[Gaming] Pet Peeve

[pyrephox]

Yes, another of my rants. Feel free to ignore.

"I'm telling my character's story!"

Sorry, sweetheart. If you were telling your character's story, you ought to go write a novel. What you are doing is placing your character into an interactive environment with other people, some of whom will have goals that have nothing to do with yours, or will actively oppose yours. These people are not your sidekicks, they are not the supporting characters, and they are not NPCs. An RPG is not a novel.

People tend to talk about being upset that certain things happen in a game because it 'upsets the character's story', or 'it's not a narratively appropriate ending to the character's story'. These people often use comparisons to literature or television shows, saying, "Indiana Jones doesn't die in the temple! Wolverine doesn't /lose/ the big fight! What kind of story would that be?" These people and their arguments make me want to commit violence upon them.

Do RPGs have narrative and dramatic conventions? Yes. However! These are not the same as literary or theatrical conventions. No comparisons should be made. Your character is not the main character, there is not a single plot with neatly planned subplots, twists, and a final climax where the main issue is resolved. STOP TRYING TO MAKE RPGS INTO NOVELS. Write fanfiction. Write original fiction. Do something else. Please.

The dramatic tension in RPGs comes from the interaction with an environment that is NOT limited to a prearranged plot. Drama comes from not knowing how your fellow characters will respond to things, from having a nearly unlimited series of options to use when trying to resolve problems, and from seeing how /your/ character adapts to an ever-changing world that may not always be what he expects.

The narrative elements of an RPG come largely from extemporaneous pattern making. Instead of having a pre-determined theme that you try to bring out in various places throughout the novel, an RPG gives you events and interactions that your character finds its own meaning and truth in. The /search/ for meaning is the narrative heart of the RPG, not knowing what meaning is. Some GMs are good enough that they can put a more conventional theme into the world, but each character still has the option to accept or reject that theme for themselves.

And that is the strength of RPGs. Flexible environments and interactions for a character to adapt to. An RPG is not collaborative writing. It is not novel writing. It is not script writing. It is its own, odd, little genre of creativity. Bad things will happen to your characters.

They will not always be convenient or just an excuse for letting your beautiful character have a bit of angst and comfort sex. ADAPT, don't whine.

Comments

[cpip.livejournal.com]

Amen... to a point, I suppose, since I've certainly, from behind the screen, tweaked plots in the direction of the "stories" of characters before, sometimes out of a certain DMly narrativist desire to see where the player was going with a plot, so I offered a chance to follow it.

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

Oh, certainly. A good GM reacts and adapts even as the players do: otherwise you end up with Railroad Plots From Hell. :D And allowing time for a character to pursue a side-plot, giving individual characters a chance to shine, paying attention to what characters are trying to accomplish...all are good things!

It's the OOC attitude that gets to me. The idea that 'my character shouldn't have to deal with this because it's not in My Grand Story'.

[cpip.livejournal.com]

I would agree. On the other hand, I might argue that we come from the gaming tradition where one person sort of holds the bulk of the story (the DM/GM/ST) and the other players react to it, manipulate it, interact with it, to be sure, but ultimately we acknowledge that weird, unpleasant, and unwelcome things can happen without our approval, and, indeed, we expect and want it.

Other folks, without that experience, may not see it that way; in the referenced post, the player's comment that "I deal with enough IRL, I don't want to deal with this IG" speaks to the other tradition, the tradition of purely escapist RP where everyone sits down and plays, but a lot is pre-planned and it's much more of a group writing exercise.

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

I'd call that 'collaborative writing' not 'playing a roleplaying game', myself. And they're two different things to my mind...and yeah, I suspect that a lot of my irritation comes from collaborative writers rubbing up against me as a gamer.

[cpip.livejournal.com]

I understand, believe me. This is why I like GMs, and rules structures, and all the rest, because it creates a foundation stronger than "Be excellent to each other." I dislike collaborative writing when it masquerades as a game, because I've found that my best stuff often comes when I do have to play off someone else and there's a random result on the line.

[the-fool76.livejournal.com]

Meep for a moment there I thought I had clicked my Bad RPers Suck link by mistake. ;)

Ah the joys of people who have yet to learn that the world does not revolve around them.

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

It actually /is/ inspired by one of the recent posts, there.

My Character Has to Feel Sad Someone Else Died! WAAAAA! (http://www.livejournal.com/community/bad_rpers_suck/2095410.html)

[undauntra.livejournal.com]

Have you considered posting this there (as a new thread)?

[pyrephox.livejournal.com]

Not really.

Although it's a major pet peeve of mine, as far as Bad RPing Sucking, it just comes down to 'I don't like collaborative writing being called an RPG, and I don't like people trying to turn the games I'm in into collaborative writing'.

Which is more of a personal thing than a real /complaint/.