What's Your Definition of RP?

[ShadowKat]

Forgive me if this has been discussed before ... but seeing as here recently I've seen a number of posts regarding RP vs HnS vs Realism vs .... I thought it would be a good time to bring it up.  Perhaps with enough discussion, we can give the Dev Team something solid to chew on instead of endless bickering.

What's your definition of RP?

I imagine for different people it means different things.  Hence the reason we see so many circular arguments discussions about what PS should or shouldn't be.  We all bring different gaming experiences to the table, so we all end up have at least some differences as to what it means to us.

My RPG background is 15 years of tabletop D&D with a few RPG video games thrown in here and there.  So if you asked me to define RP, in simple terms, it would look something like this:  "An individual or a group working towards a specific goal(s).  Developing a unique character within the framework of the setting you're in."

I would hazard a guess that in a general sort of way, anyone who's got significant tabletop experience would have a similar definition.  Nature of a tabletop game is that you pretty much can't have a gaming session without a goal (quest) to be accomplished.  For my gaming group, we've had years (in real time) long campaigns, that had quests within quests (we could probably write several books just based off our players notes).  If you didn't have goals/quests, you'd merely be a group of people sitting around a table chatting.  During that quest, you usually have obstacles to overcome, be it a monster/bad guy or a puzzle.  The most successful game sessions I've seen usually involve a combination.  If it leans too heavily one way or the other, you tend to lose player's interest (although I know a lot of people really do like pure HnS).

Obviously, with an electronic medium, you have more options.  The way you develop a character is a prime example of that.  In a tabletop game you'd be bored out of your skull in no time if you actually tried to RP significantly learning a skill, and based a gaming session around that.  That's not to say that some skills can't or shouldn't be RP'd in table top, just as a general rule of thumb you're not going to devote your gaming time to just that.  Not to mention, that in a group setting, it's rather unfeasible.  However, in electronic RP, character development becomes more interactive. So it's more interesting to do.  I'm sure if I thought about it long enough, I could come up with a decent list of the differences between tabletop and electronic gaming.

But for me, it still all has the same base.  It's all encompassing.  You have to have quests, fights, PC/NPC interaction, character development.  Those are the basic elements of RP.   If you take out or change the balance of any one of those, you've skewed the game.  After awhile it will either lose your interest, frustrate you into giving up, or become like every other game out there (because most of the electronic games are skewed one way or another).

So ... what's your definition?

[Zan]

For me RP is simple: "Be your character and know your world."

I'm not so hung up on the specific goals, though those certainly come into play with being part of a guild or organisation. But the second part of your definition does sound good to me.

[Maju]

I think that it's interacting with a virtual reality and other players. The VR sets the context, you and the other players play the drama (act) based in that VR setting. In brief: like a parallel real life, where you put some theatre instead of just being yourself (your normal self) to adapt to that alternaive scenario.

Definitively quests can play a role in that... but asking for which is the key phrase to say to the key NPC is actually the opposite: OOCing. So you need a quite realist setting in order to OOC the minimum.

[Xordan]

It'd be easier for me to say what I think RP isn't. Writing a script and carrying it out ingame isn't roleplaying, it's acting. There's a rather large difference between the two. Some people seem to treat them one and the same though.

[Duraza]

Hmm I thought everyone knew RP stood for Role playing 

it's acting.

Exactly. You make the character, and you act as if that character was in a play, the game being the stage and the other players your co-workers. However this isn't a scripted play its an improv (improvising). Everything you do is not thought of weeks ago but something you just thought of to adjust to the current situation.

Its almost like life, only on the computer 

[Roderyck Slywolfe]

Roleplaying (RP) is simply depicting a character role through acting. There's no game involved, no rules. This could be anything from firefighter to superspy to housewife to a baby in diapers.

That's why there's a "G" in RPG. It's a game based on depicting a role of a character. I believe this is what is in question. Above all else, PS is a game. It is intended to entertain through roleplaying.

Everyone is entitled to roleplay whatever they wish. Be it a barber, baker, or candlestick maker. Some like to portray good, some evil. Some like to be warriors or barbarians, others knights in shining armor.

I don't feel it's up to any of us to decide what style is best for anyone other than themselves. PS provides opportunities for EVERYONE who enjoys RP of ANY style. So, let them have their fun.

After all, isn't that why we're here?


Games played:
AD&D and D&D
Gamma World
Top Secret
Call of Cthulu
Champions
Marvel Superheroes

[Draklar]

Writing a script and carrying it out ingame isn't roleplaying, it's acting. ;) There's a rather large difference between the two.

Roleplaying and acting are synonyms :P
By definition roleplaying is participating in a theatrical play ("roles the actors play"). RP games simply borrowed the term and slightly widened its definition. But outside of the gaming community the new definition may still not be acepted.

The definition of roleplaying is very simple. Taking a role and playing it out.
The context is a problem though. Roleplaying can be found in many different situations. Theatrical plays, LARP, tabletop, internet chat, everyday life (like pretending to be someone you're not just to gain popularity).

That's where the definition splits. Roleplaying assumed by tabletop games will differ from that assumed by theatre or internet chat. For example Deadlands system doesn't award roleplaying points for "just" creating a personality and folowing it. You'll get them by following your character's disadvantages (driving him into risky situations). Warhammer on the other hand expects roleplaying points to be awarded for colourful inscenisation of your character and binding it with its career. In other words, tabletop games usually keep these things rigid in order to encourage creation of interesting situations as well as maintain better control over the scenarios. Of course, in the wider sense roleplaying remains playing out a role. But for the sake of the system, the official definition has to be narrowed down.

In internet chat and in everyday life there's no rules for that. It just comes, usually without people even realising it and there's no real rewards besides rise of popularity ;)

In theatre roleplaying is even more rigid than in tabletops. You basicaly have to follow the given script. What you give from yourself is how believeble the character you play is.

Now computer games. By the general definition of roleplaying, every single game can be considered a roleplaying game. In Battlefield you may take a role of a soldier. In Grand Theft Auto one of a criminal. In Jedi Academy it'll be a jedi (and you'll even have a posibility to choose the outcome of your character's development).

The MMORPG genre is quite speciffic. It is a bizzare blending of internet chat, computer games and tabletop roleplaying. The rules are you're suposed to fit into the given setting; you're supposed to have a realistic* character (not present in tabletop games; fantasy/sci-fi and realistic literature contain very different types of characters) and you're supposed to have a reason for the actions of your character. Everything else is a complete freedom.

* very often this won't be present in mmorp games, but Planeshift is an example of game that has it.

[ShadowKat]

I don't feel it's up to any of us to decide what style is best for anyone other than themselves.

Oh goodness ... I hope that's not what people are thinking the main point of my post was.  Now that you mention that, I can see where one might think that's what I was aiming for, but it certainly wasn't.   

It's just that I've seen so much of "This is what RP is..." "No! You're wrong, this is what RP is..." that I figured I'd start a place where we could say what it means to us without getting into a back-n-forth sort of thing.  That way as PS develops, the Dev Team has a good idea what their players are looking for in the sort of RPG they're trying to develop.

[Roderyck Slywolfe]

... I've seen so much of "This is what RP is..." "No! You're wrong, this is what RP is..."

My point, exactly.

I always forget the smilies to bring the true spirit of my post to light!

My seemingly dry and derisive posts get me in trouble at times.

Nice post, ShadowKat, I meant no contempt towards it. 

[ShadowKat]

  it's all good

It's just once I saw the statement I realized that people could take it that way.

*tosses Slywolfe a kat-treat*

[Coneitic]

YOU become your charactor. Not your charactor becomes you.

simple as that.

[Xordan]

Roleplaying and acting are synonyms

I was thinking of a non-literal sense I don't count writing scripts, handing them out and then performing them in a game as written as 'roleplay' in the sense of a game (unless you're roleplaying an actor.. or roleplaying a roleplayer roleplaying an actor etc. ). An aspect of 'unknown' is important.