I suppose I may have been unclear. There’s often a lot of surface differences—my roommate has played a raver, a doctor, and now an AVON sales lady who fights zombies. But at the same time, there’s deeper similarities in conversational style, use of language, decision-making methods, and personal preferences that mean they all play fairly similarly (in her case, she loses her temper quickly—for some characters this makes them very verbally hostile, while others move quickly to combat)
It does also depend on your audience. Playing a “convincing” sociopath is pretty easy if no one in your group knows a real sociopath. And, of course, there ARE some people who have the knack for truly capturing other mindsets. However, half the books on my shelf are from authors that can’t even convincingly write characters of the opposite sex.
Maybe Voldemort has sociopathic tendencies. Maybe they’re just a good roleplayer. However, I don’t think sociopath is really that much rarer than a good, convincing role player.
That’s interesting..
If my current wizard ever dies, I think I’m going to try playing a psychopathic psion. I think I’d be able to give it a decent go.
I suppose I may have been unclear. There’s often a lot of surface differences—my roommate has played a raver, a doctor, and now an AVON sales lady who fights zombies. But at the same time, there’s deeper similarities in conversational style, use of language, decision-making methods, and personal preferences that mean they all play fairly similarly (in her case, she loses her temper quickly—for some characters this makes them very verbally hostile, while others move quickly to combat)
It does also depend on your audience. Playing a “convincing” sociopath is pretty easy if no one in your group knows a real sociopath. And, of course, there ARE some people who have the knack for truly capturing other mindsets. However, half the books on my shelf are from authors that can’t even convincingly write characters of the opposite sex.
Maybe Voldemort has sociopathic tendencies. Maybe they’re just a good roleplayer. However, I don’t think sociopath is really that much rarer than a good, convincing role player.