I've seen a lot of posts on these forums saying how their characters have a personality, and they know their characters, and stuff like that, but how do you all manage to do this? Whenever I play, I can't get it out of my mind that it is a game. I'm controlling my character. How do you get out of this mindset and into the one where you and your character are separate entities?

I can't answer for others, and I think there are a lot of different, equally valid, ideas about how to role-play, but...

For me, it's kind of "letting go" of that control. I let the character tell me how to play.

It's like when you're watching a movie. You might start out thinking, "this is only a movie, this isn't happening," but after a while you get caught up in the story and forget about it.

Here's a specific example from the other day. I have a character called "Wild Elf" who just behaves like an animal, doesn't go into cities, etc. She was out "adventuring," just looking for a random cave or ruin to loot, and there was a Legion Rider riding down the road nearby. Just for fun, Wild Elf started stalking the guy from just off the road, unseen. When he went over a bridge, she ran under the bridge and stalked him from the other side, then she got ahead of him on the road, and crouched above him on some rocks. She could have sprung to the attack, but she didn't. It was all in fun. We tagged along with the guy for a good long distance.

It was all pointless, of course. Aside from a little Sneak training, and some Acrobatics jumping from rock to rock, we didn't accomplish anything at all. But it was perfect role-playing of a feral elf out play-hunting, just as a wolf or big cat might do. It was probably fifteen minutes of wasted time, but as a result, I feel that I understand Wild Elf better than I did before. And during that time, I completely forgot that it was a game. (Or, more correctly, the game that was being played was not Oblivion any more; it was Wild Elf.)

Its all a matter of imagination. You think of a concept for the character. "A bitter elf with only one eye, driven from her people because of her imperfect body," for example. Then you build around the concept. How was she driven? What are her feelings regarding being driven? Has she sworn bloody vengeance, or will she just prove them wrong? Then you take that little box you have built, and run with it. Run it in your mind as you play. Did she arrive to Bravil to have her way, but now feels a sudden distaste towards the city, and decides to head back to the open fields? All well an good. What are her reasons? Is the ugliness of the city, or the want for violence? The questions are the crux of it, I guess. At first you will feel as if it is 'you' answering yourself, but after a little while of running with the concept and nurturing it, you will start to have a distinct feel for its personality, and the true answers will sound as distinct too.

Man, what a mess of an explanation... but that is how I do...

I thought of the character as a person first, for awhile. I waited until I had a good idea what their history was before I put them in the game. So the personality was already there before I built the game character.

Of course, RPing would be a lot easier if Bethesda made an Elder Scrolls MMO...



:chaos:

I don't take roleplaying as seriously as I know some players do, simply because it bores me quite quickly. I will, however, give my character a personality and will make combat/dialogue choices based upon said personality.

I like this answer cause it also relates to me