Real People You Can't Play

HelloRaptor · Mar 22, 2015, 3:08 PM

There's a long and storied tradition of turning up your nose and rolling your eyes at people whose characters 'aren't realistic', which more or less means the character probably hit your professional/hobby/etc buttons where you're certain you Know Better.

"You can't have a PHD at 19, that's stupid."

"Martial artist-stripper-extreme sports-lawyer? No, you suck."

Both of those describe actual people, and I'll dig them up later. For now I'll open with:

John Urschel - Bachelors and Masters in Mathematics, 4.0 GPA, offensive guard for the Baltimore Ravens.

Too Young For Doctorate - Here's 10. Take your pick., from Karl Witte at 13 to Akshay Venkatesh at 20.

Still trying to re-find the super hot ex-exotic dancer turned lawyer who took a year off as a partner at her firm to do a year of extreme sports bullshit.

surreality · Mar 22, 2015, 3:17 PM

An easy compilation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_child_prodigies

Wretched · Mar 22, 2015, 3:23 PM

I will still roll my eyes at you.

3543thrh67 · Mar 22, 2015, 3:38 PM

@Wretched if you are on TR you must be rolling your eyes something fierce about Nicky! She is 19 and the City Manager. Mind, I only play up her being a political girl. She can't fight or anything like that.

Karmageddon · Mar 22, 2015, 3:45 PM

I remain convinced that if I apped Margaret Thatcher's biography, it'd be rejected and stamped as twinky. The same with Hedy Lamarr and Geena Davis.

HelloRaptor · Mar 22, 2015, 4:58 PM

@surreality said:

An easy compilation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_child_prodigies

It's not really just child prodigies. The lawyer I mentioned, and once I find the writeup on her you'll see what I mean, isn't really a prodigy she just does (or has done) a lot of disparate things, including combinations of shit that people make snide remarks about characters only being able to do because they're MU* characters.

Three-Eyed Crow · Mar 22, 2015, 5:48 PM

I've always held to the idea that there are no bad concepts, only bad players.

Can you play a 19-year-old PhD based on a handful of real-world geniuses? Someone could, sure.

Is it more likely you're apping that because you don't have any idea and have done no research on how the academic system works, despite wanting to play a professor who everyone thinks is the smartest and most accomplished in their field, and it's only one of many weird things in your app? Most likely.

HelloRaptor · Mar 22, 2015, 5:51 PM

How is that different from how most folks play most everything else?

(Hint: It's not.)

Olsson · Mar 22, 2015, 6:19 PM

So if you shove this in their face HR as a "See! They can be a 15 year old Doctor!" they will most likely just not change their mind, or just complain about it being snowflaky instead.

Sundown · Mar 22, 2015, 6:52 PM

Most of us, if we apped in as ourselves, would be weird and outlandish concepts.

To an extent, I think we're supposed to play cliches on MUshes. Or rather, archetypes. Pared down concepts, like a sketch of the real thing. It's something about art, being able to take the significant essence of a thing and represent it. Like minimalism which takes it to an extreme, where you can read a Raymond Carver story and learn a whole family situation from just a few sparse lines. Or a Zen painting, with just a few easy lines that totally convey the essence of a thing.

So we get the whole gamut from hamfisted stereotype and cliche, to well-played archetype.

surreality · Mar 22, 2015, 6:59 PM

@Sundown said:

Most of us, if we apped in as ourselves, would be weird and outlandish concepts.

Agreed. The number of crafts specs alone I would need would break the sheet. Meanwhile, I'd be hard-pressed to find four whole skill dots to assign in physicals.

Cobalt · Mar 22, 2015, 8:34 PM

@HelloRaptor said:

she just does (or has done) a lot of disparate things, including combinations of shit that people make snide remarks about characters only being able to do because they're MU* characters.

Fuck, does that mean if I made myself as a MU* char people would make snide remarks?

lordbelh · Mar 23, 2015, 1:02 AM

Execution is the problem, more than concept. Most concepts can in some way or another be made cool, no matter how ridicilous it sounds on paper. Executing it is the problem, and most out there concepts just end up stupid because they weren't thought through beyond 'I want sexy + genious + kick ass marine'

Misadventure · Mar 23, 2015, 5:48 PM

Fuck, make a WORLD setting where 19 year old genius CEO surgeons are the norm. Then everyone can be special, and any concept that rules or setting are linked to our reality will be blissfully euthanized.

I'd make mine one where people consume talent and life force from others to stay young and ever more brilliant. Dammit, I just related talent to time and effort again. Scrap that idea.

Ganymede · Mar 23, 2015, 1:02 AM

@lordbelh said:

Execution is the problem, more than concept.

I concur. I have less of a problem with someone playing a 19-year-old multiple-Ph.D-holder PC than I do someone OOCly bitching about the same. Plus, the folks that play these sorts of concepts tend to be, in my opinion, horrible role-players; they role-play more like fantasy-escapists.

Shut the fuck up and play the game.

HelloRaptor · Mar 23, 2015, 1:45 AM

@Ganymede

they role-play more like fantasy-escapists

As opposed to everyone else, who role-play more like...

Ahahaha, no, I can't even.

Ganymede · Mar 23, 2015, 2:09 AM

@HelloRaptor,

I'm always surprised by how stupid you are, given the volume that you've written. Then again, I learned long ago that those who write a lot often have less to say.

That said, I'll define what I mean by "fantasy-escapists." These are the sort of role-players, to me, that create a PC to serve as an avatar into which they can withdraw to escape their own lives. That can be contrasted with a player that creates a PC to play in a game.

Sundown · Mar 23, 2015, 2:17 AM

Caustic as he is, HR is not someone I'd call stupid. He's usually fairly insightful.

A big aspect of RP is escapism. We can argue on the degree of that escapism but it's an intrinsic quality of RP.

'Playing in a game' is escaping the real world to spend time doing something else.

HelloRaptor · Mar 23, 2015, 3:01 AM

@Ganymede said:

@HelloRaptor,

I'm always surprised by how stupid you are, given the volume that you've written. Then again, I learned long ago that those who write a lot often have less to say.

That said, I'll define what I mean by "fantasy-escapists." These are the sort of role-players, to me, that create a PC to serve as an avatar into which they can withdraw to escape their own lives. That can be contrasted with a player that creates a PC to play in a game.

I wasn't disagreeing with you, just mocking the idea that most MU*ers aren't more the former than the latter.

Ganymede · Mar 23, 2015, 3:07 AM

@Sundown said:

Caustic as he is, HR is not someone I'd call stupid. He's usually fairly insightful.

Almost nineteen years of mutual abuse has allowed me to point out Raptor's foibles with impunity. Whatever insight he might have is usually buried under verbiage.