All the World's a Stage: Out of Character : World of Warcraft General Discussions

All the World's a Stage: Out of Character


All the World's a Stage. It really is. All the World of Warcraft is a actually a stage -- and all its orcs and humans merely players, each one with a role to play.

When people hear about roleplayers in WoW for the first time, some get the impression that we take our little game of "let's pretend" way too seriously, that everything we do in the game has to be some sort of mind-blowing expression of our innermost true feelings. But the truth of the matter is that only a portion of what we do in the game involves stories and character -- a lot of what we do and say to other players is not "in character" at all. In fact, our out-of-character (OOC) communication is essential in order to properly enjoy the in-character (IC) elements, and good roleplayers do a lot of cool things to help make both sides complement each other.

Much of what roleplayer does is out of character, and rightly so. Even just pushing buttons in order to activate abilities could be considered "OOC" -- in a way, the only character you can ever totally immerse yourself in is... yourself. Any time you play a role that isn't yourself, there's always some part you which is there in the background, knowing that it's all just a show. You can't really ignore your true self -- you have to let it guide and inform every part of the role you play.

The same is true when roleplaying in WoW. Roleplay is strengthened when you open up and accept OOC communication with others, establish real relationships in addition to those your characters create. Actors in a play have to support each other as real people or their play will fail, and in the same way, the honest communication we open up with our roleplaying friends can sometimes be what defines our roleplaying experience and gives it true meaning.

Continue reading All the World's a Stage: Out of Character

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Social Conventions, Virtual selves, Guilds, RP, (Roleplaying) All the World's a Stage

All the World's a Stage: Out of Character originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments


Author: SUPPORT@WEBLOGSINC.COM (David Bowers)
Category: all-the-worlds-a-stagechat-channelsfeaturedguildguild-hallguildsicin-characterjoystiqfeaturesoocout-of-characterroleplayerroleplayersroleplayingrp
Publish Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2009 22:00:00 EST
Read more...