Roleplaying
Gameplay where players take on the goals and behaviors of fictional agents.
This pattern is a still a stub.
For a detailed analysis of early roleplaying habits, see the book Shared Fantasy[1].
See the category of Roleplaying Games on this wiki for additional examples.
Examples
Dungeons & Dragons GURPS Basic Roleplaying Storytelling System Mutant Europa Universalis series Fallen Reich Call of Cthulhu
Unwinnable Games (← links) Drop-In/Drop-Out (← links) Dedicated Game Facilitators (← links) Agents (← links) Avatars (← links) Gameplay Statistics (← links) Non-Player Characters (← links) Characters (← links) Freedom of Choice (← links) Dungeons & Dragons (← links) GURPS (← links) Multiplayer Games (← links) Character Defining Actions (← links) Enforced Agent Behavior (← links) Extra-Game Consequences (← links) Internal Conflicts (← links) Internal Rivalry (← links) Single-Player Games (← links) Call of Cthulhu (← links) Shadow Run (video game) (← links) Category:Roleplaying Games (← links) Self-Facilitated Games (← links) Evolving Rule Sets (← links) Sleep is Death (← links) Game Masters (← links) Paranoia (← links) Category:Tabletop Roleplaying Games (← links) Category:Computer-based Roleplaying Games (← links) Live Action Roleplaying (← links) Category:Live Action Roleplaying Games (← links) Persistent Game Worlds (← links) Massively Multiplayer Online Games (← links) Ars Magica
While in disguise, spies in Team Fortress Classic need to move as part of the other team in order to avoid detection. This forces the players to enact a type of roleplaying using only movement and facing (since they cannot shoot or talk to members in the enemy team).
Using the pattern
An alternative way of achieving Roleplaying in games with Teams is through the use of Betrayal. This since a player is Roleplaying when pretending to have other intentions than he or she in fact has. The same effect can be achieved through having Infiltrate goals (and can be said to work for Single-Player Games), as for example through the spy class in Team Fortress Classic.
Secret Goals in any Multiplayer Game can serve a similar purpose but does not have to be as easily noticeable by other since players are not force to pretend to have any specific goals.
In Roleplaying games, Internal Conflicts exist on many levels: within a player, within the player group, and between Game Masters and the players.
A special case of the Internal Conflicts that a player can have is that between him or her and the Character being played.
A special case of Roleplaying exists when players pretend to be other players than they themselves are. This may not be to impersonate other, but rather to be able to have a Possibility of Anonymity in games with Social Interaction.
Diegetic Aspects
Interface Aspects
Narrative Aspects
Consequences
Relations
Can Instantiate
Can Modulate
with Multiplayer Games
Can Be Instantiated By
Possibility of Anonymity together with Social Interaction
Can Be Modulated By
Possible Closure Effects
Potentially Conflicting With
History
A rewrite of a pattern that was part of the original collection in the book Patterns in Game Design[2].
