Hi everyone,

So, adding to the long list of "things that I forgot to include in my board" is a rule about perspective. I know a lot of boards use the third person ("he", "she", etc.) but the book series I'm basing the board off of always uses first person ("I"). I don't mind either way, but I can't decide on which one to use.

I started out roleplaying in first person, but then I started making more characters on the same site and I got myself confused as to who I was supposed to be writing as at any given time. Third person limited is always preferable as far as I'm concerned. I would recommend sticking with third person, since as you mentioned it's the most common RP perspective. Requiring first person might turn some people off.

I've always done third person. I learnt that way.

Also, I feel it gives me more freedom. You can say 'I did this' so many times, but you can't really say your name much.
With 3rd person, you can say 'he/she', their name, maybe their title, or a characteristic of them... the possibilities are a lot broader.

I have had a board full of 3rd person-ers, and then had one app come through as 1st person. I knew the girl, so I didn't feel that bad about asking her to try the other way, but it did raise an issue to my staff. We were all very very lost for what to do..

I have no preference but I haven't RPed much in the first. There's sort of a disconnect when you're trying to reply and read all the "I"s the other person wrote though, at least for me, so it takes me a bit longer to reply to.

Well...personally I hate 1st person. xD I don't even like reading books written in 1st person, though I will read 'em and enjoy 'em if the book is spectacularly written in a way so that I forget it's even 1st person.

But I largely prefer 3rd person. And in RPing? 1st person would drive me positively insane. xD;;

I won't write in first person unless it's for a journal or something >>; I hate first person unless it's done well or it's interesting, or I feel like writing in it, lol. Typically, though, I write everything in third person and feel a forum should be as such, regardless of whether the book or whatever the forum was based on was in first person. I just can't imagine an entire Rp being based on first person... All I can think is that it'd be very fluffy.

I'm another person who prefers third over first. Writing in journals is one thing, but writing posts is another thing entirely. I'd suggest that you go with third person instead of first, even if the author used it in their books, because it's more comfortable for most RPers.

The general consensus seems to be for third over first, and I definitely agree.

Writing in first person just feels very limiting. I agree with what Elenlond said, that it is really only good for journal entries and the likes. I learned to RP in the third person, but I have encountered a few first-person sites and I really don't like them. With third person, not only is there room for more varied diction and post structure, but there is also more room for you to play around with perspective. Yes, third-person posts are generally in third-person limited, but I feel like there is more room to sort of- play around.

I think it also depends on the difficulty level of your board. On more beginner-oriented sites, members are not expected to crank out quite as lengthy, descriptive posts, so first person would be easier to make work in such situations; on the other hand, for more advanced roleplayers who do a lot of describing and examination of their characters' inner mechanisms during their posts, third-person seems a better fit. It's just unlikely that your character, in his or her own head, is going to spend much time talking about the color of the sunrise or, y'know, their haircut. In addition, first person perspectives limit your ability to examine the depths of your character's thoughts and driving factors - it's just not plausible that every single character is going to think about the motive behind their feelings and actions while it's happening, if at all - a first-person post is more likely just to say "oh my god, I am so angry!" but a third-person post can more easily get into why that is and the effects it's having on your character's behaviors.

The third person is more readily descriptive and insightful, and really just easier on anyone who comes along to read.


*edited for a quick typo-fix

Sometimes I use first person to talk directly to the reader. Some people read that as first person (and get angry about it), but that's me-the-writer, not me-the-character.

If I have an OOC comment to make it's in first person as well; I usually separate it from the rest of the post either with an "OOC:" preceeding it or parentheses.

Every site I've ever been on has been third person. it's much easier to read. because essentially, it's not one character telling the story, it's a bunch of them. so when you have 20 characters say I all the time, it gets confusing.

I tend to use first person for a journal or diary form, and third for the actual RP. I try to encourage third person as much as possible, in fact it's even a rule, but I probably wouldn't actually force members to use it unless it becomes a problem.

Oh I didn't even think of the personal books for the characters. Ya, first person for those for sure because those are things right from the character.

But ya. Third person is strictly enforced on AML. Though, I've never really had an issue with it. It's always getting people to post in present tense that's the issue <_<

Third is best for me--unless it's a journal--because it makes a clear divide between me and my character. Some people get tetchy enough as it is over character/player boundaries, so I'd rather not add to it.

Third definitely.

The beauty of first person is that you get a limited, biased, and singular perspective. If you're roleplaying, you're going to have at least one other character's perspective, which kind of defeats the purpose of writing in first person. Also, I think it's a bit choppy when reading to jump from "I, meaning Bob," to "I, meaning Sue."

Third person I prefer, but I would be up to joining a first person site if it looked interesting.

Mm, third person for me. I don't know if I'd join a first-person site; probably not.

I've been roleplaying in third person so long that it would be hard to change. It'd feel wrong!

I also like switching things up from "Name" to "she" to anything else. You have a lot more options with third, as has been mentioned before.

That's also a very good point. I'm so used to third persn, I'd screw up if I had to post in first any other place but in a journal or something. And there's the freedom of more options. I use the blank haired person or the species quite often. More descriptive.

I myself use third person now. I started out in first, but my posts felt a little limited to me like I couldn't describe feelings, and things in much depth without it sounding wierd so I switched over, and it actually works a lot better for me. Also it gives the other person a lot more to expand on when replying back to you.

Exactly. It's a two way street. Or three or four ... You know what I mean. When it's first person, it's all about the person that it's the post. ie. your character. But when it's someone else telling the story, ie, you, it opens things up so much more.

I had another question, actually. Related to here, so I'll just ask it here.

I've seen a lot of RPs where people basically use any format they wish to use. Some use first person past tense others use third person past tense, i use third person present tense (It's actually the rule on my site to use third person present tense). Doens't it bug yo uwhen you go from one to another? I don't know, it just may be my English pet peeves coming out, but wouldn't it look nicer and read better if it were all in the same tense and person?

I would find it very difficult to RP in a game where there's a mixture of tenses and first/third person.

I haven't made it a rule at StC to write thrid person, past tense but that's what we're all using. Most of us there write fanfic, and came in through the fandom rather than through being RPers, so we're used to that. I think if anyone came up and started using first person present, I would ask them to change it to fit how the rest of us are doing it, so we can read through a thread easier without getting a headache.

But that's my penn'orth; someone else may have a different view. :)

Oh yay! It's not just me then. lol. On AML, people don't have an issue with the third person, it's the present tense. And even after I've asked them countless times, they still use past tense. It's very frustrating because I want to keep everything the same so it doens't get confusing and hard to read.

Okay, so I've finally decided which tense to use, and because I'm such a biatch I like going against the crowd, I've decided to go with first person for now (goes better with the books, I think) to see how well it works. I might post some monologues with my character first, in case I decide that it doesn't work and I should have gone with TPP.

Yeah, I'm very indecisive like that...

I've done both, first and third person. The game I'm running now is in first person. I don't understand why that's necessarily be more limiting than third. There are things you can do in first person you can't do in third, after all. I think it mostly depends on the game.

Generally, the unified third person forum works best. BUT, I've been in awesome RPGs where you could chose your tense, and for some characters I rped in first person and it worked marveously. I was able to characterize those characters very well through first person.

It depends on the character for me when I pick favorite style. But if I board picks one to have as the default style, it should be third person.

I have only ever RPed in the third perspective and it works well - especially when all people in the forum conform to that perspective.

I do, however, prefer to write stories and novels in first person since it gives a limited amount of knowledge to the reader and adds more surprise for certain things because of the little amoung ot knowledge.

Third person for me too. I've never done first, but I think I would have huge difficulties with executing that.

I've noticed that a lot of people do their applications in first person, and though I have seen good first person applications, I tend to dislike them, especially when it comes to personality, because it's so easy to make a Sue when writing in first person, because a character wouldn't have the kind of insight needed to describe themselves neutrally, and that kind of naturally limits the amount of flaws the player adds in. It is, of course, not true of every player, but I much prefer third person applications.

You can come very close to first person by using third-person limited, where the authorial narrator almost disappears.

The problem with bad first person is that it is glaringly bad. There will be a forest of "I's" dotting a page. Stick with third and third-limited for RP. Bad third person tends to read much better than bad first person.

As long as there is an established way of writing on your board, you shouldn't have a problem.

First-person writing is fine, but it often gets cringe-worthy in RP.

I think every board I've ever been involved in has used third person, with the except of a character's thoughts or journal/diary entries. To me, it feels the most natural for message board role playing. Although, on a side note, I'm the exact opposite when it comes to table top! I'm not even sure I've seen an entirely first person site...or even just a standard post in first person, for that matter.

Come to think of it, I'd never even seen first person posts mentioned at all until I came back to message board role plays recently. When I first got into message board role playing, it was just expected that you posted in third person.