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[cam-rant] What drives me absolutely bug-fuck insane about the Camarilla
The dichotomy between in-character adults and out-of-character adults.
In character, we have to accept that some people will want to play Satanic Nazi vampires, or drag-queen Tremere (wielding a foot long dildo with Ward vs. Kindred on it). Yeah, both are from the last chronicle, but you can't tell me we don't have concepts that are just as fucked up. (Okay, Iggy Throb, the drag-queen Tremere was also amusing as hell, but still fucked up.) We have to learn that because no matter what, people will make the characters they want regardless of (even in spite of) the chronicle setting. Down that path lie the fish-Malks and the fake-french-accent Toreador who doesn't have the French language on their character sheet. We have to deal with whatever topics, plots, events or actions happen, regardless of how it makes us feel. Makes you queasy? Deal. Upset? Deal.
Yet when we enter the out-of-character mode, we become so fragile, so child-like that various topics, events, or actions are off limits. Okay, now, I'm not defending that it should be allowable to punch someone at a Cam event no matter how much they may deserve it. But it seems like the CoC actually ends when game starts. I can be an aggressive asshole who doesn't limit conversation to any topic, as long as I'm in character. Baby-eating? No problem. Punting puppies into a chipper-shredder? Again, no problem. I can be as sick a motherfucker as I want to be, as long as I can justify it as something my character would say or do. Sure, I have to deal with the in-game consequences of those actions or statements, but hey, that's true for anything that anyone does in-game, regardless of it's level of "EWWW".
But once we go out-of-game, we can't do that. Are we somehow less adult once we have stopped playing the game? Have our characters become protective coverings, keeping us from the hurt and pain of the world? Okay, maybe for some of us, yes. Not for me. (Yeah, this shouldn't come as a big shock, but every character I make is me. Maybe just a facet, but it's me. Ian Sanders, my old Malkavian? Me, with a jester hat and Dementation. Kim Luk, my mortal character? Me, with a side of Chiun, the martial arts badass I wish I was. I don't hide behind my characters, and I don't hide behind me either.) The idea that I have to stop talking about something because someone else finds it uncomfortable, well, it irritates the fuck out of me. You don't like the topic? Don't listen. Walk away. Change the station, drop me from your friend's list. Whatever.
Are there topics that make me uncomfortable? Fuck yes. But I respect the rights of other people to have their say. I may not agree with what they say, or even the way they say it, but I acknowledge that they have a right to have their voice heard. Nothing ever gets resolved if everyone is afraid to talk for fear of offending someone. Political correctness is just lying with emotions.
In character, we have to accept that some people will want to play Satanic Nazi vampires, or drag-queen Tremere (wielding a foot long dildo with Ward vs. Kindred on it). Yeah, both are from the last chronicle, but you can't tell me we don't have concepts that are just as fucked up. (Okay, Iggy Throb, the drag-queen Tremere was also amusing as hell, but still fucked up.) We have to learn that because no matter what, people will make the characters they want regardless of (even in spite of) the chronicle setting. Down that path lie the fish-Malks and the fake-french-accent Toreador who doesn't have the French language on their character sheet. We have to deal with whatever topics, plots, events or actions happen, regardless of how it makes us feel. Makes you queasy? Deal. Upset? Deal.
Yet when we enter the out-of-character mode, we become so fragile, so child-like that various topics, events, or actions are off limits. Okay, now, I'm not defending that it should be allowable to punch someone at a Cam event no matter how much they may deserve it. But it seems like the CoC actually ends when game starts. I can be an aggressive asshole who doesn't limit conversation to any topic, as long as I'm in character. Baby-eating? No problem. Punting puppies into a chipper-shredder? Again, no problem. I can be as sick a motherfucker as I want to be, as long as I can justify it as something my character would say or do. Sure, I have to deal with the in-game consequences of those actions or statements, but hey, that's true for anything that anyone does in-game, regardless of it's level of "EWWW".
But once we go out-of-game, we can't do that. Are we somehow less adult once we have stopped playing the game? Have our characters become protective coverings, keeping us from the hurt and pain of the world? Okay, maybe for some of us, yes. Not for me. (Yeah, this shouldn't come as a big shock, but every character I make is me. Maybe just a facet, but it's me. Ian Sanders, my old Malkavian? Me, with a jester hat and Dementation. Kim Luk, my mortal character? Me, with a side of Chiun, the martial arts badass I wish I was. I don't hide behind my characters, and I don't hide behind me either.) The idea that I have to stop talking about something because someone else finds it uncomfortable, well, it irritates the fuck out of me. You don't like the topic? Don't listen. Walk away. Change the station, drop me from your friend's list. Whatever.
Are there topics that make me uncomfortable? Fuck yes. But I respect the rights of other people to have their say. I may not agree with what they say, or even the way they say it, but I acknowledge that they have a right to have their voice heard. Nothing ever gets resolved if everyone is afraid to talk for fear of offending someone. Political correctness is just lying with emotions.
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This is why I don't do Vampire LARP anymore.
-R
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Ditto
Re: Ditto
wow...
:P @ Kierthos...
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I don't enjoy live playing as much tho, I am good but not as excellent as in table top playin. ;)
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Before the game begins or after it ends, it seems that we are assumed to be much less mature, compared to what we handle as our characters. And it's not just dealing with a world of gothic-horror. It's the fact, that all too often, the Camarilla's Code of Conduct is used as a bludgeoning instrument to curtail conversation or to silence certain people.