User blog:Lord Khaine/First and Third Person Descriptions

First and Third Person Descriptions
So, something caught my attention in an FC the other day. The use of first person to describe a character's actions during roleplay. I'm not unfamiliar with this, and while everyone has their own style of roleplay, I can't recommend using first person over third. Continued use of first-person descriptions is a practice that only carries risks, and no benefits; leading to inferior roleplay ability compared to what may be developed through the use of third-person descriptions.

First-person descriptions constantly use "I", "my" and other personal references that constantly equate the character to the roleplayer. Each action typed builds up the subconscious notion that the roleplayer is his or her character, and makes IC and OOC separation that much harder. That this is done frequently by roleplayers who are newer to roleplay, or haven't developed as much as others, stunts their growth as roleplayers in the process. Especially troublesome is when these roleplayers who use first person are placed in a situation where the character is in obvious danger of death, or about to die. Something I've had plenty of time to see is the usual attempts to avoid character death, including breaking the rules of roleplay.

At least one objection has been raised that no one seriously thinks that they are there characters when using first-person descriptions, and no one really believes that roleplayer is their character. With the exception of a few roleplayers such as Tarn, who in their beginning used a character named after themselves and used first person while breaking every rule of roleplay imaginable, very few roleplayers consciously believe that. The subconscience is where the idea that the roleplayer is the character is enforced, and this is demonstrated when that roleplayer is in situations that require letting go of the character, such as death. Then, the problem shows, even if that roleplayers refuses to see it.

You won't find a roleplayer who is looked up to across the textplay community of w42 using first person, because they understand that first person is an inferior practice to using third person. Third person doesn't carry the risks and problems that using first person does. To put the choice between first and third person in a simple way: you can choose package A (first person), which has the chance to cause you harm; or package B (third person), which has everything package A has, and no chance of causing you harm. The answer's absurdly obvious: choose package B. You're behaving very foolishly if you somehow think A should still be picked.

Some roleplayers can say that they know a friend who they consider to be a good roleplayer who uses first person, but this falls into an error related to perspective: there's plenty of roleplayers and groups who are great amongst themselves or their friends, but are at the lower end of the community when compared to the rest. It's never news you want to hear, but that's exactly how it is.

You're certainly free to keep using first person, if you wish. No one's going to stop you, and no one can stop you. But to put this in an economic perspective, you're voluntarily taking risks that have no chance for profit. You're risking the loss of money with no chance of getting more in the first place. So, why aren't you switching to what won't hurt you, if it doesn't cost you anything? Get over your pride and complacency, and switch to third person.