Roleplaying, and humour, is fun. And fun is tempting, especially on the internet.
I’ve been running campaigns for, wow, 16 years now, and I played intermittently even before then. Roleplaying is not something that is unfamiliar to me. One of the things I’ve noticed is that, for the most part, people play characters that think like they do. It is difficult for most people to play a well-developed character that doesn’t largely agree with their own personal philosophy (playing a simple caricature is much easier, but Voldemort does not strike me as such)
If it’s only an epsilon of evidence then my life is an absolutely ridiculous statistical anomaly o.o
I play roleplaying games a lot and most of my characters aren’t much like me. I’ve played evil characters, stupid characters, characters who considered violence the first and best answer, religiously devout characters, and a rainbow-obsessed boy-crazy twice-married wizardess who liked to attack her enemies with colors and wear outrageously loud outfits. I’m not evil, stupid, violent, religious, or rainbowy.
I’ve written fiction with characters of an even greater variety.
I was claiming that people like you exist, but are rare. Just like sociopaths exist, but are rare. So given the two possibilities, and knowing only that both groups are fairly rare, it would be silly to assume that someone is probably a good roleplayer instead of a sociopath.
Those mostly seem too unlike you, from what I can tell, to be clear examples of someone playing a non-caricature.
The exceptions are the devout characters. Looking back on my experience as a deontologist, I don’t think it would be too hard to role play many other deontologists, provided the rules were clear enough. So I think those characters are too like you to prove the point either, unless they were devout non-compartmentalized thinkers, i.e. “devout moderates” who aren’t in a moderate religion because of lack of faith or willpower or indeed directly because of any other character flaw.
I will simply take your word you role play characters who neither think like you do nor are caricatures, You have not lowered the amount I would have to believe you to the level of merely having to believe that you role played the listed characters, because I still have to believe that the characters are good examples, which is not self evident.
Far more people play chaotic evil than can be explained by them being fine with killing people for personal gain.
Remember that the point of all this is to substantiate the claim that roleplaying Voldemort is evidence for sociopathy, or lack of empathy. Playing a character that thinks differently isn’t quite the same as playing one with different specific moral values, and I don’t think the latter is particularly hard. Villains are often portrayed as more rational and driven than the heroes of stories (who usually get most of their wins for free), so it can be easy to identify with them if you’re a kind of person who respects those characteristics. That’s the “way of thinking” that’s attractive. The specific object-level morality is pretty much hot-swappable.
(Plus, we wouldn’t want to fall victim to the fundamental attribution error on the basis of a single blog comment, I don’t think...)
I suppose I may have been unclear. There’s often a lot of surface differences—my roommate has played a raver, a doctor, and now an AVON sales lady who fights zombies. But at the same time, there’s deeper similarities in conversational style, use of language, decision-making methods, and personal preferences that mean they all play fairly similarly (in her case, she loses her temper quickly—for some characters this makes them very verbally hostile, while others move quickly to combat)
It does also depend on your audience. Playing a “convincing” sociopath is pretty easy if no one in your group knows a real sociopath. And, of course, there ARE some people who have the knack for truly capturing other mindsets. However, half the books on my shelf are from authors that can’t even convincingly write characters of the opposite sex.
Maybe Voldemort has sociopathic tendencies. Maybe they’re just a good roleplayer. However, I don’t think sociopath is really that much rarer than a good, convincing role player.
(playing a simple caricature is much easier, but Voldemort does not strike me as such)
Why thank you, I do try.
One of the things I’ve noticed is that, for the most part, people play characters that think like they do.
Except for stealing everything that isn’t nailed down you mean?
To step out of character, my regular account has 2000+ karma on LW and I don’t think I’ve been acused of sociopathy before. I guess I’m just that good at hiding it.
I’ve been running campaigns for, wow, 16 years now, and I played intermittently even before then. Roleplaying is not something that is unfamiliar to me. One of the things I’ve noticed is that, for the most part, people play characters that think like they do. It is difficult for most people to play a well-developed character that doesn’t largely agree with their own personal philosophy (playing a simple caricature is much easier, but Voldemort does not strike me as such)
If it’s only an epsilon of evidence then my life is an absolutely ridiculous statistical anomaly o.o
I play roleplaying games a lot and most of my characters aren’t much like me. I’ve played evil characters, stupid characters, characters who considered violence the first and best answer, religiously devout characters, and a rainbow-obsessed boy-crazy twice-married wizardess who liked to attack her enemies with colors and wear outrageously loud outfits. I’m not evil, stupid, violent, religious, or rainbowy.
I’ve written fiction with characters of an even greater variety.
http://lesswrong.com/lw/6vq/on_the_unpopularity_of_cryonics_life_sucks_but_at/4pas
I was claiming deeper differences than that.
I was claiming that people like you exist, but are rare. Just like sociopaths exist, but are rare. So given the two possibilities, and knowing only that both groups are fairly rare, it would be silly to assume that someone is probably a good roleplayer instead of a sociopath.
Ah, I see. It wasn’t plain to me from the bare link which part of the comment you were pointing at.
Those mostly seem too unlike you, from what I can tell, to be clear examples of someone playing a non-caricature.
The exceptions are the devout characters. Looking back on my experience as a deontologist, I don’t think it would be too hard to role play many other deontologists, provided the rules were clear enough. So I think those characters are too like you to prove the point either, unless they were devout non-compartmentalized thinkers, i.e. “devout moderates” who aren’t in a moderate religion because of lack of faith or willpower or indeed directly because of any other character flaw.
I will simply take your word you role play characters who neither think like you do nor are caricatures, You have not lowered the amount I would have to believe you to the level of merely having to believe that you role played the listed characters, because I still have to believe that the characters are good examples, which is not self evident.
Far more people play chaotic evil than can be explained by them being fine with killing people for personal gain.
Remember that the point of all this is to substantiate the claim that roleplaying Voldemort is evidence for sociopathy, or lack of empathy. Playing a character that thinks differently isn’t quite the same as playing one with different specific moral values, and I don’t think the latter is particularly hard. Villains are often portrayed as more rational and driven than the heroes of stories (who usually get most of their wins for free), so it can be easy to identify with them if you’re a kind of person who respects those characteristics. That’s the “way of thinking” that’s attractive. The specific object-level morality is pretty much hot-swappable.
(Plus, we wouldn’t want to fall victim to the fundamental attribution error on the basis of a single blog comment, I don’t think...)
That’s interesting..
If my current wizard ever dies, I think I’m going to try playing a psychopathic psion. I think I’d be able to give it a decent go.
I suppose I may have been unclear. There’s often a lot of surface differences—my roommate has played a raver, a doctor, and now an AVON sales lady who fights zombies. But at the same time, there’s deeper similarities in conversational style, use of language, decision-making methods, and personal preferences that mean they all play fairly similarly (in her case, she loses her temper quickly—for some characters this makes them very verbally hostile, while others move quickly to combat)
It does also depend on your audience. Playing a “convincing” sociopath is pretty easy if no one in your group knows a real sociopath. And, of course, there ARE some people who have the knack for truly capturing other mindsets. However, half the books on my shelf are from authors that can’t even convincingly write characters of the opposite sex.
Maybe Voldemort has sociopathic tendencies. Maybe they’re just a good roleplayer. However, I don’t think sociopath is really that much rarer than a good, convincing role player.
Why thank you, I do try.
Except for stealing everything that isn’t nailed down you mean?
To step out of character, my regular account has 2000+ karma on LW and I don’t think I’ve been acused of sociopathy before. I guess I’m just that good at hiding it.