Audience/Author Duality of RPGs. Can it impact theme?

[jburneko]

Hello Again,

Something very very interesting is happening in my current 7th Sea game.  The game is a sequal to a game we played over a year ago.  Some of the characters are from that game, some of the characters are new.  Here's the interesting thing I've observed.

In the first game Genvieve, played by S, started the game engaged to Renoux, played by P.  Over the course of the game Renoux fell in love with Genvieve's NPC bodyguard Jaqueline.  The game climaxed at Genvieve and Renoux's wedding where Genvieve switched places with Jaqueline at the last moment.  When Renoux's father Sebastion discovered the diception he tried to kill Jaqueline but Renoux manged to rescue her and escape by setting off the wedding fireworks in a very small room, leaving his father burried and presumably dead under a pile of rubble.

At the top of the current game S wanted to continue playing Genvieve but P decided to retire Renoux and started playing an army lieutenant named Linois with absolutely no in-game ties to Renoux.  S gave Genvieve an Assassin background telling me that she didn't care what it refered to but she did want it to be a holdover from the previous game.  So, I decided that Sebastion, Renoux's father, survived the disaster.  He is horribly disfigured and out for revenge.  He blames Genvieve for distroying his family.

Here's where things get interesting.  Over the course of THIS game, Linois, played by P, has fallen in love with Genvieve, played by S.  That romance is threated by Sebastion.  In otherwords, it's almost the IDENTICLE situation with respect to the PLAYERS involved as the first game.  And the group knows it.  The tension felt and the investment by the other players is noticably greater because Linois and Renoux were both played by P even though there is NO in-game conection between them.  The question on the table isn't so much, "Will Linois end up with Genvieve", it's "Will P's character end up with S's character, THIS time?" since it didn't happen last time.

After observing this phenomenon, something I intellecutally understood in the back of my mind but had never really witnessed, I suddenly saw the power of RPGs as a unique art form.  I can not think of an analogy in any other medium to this effect.  And now it seems doubly odd to me that gamers so routinely try to hide the player behind the character.

Jesse

[Sydney Freedberg]

Obvious question: Are the two players opposite genders?
Impolitic question: How do the two players interact with each other outside a gaming session?

Some serious reading of Ron Edwards' Sex & Sorcery might be in order, here.

[jburneko]

I have read Sex & Sorcery but it is the only Sorcerer book I have not read more than once.

Yes, the players are opposite genders.  S is in a commited relationship with a live in boyfriend who does not game with us, but does game with her in another group.  P is a dedicated bachelor who is actually very uncomfortable with issues of romance in real life.  It's odd but 7th Sea has this BIZZARE effect on him.  In ALL other games he usually plays power mongers who are out to conqure the world or brutish slave types who can't help but impose their will on the world.  But in 7th Sea he somehow ends up playing these romantic hero types.

Anyway, as for interaction, most of us don't interact with P much out of gaming due to incompatible work schedules.  He works nights Wednesday through Sunday.  As it is he gives up sleep to play the Saturday 7th Sea game.    My wife and I see him most often because he lives only a few blocks away so it's easy to see him in the few hours he has between when he wakes up and when he heads off to work.  I also hang out late with him after the Tuesday game.

S isn't in the Tuesday night game.  But when S and P are just "hanging out", usually after the weekend game or because of some really special occasion where P decides to give up sleep to attend, it's purely friendly.  They do get along on well.

Jesse

[xenopulse]

I have seen many people play romantic stories, and often the IC/OOC (in character/out of character) lines were at least a little blurry.

That said, some people enjoy playing certain setups. Romantic stories where the protagonists are kept apart by outside forces (or inside turmoil) are very dramatic and have a lot of potential. But you can't play that with just anyone. It works better with some people, and there's often a certain kind of chemistry involved.

So it's not necessarily a question of whether these people have feelings for each other out of the game, but it could instead simply be that when it comes to creating romantic drama, they work well together, so when they get together to play, that's what ends up being the most fun for them.

I know certain people with whom I can play great stories based on various setups, like rivalry, loyalty, whatever. Different people's playing styles click differently with mine, and so we often played various versions of similar themes, because they just work well in this combination of players.

So that's just a bit of input from my view as to what you might be seeing here.

[Sydney Freedberg]

Yeah, even I (with my twisted little mind) am not suggesting "romance in character" = "repressed disfunctional longings on the part of players." Maybe this is just a "safe space" for your "committed bachelor" to play around with romance stuff he normally finds "uncomfortable," in which case, more power to y'all.

And of course, "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

[Andrew Morris]

Good point, Christian. I used to game with a friend who would frequently end up as my rival in character. We'd have a lot of fun talking about it afterward -- "Man, you really screwed my character with that move." "Yeah, but you got me good with that last action." You know, that sort of thing. But it didn't mean we had a rivalry in real life.

[jburneko]

I agree that there is no underlying unspoken sexual tension between the two players.  If anything, the 7th Sea setting combined with S's potrayal of Genvieve makes it easy to play out non-sexualized Old Fashioned Romances.  As opposed to the steamy passion-fests pushed by games like Cyberpunk or Vampire.

Jesse

[Frank T]

In otherwords, it's almost the IDENTICLE situation with respect to the PLAYERS involved as the first game. And the group knows it. The tension felt and the investment by the other players is noticably greater (...)

After observing this phenomenon, something I intellecutally understood in the back of my mind but had never really witnessed, I suddenly saw the power of RPGs as a unique art form. I can not think of an analogy in any other medium to this effect. And now it seems doubly odd to me that gamers so routinely try to hide the player behind the character.

I have nothing to add to this, but thanks for putting it that way, Jesse. It's a wonderful example and a very convincing conclusion indeed.