01-31-2013, 02:40 PM
It has taken me a while to decide how I want to word this post. Some drama has cropped up regarding this subject quite recently, but I also don't want to single anyone out. This is, at its core, not a recent issue. It's a recurring one, so I think it's best to explain why GMs as a whole tend to tell people to shy away from making "insane" or otherwise mentally disturbed characters. There are a few aspects to this, so let me try to go down through the layers of this issue. This might be a bit of a ramble, but please bear with me.
I won't retell the tale word for word, but I will go to the core of the issue here. There was once a particular player on the server who, she confessed at one point in time, actually worked with the mentally ill. She made mention of her work a couple of times, in the context of why she hated it when other players would play "insane" characters. Actual insanity is not pretty. It's not funny. Yet, "insane" characters in RP are almost always played for laughs.
Now, humor is subjective. Just because a subject is serious and inherently dark, doesn't mean that it's necessarily off-limits for humor. The infamous "Rape CAN Be Funny" skit by George Carlin comes to mind. (Spoilered for obvious reasons.)
Here, the late Mr. Carlin has a point, in that a lot of humor comes from the structure. However, it's also very, very easy to get that wrong and come out with something that is not only very unfunny, but also highly offensive to others. Believe me, I've seen a lot of really poorly played insane characters over my years on CotH. Now, in general, CotH has often taken the stance to err on the side of caution when these sorts of subjects come up. It also doesn't help that, many times, such characters are seen as disruptions and shameless bids for attention.
But the recent problem was not due to outright insanity. It was due to something a bit more muted, the argument of whether it's possible to portray a mental or psychological disorder without it being offensive to others, and even if possible whether it should be encouraged. To illustrate my personal belief on this, let me use a personal example and talk about something that most would consider more "simple," depression.
You ask someone what depression is, and your average person would probably answer something to the effect of "when someone is sad all the time." This downplays what depression really is, and it's far more than just "I'm sad." I've had depression. It's a very dark, very crippling condition. You're not just sad, you feel like you're in a dark pit that you can't get out of. Everything seems hopeless, you're convinced that everything is going to turn out wrong, and even if something does go right, it's just there to taunt you and make the inevitable badness in the future even more crushing. You don't want to get up in the morning because you don't see the point. Everything feels hollow and empty, and interactions with others feel pointless. And most damning of all, even if you could be happy, you don't want to, because you feel worthless, utterly crushed, and you believe that you don't even deserve to be happy. And even with that, I don't think I accurately conveyed what my experiences with depression were really like, because mere words cannot describe what a terrible, awful thing it really is.
My point is this: if you haven't experienced it yourself, then you don't know, and there's no way to tell you. I would hesitate to even trust a trained psychologist to RP it well. You can know the symptoms, but that doesn't mean you really know what it is like to live through them.
Does that mean you should never touch the subjects at all?
Not necessarily, but they need to be handled with extreme care. Research helps, sure, but you want my biggest piece of advice? Avoid labels. Like the plague. If you want a character that is depressed, or traumatized, or questionably autistic, or whatever, look at symptoms, think about them, but never describe your character with absolute terms that he or she has this thing or other. That just invites trouble and hurt feelings. Be mindful that some people on here may really have such and such disorder. They may not like it if you go playing pretend that you have it, too.
Also, remember...this is high fantasy. This is noble-bright fantasy. This is Warcraft. Not everyone wants to incorporate these terrible things in their RP. They shouldn't really be expected to.
The Problem of Insanity as Comedy
I won't retell the tale word for word, but I will go to the core of the issue here. There was once a particular player on the server who, she confessed at one point in time, actually worked with the mentally ill. She made mention of her work a couple of times, in the context of why she hated it when other players would play "insane" characters. Actual insanity is not pretty. It's not funny. Yet, "insane" characters in RP are almost always played for laughs.
Now, humor is subjective. Just because a subject is serious and inherently dark, doesn't mean that it's necessarily off-limits for humor. The infamous "Rape CAN Be Funny" skit by George Carlin comes to mind. (Spoilered for obvious reasons.)
Spoiler:
Here, the late Mr. Carlin has a point, in that a lot of humor comes from the structure. However, it's also very, very easy to get that wrong and come out with something that is not only very unfunny, but also highly offensive to others. Believe me, I've seen a lot of really poorly played insane characters over my years on CotH. Now, in general, CotH has often taken the stance to err on the side of caution when these sorts of subjects come up. It also doesn't help that, many times, such characters are seen as disruptions and shameless bids for attention.
The Problem of Psychological Disorders and Conditions
But the recent problem was not due to outright insanity. It was due to something a bit more muted, the argument of whether it's possible to portray a mental or psychological disorder without it being offensive to others, and even if possible whether it should be encouraged. To illustrate my personal belief on this, let me use a personal example and talk about something that most would consider more "simple," depression.
You ask someone what depression is, and your average person would probably answer something to the effect of "when someone is sad all the time." This downplays what depression really is, and it's far more than just "I'm sad." I've had depression. It's a very dark, very crippling condition. You're not just sad, you feel like you're in a dark pit that you can't get out of. Everything seems hopeless, you're convinced that everything is going to turn out wrong, and even if something does go right, it's just there to taunt you and make the inevitable badness in the future even more crushing. You don't want to get up in the morning because you don't see the point. Everything feels hollow and empty, and interactions with others feel pointless. And most damning of all, even if you could be happy, you don't want to, because you feel worthless, utterly crushed, and you believe that you don't even deserve to be happy. And even with that, I don't think I accurately conveyed what my experiences with depression were really like, because mere words cannot describe what a terrible, awful thing it really is.
My point is this: if you haven't experienced it yourself, then you don't know, and there's no way to tell you. I would hesitate to even trust a trained psychologist to RP it well. You can know the symptoms, but that doesn't mean you really know what it is like to live through them.
Does that mean you should never touch the subjects at all?
Not necessarily, but they need to be handled with extreme care. Research helps, sure, but you want my biggest piece of advice? Avoid labels. Like the plague. If you want a character that is depressed, or traumatized, or questionably autistic, or whatever, look at symptoms, think about them, but never describe your character with absolute terms that he or she has this thing or other. That just invites trouble and hurt feelings. Be mindful that some people on here may really have such and such disorder. They may not like it if you go playing pretend that you have it, too.
Also, remember...this is high fantasy. This is noble-bright fantasy. This is Warcraft. Not everyone wants to incorporate these terrible things in their RP. They shouldn't really be expected to.