RP Divide: 1st Person vs 3rd Person

[PeteNutButter]

Do you refer to your character's actions in 3rd person or do you say, I/me?

Is it, "Gimli swings his ax at the orc in front of him," or "I swing my ax at the orc in front of me"?

I've found that many groups land hard on one side or the other with new folks who don't fit in usually breaking down and joining the crowd.

Which do you and your groups prefer?

[Forrestfire]

My groups tend to use third person for PCs, and waffle between third and second person for DMs.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Do you refer to your character's actions in 3rd person or do you say, I/me?

Is it, "Gimli swings his ax at the orc in front of him," or "I swing my ax at the orc in front of me"?

I've found that many groups land hard on one side or the other with new folks who don't fit in usually breaking down and joining the crowd.

Which do you and your groups prefer?

I'm horribly inconsistent as a DM. First person stuff for NPCs comes when they're special and the form of the conversation is important for mood/etc. 3rd person is for relaying information in a compressed form. The players mostly do first person, but we're not very strict on policing OOC vs IC distinctions.

[PeteNutButter]

I'm horribly inconsistent as a DM. First person stuff for NPCs comes when they're special and the form of the conversation is important for mood/etc. 3rd person is for relaying information in a compressed form. The players mostly do first person, but we're not very strict on policing OOC vs IC distinctions.

As a DM I think it's pretty accepted that NPCs are referred to in 3rd person, "Bob the merchant will sell you goods at normal cost."

But when real dialogue breaks out, you take on the role of first person as needed.
BBEG: "You will all by my undead slaves!"

[pwykersotz]

I use whatever feels right in the moment. Sometimes the dialogue is too dark or weird to handle in person, sometimes I'm just not in the mood to put on my voice acting cap. But my players and I switch up a bit. Probably 25% 1st Person and 75% Second/Third Person.

[Blacky the Blackball]

We always use first person when describing the actions of our PCs. The DM uses third person when describing the actions of NPCs.

When there is actual conversation between a PC and an NPC, the player and DM directly talk to each other using the actual words that the characters are using, rather than just describing what the characters say.

[lebefrei]

I DM more, and I tend to describe actions in third person and use dialog in first person. This has bled into my play style. I do like having players that exclusively use first person, though, as they tend to usually become the character a bit more.

[mephnick]

Honestly I wish everyone at the table would uae 3rd person for actions and describing feelings etc. Comes off as telling a story better. Dialogue it's awkward not to use 1st person though.

[Pex]

I use first person. I've never played with anyone who used third.

Online communication is different. We play in person but a group or two will take care of minutiae online so that we can get to the main plot when we play. Online can be 1st or 3rd at player's whim. Third person tends to be used when a player is also writing something out of character and needs to refer to himself, so using third person distinguishes whether it's the player or character being referenced in context.

[Tanarii]

Players almost always use 1st person IMX. DMs typically use 3rd person.

I do that too, depending on which I am. It certainly feels natural.

As a player, the PC is an extension of me, a character I'm playing in the world. This goes with how I view the key to playing: filtered my decisions on what to do through the motivations and personality I've decided upon for the character. In effect, the PC is me, as modified by those motivations.

As a DM, the NPC is not, they are external to me, a part of the campaign world which exists independent of me. This goes with how I view DMing: viewing yourself as an neutral referee and arbiter of the world and resolving the actions of players within it. In effect, an NPC is a independent piece of the world that I'm arbitrating, nothing to do with me.

Obviously, the reality is both of these are conceits, as neither is fully one or the other. But using 1st for playing and 3rd for DMing helps reinforces them.

Edit: one thing I try to do religiously when I DM, and get players to do, is ALWAYS use PC names. Not player names. I have some games where I can remember the PCs but not the players due to this. :smallamused:

[Astofel]

As a DM I always use 3rd person. I also always call my players by their character names rather than their real names, i.e. "Vistra it's your turn, what would you like to do? Lo-Kag you're up next." It's quite helpful when you have two players in the group with the same first name, which I do in the main group I DM for.

As a player I'm a bit inconsistent. I prefer 1st person in general, and I use it for games that are more RP-intensive. I tend to pick up on the way the group plays and try to fit in with that, so if most of the group uses 3rd person I'll use it as well, although I'll probably end up sometimes sliding into 1st person anyway.

[Blacky the Blackball]

Honestly I wish everyone at the table would uae 3rd person for actions and describing feelings etc. Comes off as telling a story better. Dialogue it's awkward not to use 1st person though.

I think that's the big difference between the first person and third person camps.

As someone who prefers first person, I don't see myself as "telling a story" at all. I'm playing a role, not narrating a tale. As such, I wouldn't want to describe my character's feelings at all. I'll talk in character and describe my character's actions* as they relate to what's going on, but whatever emotions they have are inside their (and my) head and are only exposed to the other players in as much as I emote them in my speech and in my descriptions of my character's actions.

One of the reasons I dislike PbP games is that people have a tendency to start writing prose about their characters' thoughts and feelings. I always want to tell them to stop doing that, and to stick to describing their characters' words and actions. My character (presumably) doesn't have telepathy and therefore doesn't know what's going on inside their heads, so stop telling me!



*Well, technically I don't describe my character's actions. I describe my character's intended future actions and it's up to the DM to tell me how that works out (which may or may not involve rolls, of course). Most of the time this makes little difference, but the important distinction is that I don't "narrate" my character's actions with florid descriptive flourishes - instead I state my intent clearly and succinctly.

[Beleriphon]

For me I vacillate as a player between first and third person, but as a DM I lean heavily on the second person narration.

[Slipperychicken]

Third person helps passers-by and eavesdroppers realize that we're playing a game and not actually planning domestic terrorism IRL.

But actually, my group switches around. Third-person reminds people what your PC's name is and that you are not your character (helpful when your PC does unsavory things or has disturbing ideas!), while first-person is faster to say.

[Tanarii]

As someone who prefers first person, I don't see myself as "telling a story" at all. I'm playing a role, not narrating a tale. As such, I wouldn't want to describe my character's feelings at all. I'll talk in character and describe my character's actions* as they relate to what's going on, but whatever emotions they have are inside their (and my) head and are only exposed to the other players in as much as I emote them in my speech and in my descriptions of my character's actions.Same. And pretty much sums up why I use first person as a player.


Beelzebubba always uses 1st person.:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin:


but as a DM I lean heavily on the second person narration.
I hadn't even considered that.

As a DM, I use 3rd person almost exclusively for NPCs. Even to the extent of "he says blah blah" or "so-and-so says blah blah".

For PCs, I typically use 2nd person when directly addressing a player ("you fail to grab the rope ...") and 3rd person when addressing a player but referring to a different player's PC ("Zane Turf-Biter just hit the ground hard (again), what do you do?") or when addressing the group as a whole ("okay so Bob the Fighter II is guarding the entrance, while Sticky McFingers is prying the gem out of the statue, and the Cedric the Cleric and Roderick-up-his-Arse the Paladin are berating him. Suddenly ...")

[Rogerdodger557]

When playing, I almost always do 1st person, with few exceptions(Not at the table essentially), and when I DM, mix between the 2. 1st for notable NPCs, 3rd for when I'm hand waiving social interactions or describing a scene.

[Magic Myrmidon]

For me it's typically first, but clarification of a character's thoughts/feelings, and weirder actions that I don't want to associate with myself are 3rd person. Also sometimes when I don't feel like putting effort into a negotiation that should really just be handled by a die roll.

[RSP]

As a DM, third person.

As a Player, I usually go 1st, sometimes 3rd.

For each character I play, I choose a voice/accent they use and stick to that for anything said in-character to break up what I say as the Player vs what the character says.

The accents are usually pretty horrible though.

[John Campbell]

As a player, always 1st person. I've never (in 35 years or so) played with anyone who insisted on using 3rd person, and I'd consider it weird.

As a GM, 3rd person when narrating NPC actions, 2nd person when narrating PC actions. 1st person only when speaking in-character as an NPC. I consider GMs narrating NPC actions in 1st person to be a warning sign that the game is about to turn into The GMPC Show, and I should be ready to bail out.

[Coidzor]

We tend to alternate, falling in and out of character based upon what we're doing, our mood, if distractions have presented themselves.

[Tanarii]

As a player, always 1st person. I've never (in 35 years or so) played with anyone who insisted on using 3rd person, and I'd consider it weird.I've met a few people that 3rd person their PCs in conventions, and once in a blue moon in a local game store. It's very weird when the standard for your region is 1st person.

I have played a few games where it was a little more common, namely BECMI. Because henchmen / retainers. Since these characters aren't you, the player's PC, typically a player refers to them 3rd person. Then when the PC dies and a retainer gets 'promoted' to full PC, it can be hard to break the habit. Not that players don't try. Because it's really weird to not think of the PC as an extension of you the player in the in-game world.

I can see it being the standard in 'storyteller' games, be that systems set for it, or people trying to play D&D as a story game instead of a roleplaying game. Where the focus is the story instead of roleplaying your character.

[Blacky the Blackball]

A weird one I've encountered - but only once - was a player who described his actions in... well... I don't know the proper term for it. In the possessive, maybe?

He wouldn't say "I run over and pull the lever to activate the trap". He wouldn't say "Balder the Bald runs over and pulls the lever to activate the trap". Instead he'd say "Mine runs over and pulls the lever to activate the trap".

I can kind of see where it comes from - it probably started off as "My character runs..." when he first started role-playing, and then got reduced to "Mine runs..." after endless repetition.

But that didn't stop it sounding really jarring to the rest of us at the table.

[Laserlight]

First person for dialog. Describing action might be first or third.

[KorvinStarmast]

As player: first
As DM: depends on the situation.