Do you consider role-playing to be a good method of writing practice?

[Sigillimus]

I just wanted to ask it and get everyone's opinion on the topic.

I myself roleplay on an almost daily basis in the video game world, primarily on World of Warcraft or Guild Wars. I find it to be an interesting and intriguing method of expressing myself and showcasing my writing, especially with other fantasy-loving people such as myself. I find it is a great way to examine new ideas for stories or perhaps build on ones you're already working on.

Some people, however, might consider it as cheating the process of writing. You're being guided by someone else and their actions as well as your own, which makes everything seem like it isn't coming from your imagination directly -- you're being affected by outside forces beyond your control, like other people.

Do you consider role-playing to be a constructive exercise to honing your writing skills?

 

[Kelise]

I do, perhaps mainly in the areas of characterisation. I think the style doesn't really help me - as I wouldn't write a novel in that format, so it's not really practise in writing itself, but as far as characterisation and dialogue go... sure. It's very helpful. I'm in eight RPs myself, playing 11 characters, and I really do think it's helped my writing in general.

 

[Ophiucha]

Not really, no. Even text-based roleplaying. I mean, the focus is entirely different. In order to roleplay a character, you need to know everything about them, more often than not. It is more about immersing yourself in the character than it is in the story, since you need to be able to react to everything from a spontaneous battle, unspeakable wealth, unplanned deaths or disappearances, random romance or sexual advances, and just about anything the other players and - in a setting like WoW - events and whatnot. In a story, even if it is on 'on the fly' story, you generally have an idea of what's going to happen in a very loose sense, and even if you don't, you're in utter control of it, you control the setting, the story, and the other characters.

Similarly, roleplays tend to make every character of equal importance, so that no person feels 'left out' if you will, which simply isn't the case. In text-based roleplaying, the problem also comes from the prose being very different. In more elaborate roleplays, you are expected to write 3+ paragraphs, but are only in control of one character. Most of the text-based roleplays of this nature read TERRIBLY, with a lot of fluff and purple prose to bulk it up because you can't force a response out of the other player, so you have to dilly dally and create really jolted, awkward conversation. This problem isn't much better in 'one liner' text-based roleplays. You can't do much. You can't just stab and kill a guy, you have to end your 'turn' on "John pulled his knife out and moved to stab Mark."

There are elements of roleplaying, of course, that cross over with storytelling and writing prose. And as long as you make a very, VERY big distinction between them in your mind, there is no reason you can't DO both, but I wouldn't consider one a matter of practice for the other. I would liken it to the difference between sculpting and painting a picture. There are things to consider for both. The human form (presuming you are putting a human in both, of course), contours, perspective depending on the angle the piece is viewed, etc. But the actual techniques are very different, and even within the previously mentioned categories, the results are varied. The painter need only worry about the human form as we see it from the front, whereas the sculptor (not unlike the roleplayer) must be concerned with every possible angle, 360 degrees of the human form.

 

[balthore]

There are times in my fanfic I use RP dice to determine an outcome that has no real bearing on the overall plan. In my fanfics though I often have stuff write itself into the story. Example being one char falling in love with another char that was never planned to happen when I started writing. Then of course I have to deal with it and try to formulate the overall story around it.

I'm much more stringent about my original works and have things planned out a bit tighter then what allows me the freedom to use RP in it very much. That being said, I have had the honor of using some of my good friends RP chars in my books and modeling chars in my story around them and how they would react to a situation had it been presented in an RP world.

I've always thought about making a story and having it purely be run by the "roll of the dice" when dealing with anything of consequence. Just never sat down and done it.

 

[Chilari]

I'm not so sure about video games being any use, because your character isn't changed by the world you're in. And in fact the world you're in isn't changed by your character. The plot is already determined, and how you fight, and often your charatcer's lines in cut scenes and whatnot too. You rarely make decisions; there are a few in Guild Wars Nightfall like when you decide whether to rescue Koss, or when you have to decide whether to rescue Kormir or press on with the plan. But none of these things have any real effect except to determine which Heroes you can fight with and whether you do one mission or another.

Text based RPing online can be useful though. If nothing else you get to practice your style of writing; you can work with character development, description of places, people or actions. It may not be useful in all things, depending on how you change what you do between original fiction and RPing. I can't really see how making dice throws and whatnot can help in any real sense though.

 

[JCFarnham]

It really depends on what kind of "roleplaying" you're talking about. There is of course the traditional d20 fantasy type, and then the non-"rule" based play-by-post style (which I prefer to call cooperative writing. less negativity). In my opinion any kind of roleplaying with dice takes the creativity out of the exercise so no that kind of roleplaying is far from a good method of writing practice. The other however (ie, the one which has nothing to do with dice and rule based "character generation" etc. I guess you'd call it free form roleplay, really), I find is perfect for just this. If anything its easier to use as practice, because you DON'T have to think of plot, and the over arching story, all the time. The co-creative aspect of it means you can really hone style and characterisation. In fact it is just that kind of setting to which I owe my start in the world of fiction (mainly x-men based fan RPs, because I was cool like that ). Simply having to keep up with the standards of person you're writing opposite does a young writer a world of good. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that a good RP forum is much like a writers group in a way; in other words a group of like minded writers who push you to be the best you can with in the constraints of the style. In practice however this is hard to come by. I've had to deal with sooooo many egotistic morons in my time, but it with kind of worth it was all the good it did me.

Of course, if you go about it like most people in the scene, as it were, you'll likely end up using it as a forum to fulfill sordid teenage fantasies rather than progressing as a writer. I'm not ashamed to hold my hand up and admit that good online writing communities, based on the pbp forum roleplaying format, helped me with the drive needed to pursue writing less "casually". Its difficult to come across good lasting communities on the vast number of free forum communities out there, but I would even go so far as to recommend the style of writing for someone who wants to brush up on their style, characterisation and ability to think on the fly. I promise there are real writers out there in diceless, co-creative RP-scene, and not just fodder for teenage dreams... as long as you don't mind writing along side people between the ages of 13 and the mid-20s haha

The drama however is not something I miss.

 

[JBryden88]

It helps me with character development. Three years playing Age of Conan has helped me develop Cathal and Hengist and other barbaric themed characters after seeing the various personalities others used, and using my own as well.

 

[Derin]

I rp (freeform writing and rules-based gaming), but I don't find it all that useful as far as story writing goes. Naturally, DnD and similar games are useless for the purposes of character or plot generation -- far too cliched. Anything good you pull out of them for story purposes is accidental, IMO. Freeform dowsn't work for me for character or plot generation either as I've already got a good handle on my character before I put it into a game. Seeing how it interacts with characters I have no control over doesn't actually tgell me much. Besides which, my RP characters are fun to play in somebody else's world; my story characters are fun to write in mine. They aren't always the same thing.

For people who have trouble with overdramatic teens who are difficult to play with, That Shaddin has a very good RP community. It's well-policed and those unpractised at writing are politely directed to another forum.

 

[James Chandler]

The short answer is "no." At the same time, using an rpg would be a valid way to test your story/worldbuilding. If a writer uses his world and story as the basis for an rpg, and gives the players the chance to poke holes in his/her plot, it could vastly improve the story.

 

[Derin]

The short answer is "no." At the same time, using an rpg would be a valid way to test your story/worldbuilding. If a writer uses his world and story as the basis for an rpg, and gives the players the chance to poke holes in his/her plot, it could vastly improve the story.

You mean, running an rp as writing practise? Could work. If your players get confused by holes in your politics or pull apart your villain's supposedly intelligent plan too quickly, it could be a good way to find flaws.

 

[Smaug]

Sounds like a great idea to me. I've played some D20 RPGs that could have been decent stories, so why not the other way round? It could also help with story ideas.

Do you think that real role-playing would be the next stage in the development of MMORPGs? Coherent story and characters seems to be an increasing trend in the latest examples: The Old Republic will focus heavily on the story (and less on the grind), and the recent WoW expansions have become ever more cinematic than the original game.

 

[Fnord]

For me my best characters were developed in part in a role-playing setting. I disagree that you need to necessarily "know" that character you are playing before you do. I've done a lot of pen-and-paper gaming but I switched to MMO roleplaying when I was moving around and couldn't find a gaming group. I usually just made a basic character and fleshed him or her out as I went along. I wrote a lot of stories outside of the game about things the character did--some as a matter of background for the benefit of my fellow roleplayers and some actual events that took place in the game.

As for the setting being static, that is very much the case but the groups I roleplayed with didn't make the main story of the game (Ultima Online, WoW, etc) the focus of our roleplaying but rather the intrigues of various individuals or player-run factions that took place against the backdrop of the game setting.

But those scenarios, I found out, tend to be something of an embodiment of Hakim Bey's concept of the Temporary Autonomous Zone; the roleplaying was fun and exciting when it was new and organized to some degree, but eventually descended into full-blown anarchy and interpersonal strife when more and more interested players wanted to join the group and people got crazier and crazier. Then I'd usually leave, start another character on another server or in a different game completely, and give it a whirl again.

I thought the level of immersion was very inspiring and fueled some prolific writing on my part. Maybe that's why I feel kind of dry now. . . I need a new MMO!

 

[Fnord]

Do you think that real role-playing would be the next stage in the development of MMORPGs? Coherent story and characters seems to be an increasing trend in the latest examples: The Old Republic will focus heavily on the story (and less on the grind), and the recent WoW expansions have become ever more cinematic than the original game.

The most common problem is that without some sort of arbiter outside of the players themselves, it eventually erodes, as I mentioned above. I played on some persistent worlds in Neverwinter Nights and found those to be far more conducive because there were "GMs" in those servers who could guide some of the action as well as create scenarios as opposed to letting the players "fight amongst themselves".