Separating Players And Characters

In role playing games, it is very important to distinguish between players and their characters. The player is the real life human being sitting next to you, and the character is the person in the story they are pretending to be. They are not one and the same.

I prefer playing in circles that have the etiquette to distinguish between the two depending on the situation. I don't mind being addressed by my character name when I am playing my character. But if somebody needs to talk to me out of character, using my real name puts me in the right context off the bat.

Within the game, players also should strive to keep themselves and their players separate. This entails a number of common issues. First of all, if two characters are having an argument, the two players should not let it spill over into real life. Second of all, if a player is privy to information, but the character was not around to hear it, then the character should not be able to act upon or call up that information.

In a sense though, you can never truly separate players and their characters. If you have a naturally charismatic player, they will likely try to make their characters give speeches or persuade others to do their will, even if they are playing a dimwitted brute. They will take penalties that lower their chance of success, but it would still feel out of character for them to be even trying.

One could say that the easiest fix is to have players make characters that match their personalities. One might instead simply disallow excessive out of character actions. But I would say that both of those fly in the face of the spirit of this game, which encourages people to try anything they can think of. Instead, I would say that nothing should be considered out of character, and the players and GM should try to find ways to explain why these actions actually are in character.