Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Laria Raven]

Hi,

This is one of those annoying "There is only Zuul" RPer-Type questions. How do you balance when you as a player want to do something that your character probably doesn't? When it's a big thing, particularly. How legitimate do you think it is to bend your character's actions towards your OOC wants, rather than allowing your play to follow your character's natural growth and development?

It's a fairly general RP question, but it seems to me to be exacerbated by the dichotomy of EVE as an RPer - EVE the game vs EVE the RP environment.

Anyone got any thoughts?

[Ciarente]

I usually workshop it with a few people and we toss around ideas for explanations and possible ways back afterwards.  Sometimes those ideas might require OOC co-operation from other players, which I know is frowned upon by some. For example if I wanted to go be a Blood Raider for a while, I might contact some players with Blooder characters and corps and say "hey, I want to come fly with you guys, but not permanently, and I want to leave a reasonable path back to normality for my character. How about if I have Camille kidnapped by some third-party not-really-existing Blood Raiders and say Cia pretends to join you because she's trying to get information through your networks. You have my OOC commitment that there will be no espionage, AWOXing or other dastardly deeds without pre-discussion and consent."

Yes, it takes away the surprise and the emergent nature of the interaction, but I have seen things go very very bad for players who tried radical transitions without such pre-planning.

*edit* And I didn't answer your direct question. Totally legitimate. I just would try to do what I enjoy now in a way that wouldn't make me not enjoy playing later.

[Jessa Shi]

Personally, I tend to follow my own, pleyer's, desires and try to rationalize such actions ICly. At first it's a game, so you should do whatever you will enjoy the most. Of course, sometimes it requires really bending your character but I would rather do it, trying to justify such thing ICly than forcing myself to do and roleplay something I don't want to.

[Khloe]

"Are you the gatekeeper?"

My own personal opinion is that the player has the final say in everything. You can justify the rest later at your convenience, because ultimately you being entertained is the end goal. If you're restricting yourself in a way that detracts from your entertainment, it defeats the purpose of role-playing to begin with. However, you'll hear from hardcore roleplayers who say they have fun acting out a role, even if it goes against their personal player wishes; the choice is yours in what you find more rewarding.

The problem I have with 'natural growth and development' is that players often overlook the chaotic and contradictory nature of humanity, claiming that a character isn't believable because they didn't do X.  Order is expected, and will always be critical of decisions that don't make sense to them. As long as they make sense to your character it's what matters.

[Korona]

Whether intentionally or otherwise, everyone bends their character to their OOC desires to some degree, so the "legitimacy" of it is a bit of a non-issue, and your entertainment as a player supersedes any perceived obligation to a particular character or its story.

Alternatively (no pun intended), there's always alts.

[Lyn Farel]

I have fun as long as my character remains believable and coherent, so I tend to rather follow the character's needs than my own.

Of course though, it is not to say that I will try to go in a nullsec alliance that I don't like myself if it suddenly makes sense to my character...

But yeah, sometimes it's complicated like that. That's also why I do not play a character that is completely opposed to me the player in terms of where we find "fun".

[Vincent Pryce]

OOC fun > IC actions

That's how I go with it. Most of the time those two things coincide for me. Yeah I've gotten into some shit sometimes but it's always smoothed out one way or the other and lead to more funtimes. 

EDIT:
IC can be always bent to make sense. Sometimes it takes more work than not but I'd say talk directly with those involved in the coming changes and see if you can get their perspective on the matter.

[Samira Kernher]

As EVE is more or less a full-time RP game, where all of your in-game actions are treated as IC, I personally refuse to participate in activities that would be out of character for the character, no matter how much I personally may want to. As Samira is a non-combatant, for example, I do not participate in combat, or if I do I do it in a way that is appropriate for the character... such as tagging along being PIE while in a salvage coercer.

I may eventually create alts who are able to participate in a wider range of activities (and intend to make a Caldari militant once I'm more comfortable with the lore), and I have plans for ways to evolve Samira's character if I wish to expand what she is willing to do. But unless the action can be rationalized ICly, I'll avoid it. I personally believe that IC Consistency > OOC Fun.

[Jev North]

How do you balance when you as a player want to do something that your character probably doesn't? When it's a big thing, particularly.

I can't say I've really come across the problem. I tend to play characters that are more personality characters than concept characters, and options that fell on their paths tended to both be agreeable to me, and well within the range of the characters' flex.

How legitimate do you think it is to bend your character's actions towards your OOC wants, rather than allowing your play to follow your character's natural growth and development?

It's legit. In fact, I'm a bit worried for the people who loudly claim their character is in control of their actions, rather than the other way around. I'd stop and analyze how I'd gotten to the point I stopped enjoying what I'm doing. If I'm bored or frustrated with something, imagine how my characters, who actually have to deal with that stuff must feel, and what they're thinking.

I can see how it can be tough, though - aside from the constant nagging of the Consistency Police, the worst situation is where a bunch of your friends decide to run off and do X, where X is something that you'd want to do with them but doesn't mesh very well with your character's internal logic and development so far. There are no easy answers for that situation, although I like Ciarente's suggestions in that direction.

[Louella Dougans]

the big example of this sort of thing happening lately, are the live events.

lots of people rush to the event, even if the reason for them being there is questionable at best.

Like, dropping whatever they were doing, to rush 20 jumps to say a couple lines and then disappear again.

[Samira Kernher]

It's legit. In fact, I'm a bit worried for the people who loudly claim their character is in control of their actions, rather than the other way around. I'd stop and analyze how I'd gotten to the point I stopped enjoying what I'm doing.

Personal enjoyment can come as a byproduct from faithfully portraying the role you wish to play. Even if you might need to avoid engaging in immediate OOC desires in order to maintain IC consistency, the knowledge that you are being true to your character can itself lead to OOC enjoyment and pride.

That's how I find it, at least. While I might not be doing things I OOCly want to do, I still find myself enjoying the game because of the fact that I am being consistent in my RP.

[Esna Pitoojee]

I have actually come across this problem before, and have yet to find a really satisfactory solution.

The issue for me is that I love mid- to large-scale PvP actions, especially using larger hulls. In fact, it's about the only kind of PvP I find fun lately.

Problem is, there really aren't any Amarr-aligned RP groups that do this, especially since Facwar still leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Instead I invented a very convoluted reason for Esna to be in a non-RP, non-Amarr corp. And then a few weeks back, something else threw a big wrench into that. Still figuring out what to do about that.

[Saede Riordan]

I'll echo the sentiments who have said OOC fun trumps character desires. More to the point, if you wouldn't have any fun doing something, why would you roleplay it? For an extreme example of this, if you think bestiality is creepy and disturbing (I hope you do), then it makes no sense for you to make your character do that. Why would you play a character that does things you as a player dislikes?

That's not to say the character design has no sway. I don't think I would have come out to WH space without my character pushing me in that direction (probably I'd be mission running in Curse and marketeering still) but I've had a lot of fun out here so I just sorta let things lead where they would. I definitely think it comes down to fun. EVE is a game. If you're not having fun, why are you playing it? That seems really counter-productive to me.

[Karmilla Strife]

I usually find a way to make the IC reasons work out and do what I want to do OOCly. If I'm not having fun in game, I won't be online to RP the character anyway. I've only had to "force" an OOC decision once and it was certainly for the better.

[Khloe]

I'll echo the sentiments who have said OOC fun trumps character desires. More to the point, if you wouldn't have any fun doing something, why would you roleplay it? For an extreme example of this, if you think bestiality is creepy and disturbing (I hope you do), then it makes no sense for you to make your character do that. Why would you play a character that does things you as a player dislikes?

You may want to be careful with that train of thought, because it suggests that players enjoy murder, blood rituals, racism, enslavement of 'inferior' cultures, kidnapping, torture, and probably lots of horrific things that characters in the EVE universe do. I am fairly certain that players do enjoy getting into character and exploring other personalities than their own. I think some of the thrill in this is acting out in manner that the player wouldn't consider ever doing in the real world.