Carpe-G Diem: How Role-Playing Titles Enhance My Stoic Self

[Mitchformer]

I like good RPGs. I especially love RPGs that let me do good as a bee makes honey.

Carpe-G Diem: How Role-Playing Titles Enhance My Stoic Self

In my last article, I detailed the ways in which horror gaming could teach one many lessons they could apply in-game and in real life. It could thus be said that the throughline of my write-up was the way in which video games—like books, movies, and other art forms—could entertain and educate the mi

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In this opinion/design article, I analyze the things that make the genre an excellent platform for exercising my Stoic beliefs.

Constructive feedback’s welcome.

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

A very interesting article, I like and support both the view that video games sometimes help us learn lessons we can apply in real life situations (same as the ethics learned from books we have read in our youth can influence our personality, for example), and the one that video games can be a place to live out our real life belief, conviction, philosophy in a meaningful way.

I apologise if tagging is a bit pushy, but I think @BelgarathMTH and @Zaxares (among others), who also like to express their RL attitude in games, would find the article an interesting read.

I have more details to comment on and thoughts to share about what I have read there, but I'd like to organise my impressions a bit instead of just posting snippets between work .

Thanks again for joining us here and sharing your work, several of us enjoy discussing philosophy in games and RL impact of gaming and vice versa.

 

[BelgarathMTH]

Okay, I read the article. Very interesting indeed, since it reflects a lot of my own attitudes while gaming. I needed to review Stoicism to understand the context. My first impression on re-reading about Stoicism was to be struck by similarities to the Buddhist philosophy I have studied and still practice. So, I looked up "Stoicism and Buddhism", and as expected, I am not the first person to notice the similarities, and I found several articles comparing the two.

It's reinforcing to discover I am not completely alone in using roleplaying games as a form of self-study and self-expression.

"As you think, so shall you become."

I don't expect anyone who enjoys playing evil in video games to agree with me, but I've always felt a conviction on an intuitive and spiritual level that if one practices stealing and murdering in games, one is reinforcing one's darkest impulses, which is not mentally healthy in my opinion.

When I practice doing good deeds in a game, and resisting temptation, it feels to me like I'm strengthening those parts of myself for real life, which I find satisfying. It increases my level of contentment and inner peace. So I'm very sympathetic to the author of the article.

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

I don't expect anyone who enjoys playing evil in video games to agree with me, but I've always felt a conviction on an intuitive and spiritual level that if one practices stealing and murdering in games, one is reinforcing one's darkest impulses, which is not mentally healthy in my opinion.

I strongly disagree with a generalization of that conviction.
First of all, define "evil".

I like stealing and pickpocketing in games, lately it has become both a dexterity challenge and a role-playing element for me, but apart from the thrill of executing a good, sneaky plan, it's more like living out my mischievous side of playing tricks on others than the greedy wish of wanting to take what isn't mine by force.

I certainly wouldn't put it on the same level as cold-blooded murder.

I like to choose the good path in games too, as in helping people, being kind, saving others. I wouldn't walk past a suffering person laughing at them or cutting their throats to take their coin. I'm a parent IRL, and I work in a profession where people literally trust me with their lives on a daily basis.
And yet, while for some people a game allows them to express their views, convictions and true feelings in a meaningful way, for others it can sometimes be the chance to safely explore or let out sides of themselves that don't have much space IRL, where they're allowed to blow off steam, to be a bit more reckless and irresponsible than real life would allow them to be.

I don't believe that's reinforcing the darkest impulses, or that allowing us to do things in games means we will then start doing things IRL we wouldn't have considered before.
For example, I doubt I'd drop from a rooftop to backstab my employer instead of filing a complaint, or to steal my colleague's expensive wristwatch, just because I can do so in a game.
That would be a similar reasoning as the one people are using who think that video games enhance antisocial and violent tendencies in teenagers, or the one governments of certain countries are using by forbidding games, movies or literature with LGBTQ+ content so that young people won't be seduced by it.

I highly doubt the possibility to see or do something in a game means we would suddenly start doing things IRL that we otherwise would have found repulsive or abhorrent.
Games can, however, provide an opportunity and environment to safely explore things and make experiences that real life circumstances don't give us the chance to do. That can be an outlet for aggressive feelings, it can be mischief and trickery and letting go a bit of strict rules and restrictions, it can be the chance to help, to explore honour and bravery and restraint, it can be something as simple as trying out styles and outfits or crafting and building, and it can mean exploring one's preferences and sexual orientation in romance interaction, to name a few.

Edit: That doesn't mean I'm against playing oneself in games or following one's conscience, conviction, code of honour... on the contrary. I believe who and how we are shapes how we behave, but also what we do can influence or even change how we think and feel and eventually how we see ourselves as a person.
I just think it's a bit more complex than "if you kill people in games, you become more callous IRL" for example.
There is such a thing as "pretend play". It's possible to slip into a role and "be" someone else for a time, to even explore personality traits that are totally strange to us and contrary to how we would behave in the real world.
An actor for example, be they a professional, or part of a hobby theatre group, will "be" that tyrant, whore, thief or murderer for hours, days, months, and practice how to be them, how to act and express that role, and yet, they don't become that person. Kind, caring people can play the role of a mass murderer, then go home and be a loving family person.

There have been actors of evil roles receiving hate mail from fans who can't tell them apart from the roles they played. I believe those are the ones who aren't mentally healthy, who can't tell reality from fiction.

It's "role-playing games". We're playing roles. Like a stage actor. We don't turn into that person forever.

If someone feels they'd rather not do that and just be the ideal version of who they want to be instead of experimenting with other varieties, that's totally valid, and if someone feels that giving in to their "darker" side in a game makes it harder for them to control their undesired impulses in real life, then it's very reasonable and mature to practice that kind of restraint.

All I ask is to avoid generalization and judgment of others. And @BelgarathMTH , I hope you know that I appreciate your opinions, I'm not "battling" against you, just trying to show that what is right for one person isn't necessarily a general rule, and for some people what's healthy and what isn't can even be the complete opposite.

That's why it's so cool we have a variety of RPGs and so many ways to play them.

 

[Antimatter]

I salute the level of quality and effort put into the article and can respect the point that RPGs let one be a more capable rendition of their real selves or be an idealized rendition of themselves in a virtual world. But my personal view on RPGs and playing them, for me personally again, is a little bit different. I don't look at these games as tests of my own morality. My look at them is twofold. One part is indeed me, the player, making choices, doing things considered good or not in the game's world. Another part is the role I play. It's very insightful by @Urdnot_Wrex to compare this to a theatre, or a movie. I don't inherit ideas from the real world that surrounds me and leverage them in video games, I inherit all possible ideas and try them. And these ideas come not only from the real world, but they also come from the game's world, or even other games' (and actually, other forms of entertainment, such as books) worlds.

For example, I want to play as an argonian, a scaly-face. I study all lore approaches regarding argonians, I study their culture, their regions, their history, and try to find my own role I can play to feel like an argonian. This argonian will be VERY difficult from me in the real world. Everything this character does, they do it because of their own ethos. And here is where the second part kicks in. When a quest offers me a choice whether I kill someone or help someone, I never know from the beginning what I would do--act based on my own personality (which will be to help the one in need), or act based on the fact this argonian is a member of the Dark Brotherhood. In real life, I never even thought about that, let alone wanted that, so there is nothing to "contain", nothing to moderate, no "darkest impulse" to hide.

Another example. I want to play as a female in the cyberpunk world (I'm male in RL). I have only my own ideas about how dystopian such a world would be based on the books, movies, and other games, and I compare it to what I see in Cyberpunk 2077. My decisions there are not only "my" decisions coming from my surroundings, my decisions are also influenced by the whole lore about the game world I see. I start romancing another female in this world. It's not me doing that romance, it's my role. I start modifying my body. I become strong-headed and arrogant. I accept a rig to assassinate someone. Because I want to survive in that world and strive in it.

In order to get into a character, it is very important to empathize with my character and know how to love my character. This is why someone might mix it with using real-life morality: "a conviction on an intuitive and spiritual level that if one practices stealing and murdering in games, one is reinforcing one's darkest impulses". But it's the case for me. And I believe it's not the case for many actors over thousands of years.

David Suchet, a very kind and caring Hercule Poirot you all know, said: "When I was playing a terrorist in Executive Decision on an airplane, wanting the airplane to blow up, I had to find the justification for himself, that particular character, to do that from his religious perspective and felt that he was doing honour to God by doing it. I have to find those reasons. Otherwise, you can’t play them.”

I would say that even character creation--for me--is essentially similar to an actor working on getting the character’s appearance (including movements) and voice right in order to get the feel of the character.

Edward Norton said: "Preparation is very important. I start by looking at many things, from clothes to music to voice. I know it sounds weird, but sometimes figuring out the clothes can really start to help you inhabit a character. It’s different every time. Sometimes it’s music, sometimes the voice is important first.”

It's so similar to my own thoughts about characters I play, be it a soundset in BG 20+ years ago, or using a TransMog system in CP2077.

Tom Felton said this about Alan Rickman: “…as soon as he is in his cloak, he walks and talks like Snape—it’s quite terrifying.” Did it mean Alan Rickman also secretly wanted to study the Dark Arts? Of course not!

Alan himself said the following: “I remember it very well how I analysed Hans Gruber, the bad guy in Die Hard. I wanted to know what he eats for breakfast, where he comes from and how he thinks. The director didn’t care about these details, but I think that the way I portrayed Hans Gruber was more believable because of them. The same goes for Snape in Harry Potter.”

And this is very similar to how I think about my background for a custom character I want to create in Baldur's Gate, Dragon Age, The Elder Scrolls, the list goes on. And trust me, that breakfast my vampire eats every day, is VERY different from what I even thought about trying.

Here is a quote I can find from an actor who is not a world star: "I have played a number of “real” people, for instance - by which I mean I have portrayed people who really existed - including two serial killers. The experience of trying to understand the actions and motivations of a person who did horrific things, especially one who is not a fictional invention, can be a sobering and even unpleasant experience.

Any actor will tell you that the process of inhabiting a character involves finding something within you that allows you to connect to that person. This means that it’s much more the case that you put something of yourself into them, rather than having something of them become part of you.

As part of that process, I find that I learn as much about myself, sometimes, as about the character - however this is not so much an influence on my personality as it is an opening up of things that were there already." (Jan Vander)

So in a way, playing RPGs with the approach I have is also self-study and self-expression, but it's much more different.

 

[Cahir]

Another very insightful article. In my case the way I roleplay crpgs evolved with time. When I was younger the majority of such games started with the creation of more or less custom character, with selected race, class, stats and sometimes even look. Having the opportunity to shape my character the way as I see fit always brought the temptation to roleplay this character basicly as a real life me, with all story decisions I would do, if I could magically jump into my character's shoes.

With more and more games offering to play pregenerated characters, my approach to roleplaying a protagonist shifted to "what they could do, knowing their character, relations with party member and other NPCs, their background story, the setting etc." I realised I started to mix my approach, to bend the original protagonist's character to my view of life, my ideals. Let's take my beloved Red Dead Redemption 2 as an example. Arthur Morgan, RDR2 protagonist, is a member of criminal gang, but a gang with principles. They are not savages, that kill random folks for fun, but they are no gentle folks either. The game lets you roleplay Arthur as good guy (despite his origin) or bad guy, essentially increasing or decreasing your honor bar (resulting wih high or low honor run). You can basically shoot random folks, rob trains, houses or carriages, but you can instead help folks in need, like saving a random guy from a snake bite, rescuing another guy from attacking wolves, pulling out a women from under a dead horse and ride her back home after. You can roleplay Arthur as you see fit. Of course the main story events doesn't allow you to have full freedom and some nasty events will happen, but the way you roleplay Arthur will impact on his behaviour during the course of game.

Now, I usually play good folks, and wanted Arthur to be a good guy, so I tried for him to be a better man than his background implied. But I couldn't forget about his background entirely, so I allowed myself to do some morally dubious actions from time to time (even outside the main story events). When mean people started to piss him off, I sometimes allowed Arthur to be even meaner. As a result my Arthur would be described as me who had been transfered to the hostile environment of the wild west, having to survive there, but retaining the bits of dignity of RL persona. RDR2 is just an example of how I often roleplay crpgs now, but I must say this new approach is very exciting and let me feel my character even more.