Recently a friend of mine, who had played in a year-long game that I GM'd, told me about an unexpected outcome of that game.

See, one of the NPCs in the game had immediately reminded this player of someone else he knew and didn't like much.  He mentioned this at the time, although I didn't pay it much mind.  I played the NPC as aggressive, impulsive, and prone to saying incredibly insensitive things("Pretty little by-blow, ain't ya?!"  "If your dad was such a great warrior, how come he's dead?").  At the same time, he was bottomlessly cheerful and staunchly loyal, and he was a cousin to the PC-siblings, so he was often around and for about nine months he pushed their love/hate buttons pretty hard.

Anyway, here's what my friend told me, and what blew my mind.  When this NPC died, we roleplayed his funeral.  And the next time my friend saw the person the NPC reminded him of, his immediate response was: 'Hey, he's alive! That's great!'  Their relationship has significantly improved, and my friend credits the emotions evoked by the role-playing experience.

So I'm ambivalent. On the one hand, this is really cool and positive as an unintentional outcome, but on the other, I feel that trying to achieve the same kind of thing intentionally would be kind of creepy, or crawl into areas better left to psychiatric professionals.  On the gripping hand, other forms of art venture into this territory without concern.  Greek tragedies, for instance, specifically try to evoke a healthy catharsis from the audience members.  The key is, of course, the eyes-wide-open willing involvement of the participant.

I'm kind of groping for the language to sum up my point, except that I think there's value to be had here and I don't know how to get at it, so I'd like to hear other people's takes on the matter.  I know Ron touched on something similar in Sex and Sorcery, but that was about using the relationships between people inside the gaming group.  This involves relationships with people who aren't participating in the game.

Absolutely fascinating.  have never come across this kind of accidental catharsis through a game, but I can see how it could happen. That says to me that you play a very emotionally intense and gripping game, though the transference of the characters attributes on to the real person is perhaps a little disturbing, as oyu suggest.  I am speechless, but thought I'd say thank you for raising the issue, even though I have nothing of consequence to add.  I shall muse on this a little more...

cj x

Maybe just chalk this up to serendipity and be thankful?

That is some heavy stuff.

Like cj, I'm thankful that you posted it... just not sure what to do with it.

This seems an exceptionally good example of cultural learning.

As such I'd be very interested to know, how, if at all, the player in question prioritized interaction with the NPC. Also, was there any underlying structure for how that interaction occurred (how often, how predictably, how critical given the interests of that player and the others)?

I'm fairly sure that similar things happen with therapeutic roleplaying, but recreational roleplaying is likely both a less reliable, but more potent vector. Serendipitous though it may be, you were clearly doing something right.

  - Mendel Schmiedekamp

W wrote:
As such I'd be very interested to know, how, if at all, the player in question prioritized interaction with the NPC. Also, was there any underlying structure for how that interaction occurred (how often, how predictably, how critical given the interests of that player and the others)?

Hi Jules,

I'm having a little trouble with this thread topic because your account of play is really, really vague. Help me out with a little of the following.

1. What role-playing game is being used?

2. How big was the group, and what sort of composition was it - age range, degree of friendship-closeness, etc?

3. How much discussion generally went on among group members, outside of play and play-session meetings?

4. When you say "PC" and "NPC," what were these characters actually like in the fiction of the game? The basics - fighter, magic-user, bad-ass vampire, hot elf chick, etc?

Best,
Ron

Hi Ron, I was hoping you'd weigh in.

1. The game was a quickie-homebrew thing based on medieval-type nobility and family relationships in a fantasy setting.  Points were divided between Attributes(based on common noble activities), Advantages(customizable), and Family(Input on defining the family's strengths and weaknesses).  Points in Family were also an across-the-board bonus for actions that directly defended a family member.  A lot of system stuff was improvised by mutual consent as we went.  A lot of setting stuff was improvised mostly by me as we went.  Mostly actor-stance play.

2. I'm not going to mention other people's names, but there was me (27, male), my good friend(27, male), my other good friend and the player in question(29, male), his younger brother(25, male) and a new friend(26, female).  All had roleplayed a lot before, and in several different systems.  No internal romantic involvement.

3. A lot of discussion.  They were really into it.  After most sessions ended the players would start a stream of argument about each others' judgement calls, in a vehement but venomless way.  I would often get calls during the week being asked about one thing or another, and I wasn't the only one.  The new friend was the least into it, but the others were about equally zealous.

4. The PC was the eldest son of the house(non-inheritor in a matriarchy), mighty warrior and canny warleader, tragically in love with his dead wife's married sister.  The NPC was his cousin, son of a respected uncle, also a formidable knight but thoughtless in deed and word.

Hope that context helps.