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Personality Bleed In Role Playing Games

Despite my best efforts I find that my personality, my values, and my own schema tends to come out in the characters I play and the worlds that I create as a GM. Perhaps personality bleed is not the official term for it or the best term to describe the phenomenon, but I use the term here because it makes sense to me. In the above quote was Earnest Hemingway referring to actually bleeding; not likely. Was he referring to how painful it can be to actually sit down and write does it feel like you’re bleeding? Maybe, but when I read those words, what they say to me is that despite any efforts to do contrary we pour our own personalities our beliefs and our values into whatever we write and into whatever we create. We “bleed” ourselves onto the paper (Or the computer screens as it were).

As a player, every character that I make reflects something of who I am and what I believe. Even if I am playing a villain, I will play that villain in a manner that tells the reader the kind of behavior or interactions that I consider to be villainous. If I am playing a hero, the actions and words that I use when playing that character says something about what I believe to be heroic.

The same applies when I am the game master or dungeon master. I believe that every NPC, good or bad, will contain some element of the person that created them. The world that a game master creates will inevitably be loaded with the creator’s biases, values, and beliefs. It is impossible to avoid imprinting our own schema onto the worlds and the characters that we create.

What I find interesting, however, is that I have a hard time playing the villain or playing a character in a manner that contradicts my own values and what I feel is “good” or just. Of course even if I did play a character that contradicts my own values it would still say something about my values, and my personality would still “bleed” into the game. As a game master, when I play a villainous non-player character I must reference my own experience and biases in order to play the NPC as a villain. What makes them villainous? To consider them a villain in the first place they must hold some value or engage in some form of behavior that I find reprehensible otherwise they are not truly a villain in my eyes.

A few physical alterations and maybe a couple of quirks here and there are put in place to flesh out a character and make them unique, but for the most part characters I play in role playing games have me and my own personality written all over them. Does anyone else find this to be true for them?

I think it is one of the things that drew me to role playing games; it’s sort of like a form of therapy. I can explore my own psyche as my personality ‘bleeds’ into the game while at the same time I am drawn by curiosity to look upon the psyche of others as they also bleed themselves into the cooperative experience of a role playing game. Why did that player character react the way they did? What does it say about the person behind the character pulling the strings?

What are your thoughts about personality bleed in role playing games? Is it a thing, or is it all a bunch of nonsense? As a player or Gm, do the characters or the worlds you create say anything about who you are and what you value? If personality bleed is a thing, then is it a good thing or should it be mitigated as much as possible when playing? In the end, does it matter and who really cares, it is just a game right?

Games Playing Role Bleed Personality

I feel that personality bleed is a definite thing. I personally try to limit it. Many people don't even try to limit it and just play themselves basically. One of the things I love about role playing is pretending to be someone else temporarily. I feel it gives me a chance to see the world from different perspectives. It helps stretch my imagination to respond as the character truly would and not how I would myself. I'm not by any means saying this is the right way to play. Everyone is different. People should play as they feel comfortable. As you mentioned above we are playing the game to have fun. That is what matters.

Personality Bleed In Role Playing Games Reviews RPG & Card Board

You can only pretend to be something based on your interpretation of that something so your own thoughts and feelings are going to manifest in your character's actions. An example, I have never been a thief but if I roleplay one then it will be based on what I know about thieves. If I don't know enough then my own logic fills in the gaps.

Games Playing Role Bleed Personality

Well yes. Just like any actor, when they act they do it according to their own understanding of the role and sometimes its hard to separate the two that's why some actors get an oscar and some can't because it take skill to be something you are not.

Games Playing Role Bleed Personality

Best thing to do is play a character that is akin to your own personality thus making you feel comfortable about what happens while role-playing. I actually worry about this issue for the Dungeon Master more than players however there can never be any clear separation of personalities in my opinion.