So I've been trying to have some more fun with this roleplaying culture on Discord, and though I will definitely say I've been having some fun, I also have to say that, just like I sort of expected it might be, the general limitations of the roleplay, and where it can go, is seriously painful, when it comes to these channels.
I kind of realized this from the get-go, the moment i logged in, but I also wasn't quite sure just how seriously the "moderators" would take it all. I sort of assumed maybe they weren't all that present in the servers. I was quite wrong. They are present, and often popping up, even when you don't think they are there at all. As in, you'll be conducting a 30 minute RP session with just one other person, and it will seem like you're alone--and then you type something against 'the rules'--- and a moderator pops up, to tell you "Stop it!".
Its happened to me a few times now. Am I super surprised by how uptight it all is? Yes and no. Mostly no and mostly because, as i have always written on my blog, I am always trying to write books, an even though I have no "moderators" looking over my shoulder as i write in Google Docs, I can still feel the harsh limits of the modern crowd, as i write. And I know very well how much they like obeying very particular rules when it comes to fiction writing.
Are rules always a bad thing? Of course not. But sometimes they are. In fact, sometimes the rules can become so oppressive, that any real sense of creativity will stop shining. As a result of the fact that doing just about anything becomes illegal -- and then the world of the characters becomes boring. This is especially the case in a roleplaying world, where we all want to rely on fantasy to get our thrills. What, after all, am I really supposed to do, if i can't whip up fantasy plots at my whim?
For example, on the server I'm on right now, I have been expressly told that its literally illegal for me, to think up characters that aren't mine. This means to say that, if my character is just sitting and talking to yours on a park bench, I can't really write in anything in the background. I can't say something like "..Bambina suddenly spots two motorcycles going by in the distance, and thinks she wants to go investigate them..." or "Bambina sees a child running frantically thru the streets."
I can't do any of that. I literally can't alter the environment beyond my character at all. I can maybe say its snowing or raining, but thats about it.
To me, this is kind of ridiculous. I mean, if I can't write in extra details, what can i really do? After all, its not as if the owner of the server (who is acting as the dungeon master, in my opinion) is ever really present. The channels just sort of sit there with empty descriptions, but no real plot within them. On this server, they have the "Eastern Forest", the "Docks", a "COffeeshop", the "City streets", a "manor" et cetera. WEll,okay, you can mess around with the environments a bit in each of thse places -- i..e "Bambina touches a lamp in the manor, Bambina looks at the old paintings" -- but what about the actual plot? Again, there is no dungeon master here. That means that, at any given time,its up to the roleplayers themselves to create their own action. But, as I say, it seems to be basically illegal for me to create any significant action. So I'm basically just really confused. What, really, is the point of this?
On the one hand, I understand the need for some rules. But I think some of these servers have set so many limitations that the RP box is very difficult to work within, and I say that as an actual writer whose been scribbling for years.
I'm sad about it, i believe, because I see so much potential going untapped. There are quite a number of people logged into the server, usually 3-4 at any given time, even as early as 5 in the morning, but the RP stories all seem to die out pretty quickly, because our characters are so limited by the rules. On the current 'serious' RP server i'm in, the longest interaction I've gotten was probably about an hour at most. Then it seems to fizzle out. NOt enough to do. No wher to lead the story.
COmpare this all,of course, to a "limitless" RP i managed to whip up about 4 nights ago, in another channel, where the moderators weren't at all present and so i just got to write anything, uninterrupted. I met 3 people who were on that channel that night, and I basically became a dungeon master, who led them on a pretty free form adventure , from literally 10:30 at night, all the way until 3:30 in the morning. And the reason it went on that long is because, as I stress, I was able to create the outside characters. I didn't give my characters super powers. We had defined roles. Mine, for example, was just a lonely vampire blood addict. But , once i was allowed to create the outside characters (like i am obviously accustomed to as a writer) , the other roleplayers quickly ran wild.
I'm really surprised and saddened, in some way, i think, by the fact that all these Roleplay channels are so adamant about "outside" characters not being invented. I just can't fathom it. It's like playing EverQuest--but there aren't any monsters to fight. How does that even work? It literally makes no sense -- but I can't even risk bringing it up on the server, cause i know they'll not understand what i'm saying, get offended, and flip out. My character has, in fact, already gone to prison. Yes. Because I went too far and had her bite somebody too long. (She's a vampire).
In any regard, my experience obviously hasn't been all negative, since i have been loggedin fairly constantly for nearly a week now. My reader might wonder the real reason I'm roleplaying on Discord now. Well, I'd like to believe its in an effort to get further along in my goal of writing the 200,000 word vampire story. My basic idea here is that, the more i can let my mind "ferment" inside the vampire world, the more I can hope to get done on that story. I'm literally just trying to keep my mind on vampires as often as possible, and roleplaying seems a pretty good way to do this. In the past week, I've bitten more peoples necks, and met more vampires -- however shoddily crafted they sometime are -- than ever before. This is a very good thing. In fact, its starting to seem downright bizarre to leave the vampire world now. That's how strong the effect is becoming. Yes, i don't like the rotten rules of the world my character is in-- but it's, at the very least, forcing me to keep imagining vampire type themes over and over.
It's also already given me some shockingly good ideas for short stories. It's weird how it works, but, even though some of the roleplayers are very "lazy", they still offer little plotlines to my mind, that I definitely wouldn't think up alone. I might make another entry, writing in more depth about some of the interesting characters I've met so far. For now, I'm about to dip back into it all...and become Bambina again ---
--- Ciao.
No comments:
Post a Comment