Experimental Roleplay

I have a question. An RP uses the theme of sanity as a plot device, as part of the setting. The realism of a story is not determined by the setting, but how the characters react to their environment. That said, the RP would provide a challenge to the RPers by forcing the RPers to describe their character's sanity, causing them to delve deep into the psychological aspect of their characters. By doing this, not only are you given insight into your own character, but you also develop your writing style. Would you be able to feel what the character is feeling because of this? I believe so. So if I were to post such an RP... the burning question is... will the RPers be up to it?

Due to the nature of the story, the setting provides for a lot of random incidents, which seems to be difficult to incorporate in such a premade story made for textual role playing. How does one do that? Unlike most RPs, where the character reacts to other characters, in here the character reacts to the environment, to the setting. Things happen at random in order to force the character to decide if its real or not. For instance... what if the floor gave way and you fell into a bottomless pit... is it real, or is it a trick of the mind? You have the sensation that you're falling, feel the air slip past you. If it's real, you're doomed, if not, then whatever is happening is forcing your brain to send you those signals, tricking you into thinking that it is real. It's quite a pickle... trying to understand the dynamics of reality... but there you have it.

The problem is, when you're dealing with a bunch of RPers, it can be difficult. There's always the possibility that someone will Godmod their way out of the situation. This type of Godmodding is known as DBZ godmodding. DBZ Godmodding is when you manipulate the events of the RP. A friend of mine in another website coined the term to me.

The kind of RP I'm talking about, is when the events of the RP manipulate and influence the characters. I'm curious as to whether or not this is possible in a textual roleplay.

About a year ago, I posted a RP here called The Path of Sanity. No one warmed up to the idea and the RP was abandoned before it even started. Only one person was curious about it... but it wasn't enough. http://www.roleplaygateway.com/the-path-sanity-t33017.html

I would like to request a possible investigation of this idea... and see how things develop. It'd mean a lot. If this works, then I may have provided the perfect, foolproof training guide to both RPing and writing.

I for one think it sounds interesting. A lot of time people just concentrate on the characters interacting with one another, not always what's going on in their mind. I've tried to do this to a extent with my characters, the psychological creates a much more rounded character, instead something stock; to use a few terms from ENG 101.

Its vastly more difficult too. Sure you can say oh such and such character is thinking or feeling this, but you never really delve deep into things, like what makes them tick.

I've found that it is actually surprisingly easy. When you're describing what someone is thinking, try contradicting it with another thought. Always come back to the character's principal thoughts on the situation, make it redundant, but not excessively. Explore the character's thoughts on that situation from all angles, by doing this, you get the sense of a bit of rambling despite the fact that the writer is not, which can sometimes determine the character's sanity. Why? Because the mind is always rambling. By doing this, you provide the reader the ability to feel what the character is feeling.

This would provide for more efficient roleplaying were the Rpers to adopt this technique.

Huh. Well to delve into the psychology of the character is something that is not done a lot in writing. I have never actually seen a piece of literature where what happens in the mind was the center of everything. I would, however, love to try it if you ever get anything started. I think it would be a unique challenge to think of how a character would act by him/herself rather than in terms of other characters.

Just pm me and if I have access to a computer I would love to participate in this little experiment!

Very intriguing idea. I'd definitely be interested if you were to restart it.

I'm in.
It's a unique challange that needs to be tested.