Yesterday, I sent this note out in sl through one of my groups, one where I am in charge and can decree such things. Now, I would like to open the floor for discussion. Here is my comment from yesterday--

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In RP, many of us play invented characters. Others play historical figures. Either way, it is essential that we know the details of our characters' personalities and histories, be they complete fantasy or historical fact. At The Royal Retreat, most of us are portraying historical figures. The facts of their lives are easy to verify. Please let's try to be sure we KNOW our characters and portray them as they really would have behaved. Fictional characters should of course beconsistent, not changing back stories or personalities without proper motivation.

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I am relatively new to RP but not at all new to drama and creating characters. As a working playwright, director, actress, and author, I have spent literally years of my life learning to build and sustain believable characters. As a theatrical director, I always looked for motivation before allowing an actor to significantly alter an already established portrayal of character. As a novelist, I question myself constantly about what drives my characters, never allowing them to change willy-nilly, just because I (the author) had a crap day and am not up to my usual best. Laziness is never an excuse for crap character development.

I started RP in SL because a friend invited me to try it out. From her and others, I have learned to appreciate the value in RP of character authenticity and historical accuracy. I kept doing RP because I found a way to use it in researching and developing characters for my writing. (Three years from now, I will be writing a play based on several historical figures being portrayed by many fine RP-ers at The Royal Retreat and Rocca Sorrentina.) Because I will be writing about real people, it is important to me that I get the historical facts right, at least in so far as that is possible. This is not to say I do not make mistakes in the midst of RP when there is no time to look up a detail. It is to say that I try very hard to stay within the realm of historical believability.

I have given this a great deal of thought and wonder how others of you approach historical RP. Is it all fun and games or does the accuracy matter to you? I see that many people have certainly put a lot of thought into accuracy of builds and dress design, hats and hair. But what about character development? If playing a historical figure, do you try to keep it accurate? Why or why not? If you do, how do you assure your portrayal is as accurate as possible?

updated by @stephanie-mesler: 06 Oct 2016 06:31:57AM

Interesting!

When I managed the roles at Versailles, we had what I think a fairly strict policy on whom was given the role of a historical character. Almost everyone was to start out as a fictional character. Not only because these roles came with a lot of responsibility, but also because you are required to have a good understanding of history and the role. Additionally, I gave them reading material on the character in particular for so far I could find before they were to take the role. I think it ends about there what you can do as a RP-organizer to make sure you get people who will take it seriously.

Hence, most people had fictional roles, also due to other circumstances or preferences though. I think fictional characters are a lot of fun to portray, I don't think a lot of people put an incredible amount of thoughts into these kind of characters. I think in the beginning a lot of people make it 'themselves-in-the-18th-century.' At least, that is what I have observed. As time progressed, I think people become more aware of what kind of character they want to portray and put more effort into really developing a character. Having doing theater myself for several years I understand exactly where you are coming from, but I think such intense character-awareness takes time to develop.

I also think it helps when people get a better grasp on history and the time period. Hence, we also organized various roleplay and history oriented classes. I would like to think those kind of things should also contribute to a better character development. After all, you can't develop a good character if you don't really know in what kind of circumstances that character lived.

Best of luck!

I think this is an extremely important topic and issue and I thank you for putting it front and center. For me, historical accuracy is essential if I am writing about--or speaking as--as a real person who walked the face of the earth at some point.

For a fictional character existing in a real period of history and having contact with real historical figures, historical plausability is key.

For example, Lorsagne de Sade is a fictional character, but the events of her birth, her character, and her life (which will continue to unfold) is entirely plausible (I hope) and based on study of her times and her "real" family members. This kind of character development takes time, but is the appeal of RP to me and I use it as an adjunct to my RL story creation and narrative development.

When all goes well, I find my SL fictional characters that exist in real historical timeframes start to speak and act for themselves; I am simply the typist who shuts up and lets them talk and interact. It's the exact same mechanism as what happens in RL when you create a successful literary character and it's enormously satisfying.

So, I spend a lot of time working on the back stories for each character (I am not nearly as adept as making sure their clothes are correct!) because it can set the stage for RP to come alive and take my characters--both in SL and RL works of non-fiction and fiction--down paths I never would have envisioned.

Historical figures -- such as Mary Delany -- are both harder and easier to portray. If great deal of biographical information exists about that character it's useful to consult, but I always go back to my roots: consult the primary documents. Read and understand the context and the times in which the person lived and approach the character as a biographer and a historian. Be careful not to cast your interpretation in today's times...that way lies madness and a real disservice to the person you are "pretending" to be.

I'm really looking foward to learning from others with an interest in RP!