Roleplaying a prejudiced person

Hi, all.

I have a character, Stillshot, who is a technology, archer/EM blaster. As a young man, he was caught in a fight between a super-powered hero and villain, and lost his sight. He build a helmet that gives him artificial vision, and uses it and other devices to bring down super-powered villains.

The thing is, he dislikes super-powered people...heroes and villains. He sees them as dangerous, destructive and upredictable, and sees himself as a champion for the common man. He has some sympathies with the Malta group because of this view.

I do believe that his opinion could change as his exposure to super-powered heroes grows, but...how the heck do you start roleplaying a character like this and not seem like a complete jerk?

I'd love to get the character involved with a roleplaying SG on Virtue...but I'm not even sure how get involved.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

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GHOST ZERO! Avenger of the helpless dead!

Honestly? I wouldn't even try. Playing a prejudiced person isn't generally a pleasant thing as you WILL get people who'll take it personally and can end up being quite upsetting OOCly.

Plus, assuming you don't hold similar prejudices yourself, it's REALLY REALLY difficult to do it as it just... doesn't feel right, y'know?

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@FloatingFatMan

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

I'd be careful to make sure people know it's just ic.

And at least it's over superhero stuff. I've run into nazi players and most of my characters are poc :|

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In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

I would say that, if you are going to RP this character, you need to remember that 'prejudiced' doesn't have to mean 'raving bigot'. Be subtle about it, don't just go around saying how badly you hate super-powered people, try to make it noticeable through actions instead. Be quick to praise the efforts of non-powered heroes. And quicker to lament the mistakes made by powered ones. Make it an undercurrent, rather than the characters main reason for being.

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However, it turned out that Smith was not a time-travelling Terminator

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GHOST ZERO! Avenger of the helpless dead!

Or even, as an example, for him to point out that sometimes Malta has a point. Disagrees with it's methods and goals, but they're not entirely wrong either.

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When it comes to these things, subtlety is definitely great.
Try and keep in mind how most people don't run around screaming their own true thoughts at anyone and everyone (a mistake I think a lot of role-players and writers make).
That being said...
This isn't such a bad prejudice to play, as compared to others, because it's not a specific one that any of us have had to fight in reality (well, I mean, a lot of people hate me because I am so super, but that's different! Hardy har!).

Now, I do have one character that I role-play that is very much a jerk. And I enjoy it a lot (I have so many inspirations to draw from and he helps me let go of the frustrations that real jerks amply provide).
A few things, off the top of my head, that I try and do...

• Remember that everyone present is looking to have fun. So, I try to represent a jerk, without giving people a terrible experience. This can come from subtlety, applied humor/wit, ridiculousness and backing off (use that inner brain editor that sometimes stops you from cracking an improper joke in the wrong place, hehe). We try and stay true to our characters, but one of the great things about role-playing is the give and take and you have to keep others in mind.
• Especially with strangers - give clear OOC indications that you and your character are very different. Again, your character's prejudice is not so offensive (in as much as a prejudice can be inoffensive), so there shouldn't be too much question about it. Still, it's not so much the revealing of the actual prejudice, but the actual acts of jerkiness that should be present most of the time... And that's why a few OOC messages of goodwill can go a long way.
  • Not that you want to follow every single jerk move with an OOC apology, but I do err on the side of caution. Strangers and PUGers get friendly OOC greetings before or after my jerk character may say something potentially jerky.
  • Base it on each individual situation. If something particularly jerky is going on with your character, offer out an OOC acknowledgment that you know it's jerky and see if anyone has a problem and/or if you should avoid going further with it, hehe.

I've honestly found that, with this sort of care and consideration, no one has had any issues with my character... Super-Jerk (a mutant bully with super strength who failed at being a hero because he lacked the motivation... He gained his name after severely beating his wife, being arrested and becoming the center of a media circus... His wife was quoted saying, "He said he was going to be a super hero... but instead he was a Super Jerk!".
His biggest bias is his obnoxiousness to women. And that is a really bad prejudice to play, but I haven't run into any problems with friends and strangers alike.
I am, however super considerate and careful when dealing with others.
I wouldn't want to be known only for playing this character, but I do enjoy playing the role and he's been pretty popular with others that I play with, hehe.

Best of luck!

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In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

Thanks for more pointers, Electric Knight! I think that characters with this sort of quirk are much more effective when they seem like otherwise likeable people. I can imagine a group hanging around and talking when something slips....like the pro-Malta stance...and everyone is like "what the?...where did that come from?" It would make people more likely to engage and try to influence the character's views than to just say, "Yeah, he was a creep anyway. Good riddance!"

Letting people know OOC that you appreciate their patience is a great idea, too...especially with PUG RP. Of course, if I play it right, it won't come up most of the time.

I've gotten Stillshot to about level 30 without too much RP interaction with people. I've got to come up with the bulk of what his personality is like, so I can stitch the quirk into it...instead of it being all about the quirk.

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GHOST ZERO! Avenger of the helpless dead!

A prejudice against superpowered people in a game where pretty much every one you meet is superpowered (natural origins being an exception and tech heroes skirting the edge) is a tough row to hoe. Even giving the benefit of the doubt, at least 60% of the people he is around regularly or does jobs for will be superpowered in some way.

Of course, in the world where Paragon is, let's face it, most prejudices we have today would be a thing of the past. It's rather hard to dislike the fellow with a different melanin content in his skin if the guy next to you on the tram just turned into a flying squid and spat energy out his posterior at the the red guy with the horns from the 7th ring of hell who's breathing fire on the other end of the tram car while the "spaceship" the Rikti sent is bombing the zombie horrors that just popped out of the ground and ran all the psychically powered scrap robots and evil body snatching cultists off the streets right behind the leather clad gimps with the technologiclaly reanimated dead guys.

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I'd agree it might hard (or at the very least politically incorrect) to RP a "real world" prejudice in a MMO. But it might be easier to focus a fictional prejudice on things that don't exist in the real world but do exist in the game. For instance you might RP that your character hates people with horns or who have obvious robotic parts. By focusing on things that don't exist in real life there would never be any confusion that you are only "playing" and not directing any real prejudice at players.

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Honestly? I wouldn't fret too much over it, I think that if someone's like, genuinely offended that your character HATES people who can throw lightning or whatnot, they're taking it too seriously.

I have a character who personally has a very strong dislike of the Rikti (As in, thinks that it was wrong for Earth to not retaliate in a "LAUNCH THE FRAGGIN NUKES" way, Restructurists be damned), and while they don't hate metas as much as your character does, they do believe that ones who think their powers put them "above" normals are sadly mistaken, and tend to be more than happy to, from their point of view, "permanently correct them.

The "loud" approach works, but only apply it if someone does something that suitably upsets your character (If they're the type to do so.) Otherwise, prodding reminders and such work fine, if one starts talking about how good a thing superpowered heroes are, have them bring up Praetoria. Act dismissive of what happens to them, be willing to take courses of action that put them in harm's way. Make it a creeping thing, make the players you're with start to realize you're not necessarily holding them in high regard.

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WOLVES AND BEES 2012

Pretty much what Electric said, along with those voting for subtle. Having a character that wanders into Pocket D and starts proclaiming everyone there is scum is just going to get ignored, and is fun for no one.

Saying 'Just don't try' is a bit silly too, IMO. Having a character with a suppressed and vaguely seething dislike of Metas is both more realistic (hey, what normal person is honestly going to pick a direct fight when outnumbered ten to tone by those with powers?) and probably more interesting to play, too.
Oh and yeah, make it clear its OOC Even then, though, you simply cannot please everyone. A few nights back someone quit out simply by talking to a more abrasive character of mine, Wyld Fire. She is kinda blunt, bordering on rude, and knows it. I just go in with the full knowledge that she is that kind of character, and it's ok for her to not be to everyone's tastes.

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Ummm the fact is that anything you say that shows your bigotry of super powered people is going to be absurd to take out of character so I wouldn't even bother worrying about making people mad or something. Those who would get seriously mad are probably dumb... as in actually lacking intelligence... and aren't worth the time to care about them getting angry and I'd be more worried that someone let them play an MMO when they're that delusional.

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Just a random thought: Have him fall in love with a super heroine.

Otherwise I concur. Playing a jerk is no fun for most people and not everyone is good at the IC/OOC thing. Predjudice often is subtle, ask women and people of colour.

I have a character named "Girl Power", who's got a subtle dislike of men. Especially stupid policemen who always need her help to do their job. She's only level 10, so I need to work on some of the details, and she'll develop as the experience grows.
The Rib Cracker move from Street Justice fits the character very well when fighting larger males, as it looks like the knee goes right between the legs.

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One thing I will add to this, when playing a prejudiced character, remember this is not Marvel. There is no general prejudice against mutants, meta's or even aliens in the CoH universe. Individual prejudice happens, but I've seen people refer to a general hatred against them and there just isn't any in CoH.

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@FloatingFatMan

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

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"Yeah. Great show. Nice to see you have to use such great powers to take down a Hellion, when that old lady was able to fight him off without any."

Then go hit the hellion with brawl!

What I think needs to be mentioned though, is even if you do it great, there's going to be some who just take it OOC.

I've hurt OOC feelings just by having my character ICly go "Meh" to a characters looks who is setup to be deformed/ugly (but look awesome mind you) as part of the character and then keep wondering why my character hates them (note...my character nevr hated them, just didn't go "You're so hawt!").

So my opinion, go in with how you think the character should be RPed and just realize no matter what, even if you take the very good suggestions here, be prepared that you might get some OOC greif over it.

Don't recall which thread it was, but I do recall an RP thread on the virtue server forum (if memory serves) having a few people say they don't care for any type of jerks in RP and don't think they're good to RP with at all.

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BrandX Future Staff Fighter
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BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection

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Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.

It can be a fine line. There's a difference between playing a total jerkwad that no one wants to be near and, say, an actual villain. One who might be amoral and in-human but respects places like Pocket D, understands the rules, and goes along to watch.

Even if it is for nefarious reasons like sizing up prey, listening in on gossip, or tying peoples shoelaces together
Villains can be interesting characters too. Same for vigilantes, rogues, prejudiced people, people who genuinely believe in greater goods...the whole gamut. All it requires is a good RPer playing the character.

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