Thoughts on Roleplay and too far
What you described above was an over exaggerated attempt at roleplaying. Yes, it is roleplay, but not what anyone would mistake for quality roleplay. Over exaggeration is a newbie mistake. Please understand, I do not mean newbie in a negative light; we are all newbies once!
Most people encountering any new skill or hobby will tent do over exaggerate and work off of cliché. A person beginning a martial art (fencing, karate, boxing) might first strike a dramatic Hollywood pose, much to the amusement of any veterans watching. New writers tend to write cliché plots. New artists will copy a stylized medium such as anime or manga.
Why? Its what they have seen before, and its all they have to go on. And that is okay! No new diver is Jaques Cousteau the moment they slip into a swimming pool, and new players who have just gotten involved in MMORPGs cant be expected to be witty and talented roleplayers.
Most newer roleplayers will fall into the most common clichés popularized by media; Cat-girls, vampires, tough-guys, mad scientists, dumb tanks, or plays off of well known characters like Batman, Wolverine, excetera.
Again, this is okay! As they grow and progress, so will theyre concepts. We all need a place to start from, and every idea ever though of by human kind had already been thought of, in one form or another, by the time of Socrates. The cleches were established waaay back then, and have been repeated ever since.
Besides that, most of them can be a fun place to start!
So how do you avoid clichés, or avoid playing with what look and feel like the same character played by a different player over and over? Here is what I do:
Take your cleche idea (Most first budding ideas are pretty cliché, but your mileage may vary), and give it a twist. Have another good look at the concept over all. Now give it another twist a really good wrench this time. Most experienced roleplayers have at least one good twist to make them stand out, so why not do a second? Now look again. What can be added? What can be taken away?
All you really need to do when youre starting a character (or even learning about one youve played for a little while) is have a good background concept. Who are they? What do they want? What will they do to get it? What would they never ever do? Now what might be the one time they WOULD do that thing? Then try it out! If you dont like it, whos to say you cant change it a bit?
It sounds like the folks you ended up with didnt bother to twist theyre ideas at all. They only played off the ideas of tough-guy, naughty femme fatal, depressed gothic, and crazy. Its okay, but nothing special.
So going to far? Yes and no. There is a time and place for everything, and almost any scene fitting into the superhero City of Heroes genre can be played out with taste, style, and dignity, without taking away from the experience of other players who are not interested in participating. Yes, even swearing ex-marines, depressed goths, and overly friendly femme fatals.
When it does go too far, it cant really be justified by saying Oh its roleplay! Being a jerk is being a jerk, period. My right to say and do whatever I want ends when it takes away from your enjoyment of the game. That is going too far.
The question is not Is their roleplay going to far? but Am I having fun with who Im with? If you have a couple of cat-girls rutting over the team chat channel, its probably time to find yourself a new team. The same if your tough-guy buddy cant think of anything more creative than repeating four letter words, and that bothers you. Your mileage may vary.
Give the newer roleplayers a chance, and most of them will get better. A gentle nudge and a kind word goes far with inspiring them to greater heights than I am t3h vampire! Grr!
On English: For an excellent read on the history of the English language, try Bill Brysons The Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way. ^_^
-Aeon
