Role-playing. We all do it to lesser and greater degrees in our life. We put on our pleasant faces when we feel poorly for others in the workplace and our everyday lives. We imagine ourselves in myriads of situations when we watch movies and read books. Almost anything we try that is new could be thought of as a mask that we are trying on, a new personality to play.
Some people go farther, turning the concept of role-playing into an art. Actors do it, so do writers. There are also plain and simple role-playing games, like the popular dungeons and dragons, which is but one of possibly hundreds of different game systems. There is more to it though, as anyone who plays any game will eventually agree. Social factors are involved in games, and development of the self, growth.
I've spoken with my old dungeon master (the guy who creates and runs the games that people play in) many times on what exactly is `gaming', as we call role-playing, about its perks and bad points. He had a few interesting thoughts about it, I'm going to share some.
"It was almost like keeping a story going off the top of your head, between several people. I think it's a great outlet, and if done well, a lot of positive things can come out of it. You can obsess over it too, and it can become a bad thing, just like anything. The game isn't inherently evil in itself at all, but if you've got an evil guy playing the game and he wants to bring cutlery with him and slice up player B, then you've got a problem. But that's still not the game, because he could be down at the pool hall, or wherever. Pool is evil? Maybe... "
My old game master's name is Jamie Lewis, and he's funny, and quite a bit sarcastic. We've played off and on for about eight years, and gaming has been an important part of our youth and development. We grew up together at the same time we played. He grew up as our group's gamemaster and has discovered a lot of insights about the game and its many aspects.
When I asked him what makes a good player, he laughed and said, "I don't know, I've never seen one." It was just a joke though, and he elaborated after. "I've actually had the experience of working with people long enough until they are good players. A good player is somebody who gives to the game. I mean the DM (Dungeon Master)puts a lot of work into it, and a good player is willing to do the same thing. Doesn't matter that you are a player or I'm the DM, there can't be a game without players, there can't be a game without a DM. You need both. A good player will be good characterization, good acting skills, really being there and being into the moment, not overacting or trying to impress anybody. Being with it and going with the flow and pouring their heart out and stuff. And this sounds, like, really sappy and mushy for some reason.... "
"Intelligent, creative playing is a vast part of it. It is great to see people on their toes. And it's great to see people thinking, and it's great to see people coming up with stuff and pulling things out of their hat that you couldn't possibly expect!"
Creativity, intelligence, unity. Seems that role-playing can be deeper then just having fun and hanging out. Those are the two reasons a lot of people play though, and they are good too. Never been anything wrong with having fun, it lies at the basis of what motivates us all. But are there more subtle reasons to play roles?
"People want to build this persona. It's like, when you're playing D&D (Dungeons & Dragons),you've often times got a character that either A) is a strong trait in you or B) is an unconscious trait in you that you might want to bring out more. You're doing your own experiment. Often, if people are really into their characters, they've invested a lot, they've got their fantasy going on and they want to build that. It's fantasy in the fact that we are sitting around playing a game, but it is reality in the way that you are exploring a part of your personality. It might be what you want to be doing in real life, like maybe John can't push every kid at school down the stairs, but Khanum sure can. Maybe it just feels good. It's an outlet for real life. It's an outlet for real emotions into a fantasy world, where nobody... well, nobody often gets hurt. It did happen. That's how you can tell I guess, emotions fly."
Let me interrupt for a minute. Khanum was an evil character who used others, true. Maybe he wasn't the best character, but would you rather have people do that in real life or let it out and learn about and deal with the consequences in a game?
Jamie continues, "Sometimes you don't care, you're just sick of it all. But sometimes, you can almost feel your character. It's like when Majja died that one time, and he had left that note, the moment of silence that fell over everyone. It wasn't long, really, it wasn't too long. But I know there was a moment, at least I felt it, it looked like everyone was feeling it, where it was sad that character died."
I certainly remember feeling that emotion. At the time it helped us understand loss, in a much better way then actually having to wait for someone to die. I almost wanted to cry. I think it does sound really sappy. It was, but it was strong. Of course, it took many trial and error games to get to that place of feeling in the game and still knowing it was a game. There are stages to a players development, and Jamie summed it up fairly well, if not scientifically.
"It goes from not showing up, to just showing up. To just showing up and doing a few cool things, or getting a few cool things, or showing up and kinda role-playing, but getting a little frustrated, and clamming up for the rest of the night. To starting to role-play more and more, to starting to add things to the game. To starting to create things. If it could get to that level, the game could start getting even more rich."
"Other groups that I know make characters every other week. They never get past the point of, this is my character, these are my stats. Maybe I've got a drawing, `this' much gold, um... we killed a dragon last week."
There does seem to be a progression there, even if it is a bit choppy. I've been at the give-me place, and I remember it as being very hollow when I didn't actually get something material in the game, regardless of whether it was fun at the time. The creative place feels much better. But beyond players and characters, what makes a good game? What keeps everyone coming back?
"You can tell a well-laid game where people are into it, opposed to a by-the-rules, sham-shod,dry game. I've run both, seen both sides. The difference is, people either have fun and either learn something about themselves, or are spending constructive time being creative, or people are sitting around, kinda following the lead of this guy who sits up in front of the table. Just going with whatever's going on and rolling the dice. `Roll-playing' as you might put it. Hashing off numbers. Some are bored, some people are asleep, wandering, eating, not coming back next week."
"OR... some people are on the streets, hanging out, talking about whether or not to trust a certain NPC (Non-Player Character, a person in the game who is controlled by the game master). Thinking about what they are going to do next game. As opposed to, `I don't know if I'm going to play anymore, this kinda sucks.' "
"You can tell. Essentially, the difference between a good game and a bad game are the results, and whether or not people had a good time and were creative and worked together."
And what of the game master, the guy who makes up all the adventures that the other people go through and experience? He has to enjoy all those things about being a player, all those and more. He has to make things exciting and draw the characters into it. He must be the most creative of all. Jamie has fairly much insisted on being the game master over the years, because none of us really desired it, he got a lot of practice at it. So what is so good about being a gamemaster?
"As DM, you do have certain perks, like bending the rules," Jamie laughs. Then he gets a little more serious, "I love coming up with NPCs and villains. That's a definite high point. I like to be able to sit back and play a villain's personality, not just play a villain's stats. Neutrals (people of neutral alignment, neutral tendencies) were cool, but the villains, that's just the icing on the cake right there."
"It's like, you could make a powerful villain, whoop-de-do. This last time around, the girl Vanya, you didn't know she was a villain. She was a good actor, she pulled off a perfect, confused, helpless female-in-distress. She was powerless, but she was a mastermind, and you could've killed her with your pinky finger. In your face the whole time."
He grins, self-satisfied, obviously one of the perks of being a game master. "It was the kind of villain that just got into your heads and then tried to crush you. Manipulation is totally, 100% part of being a DM, you need to manipulate the mood, lots of things. You never need to manipulate how a player reacts though, and that's the most fun for you. Because you don't know how they are going to react. And you don't want to know, I mean, that's your question. You know what's going on in room three. But you don't know what's going on in the player's head,and you don't know what they are going to do."
Sure, don't we all want to be the bad guy every now and then? I think everyone has had their fantasies about it, the game master gets to do a little more. But, as is always said, `With great power comes great responsibility.' How does this one guy get and keep the attention of five, eight,or however many players there are?
"I think you have to key in to people's personal ideas of what A) they are doing here, and B)what is going to hook them. You know, what is interesting to them more than just the sword or the gold or whatever, but the plot and the connections. "
"You entice, if you make a rich environment, and a rich world that they are psyched to be a part of, then they will naturally want to grow. If they're into it, they're into it. So they want to expand their characters."
Alright, all you have to do is make a good environment. If you were a writer, it is just a matter of creating that beautiful world that draws you in when you first start reading the book. Tell that to all the novelists of the world. Simple? Probably not. So how do you make the world enticing?
"I've found how to make my campaigns (campaigns are a series of connected episodes) better. I've streamlined 'em. I find that quantity is no substitute for quality. Say, if you were going to do a dungeon, you make a dungeon with eight rooms, but you have explicit detail about them, and the adventure tied around that dungeon has enough detail and enough intrigue and enough flesh to get everyone involved. I got smart, started making things smaller. You can make a dungeon with 37 rooms, and twenty-eight of them suck because your hand was all cramped up, or it was three in the morning and you were all wired out and you had to play later on that afternoon. That is not nearly as good."
Simplify, such a brilliant idea. But obviously it takes some trial and error to find what works well. However, there is one thing that happens to game masters, just like it happens to many people who are creative. Burnout, as it is lovingly called, the loss of inspiration and ideas. Jamie's been through it before. He states simply, "Burnout sucks. It's tough because the game is a lot of work if you want it to work well. The DM has to be on his toes throughout the entire game. If he's not, if the DM is asleep at the wheel, either the players run amok, or players get pissed."
"It can happen, you start running dry of ideas. My favorite thing to do is read, or go do something to get an idea, go see a place. I start a lot of D&D games by going to places, going out for walks, and being like, `Okay, a place like that. Something like this happened. These people were there. You guys are tied in this way.' "
Then I had to ask what he thought the worst possible response would be?
"The worst way to deal with burnout is to keep on DMing. If you are lucky, maybe you'll snap out of it, and not have to take a recess. If you've got burnout, give it a rest. You've been putting out so much that you need to take in more. That's the whole of it. It's like anything in life, you need to keep that balance."
The same could be said of burning out in anything. One must restore the balance, in ourselves,our creativity, our feelings. In all, this `game' of playing roles seems like a good method to find that balance, and work with it, if that is what you are after. The game promotes creativity,understanding of situations and other people. Above all, it is fun.
"Every campaign we've matured, in the way we role-play, both as DMs and players. Believe it or not, I always say this, and it sounds weird. Gaming was the tool to make a certain group of people really, really tight. Whether or not they were tight with certain people on an individual basis already, or would be in the future, I think it unified the group to a degree we couldn't have otherwise. Period. No matter what anyone says. And that happened, and that was a good thing."