Playing a character that isn't you

[CloudyBlueDay]

Heyo,


I've been thinking of this subject a little bit. Let me clarify.


Let's say that me, as the player, is a young teenager who just likes to RP in their free time. Let's say that me, this teenager, is in a roleplay where I'm playing a character as the best neurosurgeon in the world. But I'm not a neurosurgeon, let alone the best. How do I play this character?





What's your approach to the situation whilst trying to keep it as realistic as possible? In roleplays, I like to play as people I'm not, just because I can. In terms of personalities, this is easier [for some]. But a profession that takes years and years of practice and training? What do you do?


I'd love to hear everyone's opinions on the matter.

 

[yjSidekick]

I would 1 not be a charscter that coplicated in ther proffession.


or 2 do a little bit of research on the proffession so I dont sound like an idiot.but nobody likes doing research so i wouldnt be a OC with such high proffession.

 

[CloudyBlueDay]

I would 1 not be a charscter that coplicated in ther proffession.
or 2 do a little bit of research on the proffession so I dont sound like an idiot.but nobody likes doing research so i wouldnt be a OC with such high proffession.

How do you know no one likes doing research? :3 I, for one, think it would be a very nice learning experience in which I can actually play out the things I've learned! And what if your character is, not a neurosurgeon, but an engineer, because this RP is about.. building a weapon? What about a profession you would like to play that requires some time and effort?

 

[Thorn Darkblade]

Having google helps. A lot. Especially when it comes to sciences you as a person wouldn't know, but your character would. It also helps having a GM that realizes your character might not make a decision you would, and pointing you in the right direction. I run a game of Legend of the Five Rings quite regularly (It's a dice-based game in a setting reminiscent of feudal Japan). Several of my players make what would be incredibly damaging social faux pas in the setting on a regular basis, but as a GM I kindly point out that on their character sheet, their characters have enough points in the Etiquette Skill to know better, and allow them to amend what they did (Or stick with it if they really want)

 

[yjSidekick]

if you like resaerch well have fun.Most of my OCs have my personality but the proffessions are limitless for me.I was once a girl named emily who was an astronaught.but usually i stick with proffessions i actually now about (which is alot)

 

[Grey]

I just do the research, and so do most of my players.


Otherwise GM hints and fudging stuff. Gloss over scenes of neurosurgery or simply have them offscreen. Seems like it'd be a justification for connections, access, or finance rather than moment-to-moment play.

 

[Thorn Darkblade]

Grey's got a point there as well. Unless the minutia of your character's profession are important to the plot, it'd just be easier to assume "You perform the surgery" instead of detailing every last bit. Now, if you want to study to make your successful surgery an awesome read, more power to you. GM's in freeform systems, and also some dice systems, award bonuses for attention to details, but, as a rule, shouldn't penalize for a player lacking a highly specialized knowledge.

 

[Namie]

I would have to agree with the people above. I've roleplayed a lot of doctors and while I can get away with using less descriptive writing when it comes to the more complex details of the medical work, I find that if I have to do some stitches and I need actual description so that the other players can respond appropriately, its best too do the research on the specific procedure. This also eases some of the boredom that may occur with just researching the profession in general because you only need that one tidbit.


However, I will add that I would stick to professions that I have more knowledge in. For example, as a biology major, medical professions and things having to do with science are more up my alley. So I wouldn't try being a mechanic as my first choice in a roleplay since I know next to nothing about machinery.

 

[Olive Tome]

When you first stray from playing characters that you know of, it can be hard. My advice would be to research what you don't know. It is a mandatory aspect of creating loving and powerful characters that others would want to roleplay with. It also helps broaden your horizons. You shouldn't have to do more than an hours worth of research. If you don't like that idea then stick to what you know.

 

[Blumenkranz]

I don't think you should drop a character you don't know how to play. Nowadays, skimming over basic layouts of how a certain procedure is performed is very easy thanks to the Internet, and if it isn't you can just do the trick by fading to black in the right moment or even simply fluff the procedure with lots of words about nothing.


However, what you should never do is going on detail about what you haven't informed yourself about. I have noticed many people playing fighters who have no idea about how to play a fighter, but they still want to write shonen-like descriptions of their flashy attacks that would often end up being either impossible or plain dumb in real life. Nobody is going to complain if you just describe your character as "throwing punches", but trying to explain how you perform a backflip before hitting the enemy's head with your heels then flipping back into your position will sound stupid to anyone who is yellow belt at any martial art.


If everyone was only able to roleplay those things they know, more than half of our characters would be the same, probably just high school students. Where's the fun in that?

 

[SkyPiratesAssemble]

Things like character knowledge can be bluffed. The hardest part of playing a different character than yourself is emulating a different personality accurately. Someone who pessimistic and even fatalist has a hard time playing a noble-bright character. An optimist who has never known great sadness can't really play someone with severe depression without experience. Most people end up playing Two-dimensional archetypes, and not a fully fleshed out character. The only way to really play a character that's completely different from your IRL self is experience (literary or personal), and a lot of practice.

 

[razz]

After 20 years of online Rp, I learned too much the hard way. lolz. Although when it comes to a Character that is completely different from yourself. That is the point, isnt it? I mean. Rp is about the imagination being let loose and creativity just flows. The best thing anyone can do for the Characters outside of their 'usual realm/positions', is to research anything and everything about it.


Example: I Rp'd a Bartender because one was badly needed in a room I'd been Rping in. By the time I had gotten In Character for play I had at 'least' 5 different information pages open about bartending itself.


Players shouldn't always shy away from challenges, because then things get stagnant. Like a player who has 30 Characters, all with the same model/av/image. With the exact same personality, with the only differences being the Name and what the Character is(demon/wolf/fairy. *yawn*. Wheres the fun again? =)


But this is just my opinion, I could be wrong. Hope this wasn't seen as insulting.

 

[Sibylline Oracle]

I always found the challenge of learning new things to be part of the fun in experiencing roleplay! I know most players don't want to do a ton of research, and that's perfectly understandable. But speaking from my own point-of-view, one can just as easily learn about something during roleplay as they can outside of it. For example, I've played a character who spent a lot of her life working for a certain mercenary group in a familiar "fandom" setting. When I had time, I would browse over everything on the wiki related to that group and their experiences, training, equipment, etc. Whenever I was roleplaying, I used what I read and learned more from other players as I went!


Sometimes, it's also a good excuse to entertain yourself while studying for school. When I took my first Psychology course, I created a character who was a counselor aboard a starship. I explored some of the topics I read about in each chapter during roleplay, and furthermore used what I learned to help other player characters. By the end of that semester, I had the best grade in my class! ^^

 

[dendrite blues]

Honestly, it's the character's thoughts, actions, and personality that will make them fun to play and engaging for your fellow roleplayers. I wouldn't worry too much about the character's profession and instead take a little time to figure out why they decided to become a doctor. Do the have a desire to care for people, do they want to earn a lot of money, or maybe they like puzzling out what's making someone sick? If you can figure out the character, then your roleplay buddies will like playing with you and they will forgive your (totally understandable) lack of expertise in medicine.


Hope that helps! ;p

 

[Jabroni]

@SkyPiratesAssemble and @dendrite blues have it right. Anybody can open a Wikipedia page, and I'm sure many of us have done so at one point or another. You're bound to run into the unknown. No, the hardest part about roleplaying is two-fold: 1) conveying actions, emotions, and ideas, and 2) finding the inspiration for those oh so critical pieces of a story. Basically, it's about being a great writer. Specifically, it's about being an exceptional communicator and a true student of life. Okay, that just sounded pretentious but you know what I mean..

 

[luneea]

Research is helpful! There are plenty of places where people have shared their experiences in their professions online, and if not there then there are definitely sites where information about said occupation is listed.


Also there are help sites and blogs for these kinds of things! Send them your concerns or questions and they can reply and give you some advice!


As long as you don't pretend to know what you're talking about when you really don't, then I think you're good with giving your character traits you don't have with a little research. Or, simpler, don't go into detail if you don't know how. Write with what you know, because if you start faking things you're most likely going to end up sounding like an idiot.

 

[CloudyBlueDay]

I encountered a situation like this. I wanted to share my experience c:


I'm playing a character who's a bartender. He's taken a girl on a sort of date, to the bar where he works. He shows off, makes her some nice drinks. Only one problem, me, being a teenager, have no clue about anything drink related or mixology related.


So I did some research, like all of you said! I looked up cocktails, watched a quick video on mixology, read recipes. It helped me a lot and now my character has wooed his date


TL; DR - a small bit of research goes a long way. You don't have to research for hours. Google is here to help.

 

[An Angry Hussar]

Heyo,
I've been thinking of this subject a little bit. Let me clarify.


Let's say that me, as the player, is a young teenager who just likes to RP in their free time. Let's say that me, this teenager, is in a roleplay where I'm playing a character as the best neurosurgeon in the world. But I'm not a neurosurgeon, let alone the best. How do I play this character?





What's your approach to the situation whilst trying to keep it as realistic as possible? In roleplays, I like to play as people I'm not, just because I can. In terms of personalities, this is easier [for some]. But a profession that takes years and years of practice and training? What do you do?


I'd love to hear everyone's opinions on the matter.

In some sense, you have to roleplay what you know. If you know absolutely nothing about medicine, you cannot reliably write a story that is headlined by a neurosurgeon. You're going to have to have some knowledge.


I don't believe enough effort is done on the behalf of most roleplays to research the role that they're playing. You run into too many people who play 'dreamy' interpretations of certain characters. This is why a lot of roleplays fail: people play things they know nothing about. The issues in the story begin to build to the point that the writers cannot believably portray their characters.

 

[Joe Carroll]

I have found that, if you're truly interested in the life of the particular character you wish to play, be it an "original" of your own creation or a preexisting character from a treasured fandom, it can be motivating to start researching more in order to better play that character. Normally, it isn't necessary to play out every single detail of a profession or other aspects of mundane day to day life in that character's existence, except perhaps for certain scenes, and so basically just getting into some internet or book research can accomplish a number of exciting things. First, you get a better understanding of what shapes and motivates the character, and secondly, you learn stuff you didn't know before about a topic, a period in history, etc. Many writers do the same, and don't always just write about something they already know. Research. Talk to people who know something about it. Learn with the character, if you really want to delve deeper into the storyline. Naturally, if it's for something lighter that you don't fancy occupying your time with to any great lengths, or aren't into researching to begin with, then writing just from what you know makes more sense.


I suppose it could be likened to acting, wherein the actors research things affecting their characters to get a better handle on them for portrayals. I have a character on another site who lives in ancient Pompeii a year before it was buried by the volcanic eruption, and while I knew a little about the period already, I've done a ton of additional research as certain things came up in the roleplay. And now I'm even more educated on the period and location than I was when my interest was sparked to create a character from the time.

 

[Archie]

Visualizing their ambitions is good since we always have goals but we have to put ourselves in other peoples shoes by figuring out theirs


For customer research and learning to market better one of the top 5 things to do is always to think "If I'm a customer, what do I want? What do I want to get done?". If you're playing a neurosurgeon like in OP maybe your char wants to start a medical practice or reform a malpractice? If your character gets a lot more brooding depth if you can look up failures of the medical system, like how some hospitals are almost monopolies and clot out the others. If you're a thief, maybe your char wants to be a crime boss some day

 

[Sunbather]

It depends. If the character is relatively average, I just play them like I imagine them to and THEN add one or two of my traits to him. 'cause, like, noone's 100% cliche. Everyone has a tiny few ups and downs, no matter how perfect or evil they may appear. If it is something like a surgeon (your example) I like to google some basic things, so I can spew around some knowledge and sprinkle it across the character.