into the guild via this friend and not the official way, this was the result.
In the end nobody wanted to openly exclude him because he was in the guild but they also didn't want to play with him because he refused to change his ways in character.

[StriderShinryu]

The RP character that's a dick. I role-played with a character like that for a while, it completely ruined the atmosphere every time, the whole RP session just ruined by one person role-playing a racist egotistical orc.
After our second session I had people refusing to go with him. He kept harassing the elves in our party, his every second line was an insult towards someone.

This sort of thing has been my experience with more "extreme RP" as well. When someone wants to RP as the "extreme" sort it almost always goes hand in hand with them wanting every interaction to be About Them. Really by it's very nature, it sort of almost has to be at least a fairly major part of the scene. I mean, if you have Susan BigMuscles spouting racist, sexist, etc. commentary it's hard for other characters to at least not address it, even if she's only doing it over in the corner. That can be fine for a scene or two but if it's just a constant thing and a "feature" of the character it can absolutely make RPing with them a drag. Even if you don't take their commentary personally, when every RP session ends up being about the same thing it can just get boring and annoying.

[Vahlnir]

Such lengthy discussions about this when it's so simple. Nobody wants to be around a dick like that.

And this is where the thread should have ended.

Care to explain? Like around a character that is a dick, or are you saying the person who creates the character is a dick?

Personally, I'm of the opinion that if someone decides to RP as a racist character...it's a little bit of both.

[Bobby66]

And this is where the thread should have ended.



Personally, I'm of the opinion that if someone decides to RP as a racist character...it's a little bit of both.

Do you feel if the character is done poorly the person is a dick or just the general concept makes the person a dick? Just seems weird to judge a person based off a character they have created. I have met many racist characters that were done tastefully and were a joy to RP with, it is all in the evacuation. Though tbh it seems like just the concept alone seems to annoy people and even is used as a metric to judge the creator by,

[Vahlnir]

Do you feel if the character is done poorly the person is a dick or just the general concept makes the person a dick? Just seems weird to judge a person based off a character they have created. I have met many racist characters that were done tastefully and were a joy to RP with, it is all in the evacuation. Though tbh it seems like just the concept alone seems to annoy people and even is used as a metric to judge the creator by,

I don't think my post needs any more explanation. I have nothing more to add.

[Bobby66]

I don't think my post needs any more explanation. I have nothing more to add.

That is fair, though does seem oddly unfair to discount a person in their entirety due to a character they have created, but to each their own. I do not feel you explained your stance well but I will take it at face value and leave it at that.


That said I will say this community does seem to slightly closed minded which also lends itself to such discussions even being a thing in the first place. RP is all about exploring different views and characters at least in my opinion. Shutting off interactions at the root does not lend itself to fostering a healthy and welcoming environment.

In the end I do agree RP can be used in the same vain as it is a prank, which is unfortunate but those bad actors should not put a blemish on a certain type of character. Extreme characters can be done well and create some wonderful story exchanges especially between characters that have a fundamentally different.

[MilkieTea]

And this is where the thread should have ended.



Personally, I'm of the opinion that if someone decides to RP as a racist character...it's a little bit of both.

This tbh. If you're roleplaying as a racist character, I don't really want to talk to you - while it might not mean you yourself are racist, I just don't want to deal with that stuff in general.

[Dewslam]

Writing characters who are bigots or generally just bad people for whatever reason is pretty easy. It's pretty common. It all comes down to how you play it, like with most cases of role play. But role playing is something of a communal thing - and it's something people do for fun. And if your character isn't fun to interact with, then people aren't going to want to role play with you. It's pretty simple. Aside from the basic reaction of "I don't like racists so I don't want to interact with someone pretending to be a racist" - a lot of people are genuinely just bad at playing the compelling antagonist type. Stomping around shouting slurs and being a jerk to everyone is just going to make people not want to be around you, whether you're doing it "in character" or not. My character has nothing to gain from interacting with the lunatic standing on the street corner screaming about lalafell commit thirty percent of the crimes despite only making up fifteen percent of the population. You really need something more to your character than just "is a huge racist", basically. And at that point there's no reason to broadcast that you're playing a racist, because you don't need to bandy about what an edgy boy you are because you have an actual character, you read? If the only way you can think of to make a character interesting or unique is to make them a bigot - then you really need to expand yourself a bit more.

[Kalamari]

Some of the most interesting and multi-faceted characters of the main story i found to be characters like Yozuyu and Fordola, both illustrating that the answers for ones darker nature are not as simple as "jerks and fresh baked heroes".

An antagonist has -good- reason to believe in what they do. An imperial who would do anything to crush the resistance against the Empire, carries a conviction of "protection, stability and sustanance for the people at all costs".. while being colorblind, as anyone else, to the full picture and the means never ending up delivering what was promised.

Yozuyu, seen merely as a character template.. is an interesting follow up on the tragic truth that "the hate's seed you sow into children will blossom into pain and death with plenty to share". These souls are real, and there are many victimizers in our world driven by these festering wounds within them.

It is to say the least interesting to follow these character tropes too in RP.. white knight characters can actually often be fitted into the antagonist role too, being so full of self-righteousness that they would trample on "the impure lessers".

[Lauront]

Yup yup, well said. All this RP puritanism can strip out a lot of fun ideas to play around with.