Negative emotions and their role in RP
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This is such a good thread. Everyone has already said almost everything I would’ve contributed.
The one thing that was briefly mentioned that I wanted to bring up is OOC check-ins. I find it so positive to ask someone OOC how they’re doing when there are heavy emotions or a conflict IC. Many times where I’ve felt like someone is or isn’t having a good time, checking in with them has helped improve a scene by knowing where they are emotionally.
Sometimes it’s difficult for someone to speak up about something that isn’t working out. That’s why I advocate for taking small periodic breaks to re-confirm that everything’s ok, and to change course if not.
Everyone’s feelings are valid, whether they say, “I’m having a ball, please continue!” or, “I’m not feeling this, can we stop here?” or anything else.
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@Tez said in Negative emotions and their role in RP:
There was a point in the grand cycle of RP opinions when I think we as a community used to look down on that a lot – character bleed, etc. But I’ve very much moved away from that opinion.
Mostly.
Very much agree with this. A specific type of OOC bleed is still a problem, but generally feeling something in response to what your characters feel is like … the point. Why would anyone be telling stories they had no emotions about.
That said, I almost never want to feel negative emotions in RP, including angst/sadness. It’s not fun for me to feel those things and if I want to feel awful I can just alt-tab over to the news.
Very, very rarely I will go for plots that are melancholy or heartbreaking for the character but not about something awful and even then I usually move on pretty quickly. Otherwise, I’m here to experience some fleeting moments of joy.
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Totally valid.
By contrast:
Bury me in angst and pain so the news headlines don’t look as painful. Bury me in unhappiness so that the joy I wrest from adversity’s clutches feels truly earned.
I blame World of Darkness for making me this way.
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@farfalla said in Negative emotions and their role in RP:
That said, I almost never want to feel negative emotions in RP, including angst/sadness. It’s not fun for me to feel those things and if I want to feel awful I can just alt-tab over to the news.
Made me curious about other habits. Do you watch sad movies/shows or listen to sad songs?
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@KarmaBum I’m not farfalla, but I try to limit negative emotions in my RP because the kind of RPer I am, I often have to access those emotions in some way to be able to portray them.
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@KarmaBum Not really! Bittersweet or melancholy, as long as the ending is happy. Otherwise nope.
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@farfalla Meanwhile I will put on heart-wrenching movies and scream at the screen “MAKE ME CRY”
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@farfalla Innnnnteresting. Like @Roz, I love me a tear-jerker.
@GF said in Negative emotions and their role in RP:
I often have to access those emotions in some way to be able to portray them.
I have the most fun playing things way outside my RL wheel-house, which translates to my best characters. I am not a 30-year-old male drug addict with commitment issues and a car full of shotguns. But it’s my favorite thing to play.
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I don’t mind feeling negative feelings as a result of good RP prompting said feelings as with any other kind of art.
I do mind when those feelings become oppressive or without payoff. I prefer levity, but constant jollity without its opposite is just boring, the same with constant angst without any light.
What I hate most of all is feeling helpless. Any RP that consistently removes my agency can fuck right the hell off.
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@KarmaBum That’s really more of a circumstance than an emotion, though.
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Ooh, I just thought of another sort of analogy.
I like deeply negative emotional RP the same way I like political RP.
It can’t be the only thing going on, I only like it when I get to participate in deciding the outcome (good or bad), and most people I know are terrible at it.
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@Roz I don’t know how to explain in a way that doesn’t make me sound like one of those “well I’m an empath” people, but I really internalize any emotions I feel from media. At the end of a sad movie/book/whatever, I’ll still be sad after it’s over. So it isn’t cathartic, it just makes me feel bad. Also I cry at literally everything, so I can watch something that’s joyful or lovey and still bawl if I need to get some crying out. I cried for the last 20 minutes straight of Everything Everywhere All At Once.
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@farfalla said in Negative emotions and their role in RP:
@Roz I don’t know how to explain in a way that doesn’t make me sound like one of those “well I’m an empath” people, but I really internalize any emotions I feel from media.
Call yourself a method actor? It still sounds kind of pretentious, but possibly less pretentious.
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@GF said in Negative emotions and their role in RP:
@farfalla said in Negative emotions and their role in RP:
@Roz I don’t know how to explain in a way that doesn’t make me sound like one of those “well I’m an empath” people, but I really internalize any emotions I feel from media.
Call yourself a method actor? It still sounds kind of pretentious, but possibly less pretentious.
Oh my god, I’d rather hear someone call themselves an empath than a method actor
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@Roz Eh, to each her own.
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I explain it that I internalize the fictional emotions as if they were real.
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@IoleRae Especially embarrassment. Who decided I needed to feel that from fictional characters in made-up situations?
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It’s so uncomfortable. So, so, so, so uncomfortable. I can handle it up to a certain point, but this is actually why I can’t watch many ha ha ha sitcoms; they rely so often on a level of terrible embarrassment for the characters that it is an unpleasant experience.
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@Tat said in Negative emotions and their role in RP:
I’m trying to untangle why SADNESS over fictional things is cathartic in a way other negative emotions aren’t.
I think sadness (and fear) are the sorts of things we can find catharsis through roleplaying because they are base - and thus kind of simple.
Anger, to me, is so often more of a…not precisely a cover, not precisely a reaction, but something like that. A lot of the time, we get angry because we are made sad. Or afraid. Or embarrassed. I think in a way this makes anger harder to identify WITH because we can’t so easily identify what it truly is.
I think it’s messier for much of the same reason. Anger and frustration are usually outwardly focused. They have a target.
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@hellfrog said in Negative emotions and their role in RP:
@Tat said in Negative emotions and their role in RP:
I’m trying to untangle why SADNESS over fictional things is cathartic in a way other negative emotions aren’t.
I think sadness (and fear) are the sorts of things we can find catharsis through roleplaying because they are base - and thus kind of simple.
Anger, to me, is so often more of a…not precisely a cover, not precisely a reaction, but something like that. A lot of the time, we get angry because we are made sad. Or afraid. Or embarrassed. I think in a way this makes anger harder to identify WITH because we can’t so easily identify what it truly is.
I think it’s messier for much of the same reason. Anger and frustration are usually outwardly focused. They have a target.
My musical theatre teacher in high school once said that the root of all anger is fear. Fear of harm, fear of loss, fear of judgment, etc. Which I think goes to your point that it’s often an outward expression of another emotion we’re not comfortable externalizing.