Felt this one was fairly important to get migrated, what with recent events.
[Essay] On the Application of Power (in roleplay) by Dampierre
I’ve decided to post this because I am not playing so much anymore, but people tell me it’s an informative read. Below you’ll find a document I wrote some time ago, after trying to make some sense of why people tend to clash so often in roleplay.
Power is a very confusing thing, but I hope this helps some people. You’re free to discuss it, criticize me or even say I am outright wrong: I have no intention of editing this of anything but the odd typo, nor do I intend to defend it much. These are mainly personal observations, treat them as such!
On the Application of Power
In this document I hope to briefly describe the way power in roleplay works and why some forms of it are accepted and why others aren’t. Keep in mind that the tips given in this document are merely guidelines, and that all opinions expressed are my own and you needn’t share them per se.
I actively encourage any debate on the matter, but at the same time it’s important to remember that if you discuss the matter of power and influence in roleplay with other players, or discuss anything with anyone, it’s important to respect their opinion. Changing someone’s opinion needn’t be the aim of the debate either, but rather to get closer together in some form of cooperation.
Index
- Introduction: What is power?
- How does power work?
2.1. Physical power
2.2. Magical power
2.3. Social power
- Boundaries: What is acceptable and what isn’t?
- Final thoughts
1. Introduction: What is power?
Power is a funny little ‘mechanic’ in roleplay. The captain of an army guild might easily have more power than the Highlord of the Royal Court, in spite of the fact that the setting (and potential sets of laws) set the rank of the Highlord of the Royal Court far above that of the captain.
So what is power exactly? For the point of this document we will be using the following definition of power: Power is the ability to influence or control other player characters to an extent. This can range from characters who can influence other characters to be a little nicer (social influence) to a juggernaught in full plate who can overpower half the City Watch with his small pinky.
Obviously the two are different sorts of power, physical and influential, but they come down to the same thing. The character has the ability and the means to change the behaviour of another character.
2. How does power work?
An important thing when it comes to power is best captured in a quote from everyone and their mum’s favourite television show, Game of Thrones. In one episode Lord Varys and Tyrion are discussing the nature of power, and Varys makes the very apt remark:
“Power resides only where men believe it resides.”
What this effectively means for a roleplayer like you or I, is that you can only roleplay a powerful character if others believe that your character is powerful. In essence, how many fireballs or dragons you can summon is irrelevant, as long as you can make other people and their characters believe that you could shoot fireballs and summon dragons.
You could effectively play one of the most powerful characters anyone has ever met without ever getting into a fight or having to demonstrate it, because that’s how power works, even in this game. Just as being confident in real life is all about projecting confidence, playing a powerful character is about projecting that power.
Keep in mind that the descriptions below often include the implication of an argument or a disagreement between two parties, after which power is exerted. This is mainly because power that is exerted between friends (i.e. one friend who asks another to do something for him is also power) is rather irrelevant, because the main conflict and confusion about power in roleplay comes from power being used in a context of conflict.
No one is eager to let another character overpower him, just as no one in real life is fond of having their own power to decide their own fate taken away from them.
2.1. Physical power
Physical power is appliccable when a character has the physical prowess to beat another character in one way or another. The means are many and varied: a character might be sly and quick and well trained, or he (or she) might be a giant juggernaut of raw strength.
The means however, aren’t really necessary. What is important is the way physical power works - and possibly even more important, how it should work. The latter of this will be discussed under the boundaries section.
The way physical power works is normally through the threat of force. When two characters face off in an argument or a fight, the threat of losing a fight to the character that is more physically powerful is what exerts this power over another character.
After all, if the other character - and player - accepts and believes that yours could beat him to a bloody pulp, he will be far less likely to engage in that confrontation. You will be able to dissuade him from things by suggesting or threatening that, if he doesn’t do things your way (be that step aside or kill someone or something else), then there will be a violent retribution.
Physical power is a fairly complex matter in roleplaying, because like any other form of power, it can not be quantified. Though we’ve all seen or at least heard of the infamous power levels from Dragon Ball Z, that’s not the way things work in real life and often-times not in game.
Character levels are no fair indicator, and beyond that what other roleplayers know about your character’s strength or speed is only what you tell them.
2.2. Magical power
The other side of the coin of power, if you will, is magical power. This includes all kinds of magic - from being able to move a pencil with your mind to being able to nuke half a city by tearing ley-lines out of their natural order.
Magical power often relies on intelligence because it is almost a given that studying spells is something of a science, and requires a great deal of (obviously!) studying.
Magic exerts its power in much the same way that physical power does. In a fight or an argument, the threat of being toasted by the mere flick of a wrist, or being thrown across a room are often enough to deter a character from engaging yours.
If your character is believed to be strong enough, this is even enough to coerce people into doing your bidding one way or another. However, magic also has the added potential for more direct power over others, in the form of mind-control or magical suggestion.
The details on this sort of magic are vague at best - in game we have the Mind Control spell for priests for example - but while roleplaying, players will often take a more creative approach, especially in the case of magic.
For instance, a character’s will might be weakened without him noticing, which makes him more open to suggestions that he would otherwise not respond to. Or a character might have his hand literally forced while mind controlled.
These types of powers are often an even bigger bump in the road between two hostile characters, because their players often aren’t interested in losing any degree of control over their characters. More on this in the boundaries section.
2.3. Social power
Social power is rather a whole different cup of tea from the two above. Both physical and magical power relies on the ability to potentially threaten or overpower another character’s physical capacities. Disabling their movement and literally establishing another character’s dominance.
Social power is more subtle, and often the more elusive kind. Court guilds and more established/longer-running guilds are more likely to have some form of social power(-play) present because they’ve had more time to establish their characters’ relationships.
Social power works through persuasion and possibly blackmail. This is the power that most often clashes with the other two, because they are derived from different sources. Social power comes from social standing.
While this is also governed by those who support it (and thus give you or your character a certain standing, which in turn affords them a certain amount of influence), social power utterly fades when those who support it fall away, even more so than those with physical power.
After all, bossing people around is completely reliant on someone doing as you wish, whereas walking around being strong or a powerful wizard you can do and potentially enjoy without many people acknowledging your strengths. In the end, what is the most important to social power is to be even more cooperative than you might already be.
It requires agreements and a good standing on an out-of-character level to be trusted enough to exert any sort of social power over a character, and it is often the most difficult to compromise on once an OOC-argument has begun. “Why should you be able to send me out of the room?!” has never ended well for anyone, really, so be delicate and think things through well.
3. Boundaries: What is acceptable and what isn’t?
Now that’s all fine and dandy you might say, and you might even have known a lot of that. However it is still important to define the words that we use so often in these debates while not everyone has a clear picture of how power works. In any case, we move on to boundaries, because that’s what this is really about.
In roleplaying a conflict there is always the matter of power that is too often left untouched, and thus creates out-of-character conflict instead. This is obviously the last thing you want to happen. This document wasn’t written to outright prevent this conflict - as some debates can indeed be fairly useful on this matter and shouldn’t be put to rest - but it is my hope that reading through this you, the reader, might have a better view of how things can or could work in roleplay.
As I touched upon in the opening statement of the “What is power?” section, power must be projected in a certain way in roleplay to be accepted and liked.
You can easily rush into situations screaming that you’re a high general of Stormwind and fought in every war since the Burning Legion first invaded, but this accomplishes nothing. The reason this accomplishes nothing is simply because:
A) you are asserting your dominance and power over other characters through mere claim. Not a person in the world would accept another saying “I am now your boss” because there is a complete lack of trust. Without winning anyone’s trust you will never be seen as this general person, and no one will be following your orders.
B) The following reason this accomplishes absolutely nothing is because you most likely have no one to back you up. Standing around with one or two of your friends who say “yes sir, he’s a general sir!” when there are half a dozen Stormwind soldiers from another guild in your way who won’t listen doesn’t project power. It projects the image of someone who has not yet been succesful enough in gathering others to his banner - and has rushed ahead in claiming what he hasn’t, by all standards, earned yet.
The fairly simple advice that is to be given on this matter is to be patient and be reasonable. A character won’t be bowing down to shine your shoes because you’re a rank above him, unless that happens to be the dynamic of your particular guild, because it’s demeaning.
However, if you take the time to build up a relationship (however formal or informal, in character, as you like) with those over whom you intend to exert your power, you will have more success. They key is to make the difference in power - be that magical, physical or social - a part of the foundation of the relationship.
You might start off asking him to get tea for you and end up being able to command him in battle. Obviously some people are more trusting in these matters than others, so it’s still up to your personal judgment to decide which characters require you to spend more effort projecting your power than others.
A second and arguably even more important thing to remember is that who people’s characters are and who people are are very distinct things. I don’t mean to talk about the infamous OOC/IC line here, but rather that it’s important to remember that behind a character there is also a player who you need to respect, rather than only his or her character.
You aren’t just building a relationship in character but you are also making a connection with that player out of character, whether it is vocalized or not. And if that player feels uncomfortable or unwilling to participate and acknowledge your power - because possibly you haven’t acknowledged him or her the way he or she wanted to - then you won’t manage to exert your power over them, however reasonable it might be that you really should.
You might argue that this is crossing the OOC/IC line, but it is the fact of the matter that people’s personal feelings can only be removed from roleplay to a certain extent - And really, if you’re not personally involved you’re not really enjoying it either, and it’s more like a chore.
I mentioned in brief that it’s also important to acknowledge another character the way his or her player wants the character to be acknowledged. This, again, is essential when projecting power.
If someone is playing a respected soldier (which in itself creates a certain aura of influence, through social respect) and you, as a captain of another military company, treats the character like a common recruit who needs to kiss your boots, then obviously your own authority will be ignored, because you don’t respect the impression -they- are trying to make either.
While mutual respect might seem like a no-brainer, this is actually a point that is easily overlooked in the heat of the moment, where it is easier to go on the offense than on the defense. Another character is told to “take it down a notch” and be less authorative, while you might both have had more fun and satisfaction if you simply both acknowledged each other, rather than compromising and saying that neither is as powerful as you say.
4. Final thoughts
Well obviously what this comes down to are a few key values that are more important to keep in mind than comparing whether one person’s Mountain King could beat another person’s Pit Lord form. It really, just, isn’t that simple.
That isn’t to say that if someone’s outrageous claim of power is supported and well done, that you should still dismiss it because you don’t support it. In this document I’ve referenced you, the reader, more than once but it’s important to note that you (or I for that matter) simply aren’t all that important.
I’m not saying it’s a democracy out there, but if you don’t like something and it doesn’t work out - try to look at things from a more distant perspective. Is that death knight that you’re trying to attack really supposed to give you a fair chance, or does he actually have a fair reason that he flung you aside like a rag doll?
In any case, I implore you to keep the values that I’ve mentioned here at heart, and to keep in mind that cooperation is the best medicine. Not compromise, cooperation.
Work hard on creating that trust and respect between you and those you might one day project power on (or alternatively, be projected power on by), and most of all try to make decisions that further the story, rather than what (arguably misplaced) out-of-character sense of pride you might have that could get hurt. You can have a lot of fun with a character that’s told what to do, as long as the orders are given by a well played character.