Articles Roleplayers Vs Cosplayers - Roleplayers by DJ Forrest

Roleplayers

By D.J. Forrest

Roleplay – the ability to act without a script and often without fully knowing the intention of the other persons mind but still being able to put a coherent response to their comment.

In the beginning as children we played with toys, with figures and horses and soldiers, and aliens and dolls and cars and many many other items that gave us a sense of play.  We’d play on our own or we’d play with others, we’d imagine our characters, sometimes ourselves to have superhuman powers, be able to achieve and master many skills, more than we could ever do.  Our characters could dive from the highest board and swim to the bottom of the ocean without the use of breathing apparatus.  We’d have abilities to walk on water, through walls, to move objects, to blast with our eyes, to move mountains, to fly ships, to battle aliens and still live to tell the tale, we’d come back stronger and stronger, or we’d discard one character and be another. 

When the age of technology advanced we moved our fantasy games to the computer and joined others online in Xbox, Playstation, and played as our character, an already formed person who just required armour and weapons, a power up, he could be a tree elf, a mercenary, soldier, assassin, could be blue, yellow, green, black, white, Hispanic, Indian, African, American, British, could be anything we wanted, male or female, alien or animal. 

Then we advanced further with the creation of social media networks, the arrival of LiveJournal (1999), Twitter (2006), MySpace (2003), Bebo (2005), Facebook (2004), a new era for role playing began.  There wasn’t a need to join a forum, to air work and stories.  The stories were to be had from a chat box, or a page, where one person created their character with all the skills and bio in the first paragraph and entered into another person’s game, and played online and played well for a few hours before logging out. 

Roleplay extended itself into our lives more freely than playing with figures, and toys and horses and soldiers, it took it to another level that often Playstation and Xbox couldn’t compete.  Because in role play you didn’t just have a character specifically playing on the screen in front of you, you had a character who in your head could be anything you wanted, and you could create a ‘monster’ of a character which outweighed anything you’d played with a console or a keyboard on platform or arcade games.  Your character could look like anything and anyone and wasn’t just something you had to follow from a choice of facial expressions and designated power ups.  Your character could be anything from fictional to factual and he or she or it was up to you to make.

As the years progressed, and with new characters, comes the urge to write masses of text, devise stories that the team can play to, follow the basis of the story and then run with it in whatever style you want, so long as the crux of the story is adhered to, “you’re in a spaceship, so you can’t just nip out for fags and be back in ten minutes.”

For me roleplaying took me to a whole new level as far as gaming was concerned, there were no real parameters unless you remained in canon mode.  As a freelancer in roleplay, my character could step in and out of varying stories and still be credible enough, could still diversify himself and still make sense.  That isn’t for everyone, there are some people who prefer to be canon, to play the role of the character as he should be played in the series, to not step out of these parameters.  But who decides how we choose to play our character, even those who are canon character players.  Who’s to say that Captain Jack Harkness couldn’t tangle with vampires, or the Green Lantern, considering Torchwood deals with aliens and all levels of alien life which threatens the very existence of humans?

Roleplay for me has been a lifesaver in terms of finding something that connected me to people and friends online.  It helped to mould characters that would normally have remained in the pages of a story, helped to see what made them tick, helped to build them, or discard them. 

It also made me aware that not everybody in the roleplay world is as interested in your character as you are, it helped me realise the snobbery that comes from canon characters and should you decide to take on the Jack’s and Doctors of the roleplay world, you had to decide for yourself, if you followed their rules of engagement or you stepped away from canon and did as you felt was right for you.

Project: Torchwood recently spoke with a few roleplayers about their experiences online and these are their comments.

Project: Torchwood: How long have you been role playing for and what brought you into role playing?

Amy: I have been role playing 6 years; it helps me express my feelings through another character

Project: Torchwood: How many characters have you had and have they all been within Torchwood related? Have you role played on forums as well as social networking sites?

Amy: I have had about 20 different characters ranging from Torchwood, Doctor Who, Arrow and Waterloo Road, I use Facebook, Twitter and used to use Bebo

Project: Torchwood: Have you ever experienced any animosity during role play, have others criticised your characters, are you more canon or are you freely able to be how you want with your characters?

Amy: When I role play Malcolm Merlyn I get criticized

Project: Torchwood: What were the criticisms you faced for your Arrow character?

Amy: That Malcolm was an Evil Character

Project: Torchwood: Coming back to RP in general, do you find it annoying or enjoyable when two characters from different shows come together and 'get married', or 'civil partnerships' when in canon or on TV the pair hate each other?

Amy: I think it’s weird but I’ve done it myself I was Spike and I was with a Jack

Project: Torchwood: You also do a bit of cosplay is that where your heart lies more, or do you find both are as good as the other?

Amy: I cosplay the master.  More goes into the role play

Project: Torchwood: Role playing has been going on for many years now, and does extremely well on social networking sites, when you role play do you ever interact in chat with the other person, or do you keep within character? Have you made many or lots of friends through your characters that you've actually met outside of social networking sites?

Amy: I have actually got a girlfriend through role playing she’s amazing we've been mates for 6 years now

Project: Torchwood: If someone wanted to join the role playing world on a social networking site, what advice would you give to them? Such as what rules should they adhere to if there are any?

Amy: Just to be careful because some people are very harsh and can be cruel

Project: Torchwood: Kirsty, how long have you been a roleplayer for?

Kirsty: Since 2006/7

Project: Torchwood: Was your character from Torchwood?

Kirsty: Not originally, my first character was just a random stranger, who met Jack, and ended up becoming involved in Torchwood, and eventually owning her own Torchwood

Project: Torchwood: When you began playing as Jack Harkness did you find people preferred canon or were they happy to have you play him how you wanted?

Kirsty: Both. I had some people who wanted me to be totally canon, but I also had some people who didn’t care as long as I role played with them

Project: Torchwood: What was it that got you interested in role playing in the first place?

Kirsty: I got a friend suggestion on Facebook one day from a Jack Harkness

and I got interested so I added him and it went from there. I learned a lot from him over the years

Project: Torchwood: Over the years of role playing, what has changed for you?

Kirsty: I think I would have to say it’s helped my English a lot so my English has changed through the years, and the way I write changed big time too.

Project: Torchwood: Role play over the years I know has changed, in the way groups were formed, and then disbanded, friends move on, fall out, as we know, since the early days when you could find a place to roleplay your character, do you find yourself limited now?  Because of so many restrictions on social networking sites to have a character, or not to have a character, do you find it harder to role play?

Kirsty: I do find myself limited in some ways, but it’s not so bad once you get to know new people and trust them. When FB deletes me for whatever reason because someone has reported me for something I just make another page up. I do wish though that people would realise it’s just fun and games, especially when we get people who ARENT a character, but are a real person and they get all annoyed at us for having fun, or they don’t seem to realise that the character is fake, and they go off on one getting really angry

Project: Torchwood: What is it about role playing that brings you online of an evening?

Kirsty: What makes me come online? Fun and my friends. An RP family becomes part of your life so they become more of friends. Some of my rp friends are now my best friends.

Project: Torchwood: If someone had never role played before but wanted to, what advice would you offer them?

Kirsty: Probably to listen to your partners (in RP) when they want to do stuff, or to make sure you don't go too overboard in things and just have fun, that’s the most important thing, to have fun

Project: Torchwood: When people RP say a Torchwood character, do you ever think it’s crazy when these characters are married up to other characters that in the episode their relationship would never have seen them joined together, such as Captain Jack with Rex Matheson or Oswald Danes?

Kirsty: I'm really bad when I do this but no, just no! Some things are not supposed to happen. Jack with Oswald, no but then my Jack is with someone who is not Torchwood, and is getting in the folds of it and I love it. Wouldn’t change it for the world but some canons are just being stupid. I did originally follow canon and have my Jack with an Ianto, but it got boring. Having my partner he's with now it changes all the time and the role player is a really good writer and friend of mine and I am really glad I met that person and that character is with my Jack. It’s more fun

Project: Torchwood: Naomi, when you started role playing, what was it that got you interested in the hobby?

Naomi: I'd never heard of online RP till I joined the social networking side of things. I have experience of portraying characters as I have an acting background. I made some friends and would notice that at certain times of the day they would vanish and change who they were. I eventually worked out what was going on and on one summers evening decided that I wanted in on some of the action. I kept completely hidden and even went through every profile to see if there was anyone of the character I wanted to be. There wasn't so with a little research and ad lib I decided to form a profile.

Project: Torchwood: Was your character based on anyone, was it from a tv show, movie or was this completely improvised for a particular group? What kind of person would you say your character was?

Naomi: My character was formed from an ITV Drama called "Secret Smile." It starred one of my idols David Tennant and most of the people I was friendly with were fans too. I chose the character Naomi Stone. In the drama she wasn't really a main character, so I decided to use her background from the drama. She was an abused former girlfriend of David's character Brendan Block. He would make out that he loved her when really all he was, was a violent bully. Nai was also a nurse and also involved in helping another ex of Brendan's fake her own death and flee the country. I brought Nai into the fold as if she had come back after this had all happened.

Project: Torchwood: So how easy was it to put a complete unknown character into a roleplaying story with a group of friends? Were you all part of a Brendan Block group? Or were you able to go freelance and position yourself within any group looking for a female character.

Naomi: It was easier than I thought actually. I did notice that there was a Brendan Block character that someone had and my plan was that Nai would meet him in the street kind of thing and repent all that she had done to him and caused him as deep down she loved him and always would do. The first rp interaction I had was with a Miranda. (She was also from Secret Smile and she was the girl who Nai had helped fake her own death) Nai spent the evening with Miranda trying to make plans to speak to Brendan. Miranda kept telling Nai she was mad but Nai wouldn't listen. Nai had it in her head that she was meeting him and that was final. The next morning tragedy struck. Brendan had ended his life. The Rp'r had ended the character. So thinking on my feet I turned Nai into a raging Alcoholic and in mourning for the man she once loved.

Project: Torchwood: So Naomi is now without her leading man as it were. Did this open up more avenues for your character, a raging alcoholic, I can imagine she would be full of anger, pain and possibly draining on you to keep up this kind role. How much time in role play did you spend with your character each day? And how draining was playing this kind of role on you as a person, I'm taking it you're not a raging alcoholic?

Naomi: It did and to be honest I was experiencing pain in my real life. Parents were splitting up and my Father had become violent towards me. Also had been in a rough relationship myself with a very possessive person just like Brendan. So the pain Nai was suffering I used from personal experience. With the exception of relying on alcohol. I was suffering the ends to a personal breakdown, but Nai was my only real way of speaking, I'd hidden myself away completely. I had no job and at some times I'd be online and as her nearly all day and all night. Sometimes heading to 2am.

Project: Torchwood: So Naomi actually helped you get through a difficult time in your life? At this point did your friends whom your role played with know this was you, or did you keep your identity hidden still?

Naomi: Yeah she did to be honest. She made me overcome the depression and with help from one special friend who means the world to me and always will do. Little did I know I would end up rping with them as someone else and they never knew who I was either. Only one person knew I was Nai and she didn't get into rp until the later stages. So no, no one knew who I was.

Project: Torchwood: So the pros of having a roleplay character is it helped you work through your personal issues, you made new friends and contacts, but what about the downside to role play, did you encounter any?

Naomi: I had some jealousy later on with the character, Yes Nai could be an out and out bitch but one person took it a little too far once and had to be reigned in by another, they still had no clue who I was though.

Project: Torchwood: A lot of people who roleplay tend to keep their identity a secret, preferring to roleplay and knock off the chat, so they're just online to play the character. Did you ever want to reveal who you were, were you coerced into coming out from behind the mask?

Naomi: No I didn't to be honest, I quite liked the cloak and dagger thing with it. Kind of hiding behind the mask. I worked out a couple of the people who I had encountered with Nai but kept it to myself. Think biggest shock had to be Nai's first RP love interest. Now that will stay with me forever.

Project: Torchwood: When looking through various forums and groups, someone within the group would think up a story idea, and say who and what he or she would like to have happen, when you've rped as your character, did you have this kind of structure within your group or was it a blank page and you leapt in and hoped someone would follow your lead, or were there lots of different storylines popping up all over and you merely asked if you could join in? How was it for your group, or for you as a role player?

Naomi: Depends really some stories I would invent the starter myself others would already be set up and with permission I would involve my character with others. Once I got into the swing of things people from groups would invite my character.

Project: Torchwood: Did you have a profile for your character, a bio, so that should you join a big group you wouldn't have to continually say, Hi I'm Nai, I'm a raging alcoholic and eat small children for breakfast? Everything you needed to know about your character was written up in a note? Or was it a case of I'm Naomi Stone, was in Secret Smile....

Naomi: I had a profile for her, most people that I knew and were connected to RP were David Tennant fans and had seen this drama so had a rough idea who she was. I just added onto the character as she was really quite minor in the drama.

Project: Torchwood: Do you agree that a lot of characters are put together these days, or since you started purely so they could have cyber intimations? Cyber jollies, sexual relations?

Naomi: To be honest it depends on the person. I mean Nai through her time did have some sexual encounters but me as a person got no feelings from it. The first time it happened it was all quite a surprise, bearing in mind I'd never done this sort of thing before. When you play out scenes like that it takes some thought and carefully placed words.

Project: Torchwood: So why do you role play?

DJ: Initially it was because I wanted to test out characters that had always only ever been in my head. I guess, I roleplay because its escapism, a chance to lose myself in a character who has all the special qualities I wish I had in real, and it’s almost like a compliment or a good feeling when someone even wants to interact with you because it's not so much the profile photo but the qualities you have when you roleplay.

Project: Torchwood: So what type of characters do you role play and why? Where do you role play?

DJ: The type of characters I roleplay are mostly sci fi, I used to have about 9 characters but have whittled it down to just a few. But most are from Torchwood and most are male. I roleplay on FB because it was such a bind on a forum and you had to wait ages before the other person commented. So FB was easier.

Project: Torchwood: So what is the Role playing scene like?

DJ: When I first started out, roleplaying was fun. It was a bunch of friends having a laugh, although most were looking for the sexual jollies I was looking mostly for action.  Roleplaying meant that for a few hours I could hide behind my character, put a little bit of me in and a lot of the character, and when I played emotional scenes with them, it really really moved me. But I never see the other person when I roleplay, all I see is the character they play, like actors play a role, you don't see, John Barrowman, you see Captain Jack. So it’s' the same as roleplay.

But roleplaying has a bitchier side to, where if you're playing canon people prefer you to play it exactly right but I hate canon because as much as you can throw in all the cliches and all the quotes that Jack would do, how he would react etc, you have to move with the times, and you have to invent new stories, else the roleplay becomes stale.

Roleplay Vs Cosplay

Which would you choose?

In all fairness there’s not much difference between the role player and the cosplayer.  They both involve a lot of character building, they both face the same criticisms should you consider a canon character, and they both succeed in bringing two people or a bunch of people together, either over a computer monitor or a convention.  But which would you choose after reading the Pros and Cons of both?  To be honest, it doesn’t matter which you choose, in a recent survey on Project: Torchwood’s social network page the levels of RP matched those of CP.  So whether you choose to sit at a computer, laptop or phone, or you choose to walk amongst others dressed in similar or different attire, and have your photos taken with adults and children alike, it’s what makes you feel good, because at the end of the day, it’s about having FUN!

With special thanks to Naomi, Kirsty, and Amy for the interviews, BBC for the photos of Torchwood cast.