Too close to the bone

I've heard more than a few people say it. Usually after they've been active in the game a few months. Usually about their first or primary character.

"I'm surprised how much of 'me' is coming out in my character."

Some people want it exactly like that. Their character is therapeutic; they're working out some things in a safe environment where they can manipulate the circumstances and try new things.

Some people freak. Yep. Totally freak. They find themselves getting uncomfortably involved in their character, projecting so much of themselves it's hard to reel it back in. I've seen people fight that feeling in two ways: either pulling their character back & retooling, then coming back into the game with a different approach; or going to the extreme of killing off the character in-game & trying to re-group with a new persona. Sometimes it works.

Is it the nature of the game, the fact that this is online & kinda sorta anonymous that makes us take chances? Or maybe the novelty of the rp-experience, especially for a novice who is experimenting for the first time?

Not sure. Whatever it is, it's a shared thing. Playing your character too close the bone ... you're left to decide if that's actually a good thing or not.

-Chyna

Photo source: copyright Cloud-9 "The Tribe"