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The Celebrity Play-By Conundrum


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Play by's/Face Claims are a pretty common part of the roleplay community, for various reasons. In certain settings - fantastical, like GOT, or Alt Universe - this doesn't really have any kind of impact. But in those various role plays which generally take place in the 'real world' - whether an outright realistic slice of life sort of RP or a supernatural hiding in plain site trope, its generally accepted that Hollywood and all its names still exist. 

 

Of course, when your character is 'played by' Scarlett Johansson or Liam Neeson, it opens up the question - How do you deal with that?

 

Do you prefer to act as if that celebrity just doesn't exist in the verse, and- consequently - neither do any of the films they acted in?  Do you write it off as one of those weird uncanny look-alike situations (considering they're actually pretty common)? Do you just ignore it, or do you like to make references and joke about the similarity? 

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I settled on Great Idea as a reaction because this is a great idea for a topic!

 

Like you said, in our historical wild west and fantasy RPG, that conundrum does not exist. In our realish-world action-adventure RPG, I tend to go with Character A looks most like X character as portrayed by actor / actress / other celebrity. With that said, in all honesty, it never really comes up just like it rarely comes up on a TV show or movie. However, I can see it being a problem in a hardcore slice-of-life RP because media is such a part of everything.

 

I guess roleplay managers and their members have to have some sort of agreement on where absolute reality begins and ends on their site. 

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Oddly, it has never come up in my RPs. Which is kinda funny because I know we've had characters watch TV or listen to music or whatever. But the celebs tend to be made up? And the shows and stuff? Like WAB is in the current world but I mean, if we're going to have Egyptian gods and demon cats running around, making up new shows and singers or whatever isn't a big deal. If somebody did bring it up IC, I'd just roll with it and laugh because why not? It's fun.

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Reality is an illusion. 


 
 

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That's what it's all about! Having fun! 

Reality is an illusion. 


 
 

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I usually just go with the lookalike explanation when it comes up - though it's super rare! It's usually a non-issue. Tho I love the idea of having them cosplay as the pb's characters! That sounds like so much fun xD

 

I'm curious now how rps set in hollywood and the entertainment industry deal with it tho! 

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It's not something I've ever seen talked about in site documentation, and that's probably due to the fact that it isn't really a problem to deal with. Most of the times this has come up on the sites I'm on, the characters just pointed out the similarities and laughed about it. It isn't often that it arises though, because as @Zozmamentioned there tend to be other things going on or the celebrities on the site are made up! One thing I like to do if my character is viewing content that their PB is in is to just change the name of the PB slightly, like "Ham Tordy" instead of Tom Hardy.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yeah, it's the same thing in actual TV and movies that take place in real life. A lot of times that specific actor doesn't come up. Especially in settings where characters can play a big name actor, obviously the movie slate of that world is made up. I have fun coming up with 'what does the CW in the DC Universe show?' personally.

 

I think the fun part is just to sort of nod and wink to it, because we all recognize the silliness of by Daisy Ridley PB talking about the new Star Wars movies. In such cases, I think of the PB and the celebrity to look similar enough to be similar, but different enough that people don't say 'Oh, you look just like her' but more 'oh, you should cosplay as her!'

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  • 1 month later...

I frequently come back to this question...but the majority of the time, I pretend that the movies/books/TV shows exist and any FC's that are used in them (well. ok, not the books so much, lol) simply "look" like the person, so people can gush about how much they resemble a celeb.

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  • 1 month later...

I've actually not ever had this issue come up. I could see how it might. I guess in the past I've just imagined that the particular celebrity in question in the RP world looks different. They have no face. Which... might be totally and completely wrong, but it is a fictional world, so why not?

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i think that using the celeb FCs correctly can be really helpful/add to a character.  For instance, a lot of people that I have written with that choose a character do so based on performances they've done in film, which I think adds to believability.  But when someone chooses say a very built male actor to play like a meek character it becomes very distracting.

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This is one of the reasons I try to use models that aren't so famous (yet.) I do use an actor now and then.

I have toyed with the idea of simply making celebrities "guest characters" if they were ever to show up in person. Character lookalikes is a possible way to go about it, though simply listing their names might be enough! I have yet to experience this exact problem though... Maybe I have been lucky. xD

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Last game I ran, the rule was that the character looked a lot like the celeb, but not exactly -- Like a sibling rather than a twin. In three years it was never an issue, even in a game packed with famous faces.

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On 6/30/2019 at 12:42 AM, Legends Are Lessons said:

i think that using the celeb FCs correctly can be really helpful/add to a character.  For instance, a lot of people that I have written with that choose a character do so based on performances they've done in film, which I think adds to believability.  But when someone chooses say a very built male actor to play like a meek character it becomes very distracting.

 

I completely agree with using faces that match their type-cast - this is something I tend to do as well if I can and one of the reasons I avoid models (aside from the fact that they are often expressionless, alas).   

 

I do like the idea of playing against type, though - after all, a tall powerful man can be a gentle giant, why not? For sure if they use Chuck Norris my suspension of disbelief might be in danger, though.  🤣

 

 

On 7/1/2019 at 6:14 PM, Keaton said:

Last game I ran, the rule was that the character looked a lot like the celeb, but not exactly -- Like a sibling rather than a twin. In three years it was never an issue, even in a game packed with famous faces.

 

Yeah, we haven't had this problem yet at LADV but that sounds like a safe route to go;  I'm a fan of it and will suggest it if the issue ever crops up.  🙂

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just ignore it, personally. I have an RP where my partner uses Michael Fassbender as a PB and it isn't strange at all. Even with RPs that take place in the "real world," I think it's commonly accepted that as a writer and reader you maintain a reasonable suspension of disbelief in the same way that you would when watching a movie. Just because you happen to know that Michael Fassbender has played both Steve Jobs and Carl Jung--both real-life individuals--in different movies doesn't make either one less valid as a film. You just go with it. 

 

If anything, it would probably be a cute and funny moment for my character to go, "Hey, has anyone ever told you you look like...?" and they would giggle and it'd be a nice joke, but that's as far as the fourth-wall tapping would go, I think.

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