On Role Playing, Literature, and Acting

[benlehman]

This was an essay, but I realized that it can be trimmed to one line:

The only similarity between acting, literature, and role-playing games is that they all use words and, sometimes, plot arcs.

Relvevant Forge thread:
http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=12711&highlight=

Anyone else have thoughts?

Comments

[russiandude.livejournal.com]

I am interested that you think there is a difference between several people "Acting out what a given character would do" in a shared world and "making a story." The former implies rather strongly that the characters are consistent, and I've found that a story tends to develop itself out of the actions of the characters. I would say that sacrificing your character's validity and concept for the sake of the story is detrimental to the forming of said story.
In essence, if you don't meta and step outside and think about the big picture, but instead focus on playing your character and interacting with others and the world, I believe the story will develop on its own.

Perhaps I am not understanding you very clearly though?

[wirednavi.livejournal.com]

You can't sacrifice your character's validity for a story, like I said, because once you do it's not a story anymore, it's a collection of unrelated scenes. If your character acts inconsistent. But 'inconsistent' doesn't mean 'exactly as I've previously percieved him to act', it means 'so that all previous actions from this character maintain validity'.

I know that I have sometimes redefined what my character did on the fly - looking back at an action he took and saying 'Wow, I thought that meant X but now I want it to mean Y'. There's nothing wrong with that, as long as both explanations fit all the data that you can't change (the world, what other people have seen of your character, etc.)

I think that whether 'story' inevitably happens depends on your definition of the word. It doesn't fit mine - at least not my definition of 'good story'. Lots of people in the real world interact with other people and the world around them and don't make a story I'd want to tell. Maybe it is a story, but I wouldn't be satisfied roleplaying it. And whether you think that's true or not, I _think_ you'd agree that considering things from at least a somewhat meta-perspective will help to make a BETTER story.

I think we talked about this in the context of Covenant - setting up relationships beforehand in such a way as to cause interesting conflicts later. That's the same thing.