Professional Realism

[Dragon 673]

How hard-nosed are you about enforcing realistic professional standards on your site(s)? 

 

I've always felt that there tends to be a RP trend of characters achieving professional status that just isn't realistic. The 25 year old corporate multi-millionaire or top surgeon or state governor - despite the hard line fact that 30 years of age would be ultra-young for those levels of success in their respective fields. It isn't even uncommon to see characters achieving levels of success they're not even old enough to have possibly obtained the qualifications for outside of having made it into college at the ripe old age of 12. 

 

So do you let this slide, or enforce more realism? 

[Jaxx 317]

I let it slide. Not like it's hurting anybody or causing any problems. And I don't have the time or inclination to do research into the occupation of every single character that comes my way on the sites I staff. Besides, in a lot of cases, those are just players that want their character to be the best, most charming, most successful character around - and drop off pretty quickly when other players don't go along with putting that character on a pedestal. 

[StormWolfe 557]

Depends on the RPG setting, but I usually go with don't sweat the small stuff.  For example, I bill both of my sites (a western and a modern action-adventure) as TV or Movie Reality rather than actual reality. This allows for some room with bigger than life plots and characters. I do draw the line at 14 year olds being a 5-star general in the US Army and that sort of thing.

[Josie 198]

It doesn't bother me so long as it doesn't have a negative impact on the overarching plot of the site, which, so far, for me it never has. Even in fandom settings where it's heavily implied there's only one character of x professional status, I view it as an opportunity for plots. If there is only meant to be one general and suddenly there is now another one- what might that salty first general do to remedy that situation? 

 

I can understand why someone may feel differently though, and why they would want more characters with realistic jobs and backstories. In theory though, most sites already have something in place to cover that: the application. If someone is unsatisfied with the number of doctors they have on the site, they could just deny the next doctor that applies or request a change in profession. Alternatively, express the desire for more realistic occupations in the site documentation. Imo the onus is on the staff team to put their expectations out there.

[HotPinkUnicornMess 51]

I have no problems with unreal stuff in RP. To me, role playing is just like any other gaming, especially RPG games. We're here to do the impossible, play the impossible, or play the things we've always dreamed of without the obstacles of the everyday getting in the way--well, most of us are. Not everyone has to play the same way, but I tend to think like this. 

Edited March 7, 2019 by GreaterRealms

[Icewolf 258]

Depends largely on the setting, I would say, and the context in which the character gains their job status or wealth. For instance, an 18 year old billionaire might exist, if he or she inherited the wealth from a dead relative and they were the only heir. So, explanation is probably important. I think you also have to bear in mind the ability to tell a story - in medieval/certain historical settings, people will say that you can't have a literate character of low birth, but it would limit story-telling and have almost nearly every character be the same. Some fandoms/genres probably have more unrealistic character backgrounds than others so if it's common in that fandom or genre, then I'd be more accepting of it.

 

Something I would avoid though are combinations off too many perfect skills, background, powers, young age, beauty, etc for a character because then you have a Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu.

[Huskerdust 625]

I let it slide, baby. I am all about letting it slide. If somebody wants to try out the trust fund baby angle, go for it. If they want a genius MD, try it it out. I'm kind of sick of always being barred from trying new things just because they're "unrealistic" or even just RARE in real life. I mean, most RPs aren't realistic anyway so why nitpick the small things? We've got demi-gods and demon cats around. I think we can safely say, we're already outside the realm of realism, anyway. 

[Dun 68]

I’d normally let this slide. If it isn’t stepping on someone else’s toes or so outlandish/wrong that it will prevent the player from enjoying the game, it’s not my concern. People can decide for themselves if they want to write with that character or not. If the player is actually grossly out of touch and ridiculous or something, the community will take care of itself. If the general consensus is that folks aren’t into the unbelievable element, the player will end up having to adjust or find themselves with nothing to do. They’ll probably find a different game, in the end.

 

Plus, if it’s not an unbelievably massive discrepancy— who really cares? I once had a 23-year-old special agent. Why? Because she was an Actual Genius and her Russian agent father influenced her hiring. . . And she was in an Inception fandom RPG dealing with dream criminals, dangit. Sometimes doing wacky things for the sake of Story is fun. If I wanted “realism” I’d write a graphic  designer in a dark room fussing with After Effects all day. I get enough of

that! 😉

[Sage 289]

I used to be a HUGE stickler for this kind of thing. However, since entering my current profession, I regularly deal with super young CEOs and billionaires and the like (think mainly 17-25). One of our senior positions at my workplace is filled by a 22 year old and my boss, who is second-in-command of the company, is only 30. This has become my norm and has completely changed how I look at the professional world.

 

It's actually not as hard to be a young success these days - especially if you have connections. But with the prevalence of technology and younger generations' skill with it, they know how to use it to propel themselves toward success. Gen Z in particular is uniquely suited to be way more successful than previous generations thanks to tech and their unique way of looking at it.

 

It also depends on where you're located. If you're somewhere like silicon valley, you'll see a lot of young success. But if you're somewhere in backwater Missouri, you'll see less of that.

 

So this stuff doesn't bother me any more. As long as the work has been put in and the character has the ambition or passion to match to position, idgaf. Because I can almost guarantee you I can find a real world example of that somewhere out there for most of those situations.

[Shades 676]

Definitely in the camp of letting most things slide. I'm honestly only worried about what people do that affects other people's characters directly. Example, I'm not gonna allow anyone to join a site and decide that another character has to be in love at first sight with theirs. But if they want to be a 27-year-old neurosurgeon? Go for it, have fun. I'm seriously not gonna research every profession out there, so unless it's absurd (the 13 year old international spy I heard about somewhere comes to mind) and they can't justify if (I don't ask for justification for professions, most of the time), I'm happy to let it slide and let them have their fun. :) And I get to have mine without bothering fact-checking things that, in the RP realm, don't matter all that much.