Don't be 'That Guy'

From HollowWiki

Whether you happen across a given RPG for the first time, or are a regular just looking for a new way to enjoy the game, the questions usually go as follows: What race and/or class do I want to play? Where can I find decent art for the character? What should I throw in their backstory? Good or evil? All these questions, and the decisions taken from those questions, are valid, necessary topics of consideration, and all of them have a direct impact on the way the game is played, not only for you as the player of the character but also for any and all characters and players that you and your character will encounter during your gaming experience.

Despite taking all those steps toward defining your character and your gaming experience, there is one question that you might want to take into consideration. It's a question that all too often goes overlooked by players new and old even though it's clearly the most important and telling question that you can ask yourself: What perspective am I going to take when playing the game?

It's a question that seems innocuous, but the out-of-character attitude that you and others convey has just as much, if not far more, impact on a gaming experience than anything you can say or do in-character to anyone else. Many a gaming experience, and I'm sure a game or two as well, has been ruined beyond repair not because of an in-game negative experience, but due to an improper perspective on gameplay.

We've all seen the players I refer to, those who taint the game with a distorted viewpoint on in-game actions; their most common forms are the blatant mixers of OOC (out of character, meaning you the player think/feel/say these things) and IC (in-character, meaning your character), the people who take offense to anything and everything that happens to their character in game and perceive it as a slight against them personally, and the 'what's in it for me?' person.

OOC-IC mixers come in all shapes and sizes. There's the meta-gamers, those folks who take information about other characters that they've learned as players, not as characters, and introduce it as their character's knowledge nonetheless. There's also the people that let their personal feelings toward a situation, player or character dictate their character's response, and the people who go out of their way to cause problems IC for someone they don't like OOC.

People who take offense are exactly that. Anything that's done in-game to their character, or even punishment rendered by a moderator or an administrator, must be in some way tied to the player's dislike for them as a person. The 'what's in it for me' person is the person who tries to 'win' the role-playing game. Again, it's a fairly straightforward denotation.

All of these attitudes, a player's OOC perspective on gameplay, are far more menacing and threatening toward a gameplay experience than any potential problem that could manifest itself in-game, and need to be taken as more serious a threat to the purity of a MUD experience than anything else in-game.

While all dangerous in their own respective ways, the evaluation of a gamer's attitude, I believe, can tie up all of these potentially volatile ends and lend a solution in one fell swoop: enjoy the game. It's a simple concept, yet it's one that nearly everyone misses out on, and it in itself creates more friction and destruction in the game than any thought-to-be-inactive administrator, auto hitter (the person who posts '/me slashes _____ with her katana, killing her instantly!') or bad role-play plot can exact.

People all too often are caught up in the end result of what goes on, and what stands to be gained or lost for them as a person. This leads to people finding their identity in imaginary characters, products of their own brain, which is needless to say an unhealthy attitude.

Also mixed into that 'what's in it for me?' mentality is the perception that if something doesn't go your way, it's contrived to be that way in order to make sure that you don't reap the greatest benefit possible. Everyone wants to be the next big thing in role-playing, to make a name for himself or herself in the role-playing community, and to dominate the world in whatever small way they can. If they can't have their way all the time, or something bad happens to their character, it's the end of the world as we know it, and they don't feel fine.

It's that attitude that leads directly to most OOC-IC mixing, meta-gaming notwithstanding for the purpose of this discussion.

Example: Let's say I have a semi-prominent character on Generic Role-Playing Game X. Someone comes along and out of nowhere wants to test my character's strength in a fight. If I were a 'what's in it for me?' person, and thereby an OOC-IC mixer, I might refuse because I would think that the person behind the challenging character just wanted to knock me off my high horse, or what-have-you. I could then look over my shoulder at any and all challenges and wonder if they were derived from the same perceived agenda.

Now, when you read that, you might think that I was paranoid and downright silly. I'm telling you right now, that probably 75 to 80 percent of players, if not more, are just like this! Part of the problem is that this is not recognized as a great problem. In order to curb the down-turn in player perspective in role-playing atmospheres, I recommend the following, simple solution: Enjoy the game again.

There is no winner or loser in role-playing games, only the enjoyment you can take from it. For some of us, that means testing our role-playing skills, but that should not come to the forefront of emphasis when playing. Too often people are lost in the OOC aspects of in-game, and this can only destroy an experience, not bring anything good about. Simply put, in order to enjoy the game to the fullest, remember that it is a game, and that fulfillment in its purest form comes in enjoying the journey. Don't worry about the end result.

Who cares who gets the in-game glory, or what any player stands to gain from something that happens in an imaginary world? The best part of gaming is the experience, and the development of your character for as long as they wind up lasting. It took me many years and painful experiences to come to this perspective on how to view the game, but it's a much healthier one than the one I previously had; it didn't have to take me so long to piece it together when I could have figured it out in the first place, because the concept isn't hard.

If everyone were to take this attitude, rather than the 'what's in it for me?' mantra, I am confident you would see a far more productive and cooperative atmosphere in your game of choice, and a less fractured player-base to boot. After all, if people can learn to enjoy the ride wherever it takes them, the in-game bumps and hiccups are far more easily handled without the broth-spoiling brains of these characters getting their personal feelings or ambitions involved.