This little role play discussion and/or rant if you will, was directly inspired by and taken from a lovely snippet of conversation I shared with a friend of mine, the_dream_king.

It started with a very reasonable rant or observation on the glorified abuse of drug use which seems to be the nominal both in Dragon’s Mark Red Dragon Inn story lines, and from AOL (America Online for those of you not familiar) role playing characters and story lines.

It appears that drug abuse and addiction to drugs has been a reoccurring theme (up there with many others.) as well as alcoholism. As someone so very, very near the subject of alcoholism as well as someone who was witness to the falling apart of another human being to her addiction to crack—I am always faced with a mix of emotions when seeing them played out.

Most—not all—but most people who role play these story lines seem to do so with visible indicators in their writing that reveal they haven’t ever dealt with this sort of thing themselves personally, witnessed it, nor researched it. They are unaware of the complete and total devastation these harmful diseases can have on friends, families, relatives and relationships. It’s always either a ‘fun thing to do on the side,’ or some sort of plot point where the would-be hero gets addicted, his friends come to the rescue and then it’s happily ever after.

If only in a perfect world, right?

Now, on one hand (that’s my role playing hand) I understand the absolute drive as well as need for there to be a happy ending. Real life? Real life sucks, hard. There aren’t a lot of happy endings to real life stories. We seek to find the ease to all the bills and stresses of everyday in the sweet perfection of a pretend world, where Peter the elvendust addict gets saved and cleaned up, with his family all hugging and smiling around him.

But for once…For once…I’d really like someone to do their research. I’d really like someone to take the time to delve deep into the literature there is out there on these subjects and realize just how utterly awful drug addiction and alcoholism truly is, both to the addict and those around her. I want to see a nod in the direction of truth, a salute to those who break their hearts everyday, to the woman who have to struggle with trusting their hearts or their addicted husbands, the children who watch their fathers turn into different people and the families that shatter because of drunken words.

For once, I would like those who role play these things to take just five minutes and do a simple, single Google search. To read the stories of real people dealing with these things. Just five minutes—maybe ten if the story is exceptional or they get caught up.

I can’t really be offended by their choice of role play. It’s their characters, their story lines, and their rights to role play what they choose. So I won’t and honestly, I am not. I’m only asking, nay, praying, for a little bit of study on the subject.

And this entire rant/discussion/plea could cover so much on the rape, child abuse, abuse, prostitution and eating disorder story lines, too.

I watch characters flutter by on the glittery ride of addiction home free, with perfect teeth, healthy weight, free-of-scabs-skin, liver-complication-free story lines and can only wonder if it’s really that hard these days to Google for information. If the people behind these characters have ever had to deal with this sort of stuff and understand how almost belittling their SL’s can be to those who have survived. On both sides, yes, drug addict and recovering alcoholic.

All I’m asking is for a little quick research and reading, but I have the feeling that may even be too much to ask for some.

Thanks the_dream_king for the idea. I hope I didn't step on your toes. :3

While I am some what casual as to who I play, I'd appreciate it if I were the one telling people who I am role playing, and not you.

Some times, I refrain from saying due to the fact random people do weird shit when they find out who the player is--such as role play with them when they've never given the character a look at, avoid when they were playing before hand, or outright ignore for no reason.

I am not trying to be sneaky when I refrain from telling people, either outright IM'ing them or letting obvious information slip OOCly (::eye::). I am trying to enjoy my game without the stigma of, "oh. That's Suliss'urn's player. The crazy hobag!" Got it?

So before you type: think.

I don't go flapping my gums about who you play, do the same! Damn! No cake for j00.

Originality in character concept has long headed for the hills. It's very hard to be completely original when you are one of a million.

I have always believed that certain concepts, mannerisms, writing styles and the individual behind the character makes them unique. One thing that Rhydin is always lacking, outside of middle aged/elderly people, are overweight people. Or, dare I go so far as to say it? "Average" looking people with "average" boob, hip, and waist sizes.

Ya'll know me. I like to be odd, I decided a while ago that a handful of my characters were going to be "fat." And by "fat," I mean, you know--have a waist that wasn't going to collapse and divide by zero due to the weight of huge teets.

This originally started with Isolde, four (? My memory is bad) years ago and is a theme, despite being thought-sniped about her weight, I have enjoyed and wanted to play such a character again.

So I brought another character like this to the DM. An overweight nerdling who is having waaay, waaay too much fun in that realm right now. (Well, not at the moment. SL reasons. But anyway.) The concept at the time may not have been wholly original. Everyone's had a normal person get zapped in Rhydin at one point in time/has seen it. But to me, the way I played her, the unusual imperfections (Not saying everyone in Rhydin is perfect. But, come on people. Pretty freaking damn close.), overweight and geekery? It seemed pretty original. I hadn't seen anyone role play anything entirely like it yet.

Imagine my surprise when last night, as I was role playing another character, a clone of my character--right down to eerily similar profiles, walked right in.

In all my years of role playing, I had heard of the clone syndrome. Where someone has a popular character/character concept that really works for them and then suddenly overnight, there are clones of said character all over the place. Maybe they have different hair color, eye color, names, a few quirks here and there but the character concept is such a blatant rip off it makes the jaw drop.

Now--I know you can't copy right ideas, concepts. Hell, if you want to get right down to it, some of the characters I play (from marvel universe, bleach) aren't even mine to begin with. What right do I have to complain?

Not too much, but just enough to let you know: If you are going to steal original shit, for the love of god, have the sense to MAKE IT unique by making it yours. Silly clone was silly, because I might as well have been staring at my own character's profile. There was even an attempt at copying mannerisms in play. Which, by the way, failed. (Protip: Try role playing your character how YOU want to. Not how you see ME playing.)

I should be flattered. After all, imitation is supposed to mean you're good at something, right?

I'm not. I'm frustrated. Here we are in the land of imagination, and this person can't even be imaginative enough to at least take someone's character concept and make it their own. They have to take from everyone else, soul-sucking the things they've really liked about someone's hard work and thought, to spew it back out in some ridiculously obvious carbon copy. It's heartbreaking to watch, actually. I end up feeling bad for this person and worse for my character (should she ever have to meet and deal with the clone of herself.)

So yeah--unclever clone is unclever. Next time, try harder.

Today is one of those days where everything has piled up as I watch from the side lines and ponder if I am in a group for rp rejects too insane to be on AOL. (With a few excluded. :p)

Some of the stuff ya'll put in your out of character posts are awful private, and things I don't think I'd ever share publicly. And we all know how delicate I am about sharing. (Read: not.) You make me worry sometimes.

The good

When I am playing a name I don't openly advertise is "the player of Suliss'urn" the responses and interactivity are wonderful.

(Hopefully) have, through sheer stubborn will to work things out and want to, kept two very good friends that would otherwise have been lost to teh internet drama/arguements.

Massively long marathon role play session with Suliss'urn last night. Lots of challenges to keep up. Some I failed, some not so much.

The Bad

Week just rife with Drama. Laughably, this happened partly of my own fault and partly not. It has made me very mentally tired and back to wondering how people role play constantly, day in, day out, for years at a time with (what seems to be) no breaks.

Getting ignored by a player I don't even rightly know. That makes it officially two people I know of ignoring Suliss! Woot :D Part of me is very well aware of free form and that this person has the right to, just as I do. But the other human part of me wonders what I did and why won't they tell me so I can avoid doing whatever it is I did, again, and part of me is very Kenderish and driven out of curiosity. I can live without knowing, but I am curious!

Watching someone who complained the loudest about interactivity completely, totally, and utterly ignore certain characters obviously and blatantly attempted to role play with them. Isn't that the way? Those who complain the loudest are often the guiltiest of doing what they complain about. (Myself included. but I promise I am working on that!) For a moment, I was excited because it was a 'popular' complaining about issues and problems and bringing a lot of attention finally to many of us 'not popular' members and the problems we are having. But then I realized this person was just making sure they could elbow their way back into the spot light and keep it. :/

Thought sniping. Wide open, not-even-bothered-to-hide-it-or-try-to-in-an-action, plain old thought snipe. Not only once, but several times over and over again. At first, I thought maybe this was a new person to role play. Checking their profile revealed them to be anything but. Maybe I could have been forgiving if I had been younger, the circumstances different, or what have you--but after this week, I just left them a message as to the exact specifics of what I think of thought-sniping when I ignored them. Getting too old and tired to bother.

Yeah! The more things change, and the more people try the change them, the more they stay the same! Rock!

P.S. HELL BOY WAS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL CHEESEFEST WRAPPED UP IN HOT SEXY MAN CHEST ON A SLAB OF PRETTY.

As per wished expressed in this role play challenge, here is a snippet of about a half of this evening's short session in the RDI.

It's been several months with very few role play sessions. I am rusty and I tried my best to keep up with people. I type a lot and am awfully slow. I imagine that puts a lot of people off from role playing with me. ::shrug.::

( The log of the beginning of the night. )

A half an hour after that, I had some script issues which booted me out of the room twice in a row. Coming back, I had found that one person had left, several others were lurking, and another was engaged in a conversation with another character.

As much as I love interaction, when someone seems really into talking to whomever they are with, I don't feel like that's a sign to bug them, y'dig? So instead of role playing with myself further, I hopped on out.

I am almost dreading the post of this log. I am pretty certain that several people who interact with this character not knowing who the player is, won't after now. I suppose I'll manage. :p

This post, from Dragon's Mark R.D.I is an excellent post.

It seems like a bad post, but as you read, several good nuggets of deliciousness hide in all the words. The best parts of the post though, are the things, I think, which are unseen. That which has been done behind the scenes and the issues resolved and some of the conclusions come to. It's a shame some of it went quietly behind the curtain, but it ended on an apparent up-note at the very least.

I wish everything did!

1.) If it’s not happening right now, forget it. Seriously Mel, shit that’s happened even a month or so ago or more needs to be pushes aside. Get on with it and over it, it is in the past and you can’t change it. Learn from it and then continue, there’s no reason to spin your wheels through that kind of muck.

2.) Stop. Lurking. No one is going to feel confident in role playing with someone who lurks for eight hours a day and maybe plays once a week out of all of that time. It makes you look like an elitist bitch, because when you do play, it’s usually because someone you know sparks the interest—so stop. Also, take the plunge already and stop lamenting over it. The worst thing that could happen is that you end up role playing by yourself—and who cares? Think of it as a writing challenge.

3.) Stop bitching about it. No one really cares to hear about whatever issue you had/have had/are having/are about to have with someone. It’s a game and people want to play it without listening to you whine about your own issues. No doubt, people have their own issues as well, you aren’t a special snowflake.

4.) Warn any and all potential long-term story line partners of your habit to take weeks and months off for games, writing, hobbies and other things—so at least, when they say they feel like they’re not getting enough attention, you don’t feel like it came out of no where. Assuming most people don’t role play every single day, every month, year in and year out is a bad thing—there are people out there that make it consistent more than you.

5.) Be more cautious to whom you speak to and about what. People here on the net are worse than what they’re generally like in real life due to the anonymous nature of the web. Several lessons in what happens when you trust people have been dealt and given, twice over. You’d think you’d learn by now, yes?

6.) Stop talking about other mundanes. It’s none of your business what they’re doing, who they are playing, what their lives are like or what choices they make in role play. It doesn’t matter and all you’re doing is making yourself look like an ancient gossiping biddy.

7.) Be more patient with people. Some times, what you think is an attack, isn’t an attack. Flying off the handle like an idiot does not make you awesome.

8.) Tying into number 7, stop assuming and just ask. If you think it sounds like someone being an asshole, better to ask first and find out that way, then assuming and looking like the retard with reading issues in the end.

9.) Understand that your brand of honesty isn’t always welcomed. Despite what some players say, telling them that you are bored of their SL might not be wanted. People don’t always want the answer to the questions they ask you. Instead, try a little softer-than-a-sledge-hammer approach and see if they take the bait there. If not, then lay it on them truthfully. It’s smoother. Sure, there’ll always be a few hurt feelings, but it’s much better than, “Hey this SL bores me can we play something else?” Because role players are human, have feelings too. If it was YOUR SL, Mel, someone said was boring like that, you’d probably be all : ( Too. So. Y’know. Kid gloves.

10.) Your attention span wanders regardless of how well things are going. Tell your role play partners this ahead of time too, so as to circumvent any misconstrued flounces in the future. It’s no fault of theirs and none of yours, either. You’re just blond that way. Take a break when you find yourself wanting to do something else, and don’t force yourself to keep playing—or you know what will happen. You’ll begin to dislike the SL completely and that’s just counter productive.

There are some things I won’t and refuse to change, of course. Such as my mocking of the complete and total idiots who refuse to improve. Take Thor Tunar, for example—I also thoroughly enjoy mocking the retards that rthink thi iz rp 2.

I’m still going to rant about it, too. Because if I didn’t I wouldn’t have any vent for the steam. I’m just going to try to keep the above in mind when venturing out this time. Keep the bitching to my journal, keep my patience, and keep a little common sense.

Here’s hoping, right?

Why is it that when we as humans are doing something recreational, such as games or role playing, we allow someone else to come along and shit all over what we are doing until it is not fun anymore?

Yes, I'm including myself in this philosophical question.

You're having a blast, enjoying yourself--maybe you're playing World of Warcraft, Guild wars, maybe you're role playing in an AOL chat room, maybe you're gaming with a bunch of buds around the dining room table. You could be LARPING your troll with a bunch of your favorite geeks in the woods some where or even posting to your favorite live journal community--then it happens. Some asshole who isn't a newb, just an asshole, comes along and shits the place up.

Either that guy at your D&D session intentionally made snide remarks or messed up your living room, or that crazy stalker bitch found your AOL SN some how and now you've got to put her back on ignore; or some idiot keeps spamming /duel over and over and do not get your constant no's and setting to auto-reject duels as a clue-by-four.

And your spirits plummet. You're cranky, bitchy and all around disheartened with your favorite hobby to the point that you're asking yourself: Why the fuck should I continue playing? I can't believe this shit!

That's when we've let them under our skin. The idiots who are out to fuck with whatever fun we're having. The people who secretly adore making sure that whomever isn't down and wallowing in their bitter mud soon will be. We've allowed some penis smegma to ruin the game, whatever it may be, for us.

Why?

Why can't we just click the ignore, the report, contact the admin, the GM, block, sign online invisible, boot the problem player, and stop inviting the snide cleric that keeps leaving greasy Doritos stains on our couch?

I can almost hear the round of But Mel, it's just not that simple!

And I say to you and to myself: Outside of situations where legal actions need to take place? Bullshit. That's what I say!

Why can't it be that simple? The mantra I have been constantly repeating to myself and attempting to uphold since I 'discovered' it for myself is this: The only person who can ruin my fun is myself. Straight forward and simple.

Sure, greasy dorito finger's did do something he wasn't supposed to do. Sure, it's annoying when creepy people do creepy things and yeah--I hate idiots. But am I really going to give them this sort of power over my life, my hobbies, my fun as to take it from me? Am I willing to give up something I love just for some assholes who can't stand it when someone else is having a ball?

No. Outside of the alarming, super illegal-came-to-my-house-and-showed-up-with-sacrificed-goats, or found-my-phone-number-online and gotta-call-the-police sort of freaks, there isn't a single, solitary need to allow these ass munches the satisfaction of poopcicling all over our snowy parade.

I'm tired of reading about the general populace of people who are blaming everyone but themselves for not having fun anymore. (Including myself!) I'm tired of having myself get hung up over whether or not I'm 'good enough,' for a hobby! or whether or not so-and-so is talking smack. And I'm especially tired of holding myself back because of a small group of shit-heads peeing near the parade route of fun-time.

So, I urge you to come with me, nay, frolic in this new found, "fuck it. I am not going to let someone ruin a hobby/game/role play/story line/piece of art/story/sweater I made, that I paid for/created/wrote/painted/knitted for fun. It's up to ME to make whatever I do as enjoyable as possible. Starting today, I'm gonna do it!"

Cookies to the first minions--I mean, people who do. Let's have some fun!