[RPG Theory] First or Third Person Narration

[stevekenson]

[Poll #1263977]

I wonder if there’s a corrolation between different RPG play styles and verbal identification with one’s character in-game. The first person “I do this” is more of adopting the role, taking on the character, while the third person “my character does this” is more an element of the game, treating the character as game-piece or separate from one’s self. How do you play it and what, if anything, is the impact on how your game play feels?

Comments

[dewinblaidd.livejournal.com]

All of the groups that I've played with have used I statements. I've never really thought about it before, but it would feel really awkward to me to use the third person. I think it's because during the space of the game I'm sort of putting myself into the other world. I'm an escapist reader though so that might have something to do with it. Also, the groups I play in, we tend to act out some of the more bizarre PC-to-PC interactions at the table so maybe we're getting into the story more than just playing a game.

[kosmic.livejournal.com]

I generally alternate depending on the circumstances. In a case where the game is more tactical or action oriented, then I generally describe things in the third person. However I shift to the first person when characterization is the focus. Basically I "Roll Play" in the third person and "Role Play" in the first.

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

Third person for narrative, first person for dialogue. And I do a fair amount of dialogue.

[senatorhatty.livejournal.com]

Interesting question. I've never gamed with anyone other than GMs who narrated their actions in anything but first person, so I never gave it much thought. One thing to which I have given thought that is related, though, is the framing of dialogue.

For the first twenty or so years of playing RPG, I and my friends generally prepended "I say" before anything our characters said (as in "I say, 'drop your weapon, you shiftless cur!'". Not, "I say old boy. Please hand that sabre to my associate."), except when in the middle of a protracted dialogue.

Within the last several years, I have encountered extremes on either side. Those who never say "I say" before making a statement are often people from theater or who LARP, and they get grumpy with a lot of out of character chit chat. I can't say as much about the background of the one guy who would say "I say" before every sentence, even in the most extended and immersive of scenarios, because I don't know it. I do know it felt really awkward to hear, but I suspect he felt a bit of awkwardness about the notion of being "too in-character."

I think (probably because I used to feel this way myself) there's a degree to which some tabletop gamers feel like getting too into character (like dressing up and/or LARPing) goes beyond a threshold of dorkiness or something that they do not wish to cross. I wonder if this also informs the first/third person narration you describe.

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

As to the question of role-playing versus game piece, I don't think that correlates with pronoun usage. I don't view my characters as game pieces when I play them in third person. Rather, I view what I'm doing as fiction rather than drama. Flaubert wrote Emma Bovary in the third person, but he also said —Emma Bovary, c'est moi.

A different distinction might be relevant. There's a famous story about a method actor going to incredible pains to get into the mindset of the character he was playing, and his co-star telling him, "Try acting, dear boy." I don't identify with the character I'm playing, in the method acting style; I view them as a role I'm playing, and I try to come up with good dialogue and suitable actions and to get camera time and applause, in something more like a classical acting approach. If identification with my character comes about, that's a pleasant bonus, but it's not the precondition of my playing or the essence of it. But the role is defined by the character's personality, motives, goals, and abilities, not just by game mechanics.

Bill Stoddard

[saxon-pagan.livejournal.com]

Looks to me like the "I's" have it.