Comedic Relief

[Darth Veles]

Hello folks!

There's something I'd like to discuss, to present my opinion on it and see your opinions as well. Don’t worry, this is no serious matter. Quite the opposite. As the title suggests, the subject is comedic relief.

This is something I've been seeing in threads a lot lately. Whether represented by characters that are supposed to be funny ever since their creation or by characters that are normally all dark and creepy. We've all seen it; said characters do things that are supposed to amuse the reader, either by behaving in an immature way, being overly clumsy, extremely annoying, super silly, or by getting into awkward situations all the time. People love it, right? Right?

Let me state I have nothing against the idea of comedic relief. If players make a comedy roleplay or light-hearted posts, it is perfectly fine and it can make someone smile. Sometimes, it shows a character as a person with feelings, not a badass destroyer of worlds that spits out cheesy lines of pure badassery. It can humanize a character, it can add interesting quirks. That certainly is a good thing.

But!

I believe there is time and place for it and it definitely isn’t all the time. In a roleplay thread that is obviously meant to be silly, it is completely OK to behave in accordance with the thread’s tone. Outside of it? All players should think twice before their character becomes a comedic relief for the sake of amusing the reader. Why? Because in many situation, it just doesn’t work. It makes the character look not funny, but annoying. It turns a serious thread into a farce. It is immersion breaking. Those characters are like Jar Jar; some might find it funny, I don’t.

There are simply situations where comedic relief isn’t amusing, it is just stupid. Imagine this situation: invasion thread. A powerful Sith Lady fights against overwhelming numbers of Republic soldiers. Every other character behaves like a normal person would behave in such a brutal battle. But not her! She obviously doesn’t take the situation seriously, throwing around lines from famous memes and knowing full well she has plot armour, therefore she cannot get hit. But oh no! Suddenly she needs to pee! So she motions for everyone to stop and gets some privacy behind the nearest bush.

Hilarious, right? Right?

…

There are situations when comedic relief can utterly ruin the scene portrayed by other writers. You might say it’s just a few people who do this in such situations, but ask yourself this: when watching a movie, wouldn’t you find battle scenes to be ruined by such things? If all those parodies of Vader fighting against Luke in their final confrontation became canon while the rest of the movies remained unchanged, would you find it funny or very much immersion breaking? In such scenes, I am simply not looking for something to make me laugh.

Recently, I have received some complaints because my character apparently behaves like an a-hole. Do you know what most of the complainers have in common? Their character is a comedic relief. Imagine another situation: the imposing structure of the Sith Academy. A young, fresh Acolyte finds her Master. In an effort to make the teacher laugh, the 20-something Acolyte makes faces at the teacher, behaves in an immature way and does silly things such as “accidentally” knocking over something valuable, randomly telling the teacher in the middle of training she’d like to paint the walls pink and so on. Ha. Ha. Ha. The teacher takes it for a while, tries to stop the Acolyte from being silly and act accordingly to her age. This is a Sith Academy, not kindergarten, the thread is not meant to be a comedy. And then he shocks the Acolyte with Force lightning to make it stop. OMG, what an a-hole, right?

I don’t know about you guys, but if a character normally behaves, well, normally, and then inappropriately becomes a comedic relief, I lose much respect for the character. Let’s say the Sith Lady from the first example (yes, it is just an example, there is no actual character like that, so please do not take it as me bashing some certain character or writer) is the leader of the One Sith. All my respect for the character is suddenly gone and I cannot bring myself to ever take her seriously. If Palpatine fell from the stairs in the last scene of RotJ, would you take him seriously, as a threatening villain? I wouldn’t. For me, it’d ruin the character pretty much.

So that’s my opinion. I realize different cultures have different mentalities and as proven by PMs, most players I regularly chat with don’t understand my sense of humour just like I fail to comprehend their own. And so I’d like to see what you think about comedic relief. Can it ruin a character for you? Can it break immersion? Can such characters be bloody annoying? Are there times that are simply not meant to be funny at all cost?

Howgh

 

[Darth Ferus]

I don't think humor is an issue for any thread.

But I do think there are cases where people use too much. As someone who enjoys making a character seem silly for the purpose of making their serious actions that much more serious, I agree that there are times in which using the wrong kind of humor can be bad. Some situations call for much more serious or dark humor.

Like the first instance of the Sith. Lets say this Sith Lady is fairly serious. And after the battle (or some time in it) she breaks a nail. She announces it, gets furious like a child, and suddenly dark humor becomes something much darker as she begins flaying republic soldiers for the loss of her nail. I find it humorous at the beginning, big bad sith getting angry over a broken nail, then rather dark and intimidating as she starts to kill people over it. Shows that the lady wouldn't think twice about killing anyone over much more serious issues.

All and all, just gotta know what kind of humor to toss around.

[member="Darth Veles"]

 

[Rika]

In most respects, I agree with you, [member="Darth Veles"]. Or, rather, at least I agree as a writer. If I create a character that is not meant to be humorous, I won't have them cracking jokes. This doesn't mean that situational humor can't, at times, be appropriate, but as you say, the scene determines whether something silly can be inserted without the cost of losing respect or credibility of the character's character, or the writer's ability to write that character.

That said, I think a line should be drawn between this site, which is a "role-playing game," and other collaborative ventures in writing, such as storyboarding. Because this is a game, writers may choose to take their more seriously driven characters considerably more lightly than if they were writing that character into something they intended to publish in a short story, novella, or novel. Other writers have to choose how to respond to such levity of their own accord. But, in the end, a game is a game. Some take it seriously, others don't. To each their own however they see fit to enjoy themselves.

There's also a line to be drawn between being a tool IC and being a tool OOC. A line that, I've found, a good number of people never seem capable of recognizing. And the only way I can see to attempt avoiding being seen as the latter, is to drop some friendly PMs in an attempt to explain why your character is being the former.

 

[Aithne Charr]

IDK... i think there is a clear difference in levels of comedic relief. What i think is the line to be drawn is where it becomes immature and stupid... AKA Jar Jar or mature and timed when it was needed to lighten the mood of things but not be obvious about it. Of course im talking from more of a movie stand point my my words point more at the facts of books, shows or even our own writing. I for one am one of those that find comedic reliefs like Jar Jar nothing but an annoying pest that i can't swat no matter how many times i try. It has no tact to it and it pampers to a younger humor that is not entertaining. Of course this is my opinion and that iw why we are here. As such like those above me said this is a game in which people can do any way they wish. Even if it is an annoying pest like that of Jar Jar.

 

[Nej Tane]

I'm gonna go ahead and say that you shouldn't really be asking people to not RP the way they want to RP in my opinion, yo.

 

[Ludolf Vaas]

What you're saying here is very true. This all speaks to the larger issue of tone. A good writer knows and respects the tone of a thread before he or she gets involved. Tone is what gives a work emotional gravitas. If the tone is all messed up - e.g. brutal violence or serious subject matter mixed with slapstick humor, etc., people don't know what to feel. The end result is complete disengagement with the story.

"But I can roleplay however I want lol! You can't tell me how to write!"

Sigh. When did this ever become an acceptable answer to anything? We obviously have rules and regulations about a wide variety of other things. So no, you can't "write however you want", that's a patently false claim. By writing with other people you're agreeing to respect the story at hand and the laws governing the universe you're in. There is a time and place for comedy, and it needs to be executed well in order to work. So sure, go ahead and have your character act like a retard in an invasion thread. But don't be surprised when no one wants to roleplay with you.

 

[Darth Veles]

[member="Darth Ferus"]
Humor itself is not an issue, no. Definitely not. Your example shows the Sith Lady's character more and definitely doesn't hurt the mood of the thread. I'd personally find such behaviour believable, so... no problem with your example whatsoever.

[member="Jorj Kell"]
I unfortunately don't understand much of your second paragraph since I am not familiar with storyboarding at all, so I can't form much of an opinion on that. But as you said, some players take it seriously, other's don't. I am fine with both. What matters more are IC actions. My character takes Sith-related things quite seriously. Let's say he's on a mission and one of the characters turns the thread into a comedy. That's great, but said character will most likely beaten by my Veles. IC wise, he simply won't tolerate foolishness in such situations. Am I an ass if Veles shocks other characters with lightning because said characters behaved like mentally challenged children for the sake of making the post funny? I don't think so.

And I totally agree that players should distinguish IC and OOC more. I am actually quite offended some players are offended when my character dislikes their character. Mine and my friend's characters hate each other with passion, but we're still on pretty great terms OOC. But let's not get into this problematic; it'd deserve an entirely new thread :lol:

[member="Solan Charr"]
Hmm, yeaaah... I think we agree. Silly things ala fart jokes are hilarious to some, but I find things like that quite childish and not suited for serious tone of the majority of threads. When I see comedy like that, I am not amused.

[member="Nej Tane"]
Chill out instead of accusing me like that, dude. I said several times that is my opinion on the matter and wanted to know what others think of comedic relief. If I'm telling something to the others it's to be more self-aware and think before their character becomes too silly to be credible IC.

[member="Ludolf Vaas"]
Yes. I have nothing more to say to that. Just yes.

 

[Alan]

Nej here- on my writer account. I didn't accuse you of anything. I merely stated that someone can write their characters the way they want, and if you don't like it tough titties, nobody here is forcing ANYONE to rp.

A sweeping generalization that comedic relief ruins characters is also pretty bad.

 

[Hal Terrano]

I recall Neil Gaiman talking about how Terry Pratchett was not a jolly old elf, but in fact a very angry man:

"There is a fury to Terry Pratchett’s writing: it’s the fury that was the engine that powered Discworld. It’s also the anger at the headmaster who would decide that six-year-old Terry Pratchett would never be smart enough for the 11-plus; anger at pompous critics, and at those who think serious is the opposite of funny; anger at his early American publishers who could not bring his books out successfully."

It helps sum up my feelings on humour in writing.

 

[Avalore Eden]

I happen to interject a good deal of comedic relief into my threads with Avalore. Why? In the truest sense of her story and history, Avalore Eden should be a very sad, lonely, depressed little girl. Humor is her coping mechanism, is how she deals with her pain, how she covers up her discomfort, and how she handles situations that would otherwise be rather traumatic.

Comedic relief is built into her character, with equal parts serious and dramatic. Not everything in life is a joke, but it's OK to have a laugh from time to time.

 

[Lugus Porkins]

[member="Tracyn"]

[member="Darth Veles"] never said anyone had to change their character. He was only expressing his grief with the over silly characters...

CONTEXT! it's all about the context. My first thread with Porkins started out very action oriented there really wasn't any room for comedy but I've found places for it rather than making places for it. If my character is dancing in a cantina and tried to do a split then it wouldn't be out of place if the character were to say get stuck, hurt his nads or even split his pants. If however he's talking to the CO and then suddenly breaks into song that would be out of place (not to mention silly.)

If your character is in the middle of training with a master or lord and then suddenly do something like interrupting them with a joke or breaking something for a laugh then that wouldn't be the place for it. Think of it like rl, you're not suppose to interrupt your teacher in school. You get in trouble for it even. The Master or lord has the right to be upset with your character. Another good point is that everyone has the right to make their character either love or hate yours. Just because my character is a "good guy" and your character is a "good guy" doesn't mean that my character can't hate your character's personality. It doesn't mean your character can't hate mine for being a short chubby loser.

OOC and IC seperation is almost always a problem nothing new there. >.>

[member="Avalore Eden"] - I love that. :3

 

[Juggerduck]

If it's a part of your character I have no problem with it, so long as you have no problem with the repercussions of your words & actions. If you want to step out of a training session to burp or pee or casually insult someone that's fine, just don't start a whiny OOC thread when you find out no one respects you.