Role Playing vs Roll Playing
Does rolling give players the right to ignore attacks or post small lack of talented post
As time has passed, this discussion has come up over and over again, in many different forms. It usually always boils down to the same thing; when is a person playing a role, and when is a person just rolling to play? Many times when you walk into a tavern or some other setting to play with people, you will see people who role play, not really using their dice for anything, just acting and reacting. Other times, people will be throwing their dice around with the barest of actions to warrant the use of dice; in fact, the use of the dice seems to be their reason for not posting an action. "Well, I rolled my dice and the result was successful" That seems to be something that is heard often from many of the people that are guilty of such a thing. Being a ROLE player, my opinion says no, that does not give them the right, but their argument is just as passionate to say the otherwise. Their dice do the talking for them. Usually, you will find the people that love dice in the large, dice based forums, carrying 3 or 4d something silly, but they haunt the other 2d forums as well.
Here though is what it boils down to.
Eventually, all the people that believe in Role play, in posting well thought out attacks or actions; something that's more than a couple lines long and actually conveys a sense of realism will hopefully finally separate from the people that just post a few small quips and roll their dice. Now why do I say this? Role players create their characters, enact their actions, speak how they speak for a reason - the love of Role Play, the desire to interact with others on a tangible level. A level crafted from a sense of intelligence, imagination and respect for others who feel the same way. No one likes to see that work and effort stepped on by someone that actively acts like they don't care. I know as a matter of personal preference, if I go through all the effort to do something and the response I get is ::blocks it:: along with a dice roll, I'm done. I'll take my play and go elsewhere, where it's appreciated and wanted. Rolling dice to avoid Role Play is very annoying indeed, it's a lack of respect and consideration. It means you have a decided lack of imagination and should be off doing something else. Nothing is more irritating to me and many others than that lack of respect or imagination. Dice are for matches, spars, duels and other special things, not everyday use; abusing them just makes them another tired thing in a world that already struggles to compete with so much out there.
Do they have a right to ignore or post poorly? To me no, to them yes, and that's why as they pop up, I pop them right out of my ever shrinking little world.
