Kaga

RPing characters with mental illnesses

Really I think that if you're going to make a character with mental illness, you need to follow two simple rules: 1) try to be accurate if you're going to label it with a specific term, and 2) don't be an attention whore.

One of my more notable characters that I've had for a long time, tweaked and recycled a couple times is a sociopath. He's incapable of empathy or caring for other individuals. And... that's really all that I've given him in terms of that attribute. I don't think I've ever even technically referred to him as a "sociopath" in the RP, now that I think about it. He just comes off to others as really cold, sadistic and somewhat of a troll - not that he's like that because he's a sociopath, though, those are just other parts of his personality. He also has... I dunno, I guess you would call it a "God complex"? Basically he considers himself a god and is always trying to assume complete control of everything around him - which makes sense considering that, in most incarnations of his character, he usually has an admittedly ridiculous powerset and a whole world he's created, thus putting him only a stone's throw away from being a god. Though in other incarnations where he's less powerful, I guess it falls under the category of delusional. Also, in his latest incarnation, I've given him some early signs of alzheimer's. Every once in a while he has these episodes of memory failure, but, again, I don't think I've ever used the term in the RP. And to the other RPers, he probably just looks like a forgetful person.

Another notable example is a character I made for an RP that fell apart almost immediately after it started, so I never got much of a chance to play her, but I had a lot of fun designing her. Basically the RP had a sort of virtual reality-type setting, and my character was basically supposed to be a glitch in the system. As a result, she had a lot of "mental problems", but I never really labeled any of her quirks with the names of actual mental disorders. Some of them were inspired by real mental disorders, and a few other qualities of hers were just things that I thought would be fun to play. Her awkward social interactions were inspired by autism/aspergers, her emotional instability was inspired by bipolar disorder, etc, but I knew that I wasn't portraying any of these things perfectly accurately - in fact in some cases I intentionally let her traits differ from what I knew the actual disorder(s) looked like. But that was ok, because nothing she had was labeled with the name of a real disorder. They were all just generically lumped under the term "mental disorders", which I explained through the fact that her virtual brain just wasn't wired the right way. And I think that's a good way to get around portraying mental disorders inaccurately, intentionally or not - just don't label it as such. With RP's, you have lots of reasons to justify portraying a mental disorder that doesn't actually exist. And so long as you don't name it as something that you were inspired by or that you think it sort of looks like, then it shouldn't be offensive to anyone. Or, at least, that's my take on it.

Also, I agree that characters with mental disorders can be really fun to play. They let you experiment with a lot of social interactions and characters' thoughts that you wouldn't otherwise get the chance to play through.

Spam Tarot Readings

Drakel said
Another General one... I'm going to be moving via car to Washington so I wanna know how my schooling will be durring the trip... and another for the trip itself (safety wise for reasons.) :)

First, life in Washington:

Image

This spread seems to suggest that your biggest obstacle may be your own lack of confidence.

For starters, we open with the King of Wands, which suggests a lack of ambition or drive. This is understandable, moving someplace new. Below, we see some of the specifics of what this trip will bring. Firstly, the Page of Cups, which suggests potential problems with the people you'll meet. It could either mean that you'll meet new people that you very quickly discover you don't like, or it could mean that you'll just have trouble making friends in general - not necessarily making enemies, though. Next, though, we have the Three of Pentacles, which often represents the first steps of starting something new, with early signs of progress. Given the more physical nature of the Pentacles suit, this is most likely referring to your schooling, and predicting good things ahead. Lastly, we have the Five of Wands, which is about conflict and competition. Suddenly you're finding yourself surrounded by others in your new life with whom you feel the need to measure yourself against - perhaps these new faces will make you feel outranked, or as if you don't belong.

It seems, though, that all the issues presented here come back to the King of Wands and the aforementioned lack of self-confidence - hinting at the possibility that these issues could all just be in your head, or at the very least, you're exaggerating them to proportions beyond what they really are. Perhaps all these social issues coming up really aren't the fault of the people in Washington, but more accurately reflect your own shyness or inability to get along with these new people.

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Next, the trip itself:

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A shorter response for a shorter message: this spread seems to suggest excess worrying, or perhaps over-embellishing what the trip will be like before it has even started.

We open with the Seven of Cups, the card of imagination and dreams. Beneath it, we have the Wheel of Fortune, which, in its current position represents a lack of understanding of events, or perhaps just a lack of anything interesting having happened lately. After that, we have The Emperor, which suggests an inability to take control of a situation. These three cards together seem to suggest that you may already be imagining what the trip will be like, or more accurately, worrying about it. You've come up with potential scenarios that, as the Wheel of Fortune suggest, probably won't happen. And, as The Emperor reminds you, you are not the one in-control of these events - what your mind comes up with is not likely an accurate portrayal of future events. Lastly, though, we have The Empress, which suggests allowing what will happen to happen - going with the flow, so to speak.

tl;dr - You worry too much. I'm sure you'll be fine.

Spam Tarot Readings

KnightShade said
I've got a week of exams and presentations coming up, if you're still doing them I'd be interested in one on how I'll do with that.

Sure thing!

Image

We open with the Three of Wands, which is about the pride felt in one's choices and the sureness of a decent pay-off. Though I'm not sure yet whether or not you're ready to proceed to such a future thanks to the Nine of Swords. The Nine of Swords is about looming anxieties piling up - in this case, your presentations and exams - and advises taking inventory of these things in order to calmly take them on one at a time. Perhaps its suggesting that you're causing yourself to feel stressed by looking at the upcoming week as one big challenge rather than a bunch of smaller ones, and that you should prepare for each challenge individually. Good news is, though, that the next card is The Chariot - a card of taking control and emerging victorious. This is most likely the pride and pay-off seen in the Three of Wands; you've done what you need to do and now you're on top, suggesting that following the Nine of Swords' advice will lead you to a very successful exam week. Strangely, though, the last card here is The High Priestess, which can represent that which is supernatural and obscured. In its position here, it is possible its saying that the farther future is foggy and tough to predict, or perhaps even that you shouldn't be looking much farther ahead than what's in front of you right now, and instead, make sure you primarily focus on the exams and presentations in front of you now.

AreYouMyMummy

Barioth said
That line was used in a Rhett and Link rap video, a pretty funny one too.

That's not why I thought it was funny, though.

AreYouMyMummy

AreYouMyMummy said
Ooo, burn. Not really.

This post. This image.

Mummy I'm sorry but I'm not laughing for the reasons you probably think/hope I am.

Spam Tarot Readings

Vordak said
Heyo! This is RPG after all, so can i please have a reading about an arena battle im participating in? :D

I apologize for my lateness. I thought this thread had died.

Also, I know little about the Arena, so sorry if I have a hard time making sense of the cards in such a context.

Image

This spread seems to be about failing to take advantage of opportunities, or just being blind to your options.

To start, we have the Six of Pentacles - the card of giving and receiving advice. Below that, we have the Two of Pentacles and the Two of Wands, which both refer to difficulty making choices. In the Two of Pentacles' case, it means feeling like you've run out of options. In the Two of Wands' case, it means an inability to decide between the choices you have - feeling as if neither brings a good outcome. Between both of these Twos, though, we have The Fool, which is the card of limitless possibilities, as well as spontaneity and disregard for logic.

Putting it all together, it looks as if you feel trapped - like your options are dwindling and you're not sure what you can do to win a fight, but, as the Six of Pentacles points out, you're failing to take advantage of something right in front of you - The Fool, encouraging you to look at everything that can be done with a limitless medium like forum roleplaying and really think outside the box. So, it seems that taking advantage of some of those possibilities is what you need to do in order to give yourself an edge. However, the Two of Wands comes after The Fool, not before, so it is possible that even after doing this, the answer still won't be clear. It's just that this time, instead of feeling like you have too few options, you have too many, and can't decide on which one would be best.

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Semi-related note for anyone who cares: Yesterday I got a henna tattoo of the Libra sign on the back of my right hand. It makes me feel like I'm doing a much more authentic job with all this.

Welcome Back to the Guild

Arty Fox said
Callum still around or..?

I don't know. He disappeared for a really long time last time, though... But, he hasn't been gone that long this time around, I don't think, so I'll give him a bit longer before I get worried.

My Cow is bigger than your Cow

Drakel said
That was my point... Though 101+ threads hits you to the sixth page so... just means she has 6 pages worth of threads.

Drakel, you okay? You seem to have a bad case of the ellipses. :/

My Cow is bigger than your Cow

Drakel said
:/

Joegreenbeen said
Kaga lied!

...



:/

Drakel said
nope. Just means she has over 100 threads...

Guru said
O,oNo... that would mean she has roughly the same amount of threads as you, just not talking as much as you in each thread.

Oh, right. I almost forgot that the same number of PM's doesn't necessarily mean the same number of pages. Oops.

My Cow is bigger than your Cow

797, which also puts me at six pages.