Other What do you like or dislike about first-person perspective RPers?

[Stardark Sky]

Firstly, hello everyone First post here but I've been lurking around for some time.

Here's some context: I can comfortably say I am a fairly literate RPer (anywhere from para to multipara replies) and I roleplay exclusively in first-person POV. I've noticed quite a bit of negativity about it whenever trying to find RP partners; with people being anywhere from politely outright rejecting my offer when they know I do first-person to flaming me for "you're doing it all wrong use third person!!!"

I've heard people citing that they don't want to RP with a self-insert or a mary sue, but I've never done that a day in my life. In fact, both are things I actively shun. I certainly understand that the usual standard within RPs is third-person, so I'd like to ask everyone- what do you think about using first-person in RPs? What do you like/dislike about it? Friendly discussion please

 

[Tove]

To each their own. The only time I'll ever use first person is if I'm writing a story on my own, though even then it's rare, but other than that never in a roleplay. I'm not going to knock anyone that uses it as everyone has their own preferences. For me first person feels like I'm in the place of the character and it really doesn't make me feel comfortable. It's not my story it's story for the character I'm trying to create. They're experiencing things, emotions, trials not me even with me writing for them. First person just feels too much like I am putting myself in there and I don't want to do that.

 

[duegxybus]

When it comes to writing a story, writing in first person POV of the protagonist tends to give it more immersion than if written from a third person POV. In stories, there's just one protagonist (usually), and that's it. If not one protagonist, then there's the one in first person POV. I rarely see a work of writing that has rapidly shifting, first person POV. Usually, an entire section of writing would be completed before the perspective shifts to another protagonist, which is all fine and dandy.

And then there's roleplaying. I hate to sound pretentious, but roleplaying and writing a story are not the same thing. The idea of "protagonist" is more or less thrown out the window, and you simply have multiple characters. So, what does that mean?

It means using first person POV gets clunky, fast. When reading a novel/web serial/story/whatever, the reader gets a grasp of who "I" (the protagonist) is, and then carries the mental image throughout. In roleplays, seeing multiple "I [do a thing]" posts from multiple people makes it downright awkward. I'm sure some role players say that first person POV is superior when it comes to storytelling - and in some cases, is - but this is not the case for roleplays. For me, personally, it isn't an issue of self insertion. It's about flow and readability, and first person POV takes that away.

Basically, I don't hate first person POV. The last thing I wrote on RPN was in first person POV (a quest RP). But that had one protagonist, one POV. A regular group, or even a 1x1 RP, has more than that. The way I see it, third person makes things less complicated in roleplays.

Oh, by the way, welcome! Thank you for stepping into the limelight and posting! Your presence will be much appreciated and I hope to see you around (:

 

[Jannah]

Personally I'm not a fan. It's fine in novels and the like, but RP is another thing entirely. Even if the writer doesn't intend it to be I can't help but to think how it feels like a self-insert of sorts.

 

[duegxybus]

Oh, 'nother thing! It sounds like you're getting a lot of "yOuRe doIng iT weOooOong!!" from potential partners.

You're not! There is no right or wrong in this context. Do whatever makes you the most comfortable. I'm sure first person POV can work in some situations related to RP, but in my experience it hasn't.

 

[jones573]

I personally don't use first person in RP's because of the multiple perspective issue mentioned above- I tend to almost always have multiple characters that I'm writing for, and they interact with each other as well as characters written with by other authors. Especially since RP's can often struggle with timing of who said what/when/in what order, I just find it a lot easier to write something like this:

'A and B were both horrified by what C had said. A said 'blah blah' in response, which B didn't exactly agree with but thought was better than what C had suggested- B couldn't hide their expression of disgust.'

as opposed to:

A: 'I was horrified by what C had said, and told them 'blah blah' in response. B looked like they were going to be sick.'

B: 'I was horrified by what C had said. I didn't agree with B's suggestion but it was better than C's idea. They could both probably tell how revolted I was.'


I also think third person can be more easily utilized in world-building and descriptions, and most anything that a character isn't actively thinking about, if that makes sense? When I invite people over to my home, I don't think too much about the layout and furniture, but if my character has people over, I need to provide some setting for the other authors- Obviously, there are lots of ways to work around this! Some authors are much better than I am at coming up with ways to incorporate descriptions or exposition into first person POV, and some RP's post all of that information in a separate thread. (Depending on the RP style, a lot of that might already be predetermined, or not even needed!)

But probably one of my favorite things (in RP's or my individual writing) is when the reader knows (or can guess) at things the characters aren't aware of yet, which can be tricky to do in first person because including the relevant details inherently implies the narrator is at least somewhat cognizant of them.

(I recently read the ya series 'The Queen's Thief' and it really made me reconsider some of previously held beliefs on the values of third vs first, limited vs omniscient, unreliable vs unknowing styles of narration, including the above idea that it can be harder to set up foreshadowing in first person. The author uses pretty much any type of narration possible over the course of the books in really amazing ways, to either deceive the reader, the characters, or sometimes both. It's really made me want to push my boundaries and be more experimental with my narration style, so maybe I'll start trying to do some pieces in first person!)

I do think that first person can be very valuable in developing a sense of a character because the reader gets to engage more directly with them- The way that I write includes a lot phrases and sentence structures and stylistic choices that I favor, and if I spent time getting into each character's head a bit more, I could probably develop more distinct internal voices that would then correlate to more distinct characters for other writers to interact with, if that makes sense? Like if I was just doing a basic description for the flyer I just got in the mail, I might say it was 'light blue'. But a character who described it as 'a soft cornflower blue' has a very different personality and background than a character who describes it as 'the sort of blue that occurs when the color ink cartridge should have been replaced a dozen prints prior'.

Ultimately, I think I'll stick to third person for collaborative writing like RPs, unless it was necessary for the GM or would really add to the story (in some of my longer-running RP's, we have had occasional first person exercises for individual characters). But I don't think I'm inherently opposed to RP'ing with someone who uses first person, if they feel confident with it. I think it's a lot harder to do than third person (mostly for the reasons I described above) so power to you if that's how you roll!

I hope you find like-minded people to enjoy writing with!

 

[Idea]

Haha, I guess one thing I can tell you for starters is that we share at least two things: We write exclusively in first person POV and we're both "fairly literate" as you put it (though I really don't like that term, but that's a discussion for another time).

There are a number of things I really enjoy about first person POV, some in contrast with third person. To me first person feels a lot more immersive, especially when writing. My personal stance is that in roleplay you're supposed to do what the name suggests, this is,"play the role" of the character. Just as much as writing the story, you're meant to get into the character's head, and to do that it just clicks more for me to express their perspective as they would see it- with first person- as opposed to how a third party observer would speak it. Now this isn't to say that third is not immersive and can't have things like, say, faulty narrators, but it just feels more lived with first person. This is really important how much I value atmosphere and like to use expressive wording to convey things not only that are being said, but also through how they are being said.

One thing which I like about first person, and one of the things that first got me into writing it, is that I find it a lot less confusing to use in terms of pronouns. All you need is two male characters interacting for instance, for third person POV to have to refer to them as both "he" and thus potentially cause confusion, specially during more frantic scenes. First person cuts through that problem somewhat, in that you always know at least when it is the perspective character acting or thinking or saying and when it is a different one.

The one big disadvantage I would say, to first person writing (other than the fact a lot of people arbitrarily have a problem with it) is the fact that you're bound to what your character knows for first person to make sense, meaning that showing scenes happening that your character couldn't necessarily know about becomes more difficult. Even so, this is easily surpassable by just shifting to third person cinematic in an isolated part of the post (and with proper indication) or using the "narrator from the future" kind of trope.

When GMing I do tend to often use third person perspective though, even then though it's mostly third person cinematic.

Spoiler: Answering some concerns shown in the thread

This is a small separate segment where I wish to adress some of the issues brought up regarding first person. It is, however, mostly just a footnote to my post. I also want to mention, that I'm saying if you feel that first person does this or that or it feels this or that way to you you're wrong. Far from it, those are your feelings and we can't really help them, they aren't an objective evaluation they are just urges or sensations. Likewise, if you choose not to play with first person roleplayers over it, that's not something that's wrong of you to do either. In answering the following I am not saying "you should roleplay X because", but rather just clarifying that idea the feeling is conveying doesn't really translate to reality, for those on the fence.

When it comes to writing a story, writing in first person POV of the protagonist tends to give it more immersion than if written from a third person POV. In stories, there's just one protagonist (usually), and that's it. If not one protagonist, then there's the one in first person POV. I rarely see a work of writing that has rapidly shifting, first person POV. Usually, an entire section of writing would be completed before the perspective shifts to another protagonist, which is all fine and dandy.

And then there's roleplaying. I hate to sound pretentious, but roleplaying and writing a story are not the same thing. The idea of "protagonist" is more or less thrown out the window, and you simply have multiple characters. So, what does that mean?

It means using first person POV gets clunky, fast. When reading a novel/web serial/story/whatever, the reader gets a grasp of who "I" (the protagonist) is, and then carries the mental image throughout. In roleplays, seeing multiple "I [do a thing]" posts from multiple people makes it downright awkward. I'm sure some role players say that first person POV is superior when it comes to storytelling - and in some cases, is - but this is not the case for roleplays. For me, personally, it isn't an issue of self insertion. It's about flow and readability, and first person POV takes that away.

It's absolutely correct to say that RPing isn't storytelling. And for that exact reason, trying to see individual posts as a whole direct line is, I think, a double standard there. A handful of posts is more like a handful of chapters than a single chapter in a book, because there is a clear separation anf self-containment to them, even if the topic of scene doens't change. RPIng doesn't have "a protagonist" but it does have multiple perspectives, each character has a perspective meant to be the basis for their post. The reason why in books first person perspective is signaling of protagonist, is because if you're narrating the entire story by yourself, but in RP you never are.

As for readibility, I would actually argue that the pronoun stuff alongside the more typically pronounced perspective of first person make that more readable, but this is plenty subjective territory of course.

Either way though, I don't mean to say that if you feel a certain way, that that way of feeling is invalid, just that on more abstract terms first person isn't actually problematic over that.

Even if the writer doesn't intend it to be I can't help but to think how it feels like a self-insert of sorts.

Again, if you feel a certain way, not saying you're wrong for feeling that, though I do want to make it clear there is no actual higher rate of self-inserts in first person, nor is any writer responsible for things others project into their writing that they didn't intend to nor write in there.

To echo some of the above points, first person is not really suited to collaborative writing.

Quite incorrect. First person is absolutely suited for collaborative writing. There are people bothered by it for various reasons, sure, but I have yet to see a single reason not directly based on a mistaken emotional impression or just based on a simple falsity, for first person being in any way worse than third person.

Because A. If everyone is using first person than you are going to loose individual characters voices. If it’s all “I did/said/saw/etc.” than it’s hard to distinguish the difference between individuals

As you go on to mention yourself, this is possible to distinguish if the characters have different personalities. A character's voice is more or less strongly defined by writers more or less skilled at doing so. By the criteria here "he did, saw etc..." would just as much lack an identity.

Also I think the “self-insert” commment isn’t literal. It’s not like you are literally putting yourself into the story. It is you are making a character that is designed to insert the entire audience into the narrative. Which makes it feel to your partner that they are inserting themselves into the narrative. Which can be offputting to a lot of people when they read.

Again, mistaken. First person writers aren't trying to insert anything, not any more than any other roleplayer kind is. Again, this isn't to say you can't be put off by the idea... but factually speaking that is projecting onto the first person writers an imagined intent.

 

[rae2nerdy]

To echo some of the above points, first person is not really suited to collaborative writing.

It’s not bad or wrong but it makes things very awkward to read when multiple people are responding.

Because A. If everyone is using first person than you are going to loose individual characters voices. If it’s all “I did/said/saw/etc.” than it’s hard to distinguish the difference between individuals.

If it is only one person using first person perspective and everyone else uses third than that one person is writing from a noticeably different perspective than the others. It makes the story feel uneven.

I would say the place it would work best would likely be in a 1x1 with two main characters and either have one person use first person and one person not. Or make it so that each person has radically different perspectives and personalities to make it easier to distinguish between the two main characters.

Also I think the “self-insert” commment isn’t literal. It’s not like you are literally putting yourself into the story. It is you are making a character that is designed to insert the entire audience into the narrative. Which makes it feel to your partner that they are inserting themselves into the narrative. Which can be offputting to a lot of people when they read.

 

[Onmyoji]

I don't think I'll add anything new in terms of, doing rp in 1st person feels weird because it feels as if there is focus on one protagonist, while in rp there are at least two or more. I see rp as a form of collaborative writing, and each character pulling the focus onto itself feels strange. I mostly refer to 1x1, but in groups it might get more confusing, although maybe less weird and could be a form of narrative change.
Other than that, I don't see any more problems with it.

I prefer rp in third person because it feels more like storytelling. I know rp is not the same as writing a novel, but third person just feels more natural to me.

But I must admit, I haven't actually tried to rp in first person. I've read fiction like that, but I haven't tried writing or roleplaying. Maybe if I try it I will change my opinion.

 

[Echopixel]

Talking RP it means i can't play multiple characters. Kinda hard to write first person and play five people. Unless you first person each person but that seems a bit too much . . . and otherwise I don't really care, in novels I use to love reading first person but I sort of don't care for it anymore. Kind of throws me out of the character I just can't connect to the story if it's first person.

 

[scorpiodragon]

I don’t use first person in rp or writing as I just don’t feel comfortable with it, wasn’t taught to write that way and feel like I cannot get into a storyline when done in FP. Honestly, I cannot desciribe why I feel this way other than personal preference. If I had to guess I would say it feels limiting to be stuck in a person’s head. I want to see how everything is from multiple characters.

 

[kevintheradioguy]

Maybe it's me being neuroatypical, but I cannot read first-person roleplay. It's disgusting. Whenever I read a first-person post, all I can think of is "No, I didn't do that, I didn't say that, I didn't think that - (s)he did! Stop telling me what I did!". Not only that, on the contrary to books which follow a character, it's confusing af to read two and more people refer to themselves as "I". It's inconsistent. I cannot get into it. I openly judge all of you, first-person-players.

 

[DragonsBlood]

I think that first person is better because it show more of that characters feelings, you know?

 

[halo7725]

I'm also going for first person if it's about writing my own stuff, but it highly depends on what I'm roleplaying as. If I'm roleplaying as a Human, first person is what I'm going for. But as soon as it's not Human anymore, I usually go for a mix between the two. A good example was where one of my characters was a brainwashed, lobotomized soldier that was controlled by an alien empire, this character lacked most emotions and it just wasn't interesting enough to do a first-person perspective with that character.