I vary.  Either I interact fully as the character or I handwaive away entire conversations.  It mostly depends on how important I think the conversation is to the overall plot.

On more than one occasion, though, I've 'rebooted' a conversation when I found the players didn't have the same thoughts on it.

Quote from: K Peterson;627297Christ, I'm having badwrongfun again? If I'd only known, all this time. :rolleyes:

Play-acting is a gaming-playstyle preference - like including narrative mechanics, or playing with minis or not. Not everyone who games goes for that kind of shtick. It has fuck-all to do with being self-conscious.

Yeah, there's not a damn thing wrong with "my guy does

• ", PC-as-pawn, PC-as-selfinsert, whatever.  Playacting as a requirement for apex roleplaying is what brought us the 90s, let's not do that again.

Quote from: K Peterson;627297Christ, I'm having badwrongfun again? If I'd only known, all this time. :rolleyes:

Play-acting is a gaming-playstyle preference - like including narrative mechanics, or playing with minis or not. Not everyone who games goes for that kind of shtick. It has fuck-all to do with being self-conscious.

I don't see how else you can roleplay.

I don't care how good an actor you are, i doubt most people are thesps, I certainly am not. But it's about getting into character. It's about the escapism of it. Otherwise you might as well just play a boardgame. I simply odn't understand people that want to play games and then seem to be unwilling to get into the character they've created. If there's nothing there, the GM has nothing to work with. I want to at least feel that I'm not sitting in my friend's dining room sat around his dining table, at least as much as is possible without Industrial Light and Magic on hand.

I don't know what the need for the martyr complex is, since my opinion doesn't affect your gaming experience at all. But why not try and get involved a bit more? If it's just a few people sat around a table, often (IME at least) cracking jokes endlessly, then why bother with the game at all? Just play a boardgame, or watch some tv.

Quote from: Jacob Marley;627338I enjoy playing a character from the 1st person point-of-view, and making decisions based on how s/he sees the world... .

then you're play acting.

One of my wierdest experiences as a player was at GenCon where the GM in a SW game described the NPC discussions as 'The Captain explains to you that the ship crashed here and the energy cells are depleted'.
He didn't even go for, the captain says, 'the ship crashed here and now our energy cells are depleted' in his own voice.
It was the same all the way through the game. It was kind of like he was reading a description of the game.
Aside from that a good GM but that jarred with me.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;627497then you're play acting.

I think you and the OP might be on slightly different pages here in what you are describing as play acting. See below.

Quote from: Daddy Warpig;626780So, to all the GM's out there, how much playacting do you do? Talk in character? Different voices, speech tempo, foreign accent? Walk and gesture like them? Pantomime sword swings and the like? Or sit at the table and narrate?

As I said: I enjoy playing from the 1st person point-of-view. I also enjoy narrating from the 3rd person point-of-view. I will freely mix between the two styles at the table. It's the funny voices, fake accents, pantomiming and gesturing that I find obnoxious. That I won't do.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;627496I don't see how else you can roleplay.

I don't care how good an actor you are, i doubt most people are thesps, I certainly am not. But it's about getting into character. It's about the escapism of it. Otherwise you might as well just play a boardgame. I simply odn't understand people that want to play games and then seem to be unwilling to get into the character they've created.

We seem to be talking about different things, particularly based on how you define the term, "play acting".

I don't have a problem with roleplaying a character from a 1st person perspective. Making decisions based upon a PC's perspectives, alignment/moral outlook, and quirks. Interacting with NPCs as that PC would approach communication. I just don't go for the extra silly-voices crap and gesticulations that some gamers apparently go for. To me, the content of interactions is far more interesting to me than the delivery of the content.

Dependson the silliness of the voice! If you just sound like a twat, well that's not good. But if you're playing an irishman and you can do the accent...why not?

Some people (myself included) find such antics at the game table unsettling. Either from inexperience with heavy roleplaying, or in my case, severe shyness, and can be embarressed by other peoples actions.

I'm rather reserved at the table myself. Both as a plaayer and a GM. But this is just me. I'm not going to "not" play a game because others really enjoy acting and get into their roles, unless they do it to be annoying... Then, I will either say something or just not play anymore. Luckily, the latter hasnt happened very often.

Dont let others reactions change what you are doing. I've come to the realization that more acting and roleplaying really does deepen the experience. Though its taken me a rather long time to break out of my shyness.

I would speak to the player in question and see what his true feelings are. If he does have some problems, then discuss with them and maybe tone things down for a while and ease the person into things slowly. They might just come to enjoy the social experience that is RPGs just a bit more. Which, is a good thing.

If not, dont take their departure personally. Everyone must find their own comfort level.

Quote from: Dana;626822he coordinated the music just right, too.

That is a talent I wish I had and sadly do not possess.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;627496I don't see how else you can roleplay.

I don't care how good an actor you are, i doubt most people are thesps, I certainly am not. But it's about getting into character. It's about the escapism of it. Otherwise you might as well just play a boardgame. I simply odn't understand people that want to play games and then seem to be unwilling to get into the character they've created. If there's nothing there, the GM has nothing to work with. I want to at least feel that I'm not sitting in my friend's dining room sat around his dining table, at least as much as is possible without Industrial Light and Magic on hand.

I don't know what the need for the martyr complex is, since my opinion doesn't affect your gaming experience at all. But why not try and get involved a bit more? If it's just a few people sat around a table, often (IME at least) cracking jokes endlessly, then why bother with the game at all? Just play a boardgame, or watch some tv.

Getting into a character, making decisions the way they would and immersing yourself in the world in no way requires putting on a funny voice (or even talking in the first person, at all).  They're simply unrelated.  They might help you (hell, I enjoy a bit of it myself, when I actually get to play a PC), but no one here is objecting to that - simply to the suggestion that it's a requirement for good roleplaying.

Boiled down:  Playing your PC as a pawn, cracking jokes, etc., in no way prevents proper roleplaying.

Additional news item from the "anecdotes don't equal data" bureau: The #1 thing that people tell me has prevented them from trying roleplaying games (both people who still haven't played, and people who tried it and lamented their wasted youth not playing):  The preconception that we're all sitting around in capes talking in faux-Shakespearean thees and thous.  When people actually come through the house and there's a game going on, they're invariably surprised at how much fun (and beer, and pretzels) we're actually having, and that no one is wearing elf ears or shouting "LIGHTNING BOLT!".

Quote from: DestroyYouAlot;627676Additional news item from the "anecdotes don't equal data" bureau: The #1 thing that people tell me has prevented them from trying roleplaying games (both people who still haven't played, and people who tried it and lamented their wasted youth not playing):  The preconception that we're all sitting around in capes talking in faux-Shakespearean thees and thous.  When people actually come through the house and there's a game going on, they're invariably surprised at how much fun (and beer, and pretzels) we're actually having, and that no one is wearing elf ears or shouting "LIGHTNING BOLT!".

Sorry man, but if you're not shouting "LIGHTNING BOLT" it's a storygame.

Quote from: Daddy Warpig;626780So, to all the GM's out there, how much playacting do you do? Talk in character? Different voices, speech tempo, foreign accent? Walk and gesture like them? Pantomime sword swings and the like? Or sit at the table and narrate?

What's your preferred style?

I do voices, some noise effects and hand gestures, but I am too lazy to get up.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;627496I don't know what the need for the martyr complex is, since my opinion doesn't affect your gaming experience at all. But why not try and get involved a bit more? If it's just a few people sat around a table, often (IME at least) cracking jokes endlessly, then why bother with the game at all? Just play a boardgame, or watch some tv.

That brings up a very closely related point - sustaining atmosphere. We do the voices, mannerisms, etc to immerse. If you aren't doing this, where goes immersion? What else do you do for immersion if you don't? I can't imagine not doing the voices.

I have a situation in a game I play in where the DM will sometimes insert commentary based on players decisions in previous games ("heh, someone won't forget to lock your door this time!"). Totally breaks the immersion.