[TML] How long can you survive in the vacuum of space?

[Azalais Aranxta]

On Wed, 2 Jul 2008, Tom Naro wrote:

> If you are playing a Vargr you well know that you are not
> playing a *normal* human. You adjust your playing style
> appropriately. You also relate the actions of your Vargr in
> terms of how the *normal* human would react. In fact, you
> judge the character actions against how your real-life self
> would react. The nature of role-playing is that you put
> yourself into the game. The *normal human* is you. You expect
> that the normal human would respond and react just as you would
> in the given situation. You are everyman.

*looks down at chest, boobs are still there*  Um, not so much.

Even gender and orientational differences aside...not so much.

If this were true then there'd be no point in having multiple
"normal human" characters.  In fact roleplaying offers the
opportunity not just to respond and react to situations you will
never encounter in real life, it also offers the opportunity to
be people who do not react and respond to things the way you
would.  Julissa haut-Baris is much more likely to consider
sleeping with a man she's just met than I am.  Gwendi Donovan is
happier dealing with military hierarchies than I would ever be.
Her brother Tyler...not so much.   (He predates "Irresponsible
Captain Tyler" by a good 15 years, but the characters are very
alike, LOL.)  Adlikliepr was not just "me with psychic powers
that actually worked."  My Irklansa characters, of whom there
were several, certainly did not think like me!

Religion, philosophy, education, class status, personal history
and genetic temperament differ from individual to individual.
Few of my characters have shared my tendency to depression.
None of my bisexual or gay Traveller characters had ever lived in
a place where they were discriminated against based on sexual
orientation.  Very few of my characters have had a religion that
currently exists in this world, and fewer still have had either
of my primary religious identifications, one of which influences
the way I dress, the food I eat and the things I am willing to
say about other people.

For a lot of people (and I hate to generalise gender-wise, but
this is my personal observation/experience) who roleplay,
especially guys, your statement may be true:  their characters do
pretty much think and act and behave the way THEY would, in a
given situation with a given skill set.

But in fact, that's one of the quickest ways to screw yourself up
in a lot of the games I've run (Traveller and otherwise), which
tend to revolve around intrigue, social situations and culture
clashes:  acting like an American middle-class male on the geeky
side (or, in journal based games, a middle-class college
girl) usually isn't the best way to approach things.

~malfoy :)

****************************************************************
Azalais Aranxta (~malfoy)
ataniell93 on LiveJournal and Vox
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/malfoymadness

"I know the true world, and you know I do. But we needn't let it
think we all bow down." --Christopher Fry