I Know That, But My Character Doesn't Know Yet

[Tearless]

Gah, I hate it when that happens... though I've more often had the reverse problem, with others knowing way more about my characters than they should. It's so often really hard to effectively RP into a pride when starting as a loner, because as soon as the players know that my character is harmless, suddenly every lion in the pride trusts him without question, even when he's given them no reason to. I've literally had Newt in mid-post, hiding around the edge of a pride's territory trying to tell if it's safe to approach them, and inevitably, no matter how deliberately suspicious I make my actions, one lioness will always run right up to the hidden-from-view, unfamiliar lion encroaching on her territory whom she knows nothing about (not to harp on realism with talking animals, but, y'know, rogue lions have been known to kill cubs, even if we both know Newton wouldn't) and says "Hi there! Want to join the pride? I'm sure [leader] won't mind!" I don't know where I should even go from there. I usually just have whatever character I'm playing become alarmed/unsettled/suspicious and hope the actual leader is less blindly trusting, but even then the tension is still pretty thoroughly killed and I end up sitting there in a pride full of unnervingly welcoming strangers not sure what to do with myself.

Honestly at this point, I wouldn't mind running into the 'get out of our territory or we'll make you into a rug!' type of pride once just for a change.

My other major pet peeve is characters who mysteriously change personality completely if they want an interaction to go a certain way, or just characters whose personalities don't match their bios in general. If your lioness is supposed to be shy and mistrustful of strangers, don't have her run up to me and strike up a conversation if we've never met. If your bio says 'cheerful, friendly, looks on the bright side' then why has your character been sitting  off to one side of the group scowling at his reflection in a puddle and not talking to anyone for the last three passive-aggressively angsty posts?

[Tigerheart08]

SO glad you made this thread because it has happened so many times! That's the whole fun part, your char gets to find out stuff even if you already know.

[Compass]

Bhut but, mah fox knows everything therefore can read nametags, knowing what their name is. ;3; On other notes, however, when that happens to me I get really mad... It's only funny when it's someone else Dx

[MadMoai]

Oh gosh, this has happened to me before, but I can't think of any specific examples at the moment.

I find this irritating due to the lack of separation between in-character and out-of-character. I don't really know how to word this correctly, but characters don't know things until they experience them. Just because Reithe (my main FH character) starts a conversation with a random lion, he won't automatically know that said lion might secretly be a pyromaniac, or that said lion has a stash of candy hidden at home, because Reithe hasn't been told this yet, even if I in the real world read it in the lion's bio. The reverse is true as well; any random lion who has never met Reithe before won't know he can breathe fire until he actually does so, since the lion has no logical reason to believe that any wolf would be able to breathe fire.

Like if I sign up for a roleplay where you have to fill out character forms and post them, I can read all of the other people's forms who have signed up and keep everything in mind, but that doesn't mean my character automatically has access to all of that information pertaining to the other members of the roleplay. It's like saying Reithe can walk up to aforementioned lion and already know his name even though he's never seen the lion before, just because I read his name in the bio.

Sorry if that doesn't make sense. '^' I guess it's all about separation of knowledge in-character and out-of-character.

(I also feel like mentioning dramatic irony [the audience knows something the character does not], which can contribute to suspense, but I don't really know if that's on topic. |D )

[Smilodoncat]

I've had the reverse happen to me.

Other people will read my bio, and then pretend they know everything about me in roleplay. It is exceptionally annoying when I'm on original species, and their character automatically knows everything about my character's species.

[Jango_Fett]

I  wish some one would Rp with me on Sky's rim ;-;
Anyway, yes this has happened to me, but sparingly, and not very often.
But i Absolutely HATE IT When they go all OOC and say stuff like, 'DUDE! READ MY NAME TAG IDIOT! YOU STUPID OR WHAT?!!?' and other rude things, seriously, -.- its illiterate, and pretty dumb to say.

[Tearless]

Y'know, this thread could be particularly relevent for the... -pulls out megaphone- FeralHeart Official RP Day on September 28th

But seriously, it'll be interesting to see how that goes for this very reason...

[Lady_Alizarin]

Y'know, this thread could be particularly relevent for the... -pulls out megaphone- FeralHeart Official RP Day on September 28th

But seriously, it'll be interesting to see how that goes for this very reason...

Omg, you're right Tearless. This could give people an idea on what roleplay is really about and how it's supposed to be done. Forget what the character nametag says, let your character figure it out for themselves. Don't ask questions, just roleplay!

[nubeees]

I hate this. It happens all the time! >.<

[Gargantor]

Actually this isnt just the case for FH, but everywhere else.
Mostly I meet problems where my character thinks something, so they dont say it out loud but I am still sharing it with the other user, and then their character suddenly knows everything they thought and starts RPing according to that. My lesson: keep your characters' thoughts to themselves...

Yes, I met the problem where characters know each other's names all of a sudden and know everything about each other. I was once snapped at by one person who said that my character shouldnt have sat next to them to warm them because their character doesnt like that tight contact. I told them that my character doesnt know that, then they came with the advice that I should read bios before I rp with someone...... Seriously... where is the fun if everyone knows everything... This is what gives a part of the excitement in the whole story...