On Role-Playing (Part 11 of 11)

D&D (and other “true” role-playing games) allows you to do this same kind of play: pretending to be someone that you’re not in an imaginary game environment. You can pretend to be your favorite Lord of the Rings character (Viggo Mortensen or Orlando Bloom, I suppose), fighting orcs and “evil minions” and whatnot. But in general, RPGs are BETTER than the type of pretending you did as a kid because you’re usually not pretending to be someone else’s imaginary character, but instead your very own imaginary character. Sure there are RPGs modeled on specific IP (like Serenity or ElfQuest) that might provide you with the means to play one of your fictional favorites, but usually you’re creating your own character…and one often modeled on yourself (or little-used facets and/or aspects of your personality) giving you the opportunity to experience things (in your imagination) that you normally never would…or ever would want to!

For example, many long-time players of D&D have had the pleasure of playing an evil character (or, if they haven’t, have at least been tempted to do so). Now, my gut instinct is that MOST of the people that play D&D are not “evil” people, at least in the way the alignment is defined in the game (of course, most of us probably haven’t killed folks for gold in real life, either)…but it can be fun to explore one’s “dark side” in a safe (i.e. IMAGINARY) environment. We all have a dark side to our personality…it’s our decisions of whether we (in real life) choose to do good or evil that defines what kind of human beings we are. However, exploring one’s dark side in real life leads to real life suffering (for both ourselves and for others), whereas exploring it in a game can “scratch that itch” that might otherwise lead us down a bad path.

[and hell, it’s just fun sometimes to pretend you’re a “bad guy;” look at all the actors that have won Oscars for portraying terrible human beings because they were able to really “dig into the character” and “let themselves go.” Plus, in 21st century fiction being a “bad guy” is often synonymous with being a “badass” and who doesn’t like to pretend to be THAT on occasion?]

Some individuals enjoy playing devout followers of a fantasy religion, even when their real life attitudes towards spiritual institutions range from ambivalence to complete disapproval. Some folks who live their own lives meekly find thrills in leading the charge in the fantasy world, boldly being the first into action. I've known large folks who enjoyed playing small and stealthy types, and pragmatic business types who wanted to play champion-the-weak-give-all-to-charity paladin characters. It's all "make-believe" but it's a game that can be experienced by adults as well as children...provided they are given the space to do that. And maybe a little direction.

Getting together with like-minded individuals who are willing to “let their hair down” and role-play can be a fantastic experience. For many people, it requires a certain degree of trust (because the concept of pretending as an adult can make them feel silly or self-conscious), and those who can allow themselves the vulnerability of that kind of play open themselves up to an intimacy with their friends and gaming companions that we find hard to match in other aspects of our life. Which is a GOOD thing by the way: we should recognize that we are all humans carrying around the same mental hang-ups (and same secret desires to be James Bond or Captain Kirk or Boba Fett or whoever). Putting it on display not only allows us the freedom to explore our own imagination, but tells others, hey, you’re not alone in this. That may be a "duh, no shit" statement for a lot of readers but it's worth stating.

Now, I started this whole series because I posted my experience playing D&D Next and said it wasn’t what I’d call a “role-playing game” (meaning that it didn’t seem designed to facilitate the ACT of role-playing) and people took umbrage with that.  Some folks pointed out that D&D had never encouraged people to “role-play” and I took umbrage with that; after all, most of my best and most intimate role-playing experiences have come while playing Dungeons & Dragons, and I feel I learned how the act of role-playing was accomplished through my playing of D&D over the decades (and learned it well enough to transfer that knowledge to other table-top role-playing games).

But it seems that MY experience is different from that of other folks…so much so that we sometimes seem to be talking a completely different language from each other. This essay, long and meandering though it is, is my attempt to explain my “role-playing language” while simultaneously examining the possible origin of others (and thereby understand their “role-playing language”)...in an admittedly brief and superficial manner. My hope is that this can be used as a basis for on-going discussion on the subject…for getting folks on the same page. Or (if not that) at least getting people to grok where I’m coming from.

AND…having said all THAT, I know there are still some people who are going to disagree with me and think all this is just a bunch of pretentious gibberish and that I’m a bigger half-wit than any designer I’ve managed to libel in this particular series. And I promise you, I am totally okay with that. As with most of the things on this blog, I’ve written this series at least as much for myself as for those reading it…it’s helped me codify my thoughts in what is (for me anyway) a focused thought pattern. Just writing this all down has been (for myself) helpful.

On that note, I’m bringing this thing to a close (finally…jeez, if I’d been this interested in writing in college I’d probably have a doctorate instead of just a B.A.). Holy crap…it's over 30 pages long! Anyone who’s managed to stomach their way through this whole thing...poor grammar and stream-o-consciousness that it is…I totally give you props for your fortitude!

Now…since I'm in the process of doing edits anyway, should I go back and rewrite 5AK to specifically address role-playing (what it is and how to do it?)? Ugh. That’s a question I'm going to have to think about for a bit…

; )