Armchair intellectuals, blogosphere citizens, here’s a thread for you.

I thought about this for a very long time now, this is essentially two things, or well, that’s what I intend to do. Firstly, this is a guide, as is pretty much anything in the world. Secondly, this is the description of a paradigm.

My paradigm models human (or say, human-like) behavior is loosely based on Freud’s model of the the mind, with the id (es), ego (ich) and the super-ego (über-ich). Paradigms are, as we know, not truths in themselves, but merely ways to reflect certain aspects of truth sometimes more accurately sometimes less accurately sometimes wrong altogether. Human behavior falls under the category of things we are not very likely to understand very well being human ourselves.

A little history of conflict models

There are plenty of conflict models out there, Sigmund Freud’s view on behavior, which I previously mentioned, Karl Marx’ socio-economic paradigm (known as Marxism) which describes a conflict between two classes, one owning the means of production and the other using them. To a lesser extent, Levi-Strauss (the sociologist, not the jeans) also had a conflict model which he named “structuralism”, splitting human behavior and perception into categories of opposites (night and day, for instance). I can stretch this as far as Hagel, but I’ll stop there, this isn’t about the history of conflict models.

Basics of my Model

My model is that certain conflicting desires determine behavior in a multitude of ways. We are torn between our conflicting desires. Freud will tell you about your id, that is, selfish desires, conflicting with the super-ego, that is, society’s desires. This paradigm goes above that description to describe higher functions.

So, suppose Plato is hungry. Plato sees a cake, he would then think, “I could eat it”, however, understanding its consequences, and social practices around it, his reaction would not be either “forget it” nor “eat it”. He may ask for a piece, he may take a little, or maybe just a little bit of the cake. He may walk away, but either way, he won’t forget about it.

This example was about our id clashing with our super-ego. Conflicts are not limited to this though. For instance, consider that Plato likes cake because he associates it with his Mom, but at the same time, its his mother’s funeral. The id and the super-ego are irrelevant here, this is Plato subconciously fighting not with anyone, not with his mother, not with his desire to eat cake, but with his conflicting feelings towards the cake in association with his deceased mother.

Certainly, cake is merely one thing in our lives. How about we step further.

Plato is Russian, but lives in America, and lives during the Cold War. Plato loves America, but still loves Russia, where his relatives are and where his parents came from. Plato is torn between these two things.

Conflicts create behavior, which creates more conflicts. Behavior does not create conflicts to excuse it, though. An interest in weapons does not “simply arise”, it comes through association and conflict, something triggers it.

Application to Roleplaying

Rerkel Ranwin is a Forsaken men who had initially died by committing suicide. Each moment in his now second (or third if you count him being a scourge minion as a life) life he is faced with one question: “do I want to give this another chance, or should I just do the old thing yet again?”

Rerkel will try to convince himself that things aren’t as bad as they may seem. True, he had never intended to become a Forsaken, but then again, perhaps that’s something he’ll have to live with.

Perhaps now his life could be better? Could he ever know?

Pretty much every character out there has a conflict of a sort. Do you really expect a draenei to keep believing in the Light although the world is in complete chaos and redemption is nowhere to be seen? They are torn between these two conflicting sides of the issue.

I see many roleplayers making the step to understand these conflicts, but never step beyond that, into an understanding of the conflict and its implications on the character. So you have a “tragic past”, but you either don’t make the connection, or you just skip the implications all along. Don’t start with the present and add a past, start with either one, and build up towards the other.

Even when people go mad, they remain rational, it’s simply that the image of reality they have is skewed and distorted. Those conflicts always exist. Your will to live is always there, the same way that the will to die is constantly present.

Example Conflicts

Identity - Quel’dorei/humans.

Conservation vs. renewal - Is the old way better than the new way? How on Azeroth should i find out? Maybe change is a good thing or maybe I should

Sexuality - What do I want from myself? What do I want FOR myself? Who do I like? Most of us WILL have this conflict at some point in our lives, regardless of gender and sexual orientation.

Fatalism vs. Free Will - Am I fated to die? Is my life meaningless and will result to the same thing no matter what? Can I control my own destiny? Is meaning created or ascribed?

Reality vs. Illusion - Are things really what they seem? Am I really who I am, or am I merely in an illusion?

Stretching this further

Isn’t life all about our conflict with ourself? Every moment of your lives we wish we were dead, every moment of our lives we wish we were alive and every moment we wonder about these two, we also want to eat cake, but want to stay thin, and we want to write a new post on the forums, but we don’t want to have to read the rest.

When we roleplay, we model situations in life. We model a living thing, a mind, or if you want a soul. We assume that all characters are basically humans give or take tusks, horns, hooves, ears, pink skin and the occasional tattoo. These minds, or “souls” if you will, all function more or less the same.

A tip of the hat off to Freud, Marx, Levi-Stauss and my ex

Freud, Marx and Levi-Strauss for showing me how things can be explained through conflict and dichotomies, my ex for emphasizing conflicts.

Also, I would like to thank Sisse, Moruku and Theresea for keeping my feet on the ground while I ventured into the depths of philosophy. (One-manned heroic Kara)

A tip of the hat to Moonglade, the RP community and everyone else

You’ve all contributed to this.

I know, most of us don’t think about roleplaying/literature/life as theoretically as this, but, some do, and I so happen to.

Tagged as: life, literature, philosophy, roleplaying