Once you’ve taken your first steps, roughly decided on a genre, gotten a feel for how the gameplay works, and begun to understand when and what you can do, the question may arise of how to make your character distinctive, vibrant, expressive, engaging, and memorable. The easiest and quickest way is to work on your voice, as it’s likely the only channel through which you can convey information. At least, this is the most common limitation in online games.
In this template article, we’ll try to briefly outline aspects of working with voice to achieve quick results. Players often limit themselves, not trying to experiment, for fear of appearing awkward or ridiculous. In fact, this is far from true; try gradually, without exaggerating or overdoing it. Try to involve your players, at least warning them about your experiments. They can help. Anything that enhances the atmosphere and immerses the player in the game is usually supported.
Much depends on the genre your group has chosen for the game. A rough example in the case of shonen (anime genre): pompous behavior and over-the-top acting can perfectly suit the desired atmosphere and narrative style.
Take whatever you like, and discard the rest. In RPGs, there are no clear and precise plans, recipes, or instructions on how to do everything “correctly” and achieve your goals. Much will depend on you and the other participants.
[This article is primarily intended for the “Player”, but may also be useful for the Master/Gamemaster]
1. Voice
A template for more expressive online roleplaying:
1.1. Timbre—increasing or decreasing pitch—adds semantic meaning, highlights what the character considers important, and makes something ambiguous due to its unfamiliarity.
1.2. Speech rate – We usually don’t notice our speech rate, but sometimes we change it for specific moments, such as when talking with loved ones, when speaking quietly so as not to wake someone sleeping, etc. By changing the speed that others are used to, you add new emphasis to the information.
1.3. Rhythm is an expression of general state and attitude not so much toward the information as toward the interlocutor and the situation. For example, you might speak quickly and briefly in a dangerous situation because there’s no time for a serious, measured conversation. Or you might respond in a tired, sleepy, fragmentary manner after sleep or at night. On the other hand, you regulate the rhythm of others by indicating your state or readiness to perceive them at all.
1.4. Voice volume – you can speak more quietly or, conversely, louder, expressing different emotions, interest, involvement, etc.
1.5. Conversation development – this relates to rhythm, but in general, it’s an understanding of a pattern or flow chart for an evolving conversation. Without practice, this is very difficult to keep in mind, but if you pay even a little attention to it, you’ll gain insight into key points of different types of “communication.” For example: greetings (politeness), discussing the current situation, getting down to business, making or deferring a decision, ending a conversation, and farewells (politeness).
Depending on the topic and the type of conversation (entertainment, business, casual chat, superficial conversation with the “boss,” etc.), you can break established patterns and try to steer the conversation in the direction you want. It’s also important to monitor how others do this and react promptly to avoid being manipulated and losing your advantage in the conversation.
1.6. Pauses – you can be stunned by something, thinking while talking, etc. This is extremely realistic; there’s no need to rush around and the overall illusory speed of the game. Pauses can also indicate an attempt to control and slow down the other person’s pace, or a feeling of being lost. Depending on the situation, pauses have varying expressiveness and power. Sometimes, pauses say much more than just a description.
2. Description of emotions
- Description of emotions: (it forms the perception, image of the scene, situation and events, so even a minimal focus on emotion becomes very vivid and colorful, but it should not overload the perception)
2.1. The artistic part is a beautiful and expressive description that helps create an image.
2.2. The practical part—revealing the character’s inner state—must be appropriate to their actions and the situation. If you’re fighting, there’s little point in describing deep emotions, as the dynamic of the scene doesn’t allow for an extended narrative. Again, unless we’re taking, for example, the wuxia genre, where the character primarily develops through encounters with others and the world, thereby gaining insight into themselves.
2.3. External/Internal Ratio (Scope) – Perception can’t hold a huge number of points of interest; it generalizes them, or they blur together. The so-called attention span is 7±2. That is, if you maintain a certain middle ground, for example, 5 elements of state: attitude toward the situation, attitude toward the interlocutor, turning away from the light source, liking the mention of your appearance, keeping an eye on the NPC, assessing how they react to the interlocutor. You can start with 2-3 elements for better situational awareness.
2.4. The connection between the description of an internal state and an attitude—you can divide it into elements; you separate your impression, and it seems inanimate. Therefore, it’s better to move smoothly from one to the next, so that each element is connected, if not evokes a chain of attitudes. Imagine your current state, a complete picture. You mentally delimit it and create a puzzle for children aged 1-2 years, 6-7 fragments. Try to describe them, remembering to indicate how they “flow and complement each other.”
2.5. Understatement as an element of description – when you immediately lay everything out for others, the element of intrigue disappears, and perception can’t grasp the information provided. It becomes clear, boring, or may even pass by the listener entirely. In description, you can touch on superficial emotions by adding phrases and adjectives that imply something else but don’t fully form the full picture, and listeners begin to fill in the blanks for themselves, completing the overall picture. Then the description becomes an interactive mini-rebus, even on a subconscious level. This is a wonderful opportunity to simulate nonverbal communication (when posture, gestures, expressions, and gaze reveal the other person to you). Another point: you can deliberately ignore something that’s important and attracts everyone’s attention, creating some cognitive dissonance in the group. If someone says, “Don’t you really care?!”, you can respond, “It’s important, just like you do, but what are we supposed to do about this and that, and why did it even happen that way?” You don’t have to ignore something completely; try playing with nuances, partially deducing your attitude toward the important object from your description-speech. Participants in the game very rarely gather and discuss only one specific topic and stick to it during the conversation; they always add something of their own, share emotions, etc.
2.6. Focus and attention management—ANY word, line, sentence, pause, your turn—all this creates the reality of the game. A participant has the powerful right to shift attention to their own problems, personality, object, or judgment, and it’s not always necessary to answer the question with absolute precision and clarity. This creates a more complex model of communication and greatly enlivens it. If a player or group focuses on only one object or topic of conversation in a scene, it quickly becomes exhausting and can become boring. It seems as if nothing is happening, as each participant has already built a chain of conversation and judgments in their head, and they already have an opinion. Switching gears also provides an advantage during your spotlight; what you say adds something to that reality that EVERYONE must consider.
3. Description of the state
3.Description of your physical condition, sensations, etc.
3.1. Body posture—not just how you stand, but also your state of mind: whether you’re tense, clenching your fists, tilting your head, playfully adjusting your hair, or, conversely, standing half-turned and dismissive. This extensive layer of description shouldn’t be ignored; after all, it’s a “non-verbal assessment.”
3.2. Interaction with objects—depending on the character, etiquette, and many other parameters, certain norms of interaction between people have been developed that encompass everything. For example, does a person speak while leaning over another person while they’re sitting on a chair, standing behind them, or perched on a table or chair armrest? Does the person use objects to demonstrate dominance? Does the person have a large, massive chair and table, while you’re sitting in front of them? You’re cut off from direct tactile interaction, as they control the space. You enter a room and immediately stand against the wall to see everyone and control the situation. Does the person stand out of sight of the windows, behind objects that can protect them in case of danger, or are they actually preparing to flee and moving closer to the window?
Another major layer is the objects or accessories a person uses—a cane, jewelry, ornate wardrobe items. These are things found in the immediate vicinity and surroundings. How exactly they are used and the meaning they attach to these actions are important. For example, in modern times, to conceal their presence, a person might deliberately take out a smartphone and, after passing an inconvenient area or avoiding an unnecessary meeting, put it away as if nothing had happened. Another, less common example is how a person holds themselves at the table, how they hold a fan, a pocket watch, a cigarette, etc.—all of this relates to etiquette and the generally accepted norms of how things are used. Those who own a car may very often notice their passenger slamming the door. A trivial detail, but it can indicate an emotional state, or even a general lack of coordination, a poor understanding of mechanisms, a disdainful attitude toward them, etc.
3.3. Description of details—clothing, accessories, and objects. You don’t need to spend a lot of time on this, unless the character is primarily focused on appearance. Occasionally, note the condition of the clothes, such as how clean or smelly they are—depending on the situation, of course. Also, anything you’re carrying can be used for additional description, such as: adjusting my jacket or shirt sleeves, or slightly pulling up my jeans. All of this can be inserted at the right moments to emphasize expression and reveal the character. If the character is suddenly splashed, they can use these sensations as a springboard or a useful addition to describe sensations and emotions. For example: my favorite blouse clung to me in the rain. I stopped and suddenly realized I couldn’t feel it. It became a second skin, and when it got wet, it completely merged with my body, putting it on display. I’m not in the mood for a meeting today. Sensations and objects themselves can serve as an excellent trigger for some action. Even in a primitive manner, paying attention to them, the scene comes to life more.
3.4. Working with the character sheet – people become what they are in the cultural realm, which is filled with objects, activities, and everything else imaginable. People interact with each individual element of culture; often, this interaction is purely practical, but some things and activities take on a strong emotional and sensory subtext. If a character’s parents were in a car accident as a child, they may try to avoid driving or even be afraid of driving. This behavior can be a serious problem for the character, who wants to stay in one place as long as possible or travel only on foot.
Pay attention to all of your character’s stats and imagine what objects and activities helped you acquire these skills and become who you are. Even without directly describing sensations and memories in-game, you can provide a more holistic and multi-layered description. Gradually, automatically, you’ll begin to identify your character with the events in their life and what shaped them.
