I don't even remember the name of this board anymore, but on one of the boards I used to post at there was an admin who insisted that we had to write in the third person at all times or it was not roleplaying.

Why are so many boards in the third person anyway? Is it the preference of the author alone, or are authors of RP's influenced by some weird unwritten rule made up at the dawn of RPing?

Just curious because I see a lot of boards where the posts are in third person.("Sam walked to the store and got a jug of milk.", etc.) Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just wondered if there was a good reason for it. I have been RPing for around 4 years now and I hardly EVER see anything other than third-person perspective.

Some people get confused if you don't write in the third person because they can't tell the difference beteween their character and yours.

Also, writing in third person makes the board cohesive. I get a bit thrown if there's one peson on the board writing in first person, for example. But if the entire board was that way, it would probably be fun.

Third person is what I'm used to. All of the novels that influenced my writing style are in third person, and if I try to write in any other form it simply becomes cumbersome and frustrating because I have no experience in anything but third person.

I think most role-playing sites are in third person simply because... Well, most role-playing sites are in third person. Chances are you're going to learn how RP works at a site that uses third person and if you're like I am then it gets ingrained into your mind and that's just how you write.

I'm not completely against other persons, I just find third the most comfortable, especially when I'm playing more than one character in a single thread.

Roleplays are third person because that's the best way to write a coherent story with multiple characters. If you write each post in first-person or god forbind second, it's not a flowing story and it confuses the reader.

I've seen games where people have written in 1st person. There's no rule against it; if you create a game, you set the rules for it, including what tense you want posts written in.

Personally, though, I can't stand 1st person, not even in novels. xD The novel has to be darned good for me to read it if it's in 1st person, good enough to make me forget what tense it's in (and there are only a few out there that can accomplish that for me). Something about 1st person has just always grated on me, so with that said, I'd never ever RP, much less write, in 1st person (or 2nd person--eugh). Well...not apart from character journal entries and such.

I like 3rd person. :B

I think it's due to the fact that players can include both subjective and objective details in their writing through third person narration. The first and second person points of view don't allow for a lot of unbiased information, really.

Sites often insist that all members write in third person to keep things consistent between members and between sites. It's the most common thing in RPing so it's what most people are used to, and there's really no reason to mess up that flow. Keeping it consistent can only help. ;)

Thanks guys. It just always seemed a little weird to me to write in the past (tense) what you are writing in the present (day) . Hope that made sense.

The only RPs where third person makes sense to me are when they are SUPPOSED to be in the past, like if you're writing about the middle ages.

It could just be me though.

I used to have an rp buddy who wrote in the first person. Didn't bother me a bit, and we had some awesome stories. My bf often writes in the first person, but he's switched to third person when he writes on my board now, since a couple people got confused.

However, I don't have rules about such things, or tenses, and I won't, because, I don't care. First, third, present, past, whichever, works for me. Though, I admit, I don't remember what second person is like ><.

There seems to be a little confusion about tenses and point of views. They are different and unconnected things.

Tenses are the times the action is done and can be past, present or future. Usually RPing is done in past tense, though it's possible for it to be done in present. I've never seen or heard of anyone RPing in future tense.

She/he/it/I walked into the store and sat down. (Past)

She/he/it walk/s into the store and sit/s down. (Present)

She/he/it will walk into the store and sit down. (Future)

Points of View (Point of views?) are the perspective the action is done from. They can be third, second or first person. Usually RPing is done in third, though first is also possible. I suppose second is too, but I've never seen it.

She walked into the store. (Third)

You walked into the store. (Second)

I walked into the store. (First)

^_^

I prefer third person myself, because I find it easier to distance myself from my character if I'm not writing completely as them. I reckon this'd be a good reason not to have first person on a board - it makes it even easier for people to think that IC attacks equals OOC attacks.

I hate present tense writing in almost anything and I don't think I'd write with someone who did, I hate it that much.

I agree with Emma. After your second post it seems like you're talking about tenses, not POV. I think the reason we write in past tense is because the whole idea of RPing is that you're telling a story and typically, if you're telling a story, it's already happened. You said you don't understand why we used past tense if you're writing what's happening, but when you are telling a story you're not, you're writing what happened, even if its fictional and all in your head.

Another thing is that since we are all much more used to reading in past tense than present, it's very hard to keep up. You tend to slip in an out of past or present tense and that's always confusing.

As for tenses, I agree with Meliora. In first or second tense you can't explore what's around the character very much. For example -

First person: I entered the room and looked around, not sure what I would find, but positive I didn't like it. The hairs on the back of my neck were standing up and chills ran down my spine. "Hello?" I called nervously.

Second person (*groan*): You entered the room and looked around, not sure what you would find but positive you wouldn't like it. The hairs on the back of your neck were standing up and chills ran down your spine. "Hello?" You called nervously.

Third person: She entered the room cautiously, the darkness pressing down around her, obscuring her vision. She could not see the man pressed against the far wall, but she could sense that something was wrong. The hairs on her neck stood as a chill ran down her spine. "Hello?" She called nervously, just before the man took the first silent step toward her.

In the third person you have freedom to know things your character doesn't and to be a little more descriptive because typically your character isn't actually thinking 'My how beautifully the suns rays play across the surface of the water' but in the third person you can narrate those kinds of descriptions.

Hope that made some sense!

I've role played in all three persons, and I've got to say, it was dang fun. People shouldn't label #1 & #2 bad tenses for rp, just because they've never rped it. I especially liked #1, but #2 can actually be rather poetic. And it isn't hard to follow, as long as the rper does it correctly. If someone rps that tense incorrectly, yeah, it'll be confusing. As for tenses, those are pretty fun, too. I would love to rp in all different types of tenses.

Why aren't there any forums where you can rp in any person and tense? :'(

i definitely think third person is the way to go. first person is fine for stories and such, but something about third person makes it alot neater and easier for the other person to understand. atleast, i know it works better for me.

Exactly my point Junebug. I happen to think first person is rather fun if done correctly. I've gotten used to third though, but EVERYONE does that. Why not be an original?

I like 1st person in novels, but I don't know how switching between multiple people's 1st-person perspectives would go over. It's cool when it's the same author and even though the voices are different, there are still lots of consistencies in the writing. I'm a little hesitant with more than one writer, though.

Not to say I'd never participate in one. :sweat: Perhaps one day I'll give it a try, but they are few and far between.

Personally, I do not wish to read "I did this" and "I did that" in each and every single post that I read. I hate first person Rping, and that may be a cause of my strong dislike for first person writing in general (I'm finding that I'm getting better with that, but I still don't much care for it overall), but either way... I don't want to read it when I Rp. It looks weird, it sounds weird, and while it may give better insight to a character, I'd rather read a character's journal for that, or maybe a stream of consciousness type thing. Also, seeing an Rp written in third person and then first person - as in, not having the tenses match - also bugs the hell out of me. I've made a point of avoiding people who write in the first person, whether they're decent writers or not.

Most of the books that I've read are in third person. While I'm sure there are just as many first person novels, I've picked up a lot more in the third person. And, as far as I can tell (andn this an opinion of mine), third person is typically the story teller sort of writing choice - you're telling a story about someone, and you wouldn't use 'I' for that. Unless it's for an intended effect, although I've never seen that myself. The only time I would like to read first person writing on a forum is if it's in, like I said, the journal section, as I feel that is valid. For roleplaying, it's a huge no. I don't have that rule established on my forum, but we have yet to actually see someone write in first person.

I agree with the fact that writing in Third person makes everything more...unbias and cohesive. It's easier for you to say something like... "He had no idea what she was planning." than.... "I had no idea what she was planning."

As for second person....yuck....I hate it. Those should be reserved for the "choose your own destiny" books and that's it.

I've never done anything but in third person...but it would be a bit interesting to try out first person.

I dislike the limiting perspective of first person. I mean sure, you can wing it to give a broader world view but it still restricts you because your field of vision can, within reason, only go as far as your character. At least with third person you have a greater degree of flexibility, even in its most basic form. It's the style I've always chosen and I'll only use first person for certain effects.

I don't think that there is anything fundamentally wrong about using first or second person; they're perfectly acceptable techniques but for my personal taste, I'm not comfortable with using it constantly. Tiptoeing on the 'I' prospect is a bit too personal for me. I get that it doesn't have to be but for me, yes, however you present it, it's putting me in the reins, rather than holding onto them.

Most of the time I RP in third-person, but one game in particular I tend to swap between first and third. I partly blame the setup of the game for that, though!

As for tense, we almost always use present in our games. With how they're set up and run, it's the only tense that really makes sense.

I like writing in third Peson more than first person. Third person is just easier, and I don't know why but to be first person sounds a bit noobish. Talented writers have the ability to make a good rp in first person. Writers like me, like to have more to work with so we write in third person, it makes me sound more professional. At least thats what I think. :green: