Over the years, I've encountered quite a few talented roleplayers in-game who were also actors in real life. Anyone else dabbled in theater, even as a student? If so, how do you apply acting principles to text-based roleplaying?

In high school and college I was often involved in dramatic productions. Though I must say that I don't often use a lot of the tricks of the trade in text MUDs. Most of the things I learned had to do with voice control, which is quite hard to convey in text-based games. I think what most helps me express ideas in text-based games are the many literature courses I took. It always helps you find the right words to use in a situation to show emotion and such.

I've done improv acting a couple times, but the one thing I always loved doing (and wished I was better at) was stand up comedy.

A lot of it feels like acting, maybe not so dramatic but it and improv have enough of a connection that it does help me when roleplaying, especially when I try to come up with characters or a quick remark on the fly.

I've participated in my school's improvisational acting programs for a while and I can definately say that it can help on-the-fly RP. Learning how to extend a scene and keep it from being a stare-fest is something very important in any game that doesn't constantly throw stimuli in the players' faces, and since that's one of the goals of improv, it works as an excellent training tool.

Of course, some things are just talent, timing, and wit.

Anyone else want to chime in on this?

I feel RP is more out of my comfort zone than is acting. I’ve studied acting and worked professionally at it for years now, while my mudding experience hasn’t been so long. It’s a challenge to think on your feet and try to adequately capture your character with words. In acting, -good acting- the focus has to be completely off yourself and onto another person. So in an ideal world you aren’t aware of your gestures and your tonal inflections. While with mudding, I find myself often doing something and at a loss how to describe it. You need to capture the third person perspective (with emotes) and at the same time deal with the interior dialogue (think command). It's difficult to watch yourself and also be immersed. I think in some ways, writers have more advantages stepping into this medium than actors.


On the other hand! There –are- a few instances in mudding where acting techniques do seem to help.
Exploring what makes a character tick. Why they do what they do. It’s my favorite part about both mediums. Acting wise, you know what’s going to happen. The joy is finding out what reason they have for doing it. In mudding, you have no clue what the next moment brings. No clue at all. It’s great! Each moment is an opportunity for your character to be tested and some new facet of their personality could be revealed. Will she have the heart to betray her commander? Or will she fail miserably?


Objectives. Now, IMO objectives and goals are quite necessary to both. The character that wants to rule the world is probally going to be a lot more interesting than one that just sits around in a tavern twiddling their thumbs. Not that objectives need to be so grand. Something as simple as wanting to make another character smile can provoke interesting things. Now in a scene while acting, you can have the objective of trying to get the other person to dance around like a little kid, but you are limited with the words and tactics you use. In mudding, the opportunities (if allowable by the character you’ve created) seem to be wider. Like, my char could do anything to accomplish seeing you dance, from giving you a present to shooting at your feet.


Lastly, playing opposites. I could probally rant for ages but I’ll try to refrain. I find it much more interesting when a character (acting and mudding) plays against what they are doing. For example, a character’s mom dies. Now instead of said character emoting – A tear trickles down her face. Yadda Yadda. I like when the character tries not to cry. If someone onstage (and I think it remains true in the virtual world) is like ‘Oh poor me! Boo- hoo! Everyone look at me I’m so sad!’ Nobody cares. I know I don’t. But if you see someone try –not- to. Maybe the character is hunched over, staring with grim determination at a spot on the wall, hands clenched tightly together. And suddenly, I find it much more interesting. It’s harder to convey. But ultimately worth it.


Another exampleof playing opposites. Playing drunk. They always tell you in acting that to play drunk you have to play a char trying really hard to be sober. In real life, when yer drunk you try really hard to act like you aren’t. Mind you, people fail. Badly, most times. But they try. I think the same applies to mudding, hiding and trying hard to appear sober when, of course, you fail most dismally. It makes things much more interesting.

/bump for further discussion