Do people roleplay out themselves?

[blargtheawesome]

it's a question that's always made me curious; there's a concept of a character that most people are familiar with, called the author avatar. that is basically just the author projected into the universe of his writing, as any old character (but usually the protagonist). it's why so many characters in fiction are authors, because the most believable character that many authors can conjure up will be themselves with some minor superficial changes.

and this makes me curious, because so many players always repeat the same concept in a character. i always like to play different variants of nwalme, sankera plays sankera with different names, elz plays roughly the same kind of woman with different archetypes and different values in all her alts. lannis hasn't made a character i know about that isn't interested in crp. cymic has cymic, mean cymic, and goofy sand eater cymic.
(pls forgib i do not mean to say that everyone's character concepts are all the same or they're all different charicatures of the same idea, it's just patterns i've picked up on and that i think everyone does)

now the thing that stops me from considering that we are all, indeed, just projecting parts of ourselves into our characters is that i, personally, aspire to not be my characters, generally speaking. i like to play people that i can relate to and sympathize with, but who have flaws that run to the core of their being as people (and tend to make them villainous).

this turned away from being a question and more a discussion but hey the forum itself is called roleplay discussion so discuss this idea with me while i procrastinate applying for scholarships

 

[Azur]

It's impossible to play any type of character without some level of yourself being present in their decisions, habits, or workings. If a person were able to play a character that was completely unlike themselves, they'd either have a difficult time playing that character, or have a gift for that sort of thing. For myself Arthas, Ryder, Rystel, or whatever other characters I can use as examples definitely do a lot of things I wouldn't, but also have the same general sense that I do.

 

[Legendary Fiction]

I've done a range of chars from a lot like me, to very unlike me. It depends on how well I make them at creation, with their backgrounds and personality and such, as to how well I can play them. I'm more of a medium, than a player.
However, it also depends on the interaction of other people, for me. If the interaction is sporadic, and takes 5 minutes for each reply, then I can't get immersed in my own char, and it's more 'me' playing than it is the character.

 

[JoeJoe]

Actually, my name is Joe and I rp Joe out as me, granted he has certain quirks through experience Joe was always grounded by me. Even some of his smaller things he does I do IRL, I'd heavily agree to Rp'ing out me in my character.

 

[Ruu Darling]

Each of my characters are widely and wildly bipolar compared to each other, though it's not out of dislike of having the same personality and such in many characters, my creativity adjusts to what feels right as I mold them into shape throughout rp. That having said, they all have a common trait in some way, shape or form yet they all go about it different.

Example; Person A and B dislikes an opinion of person C, Person A goes about on their way as they can let things go while Person B feels the need to sass Person C's ass and win the argument. I do see a few things in my characters that I can do or relate to or even myself, which just makes it easier to rp them but sometimes I add a skill or trait to them that is a little out of my general area of knowledge and I do that to force myself to research and learn about said skill or trait that way the character I have created becomes more easier to play and I don't look like a bloody idiot OOC and the creative world. It helps me build a better rp experience as well build myself as a person but we're talking about 'roleplaying out ourselves'.

So in a way, yes.

Edit: Yet complicatedly twisted for a better original story.

 

[Narvendel]

One of my characters is a projection of myself into the world. So yes, that character is just me being me, sans a few things tweaked by necessary backstory. The other has a lot of my characteristics in personality, and is played with several things constantly in mind, so it doesn't play out as I'd do things. Next character I make is going to be similar to me at first glance, but quickly goes to an opposing nature of mine.

 

[MelodyMusica]

My characters have different aspects of me. The most common being blue eyes and a kind personality. However some who receive my rather...rough emotional handling. Meaning very crap at handling their emotional stability...*cough*Lin*cough*

 

[Swiftspear]

What I share with Cedlas is a tendency to be really dumb sometimes

 

[Djiboutian]

I play as a cynical player because I suffered from depression. I play as a character that is laid back and doesn't care about human ethics and only care about himself and cares about what happening in the" now". Which is what I'm trying to aim for in real life, A laid back personality that doesn't care about the little things or worrying about the future a lot and focusing more in the "now". I learned that telling the truth and being honest and focusing about your self is much fun and enjoyable in real life and IC. But yeah, I play my character as I am in real life with some over exaggeration like I don't live in a makeshift wooden wheel in real, will at least last I checked I wasn't.

 

[French Roast]

I do my best to vary things from my own personality, especially in the last couple of years of RP I've had. Cyyr was basically just a copy-paste of me personality-wise, but I don't share Tryg's cold brutality (I couldn't hurt a fly) or Veriswen's blatantly cynical self-serving philosophy (I'm rather idealistic). Similar to what other people have posted, I think there's generally always a part of you represented in your characters and it's basically impossible to create a character that is nothing like you at all.

As far as making characters different goes I usually try to directly base them off of characters from different places, of course while trying to avoid copying directly. It's an easier way to latch onto something else than yourself to imitate, rather than flying blind trying to play out something that isn't like yourself and you don't really have an understanding of. Tryg and Veriswen both have drawn from different Game of Thrones characters, for example.

If you'll forgive me getting stupidly nerdy I'd also say we let parts of ourselves that we normally suppress consciously or subconsciously for moral or other reasons come out when we play characters that don't act like we'd normally act. A world without real consequences and all, an idea that's been explored in other places like Westworld. I'm not saying you're secretly a horrible person if you've played an evil character or anything that drastic, just a thought.

 

[Smurf]

i am not an autistic goat.

contrary to popular belief.

 

[Cymic_]

Cymic is tricky because I do not have his confidence nor his beauty. I'm not disrespectful to anyone (with exceptions), and I do not have rippling musckles.

 

[Electric]

Oh yes. Asero is basically me, but with a better sense of time management, which basically accounts for everything he has done/is doing.
Appearance is very different though.

 

[Tot]

James is basically me minus the cult bits
< . <
> . >

 

[Tomato150]

All my characters are basically extensions of my own cheeki and buttholish nature, with minor changes.

Azoth was pretty much the stock standard, and then Geoff was quite similar, except with a more mature me behind the wheel.

All my other characters (Which haven't lived too long come to think of it) have been just me as well, but with more variations of different personality traits I possess

 

[Sankera]

sankera plays sankera with different names

Now this is some piping hot tea

 

[Azur]

i am not an autistic goat.

contrary to popular belief.

don't lie to me smurf

 

[ToastySpam]

I usually take aspects of my personality than I can relate to, and then make them the focal point of my character, building off of that. Hopefully that creates a range that is varied but still believable.

 

[Sir Saltington]

When it comes to making characters, I have thought about this a good bit. Normally I try to avoid putting too much of myself into my characters, so that it's more parts of me and not completely me (not that I could ever pull off making me completely). I'll bring up Jacob to explain this.

Jacob has a lot in common with me, including his main thing. Problem is, I've seen his main thing be a main thing in other stories as well. Also, while I do have things in common with him, I try to take some of those things and change how they are reflected. An example is I don't have in common with him is his disregard for danger, and this mixes with his caring which we do share in common. This turns it into a twisted form of how I tend to act, to where I believe it is different because Jacob at points would constantly try to better others with an almost complete lack of care for himself.

So I've got a counter question to think about. Does changing the way a character acts upon something about him/her make it the same as you, because ultimately you share that thing in common? Or because it is being taken differently, is it considered different because that isn't exactly you?

 

[Sankera]