Referring to your character as yourself, usage of /would/.

[alina2137]

I am updating the beginning of this post because it's become a slight shitshow.

TL;DR1:

WOULD is ok to use but I think it's unnecessary.

TL;DR2:

Roleplaying should be done in THIRD PERSON in /me and /do, therefore using words such as "I", "YOU", "YOUR" etc. is against the rules.

With that out of the way,

Please, don't focus on only one "problem" I pointed out - the usage of /would/. I literally mentioned a whole ass bigger problem below.

I know "would" is something that came from gmod RP and I can understand why people using it, even though personally I think it's dumb because you either do something when you rp or you don't. There's no would in my RP dictionary. You either punch someone or you don't punch them. It's never "/me would punch", but "/me punches". But this isn't that bad when you think of it.

As I said in my replies, for the last time, people. Listen... /would/ is something I personally deem unnecessary in roleplay. But you do you, and for the last time - it's a harmless thing that came from gmod RP and it's nowhere near as bad as using FIRST PERSON in your narrative chats (/me and /do) which require THIRD PERSON usage.

Stop pointing fingers at each other and saying we're here to change the English language. We're not, I just brought up that /would/ is unnecessary. Not that it's necessarily some bad thing that we should REMOVE and start banning people who use it.

Back to the thread now...

What makes me confused is how and WHY people are allowed to refer to their characters as themselves. Or how they can talk about my character as if it was me, the player. Or when they combine both of these dumb things.

Examples:

"I WOULD be checking YOUR pulse."
"I WOULD punch YOU in the face."
"I am holding a baseball bat in my left hand."
"Would I find any drugs on YOU?"
"MY car is scratched up."
"There WOULD be scratches visible on YOUR car's hood."

When I first started roleplaying, they told me about this rule:

"Roleplay is fiction. Your character is fictional, and they live in a fictional world with other fictional characters. You don't refer to a character this way (like if it was a player) because it's your character, not you."

Also, put in simpler terms: /me and /do REQUIRE you to use third person.

This type of language (first person usage) is forbidden on roleplay servers I come from because it blurs the line between fictional rp and real life, and because as I said before - roleplay is fiction.

Also, we are seeing it more and more and I guess it's only new players who do this, but people get confused and... let's say a character is racist, right?
Because this kind of roleplay is allowed, where you use the /me and /do commands improperly, people automatically think the PLAYER behind the CHARACTER is racist. Because they think a PLAYER equals a CHARACTER, when in reality it's a no no.

And don't tell me this is not a problem and one of the reasons why OOC toxicity is such a big problem in this community. A few days ago I was RPing with a friend, he has a character who's on good terms with my character and everything. Turned out the homie's character doesn't like gay people. My homie mentioned it in /b that what his chracter said about gays was IC. I was confused briefly, so I asked him what he meant by that, and after a moment it got to me that he just made sure I didn't take HIS CHARACTER'S hate for homosexuals OOC-ly.

He also mentioned that he did it because there are people in this community who can not differentiate whether something is said IC by a character or OOC by a player. And then there's people who think it's BOTH because in their head the character is the player.

If people feel like they really have to remind me that what they're saying is THEIR character's words, then I think we have a f*cking problem, ladies and gentlemen.

I'd love to get some people here who can explain this. Explain why this is even allowed on English roleplay. I spent most of my time roleplaying on Polish servers, where the usage of words such as "your" or referring to your character as yourself was forbidden or even banable, because it showed a lack of common courtesy and basic RP knowledge.

In my opinion it also shows laziness. It's easier to just use words like "I" or "your" because you don't need to write full character names, but that's a part of roleplaying so being lazy is no excuse.

edit: changed the title a bit again because as I said /would/ is not my main concern here. It's the other thing.

Edited July 10, 2020 by hentai!
edited because of a mistake in the title again

[DasFroggy]

Unfortunately, 'would' would not be essential if roleplay was a single-player experience. As there are other parties involved, it is easier to say "Cara would attempt to kill Amelio in the face." as...

 

Well, actually, no. You are not incorrect... It could simply be "Cara attempts to kill Amelio in the face."

 

I stand corrected, and need to consider this further...

Edited July 9, 2020 by DasFroggy

[Guest]

I think it is just how some people understand and write in English, they still mean the same thing as if there was no "would". But taking IC stuff OCC'ly and vice versa is a whole nother issue, the issue is so deep that most people only RP because of it or don't know how to RP without it. Best proof  for this has always been the XM radio, seen countless characters who should be American/Italian/Irish etc. to the core but in their car some Turkish or Serbian or Danish radio channel is playing.

[Alexandra_Forge]

Would: expressing the conditional mood) indicating the consequence of an imagined event or situation.

 

I don't get the issue? The word is explicitly ment to indicate the outcome of an imagined event...

 

/do Your feet would begin to vibrate as the train passes by.

 

/me would enter the room, ultimately siting at her desk...

 

sometimes actions are used to parallel something like walking in the room... adding something imaginative that you cannot see, hear, smell, or touch... in the case that line is provided, the word is literally an indication of an imaginative event.

 

 

[Declan]

You don't need to use would. Your example is /me would enter the room. Just drop the would and change it to /me enters the room. 

 

I can't think of a single example of a time where would, would be used in a /me. It's the same as past tense /me's. "/me entered the room." that's just as bad in my opinion. 

[Alexandra_Forge]

if I am standing next to the train train tracks with 5 other people, describing ambient occurrences as a train goes by.... I am not going to type everyone's name out..

 

If I am Rping helping an injured person, and its clear we have a chain of actions and reactions flowing as I splint a bad fracture... Im going to use your... You. 

 

To say that is lazy is.. meh.... It is apart of our vocabulary for a reason, and to pretend like our RP is some fantasy novel that is soon to be published at Barnes and Noble is absurd.

 

 

 

 

 

[Alexandra_Forge]

Just now, Declan said:

You don't need to use would. Your example is /me would enter the room. Just drop the would and change it to /me enters the room. 

 

I can't think of a single example of a time where would, would be used in a /me. It's the same as past tense /me's. "/me entered the room." that's just as bad in my opinion. 

The word is literally used in that context.... so are we re-writting the English language here or are we rping?

 

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by Alexandra_Forge

[Declan]

Just now, Alexandra_Forge said:

The word literally is used in that context.... so are we re-writting the English language here or are we rping?

I'm not saying it's incorrect, I'm saying that it just looks bad. It's an extra word that isn't necessary in /me's. /me enters the room is suffice. No?

[Alexandra_Forge]

Just now, Declan said:

I'm not saying it's incorrect, I'm saying that it just looks bad. It's an extra word that isn't necessary in /me's. /me enters the room is suffice. No?

It would, but it is often used with other descriptive additions... such as hastefully, or in a panic....

 

I dont see many people going around just saying /me enters the room... but I can agree that's distasteful.

 

As far as the word "would"... we also have to take into account our real life languages and areas we grow up in...

 

 

[Helm]

I don't think there's anything wrong with letting a person write how they want. It's their choice. As long as it stays third person.

 

So, first person /do's need to go.