Are You the Player or the Player Character? (Or Both...?)

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  • Опубликовано: 23 янв 2025

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  • @DesertDwellerSoloGaming
    @DesertDwellerSoloGaming 26 дней назад +6

    Video 89 of me liking and then commenting on every new upload to tell the viewers that the Man Alone Podcast is absolutely some of that sweet, unhinged audio/vocal-honey.
    Psssst. What is your favorite word? What is your least favorite word? Use them both in one single sentence together.

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  26 дней назад +3

      Wow! That is a very PLUMP CHANDELIER.

  • @nickc2837
    @nickc2837 27 дней назад +8

    I've actually learned a lot about myself through the solorpg characters I play. Tables and such decide the characters' personalities and such themselves, but a little bit of Me slips into each one.

  • @MagnificentDevil
    @MagnificentDevil 26 дней назад +7

    To address the core issue, am I the player or the PC? The answer is, I am the player except when I am acting as the PC. The Player interacts with mechanics, with the oracle, with the physical tools. But when it is time to decide what the character thinks, says, or does... I am the character. This is akin to method acting, except that there is no external audience. Most of us call this Immersive Roleplay. Others call it Reactionary Principle Roleplay, or 4D Roleplay. The point of roleplaying, for people like me, is to play a character that are entirely different from ourselves. We want to explore what it might be like to walk a mile or two or ten in someone else's shoes. Playing a character that is a self-insert defies the point of Roleplay for us.

  • @adub_from_253
    @adub_from_253 22 дня назад +1

    Geez, when you started talking about how you’ll imagine yourself in other professions is me to a TTTT! The more niche of a profession, the more fascinating it is to me.

  • @JackMcCarthyWriter
    @JackMcCarthyWriter 26 дней назад +3

    Funny, I thought it was about solo roleplaying the entire time

  • @rwode-mf3ps
    @rwode-mf3ps 24 дня назад

    Excellent video! Way to bring up a topic I'd never before considered. I wonder how much of the PC/Player conflation is due to players coming in to TTRPGs from video games? My introduction to role-playing games was 1998's Baldur's Gate CRPG. In that game and many others if your character dies it's game over. In Ultima IV your "avatar" was supposed to be you the player as you the player character, encouraging you to make in-game decisions based on your out-of-game personality and morals. I'm going to try and make the next character I roll up as different than me as I can muster. The result may reveal a lot about how I perceive myself!

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  24 дня назад +1

      I absolutely recommend doing this… I noticed that before I became aware of this, I always rolled up player characters who were very clever and intelligent and knowledgeable, and basically because I was playing an extension of myself (or more who i imagined myself to be or wanted to be perceived as being), I lost interest because I was essentially inhabiting a mind frame or a POV of someone who I already inhabited every day; there was nothing new there was nothing novel there was nothing to learn. Now I almost primarily play characters who are brawn before brains or devious and manipulative or more interested in esoteric over scientific knowledge, etc. it has been a revelation and completely brought my solo gaming to a new level!

  • @arielle2745
    @arielle2745 13 дней назад

    Fascinating, thoughtful, and nuanced discussion. As a 68-year-old who likes Berholt Brecht and would love to see one of his plays performed (and am thus obviously raised in different world from you and many of your viewers) I very much enjoyed hearing your point of view. (Yet, this is definitely not what I expected from a gaming video!) 😉

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  12 дней назад

      You have landed in the right place, Arielle. I so very rarely talk about games. Far more often my videos are talking about talking about TALKING about games lol. Welcome!

  • @chestead
    @chestead 26 дней назад +5

    the best Man Alone videos are when Man Alone waxes philosophical for an hour. this one really did make me stop and reconsider how I think about things. I realized I just reflexively assumed these games with safety procedures and trigger warnings were automatically good. But I realize now that it's a bit more nuanced than that.

    • @MagnificentDevil
      @MagnificentDevil 26 дней назад +3

      They're not only not good, they're likely to cause more harm. Clinical psychologists have weighed in on the subject and said that 'safety tools' are enabling pathological coping mechanisms and contribute to learned helplessness. While well-meaning, its actually a disservice to those it is meant to help.

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  25 дней назад +2

      @@chestead I think it is useful to occasionally reevaluate standard practices to make sure that the reason why they’re happening is a valid reason and not just because the person before used them, and
      I do think most people have the intention of doing good, but I think it’s important to ask ourselves what will actually create more good and not just appear to create more good. I also love the word waxes, and I’m wondering if there are other usages of it besides prior to “philosophical” or “poetic.”
      Why don’t we ever say that someone was waxing boring? Lol

    • @chestead
      @chestead 25 дней назад

      @ I realized how trite it was when I was typing it, but still

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  25 дней назад +1

      @@chestead I thought it was a really nice comment!

    • @chestead
      @chestead 25 дней назад +2

      @@amanisalone keep waxing philosophical, your fans clamor for more

  • @supersiamesisk
    @supersiamesisk 22 дня назад

    Very interesting. I think you could argue that the Kick-Ass comics/movies kind of explore this bridging of aesthetic distance.

  • @The-Gate-House-Grognard
    @The-Gate-House-Grognard 27 дней назад +2

    My grandmother happens to be an expert in brain-mouth-leakage. Usually an ibuprofen and a nap sorts it out.

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  26 дней назад

      @@The-Gate-House-Grognard rub some dirt on it!!!

  • @dranorter
    @dranorter 26 дней назад

    Dude, Ed Sullivan is a show for adults from your POV. It was at some point hip and accessible, peopled by relatable celebrities who talked like normal humans and were into normal stuff. TV was small and relatable at its beginning, the TV personalities started out relatable because they were basically RUclipsrs, doing this thing they happened to be decent at that hadn’t previously been a career.

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  25 дней назад

      A fair point perhaps I was thinking more about the Johnny Carson show than Ed Sullivan but are you saying that you feel like people have always been able to connect with celebrities etc. in the way they do now? Relatable is not the same as accessible in the 2002 election people said that they felt like they could have a beer with somebody like George W. Bush but I don’t think many of them thought they were actually going to run into him at a pub.

    • @dranorter
      @dranorter 25 дней назад

      @ I think it’s been something that goes up and down through history, for example some royalty existed in a separate sphere of existence from their subjects while others were met by just about everyone. I’m also reminded of the linguist Everett teaching the Piraha people about Jesus - the Piraha have a famously “here, now” mindset and immediately started seeing and talking about Jesus. (Their ‘visions’ were not particularly religious or flattering.)
      Anyway, I think the nature of broadcast media in the mid 20th century created a many decades long bubble of inaccessible celebrities. Before that, culture was more local and so were many celebrities. But it all varies quite a bit by time and place. Whether all that is related to peoples’ schemas for distinguishing self vs player character, I’m not sure. Maybe a good example here is the Victorian escape fantasy of discovering you are actually a descendant of a noble and re-inheriting your county estate. Looking back it’s sad how main characters in Victorian dime novels seemingly had to be rich to be worthy of main character-ness, and then were made relatable via initially believing themselves poor. But I think the question is, did people have weak reality-vs-fantasy divides regarding this, like with Harry Potter? I would guess they did, despite having pretty inaccessible celebrities.

  • @adub_from_253
    @adub_from_253 6 дней назад

    Brecht was not buying what Ari was throwing down.

  • @GrahamFryeJr
    @GrahamFryeJr 26 дней назад

    That was really interesting. I'd seen some "Brechtian" plays and knew that they weren't hiding the machinery, but I thought it was just an design choice. Thinking back after watching this, I understand a bit better why directors might choose this style.

  • @sushi_donut
    @sushi_donut 27 дней назад +2

    "Ari, I'm not interested." 🤨🙅‍♂ - Brecht 😅 Really loving these insights, thanks!

  • @risusrules
    @risusrules 27 дней назад +1

    We've transitioned from entertainment to the transference escapism of PC as self, in an attempt to self validate the view of our new utopia (societally, not personally (ie generalization)). Or that is what it feels like to me as an old neck-beard toting grognard, who sees technology inferring prominence or... import (?) of people, or organizations, that provide little quality of life or sku things to their own benefit.

  • @GeoffBarrettmindmatter
    @GeoffBarrettmindmatter 8 дней назад

    I admit I put off watching this one, but it's the best one yet.

  • @AndrewMartinNZ
    @AndrewMartinNZ 26 дней назад +1

    Try playing as a group of characters, like a typical D&D party. Solo party roleplaying.

  • @lomerran94
    @lomerran94 24 дня назад

    I've had to listen to this three times to get my head around it now. Taking away that everyone I hate is me, so I need to start at darkness so I don't end up like cousin Benny. And I might do that by playing the dark games and ignoring the sensitivity warnings. I've seen that there's a 40k ttrpg where you can actually play as chaos? And it has stats and rules for playing as plague Marines? Jesus I've got to give that a go

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  24 дня назад

      Are you referring to dark heresy or black crusade? Do you live in the US or Canada? If so send me an email at amanalone@proton.me and I will send you my copy of the game, I'd be happy to part with it to help you start on your journey just let me know

    • @lomerran94
      @lomerran94 24 дня назад

      @amanisalone Thank you that is very kind of you but I'm in UK. Yeah it's Black Crusade and the sourcebook The Tome of Decay! Just having a read of PDF now, this is messed up but got an idea of how my character can be absolutely vile and evil, but still have purpose

  • @diogenesstudent5585
    @diogenesstudent5585 27 дней назад +3

    Dude. U are really smart.

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  27 дней назад +4

      @@diogenesstudent5585 bc I ate a lot of peas when younger

    • @reelneim
      @reelneim 27 дней назад

      Aha! I always hurd broklay, but broklay nly made me bicepser ; p bet u cant fotbal any good

  • @Lascifrass
    @Lascifrass 24 дня назад

    Alright, man. You know what? Shut up and take my money. This is the video that convinced me to pay for a membership.
    I really enjoy your videos, even if I'm not a solo roleplayer. If anything has gotten me incredibly close to actually sitting down and running a solo game, it's your channel. I'm still not quite there. My copy of Mythic 2e is sitting on the table behind me, looming hauntingly as I play games on my computer across the room. But I'll get there eventually. Soon. Sometime. Maybe.

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  23 дня назад

      the cool thing is that any time you think about something cool, you are solo playing!

  • @MathiasCamila-g1v
    @MathiasCamila-g1v 26 дней назад

    Thank you so much for this amazing video! I need some advice: I have a SafePal wallet with USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). How can I transfer them to Binance?

  • @patrickmoates8030
    @patrickmoates8030 27 дней назад +3

    This wasnt just insightful... and it was, but compasionately nonjudgmental and accepting of the world today and the people in it. Manalone/ Beebee 2028. But in all sincerity this video was a gift i needed right now. Metacognition and mental excercises/scenarios are an ally to our species.

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  26 дней назад +1

      @@patrickmoates8030 thank you friend if enough of us write BeeBee and I in, it will be the most confusing election of all time

    • @patrickmoates8030
      @patrickmoates8030 24 дня назад

      @amanisalone a confusing election, it's own reward

  • @hariszark7396
    @hariszark7396 26 дней назад

    2:50 Who is this compatriot that I have never heard of before?? 😁

  • @InhabitantOfOddworld
    @InhabitantOfOddworld 23 дня назад

    Hey man, love your videos and been subbed a little while now.
    I could ask your advice on solo roleplaying. How do you strike the balance between being the GM and player? Is that what this video is about? Between rolling the oracles and forming meta-knowledge, and playing the character and actually feeling like you're "playing" a game?
    I have a hard time playing solo, have done for the past 6 years or so. I'm the forever-GM when it comes to group play, so I lean into that with solo. I've a load of half-finished solo journals for different games because I get maybe 2-3 scenes in and lose momentum. I set up a great character and story premise almost like I'm GMing and adventure-writing, and then... Nothing. I end up writing journals like I'm writing a story, and I never feel like I'm actually 'playing'. I get frustrated with juggling the two roles, feel like I'm not playing right, and then end up bailing before my character even starts gaining XP. I find another game/system/genre that interests me, and repeat the whole thing ad-nauseum.
    What am I doing wrong? What can I do to have a better playing experience? I've watched countless RUclips videos from all the other big names in playing solo, and I feel like none have ever addressed this quite niche problem of mine. I can't seem to avoid the feeling my character is on rails when I try to play, like they're an actor and I'm the movie director, they're the character and I'm the author. I don't know how to actually 'play' and either mentally or physically off-load the GM side. Actual plays like Me, Myself, and D*e make it look so effortless and easy, and I can never emulate that when I sit down and try.

  • @sumdude4281
    @sumdude4281 27 дней назад

    Watching "Suits" I was like, I wonder if I could pass the Bar, maybe I should study for the bar...Kim Kardashian passed the Bar, then I get way too lazy.

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  26 дней назад +1

      @@sumdude4281 ha ha exactly!!!

  • @justinhaskell5502
    @justinhaskell5502 27 дней назад +2

    That little synth?

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  27 дней назад +2

      Best Christmas gift of all…and most annoying. Beebee knows how to gift

    • @justinhaskell5502
      @justinhaskell5502 27 дней назад

      @amanisalone sometimes my hobbies collide in the most unexpected places.

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  27 дней назад

      @@justinhaskell5502 I made my nephews into a piano yesterday. I will make everything into a piano eventually

  • @guapounggoy
    @guapounggoy 27 дней назад +1

    Pro-wrestlers and stand-up comics really have a hard time separating character from performer. Someone like Undertaker is easy. Usually only the youngest fans are going to buy it, but somebody like Ric Flair is hard to separate-at this point even Flair doesn’t know the difference. When Mankind won the belt and dedicated the match to his son, was that Mick Foley dedicating the match or did that hideous freak “Mankind” have a kid out there in storyline continuity?

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  26 дней назад +1

      @@guapounggoy this is actually a great example of this, especially because a lot of times Vince McMahon and other promoters would pull inspiration from their actual lives for a shoot, such that the boundary between their personal and professional selves was intentionally whittle down. This used to be an extreme fringe example, but now I think it happens in more workplaces than we’d like to admit

  • @dranorter
    @dranorter 23 дня назад

    I'm just going to try and take the inclusiveness of, say, Candela Obscura (which I think fits perfectly with what you're saying) seriously for a minute to try and steelman what's happening. First of all it's worth clarifying that plenty of explicit evildoing is allowed, just not identity-based discrimination. To my mind the main purpose of this move is to encourage depicting all types of people in positions of power (or any particular roles really). The idea is that in America at least, a lot of our discrimination is subconscious, and what we need more than depicting pitfalls of these biases, is just to depict these biases not existing. Because by depicting more diverse characters in a variety of roles, we get ourselves used to the idea that "white hetero male" etc. isn't some sort of natural default.

  • @jacekandrzejczak318
    @jacekandrzejczak318 26 дней назад +1

    ROTFL! What a self-own LOL! XD XD XD
    Absolutely splendid essay, the ending before credits was a chef's kiss, muah 👌

  • @Doribi117
    @Doribi117 26 дней назад

    Honestly, when roleplaying I think that you are both and neither, for example one of the characters I play in a campaign set in the 90’s is a former member of the provisional IRA, a bit of a mad engineer, linguist, polymath, sniper and demolition expert. I would like to think there are aspects of Mr O’Niell that are part of me, but also he is separate, I think a good PC should shape the player and vice versa. Roleplaying to me functions as 3 separate but equally important parts, story telling, personal growth and sheer entertainment. Then again this is coming from a former theatre kid so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

  • @cmdreltonpoole6303
    @cmdreltonpoole6303 26 дней назад

    You're over thinking this, @amanalone.
    The US was founded by Puritans and it's society is essentially puritanical.
    Because of this, Americans have always enjoyed moral panics, from the Salem Witch Trials to the Satanic Panic and now to the political.
    When I was growing up in the eighties it these moral panics were promulgated by right wing soccer moms. Now we have a moral panic by left wing soccer moms (they're only left wing because the Overton window has shifted).
    In the eighties, it would have been taboo to play a MAP character (good), just as now it's taboo to play a personally powerful character because society has shifted from individualism to collectivism.
    This is no different from my mom burning my AD&D books when I was 14.
    It'll fade to be replaced by the next moral panic shortly.

  • @Masamune66
    @Masamune66 26 дней назад +1

    What are your thoughts on GTA which is a game where people role play evil people that unalive and beat up innocent people all the time. Very popular for almost three decades across generations.

    • @MagnificentDevil
      @MagnificentDevil 26 дней назад

      Being able to violate social norms in a safe way without consequences provides catharsis.

  • @NixonDrink
    @NixonDrink 27 дней назад +1

    Wow Brecht really summerizes my falling out with comedy news shows. They spend 20 minutes telling you about big problems and then they always have to ruin it in the last 3 minutes telling you about someone trying to fix the problem. So the audience feels smug and superior to their political opponents but is ultimately pacified contributing nothing to improving the situation.

    • @amanisalone
      @amanisalone  26 дней назад

      @@NixonDrink that’s right in seeking to have their audience feel pleased with themselves and keep coming back. They sacrifice any potential for actual change to happen.

  • @InhabitantOfOddworld
    @InhabitantOfOddworld 23 дня назад

    Brecht? Bleugh, leftist nonsense. Aristotle FTW

  • @cobinizer
    @cobinizer 27 дней назад +2

    Are you not describing disassociation? Like the morons complaining that animated, fictional characters are actual children?

    • @xionkuriyama5697
      @xionkuriyama5697 27 дней назад

      please spend even ten minutes actually researching dissociative disorders. but you won't because being snarky on the internet about random kids you don't know is easier.

    • @sumdude4281
      @sumdude4281 27 дней назад +1

      @@xionkuriyama5697 Not the OP but upon your advice, I looked it up, thanks. Had no idea what it was.