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Levels of Consent in Roleplay
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Consent is an important concept in roleplay — it refers to the control you have over your own and other roleplayer's characters. Breaking the consent level for a particular roleplaying game is bad roleplay (more specifically — godmoding or powerplay) and can be cause for termination of the roleplay, at the very least. Consent can be boiled down to three basic ranges. Precise consent levels can vary by game and by agreement between players. These ranges are broad and non-comprehensive, but can serve as a basic outline.
Types of Consent in RPGs
Non-Consent:
In this type of roleplaying game, In-Character consequences are favored. Your agreement to negative consequences doesn't matter in Non-Consent RPGs. For example, even if you do not want your character to die, other characters can kill your character if they enter hostile land. This type of roleplaying is heavily rules-based and includes games like Dungeons & Dragons.
Non-Consent games are often very difficult for roleplaying newcomers to enter. You may not always comprehend the danger your character is in or the consequences of your character's actions. Non-Consent games are bad for players who are very attached to their characters. Conversely, Non-Consent roleplaying games are good for players who enjoy the unexpected.
Limited Consent:
Limited Consent attempts to strike an even balance between consent and consequence. Certain negative consequences can be enforced without player agreement. Character death, physical damage, and other severe consequences still require roleplayer agreement, though. For example, a wolf roleplaying game that allows an Alpha to kick a member out of the pack would fall under this category.
Limited Consent roleplaying games are possibly the most common type of play-by-post and forum-based RPG. Most resources on roleplay etiquette are written from a Limited Consent perspective. For example, bad roleplay such as powerplay may not even exist in Non-Consent games.
Limited Consent games may bore the player who wants the thrill of the unexpected. However, they may be too free and open for the roleplayer who values a structured environment offering total character control.
Strong Consent:
Players cannot control anyone's characters but their own, and consequences or life changes of any sort must be agreed to by the player. The example of this could be a high school roleplay which would require a teacher's roleplayer to ask the student's roleplayer if the student can be failed.
Total consent games seem to be relatively rare in a structured gaming environment. Since roleplaying is a collaborative effort, being so absolutely unable to affect another character's life is somewhat contrary to the idea in the first place. It absolutely defeats any roleplay that includes something akin to a Dungeon Master (DM) running the game. On more social media-based sites (like RPL), strong consent seems to be the default, but often is negotiated down to Limited Consent by specific player agreement on a player-by-player or roleplay-by-roleplay basis.
The trick to satisfying roleplaying is to strike a balance in consent that suits everyone involved. Communication is key. Even if you aren't someone who likes to plot in great detail, at the very least, briefly discuss consent levels before playing with anyone new. No matter what the level, if all players are aware of the structure of the roleplay game (or lack thereof), then a minimum of issues should arise as a result of problems with consent.
[Originally published by Loki Silvertongue at: https://new.roleplaylives.net/read.cfm?itemType=story&itemID=12475 ]
Types of Consent in RPGs
Non-Consent:
In this type of roleplaying game, In-Character consequences are favored. Your agreement to negative consequences doesn't matter in Non-Consent RPGs. For example, even if you do not want your character to die, other characters can kill your character if they enter hostile land. This type of roleplaying is heavily rules-based and includes games like Dungeons & Dragons.
Non-Consent games are often very difficult for roleplaying newcomers to enter. You may not always comprehend the danger your character is in or the consequences of your character's actions. Non-Consent games are bad for players who are very attached to their characters. Conversely, Non-Consent roleplaying games are good for players who enjoy the unexpected.
Limited Consent:
Limited Consent attempts to strike an even balance between consent and consequence. Certain negative consequences can be enforced without player agreement. Character death, physical damage, and other severe consequences still require roleplayer agreement, though. For example, a wolf roleplaying game that allows an Alpha to kick a member out of the pack would fall under this category.
Limited Consent roleplaying games are possibly the most common type of play-by-post and forum-based RPG. Most resources on roleplay etiquette are written from a Limited Consent perspective. For example, bad roleplay such as powerplay may not even exist in Non-Consent games.
Limited Consent games may bore the player who wants the thrill of the unexpected. However, they may be too free and open for the roleplayer who values a structured environment offering total character control.
Strong Consent:
Players cannot control anyone's characters but their own, and consequences or life changes of any sort must be agreed to by the player. The example of this could be a high school roleplay which would require a teacher's roleplayer to ask the student's roleplayer if the student can be failed.
Total consent games seem to be relatively rare in a structured gaming environment. Since roleplaying is a collaborative effort, being so absolutely unable to affect another character's life is somewhat contrary to the idea in the first place. It absolutely defeats any roleplay that includes something akin to a Dungeon Master (DM) running the game. On more social media-based sites (like RPL), strong consent seems to be the default, but often is negotiated down to Limited Consent by specific player agreement on a player-by-player or roleplay-by-roleplay basis.
The trick to satisfying roleplaying is to strike a balance in consent that suits everyone involved. Communication is key. Even if you aren't someone who likes to plot in great detail, at the very least, briefly discuss consent levels before playing with anyone new. No matter what the level, if all players are aware of the structure of the roleplay game (or lack thereof), then a minimum of issues should arise as a result of problems with consent.
[Originally published by Loki Silvertongue at: https://new.roleplaylives.net/read.cfm?itemType=story&itemID=12475 ]