[MUD-Dev] Levels of immersion

[Travis Casey]

On Monday, December 11, 2000, Richard A. Bartle wrote:

>> The avatar is the representation. The character is the intent which
>> you try to impose on the avatar.  (badly worded) To me the
>> distinction between personae and character is a matter of intent.

> So basically, what I call a "character" you call an "avatar"; what I
> call a "persona" you call a "character". You reserve "persona" for a
> character that someone isn't role-playing, and you have no word for
> what I call an "avatar".

> Well I did say that readers of this mailing list liked to argue over
> terminology <grin>.

> For me, role-playing intent is not a direct component of immersion.
> You can pull the strings of a puppet to make it act like it's a
> Russian Princess and not feel like you are the puppet. You can
> design a character and role-play it to the hilt without ever feeling
> you ARE that character. Role-playing may well act as an aid to
> immersion for some people, but I don't believe it's an essential
> component. You can slip into a character or from there into a
> persona without consciously realising you're doing it at all.

I definitely agree that roleplaying does not require you to feel that
you *are* the character.  As a recovering multiple personality, if I
start feeling that I *am* my character, it's time for me to stop
playing.

--
       |\      _,,,---,,_    Travis S. Casey  <efindel at earthlink.net>
 ZZzz  /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_   No one agrees with me.  Not even me.
      |,4-  ) )-,_..;\ (  `'-'
     '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)      


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