Most, if not all of my “roleplaying” experience has been based on what I consider collaborative writing groups, rather than the more standard pen and paper “RPG” idea of roleplaying such as D&D and World of Darkness. While I am familiar with both (and I admit, I dislike both world setups and would actually never subject myself to either for character building) my experiences, and what I plan to write about are their much less structured cousins, the online role playing games sometimes set up by one “GM” in something as unofficial as email, chat rooms, or instant messenger services. Often these are based on a franchise or canon, such as Dragon Ball, Harry Potter, or World of Warcraft (I have been involved in all of those, among others!) and are essentially from two to over a hundred people working on what is essentially collaborative fanfiction. Occasionally these can also be a set up of each person’s own “world”, which can be as random as different characters they like from movies and video games, or one world they have created entirely on their own they would eventually like to write novels about. I have seen these two very different set ups collide into one “RP” situation- sometimes they go well, and sometimes they go awry.
All of these examples, as opposed your average pen and paper rpg have one thing in common — they are a collaboration between more than one writer, and so they require this thing called compromise much more than writing a story by oneself would.
Whether it’s compromising on your character when you’re building it– no, your Dragon Ball Z character cannot have a power level of 90,000 and be a Sailor Senshi from another dimension, but they can be an extremely powerful pretty young girl — or compromising on your time— you’re on the east coast and I’m on the west coast, I will try to work things out between emails at work or during my lunch if you need to go to bed early—or compromising aspects of your character after you’ve built it— yes, my telekinetic character based on Paul from Dune would normally just snap your characters’ neck with his mind powers and not give you a chance to shoot, but that would be god modding, I’m going to have him try to use his mind to knock the gun out of your hand instead– unlike writing a novel or fanfic by yourself, you’re not just writing for yourself, you’re writing for the enjoyment of those around you, and they’re writing for yours.
The really big issue with this, is a very simple one: Different people enjoy different things.
While you may think having a character based on someone like Batman or Wolverine, who is an unbeatable badass and always has a cool one liner– who never doubts anything, never makes mistakes, and everyone is a little scared of is the most exhilarating and empowering thing ever, I find these characters obnoxious and frustrating. I prefer the Woody Allen or Terry Pratchett methods– flawed, messy, neurotic little losers like Shinji Ikari or Rincewind who pull together at the end and kick ass, in spite of themselves, but stutter, trip on wires, and maybe even cry before getting to that point. Or even goofy characters who joke and laugh their way through life. You made find those characters sickening and annoying, maybe a little twee. So, if we both have lots of other things we both like– say, super hero comics– and decide we want to role play together, you may have to give your Batman/Wolverine amalgam some flaws and be willing to have him make stupid mistakes, and I may have to give my Plastic Man/Squirrel Girl amalgam a spine and cut back on the goofy slip ups.
However, this major issue can also be divided into smaller issues such as: Different people have had different experiences, different people have different emotional responses, People’s ability to distance themselves from their characters varies, etc.
“Now”, you may say, “but what about the integrity of my character, what about the reality of my character– if I’m making these compromises, where does that leave the truth of my character?”
A compromise is just that because each person gives a little bit, hopefully with the idea of keeping the core of the characters true to themselves. The size of the compromise should also be taken into consideration. You should never expect someone playing a Boy Scout character like Superman to force their character to act like a gritty ruthless Frank Castle type and kill someone. If you’re that disgusted by people with strong, rigid morals who refuse to bend them that you cannot understand why Superman would never kill a person, then maybe you should not be playing with someone who wants to play that kind of character. (Now if the other person is playing this character to see their slow decline or corrupt them, that is another story.)
However, having a normally shy, timid, or secretive character open up to someone– most certainly not with their life story, but with something that will help the other person become involved with their plot– is often necessary, despite the fact that your character wouldn’t do that. If just cannot sleep at night with compromising your character’s actions in something as blatant as trusting someone they just met an hour ago, there’s other ways to do it. They can drop something– a journal, a letter, anything, hinting at their secrets, maybe even revealing them, somewhere where the other characters can read it, at a point where they can take action . Someone else they have been confiding in can slip up, or have lost the information, or trust people this particular character wouldn’t trust. Or they can just accidentally let something slip up while talking about something else.
There’s other examples of this– reigning in a flirty character with a high libido, or even an actual pervert– or someone who is snarky and a bully– raised as a bigot– an omnipotent demigod– these characters may all have to be softened or reigned for the sake of the plot, for the enjoyment or comfort of others, to avoid triggering someone who has experienced trauma, to avoid god modding, or for a million other reasons.
The crux of the matter is, yes, you’re compromising the integrity of your character for the sake of others– but they are expected to do the same for you, and most likely are, in other ways that you may not know. If you absolutely cannot handle it, maybe you’re not cut out for collaborative writing.
