A thought on roleplaying

Sometimes when I'm playing RPGs (either online or not), I get the feeling that everyone is an elf. Really, most of people describe their characters as beautiful people, thin, tall and even tanned! And when I say most people, I'm talking about a big fat portion of them, if the ones that don't have greek gods as their characters would be put on a pie graph, their slice would be slim.

I mean, come on! Why does everyone need to be gorgeous, sexy and fit? I'm known to have some of the weirdest characters all around and I play mostly for the fun, than for giving my ego a boost up. People, please get real and break that barrier where your character is a representation of yourself like you would like them to be. Some of the players of both online text based RPGs that I play (Sindome and SWMUSH) are already there and it's a bliss, but even in those places much of the options on character creation are left behind and overlooked.

Why? People like to look good, they feel pretty... It's the subliminal connection between yourself and your character. You want to be accepted, you want to be among the 'cool people'. Well guess what? You don't! It's a game, make your character so you get the most of it, and in the RP focus make him different. Always remember different doesn't mean better, never. On a world of elves the dwarf stands out. If everyone is gorgeous, tall and fit as a bull. Create something different, give them scars (and not those cool ritualistic ones), make a Sloth from goonies and see how much fun you'll have everyday instead of the same thing day after day.

But as far as looks goes, it isn't the biggest of problems. One of the biggest I found everywhere is what I call over-especialization. It's like you have one character and all that he can do is this and nothing more. He's the best on this but if he's ever alone and he needs to do that, he's doomed. It's like having a car jacker that only drives automatic cars, once he gets his hands on an expensive as hell ferrari he's done. He'll never take the car out... RPGs are all about diverse situations where you'll need to use lots of skills in order to get away in one piece.

On Neverwinter Nights there are loads of people that create a character that is the best at fighting and can kill a dragon alone... Guess what? One trap on the floor and he's history. Why? No variation, the same thing over and over again. See monster, knockdown, devastating critical, rinse and repeat. Even mages on nwn are repetitive as hell, the guy doesn't even change his spells to see what he can do. No it's bigby's, bigby's, bigby's, bigby's, missile storm, missile storm, rinse and repeat on the next target.

And people say that the game is getting dull. Why? Because of you ( and sometimes me too, I admit ). Try to broaden your RP by thinking outside the usual box and aiming for something that makes you unique. Once you got that, no day will be dull.