What does roleplayer mean? Subculture

roleplayer- A person who is keen on the role-playing movement, playing role-playing games, i.e. participating in or organizing the production of any work, film, or reconstruction of any historical event down to the smallest detail (costumes, ... ... Dictionary of modern vocabulary, jargon and slang

Donetsk club "Mithril" Role-playing Games Movement (DRG), Role-playing movement, role-players, an informal community of people playing various role-playing games, primarily role-playing ... Wikipedia

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Berezhinsky is a Polish-Ukrainian surname Belonging to the ancient Polish coat of arms Sas (Drag) herb szlachecki There are several spellings of the Berezhinsky surname, Berezhinski, Berezynski, Berezynski, Berezhinsky DRAG SAS was noted as (not exactly that... ... Wikipedia

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Donetsk club "Mithril" Role-playing Games Movement (DRG), Role-playing movement, role-players are an informal community of people playing various role-playing games, primarily live-action role-playing games. Related to role-playing are movements of historical... ... Wikipedia

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Books

• Cambrian period, Vladimir Kovalenko. Following a not-too-faithful lover in the virtual world is the right thing to do. Arguing is a good thing. Interesting. But when those who only want to move the galaxy argue about the benefits of role-playing games...
• Mystic, Vlad Polyakov. In our world, he was just a role-playing swordsman, a man who lived in imaginary battles and adventures. But when the god of Chaos himself, the powerful Arthas, intervened in his fate, everything changed in...

Sometimes reality seems too gray and boring, and you want to escape into a fantasy world. Everyone has probably had this feeling at least once. However, there are people who have turned their imagination and creative energy into a serious hobby. Let's try to figure out who a roleplayer is, what he does, and what rules exist in this seemingly easy task only at first glance.

Roleplayer - what is it?

Perhaps the representatives of this movement themselves can best tell you what a role player means. For them, it is rather a way of life, a way of thinking, than anything else. If you ask an avid role player why he is doing this seemingly frivolous thing, this person will be very surprised and may even be offended, because for him everything that lives in the imagination is no less real than everyday life.

The main thing that distinguishes real role-players is a love of stories, legends and especially reading. But just seeing on the pages what someone else came up with is not enough for them. Having gathered together, like-minded people try, if possible, to embody the reality they themselves have invented, and feel like characters.

If you, too, would like to plunge into the world of fantasy and are wondering “how to become a role-player,” you need to remember: this is not an easy task and requires a lot of investment (both time resources and financial ones). If you are not ready to devote yourself entirely to the Game, then you will not be able to become a true role player, but you can at least try for a start.

How did the role-playing movement come about?

The role-playing movement originated at the end of the USSR. The year was 1989, and at one of their conventions, science fiction writers decided to discuss J. R. R. Tolkien’s novel, “The Lord of the Rings,” which was still almost unknown to Russians at that time, but cult in the West. The congress participants liked this work so much that it was decided to depict some of the events in the book in the form of a costume show.

The writers got down to business with all the creativity and energy that is inherent in people of this profession. The idea turned out to be successful, and therefore it was decided: why not repeat it next year? But science fiction writers couldn’t stop there, infecting their friends and like-minded people with the idea of ​​acting out book events. So the role-playing movement spread like an avalanche across the country, and its participants began to be called Tolkienists.

If you asked ordinary people of that time who a roleplayer or a Tolkienist was, most of them would twirl their finger at their temples and talk about strange young guys running through forests and groves in strange clothes and hitting each other with sticks. And the whole point was the widespread poverty of the people and the inability to produce high-quality costumes and props. Over time, the situation has changed, and now there are many role-playing clubs that engage in this fun with all seriousness, even attracting sponsors and professionals (trainers, sewing and weapon-making masters).

in the field

The first thing that comes to mind when answering the question “who is a roleplayer” is a person in evil spirits, with a sword or bow in his hands, somewhere in a suburban forest, together with like-minded people, playing the role of the chosen character for several days. This is what role-playing games began with and what captivates many in our time.

When you decide to participate in field role-playing games, you need to very clearly understand what exactly you are signing up for. Each such game is a whole event, for which you may have to prepare for at least six months. What does it cost just to make a realistic costume that meets the canons of the story being played out (be it a fantasy game based on the works of Tolkien, or a reconstruction of real historical events). And if your character is a warrior, then it is advisable to also make a realistic weapon.

Typically, role-playing games are held over several days and most often outside the city, so participants need to be able to allocate a certain time for this. But all costs are compensated by the opportunity to feel like a real participant in the events being played out. For the sake of the emotions they get from this, many people are ready to become role players.

Text role-playing games

It happens that a person does not have the desire or opportunity to join people who can be described as “typical role-players,” but he would still like to plunge into an imaginary world. With the spread of the Internet, and in particular forums, such homebodies have a chance to realize their dream.

Forum, or text, role-playing games are the role-playing of the chosen plot not in a real setting, but in the form of text. It’s as if the players are writing their own book, in which each of them is a specific character.

Before starting a text role-playing game, everyone chooses a hero (existing or their own) and fills out a questionnaire for him (usually it consists of questions about the character’s name, appearance, character and a test post so that the organizer can assess the player’s potential).

When the roles are assigned, the game itself begins. Participants describe the actions of their heroes, improvise and interact with other players, and with their actions move the story forward. If the plot reaches a turning point or controversy arises, the organizer steers the situation in a certain direction.

Roleplayers "VKontakte"

Nowadays it is difficult to find a person who has not heard about social networks or is not registered in one of them. In Russia, the VKontakte platform became one of the most widespread, and the role-playing movement could not ignore this fact.

Who is a VKontakte role player? This is a person who, using a popular social network, is looking for like-minded people. In any of the many groups you can raise a cry about finding partners for future games or just talk with those who don’t need to explain what a role player is. You can always have a pleasant time in contact with such people.

What should you do if you couldn’t find a suitable role-playing role for yourself, but you want to feel like the hero of a fairy tale? There is only one way out - to create your own game. This is not difficult to do if you follow a few tips.

2. Give the players room to act, because role-playing is not a performance, and all its beauty is in improvisation. Let the participants agree among themselves, and if disputes arise, act decisively.

3. Come up with unexpected obstacles for the players. Role players are people with imagination, and therefore it will be interesting for them to get out of unexpected situations.

How to make your roleplay popular?

So, now, having figured out who a roleplayer is, and having come up with a story that you would like to play out, you need to interest others in your idea and support the game for as long as possible. How to do this?

1. Find an original story that doesn't have too many roleplays. Then more players will be able to join you.

2. Give participants the opportunity to create their own characters. After all, it often happens that the most interesting ones are immediately hired, but no one wants to take on the roles of minor ones.

3. Move the plot forward more often so that the game does not turn into a stagnant swamp.

1 Young people and teenagers, due to an excess of free time, find various hobbies in order to spend their free hours, days or even months with feeling, sense and arrangement. Today we will talk about another teenage activity, this Roleplayers, which means you can read a little lower.
However, before continuing, I would like to recommend you a couple more sensible publications on the topic of youth slang. For example, what does Kus mean, how to understand what Dvacha means, what Fixit is, etc.
So let's continue What does Rolevik mean?? This term comes from the word “role” (in a broad sense, it is a description of a limited set of actions performed by someone or something within a certain process).

Roleplayer- this is a person who plays a certain role, for example, a knight, a hobbit, a troll, a wizard, an elf, etc.

Roleplayer- this is an established informal group of people whose main interest is an interest in role-playing games

It is worth noting that role-players have related subcultures, which are called re-enactors, Tolkienists, hardball players, and to a lesser extent cosplayers, airsoft players, paintball players.

In order to develop a strategy for the future and decide on holding the next games, role players gather for so-called covents. These events host photo exhibitions, concerts by performing artists, video screenings, theatrical performances and even fencing tournaments.

Role-playing allows teenagers to find friends and also helps them easily establish relationships with the opposite sex. However, not all role players, they really are. Periodically, people come to this subculture who are not very interested in this subculture. Such citizens are aptly called clones or fakes. These individuals pretend to be real actors, and do not want to admit that they are the simplest Internet users who want to show off interesting photos to their friends by publishing them online.

Real roleplayer, means that a person plays a specific, pre-selected role, having previously sewed a suit for himself and carefully studied his character.
For such individuals, the role becomes part of their life. After all, it’s difficult to play a character for several years in a row without borrowing his character traits into real life.

Some inquisitive individuals ask the question, what does a VKontakte role player mean??

Today, social networks are gaining more and more popularity, and most young people communicate with their peers there. Therefore, it is not surprising that role players in VK.

Roleplayer in VK- this is a person who is registered in this social network. networks under the nickname of your character, and this account serves not just as a place for communication, but often becomes the main personal page

You can read more about rovelviks on VKontakte in the article entitled Rolka - what does it mean?

Today, having felt the desires and needs of a large part of users VK, several special applications have been created for conducting role-playing games in some game world.

Some people wonder how to become a roleplayer?

To do this, a person needs to fully study his character, take him apart, find out all the strengths and weaknesses.
Then you need to plunge into the world of your hero, find out where the key moments of his adventures and other interesting events took place. In addition, you need to get to know all the significant characters in this universe. We need to figure out how we should treat each other role players subcultures, and what place you should take in this world.

However, you must understand that you must adhere to a certain script that will be prescribed for the group members. Sometimes it happens that groups playing out the same universe may have completely different rules. Therefore, carefully study how your hero should behave in a particular game, and do not rely on your intuition or analogies.

By the way, the largest number role players plays out the world of "The Lord of the Rings", they are usually called "pushed". The word comes from the author who wrote this book - Tolkien.
After all, the scale of events taking place in this universe simply excites the imagination, and the clash of dark and light makes the heart of any teenager beat more and more often.

After reading this article, you will now be aware of What does Rolevik mean?, and you will no longer find yourself in a difficult situation if you suddenly come across this word again.

In the motley palette of modern youth subcultures, a prominent place is occupied by “role-players” - people who organize and conduct role-playing games, or RPG -Role-play Games. The number of participants in this movement, according to official data, today in St. Petersburg alone is over 12 thousand people.

Role-players are a predominantly youth subculture with their own slang, paraphernalia, folklore, etc. Role-playing games are, in the words of the participants themselves, “a bizarre mixture of amateur theatre, Zarnitsa, a children’s matinee, a tourist rally, a “virtualized” computer game, a modern mystery play and a hippie festival” (hereinafter, italicized quotes from recordings of interviews and conversations c participants of the role movement, as well as some special terms - “Pragmatics of culture”).

The question of when exactly role-playing games appeared remains open. Some researchers have discovered analogues to modern games at the dawn of European civilization. For example, in Ancient Rome, when a kind of “reenactment battles” were held in the Colosseum, where some of the gladiators portrayed Romans, and others represented barbarians, dressed in special “barbarian” clothes and armor. In the Middle Ages, adherents of the courtly acted out scenes from ancient life for the entertainment of ladies, set up a “grove of Venus” or “the kingdom of fairies” in a nearby forest, recreated the legendary court of King Arthur, “riding around the fields in the costumes of those times and singing ancient songs.” At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, on the wave of neo-romanticism, re-enactors of the Napoleonic wars, decadents who organized “Athenian” and “Egyptian” evenings, and others, made themselves known, among whom the most notable were “lovers of Celtic antiquity”, who founded in 1893. Gaelic League. Its supporters, mostly representatives of the aristocracy and urban intelligentsia, traveled to the countryside, where they recreated the action of ancient Irish holidays, performing folk dances and songs, dressed in authentic clothes. What they have in common with modern role-playing culture is a deep immersion in the “role-playing era”, and for the first time the recorded phenomenon of mass adoption of new fancy “game” names corresponding to the modern concept of “nickname” / “nickname”. According to the ironic remark of the writer Brian O'Nuallan: “All these noble gentlemen were without names and without surnames, but they took beautiful nicknames for themselves, and christened themselves in honor of this and that, flowers and hills, stones and fields, heavens and miracles<…>There were the Connacht Cat, the Brown Hen, the Brave Horse, the Sinful Crow, the Running Knight, the Rose of the Hills, Goll Mac Morna, the Boggle-Eyed Sailor, the Low Bishop, the Sweet-voiced Blackbird, Moira's Spinning Wheel, Ooh-Lulie<…>(B. Nuallan, “Singing Lazarus”). The “Celtic” component is to this day a noticeable vector of the modern role-playing and reenactment movement.

The widespread popularity of role-playing games in the second half of the 20th century is associated with the publication in 1954-56. the trilogy of the English writer J.R.R. Tolkien “The Lord of the Rings”, and the emergence of such a cultural phenomenon as the activity of the Tolkienists. This book became unprecedentedly popular in the West during the legendary era of the sixties. Escapist and nonconformist youth hip culture found much that was close to their views and worldview in the heroic fantasy novel. In 1969, the British Tolkien Society appeared, and in the 1970s, the American Mythopoetic Society, whose members organized various kinds of games based on the plots of Tolkien’s books.

In Soviet and post-Soviet Russia, Tolkien’s trilogy, known from the first part (“Watchmen”) published in 1982, samizdat translations, and the first complete translations published in the early 1990s, immediately acquired cult status. Representatives of various circles of informal youth united around her - hippies, sorocomans, fans of underground music (rockers, fans of Boris Grebenshchikov, Viktor Tsoi) and many others. In 1990, in Siberia, on the Mana River, near Krasnoyarsk, the first Hobbit Games (“HI”, called “khishki” in role-playing usage) took place, where the classic plot-forming model of a role-playing game was presented - the confrontation between good and evil forces, the clash and interaction of different “ peoples" - people, elves, gnomes, hobbits, orcs, etc. At the same time, a hierarchy of participants emerged, resulting from the very nature of the action: the organizers of the game are the masters or master group and the players. In 1991, the second HI was held in the Moscow region, distinguished by a wide geographical range of participants, then this event became almost an annual event.

The period from 1990 to 1994 is characterized as the time of formation of the domestic role-playing movement. At that time, various groups took part in role-playing activities, having dissimilar interests and later developing into independent directions. In particular, in 1991 - 93. “Indianists” actively participated in role-playing games.

Starting from 1994, and until about 1997, there was a gradual specialization within the movement, workshop groups appeared, aimed at creating games of various types, and gaming teams crystallized. This is a period of maximum diversity of forms of activity (games, festivals, tournaments, “conventions” - annual gatherings of gamers, colloquially referred to as “cons”, the largest of which is “Zilantcon” (Kazan), “minstrels” - theatrical concerts, etc.) and, according to some researchers, the heyday of the movement. Almost every weekend of the spring-summer season there was one or another game on the ground. At the same time, the explosive growth in the movement’s numbers led to a breakdown in the mechanism of transmission of traditions “from generation to generation” and a change in the composition of role players. The role-playing community has become much more numerous and variegated in its sociocultural and age characteristics. Now the youngest participants in the movement were 12-13 years old (not counting children of various ages whom parents take with them to games), and the upper age limit approached 40-45. The gender composition of the movement, as a whole, was almost always balanced.

By 2000, the final formation of specific groups within the movement and its stratification took place. During this period, aggressive extremist groups of role players made themselves known - the so-called “mushroom elves” and various paramilitary groups, among which the most famous was “Morgil”. According to V.A. Gushchin, the author of the most odious, but, nevertheless, the most competent articles on the role-playing movement, “some groups in their activities replace self-realization within the movement with self-affirmation at the expense of other groups and movement participants.” The “Mushroom Elves,” who profess views close to neo-Nazi and are named so in connection with the tradition of using hallucinogenic mushrooms, and representatives of “Morgil” aim to disrupt games held by non-aggressive role-playing communities. And now there are a number of extremist groups, one way or another connected with the role-playing movement, whose main activity consists of aggressive clashes with “peaceful” role-players. The latter characterize role-playing hooligans (in particular, “mushroom elves”) as “gopniks who are everywhere, and here they have found their niche.”

Currently, the role-playing movement is a community that is very diverse in its sociocultural and age composition. The bulk of role-players are students and high school students, many representatives of the technical, humanitarian and creative intelligentsia, there are mid-level entrepreneurs, employees of commercial structures, as well as undecided youth. The range of religious and political views of movement participants is wide: from neo-Christianity to neo-paganism, from preserved hippie ideals to punk nihilism, from liberal democratic positions to national neo-fascism of extremist groups.

The role subculture is closest to its sister System, from which it, in many ways, grew. This is facilitated by the camping and nomadic nature of role-playing games, to which players come from different parts of Russia, and sometimes from neighboring countries, the developed, in connection with this, tradition of “entries”, the focus on expanding unusual, non-domestic experience, experiencing “borderline” situations , the high status of creative individuals - craftsmen, singers, writers, manufacturers of various paraphernalia. A commonplace of discussion about role-playing culture has become a comparison of its escapist character with the escapism of hippies. From the depths of the role-playing subculture, a movement of reenactors emerged and recently took shape, whose participants with painstaking authenticity recreate a particular era, reconstructing clothes, weapons, household items, forms of conduct and forms of presentation (knightly tournaments, archery competitions, staging of famous battles , such as, for example, the Battle of the Ice, presented in March 2006 at the walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress, etc.). On the one hand, the reenactment movement has merged with the activities of military-historical teenage clubs that have existed since Soviet times, on the other hand, a significant part of the reenactment organizations are re-qualified role-playing clubs, where the reenactment movement arose as an alternative to role-playing games. Role players prefer “fantasy”, i.e. fictional past, reenactors - the real past. Some of the re-enactors resolutely dissociate themselves from their role-playing kinship, treating role-players with disapproving irony: “they are all the same, whether King Arthur, Henry IV, elves, people, and even getting to the “crossroads of worlds” is a great success!” others, on the contrary, willingly take part in role-playing games and activities. “I started with role-playing games, and I see no reason to abandon them,” says one of the founders of the reenactment movement in St. Petersburg, a member of the “Scottish Spear” club. Some reenactment military-historical clubs (“Solstice” (St. Petersburg), etc.) focus on ideological training of participants and mastery of real martial arts, representing the national-neopagan wing of the reenactment-role-playing movement.

The community of folkers that appeared not so long ago is closely related to the role-playing environment. This is a traditional association for youth subcultures based on musical preferences. Folkers were originally called singers performing folk rock, music ideologically and aesthetically associated with role-playing culture (the groups “Rowan Tower”, “The Dartz”, “Reelroad”, “Melnitsa”, “Musica Radicum”, “Holly” and many others). etc.).

The motivation for participating in games also differs: for some, it is the equivalent of life in the System, a way to be as dependent on society as possible and to realize their personal escape. These are a kind of heirs of the hippies, participants with significant subcultural baggage, and in life, as a rule, they bear a role name and have a well-developed personal mythology. For most, role-playing games are a hobby that requires considerable effort and money (long trips, costumes, surroundings), where they are attracted, first of all, by the opportunity to communicate with a certain circle of people, to be actively involved in the game process, to go to the forest, to visit an unfamiliar city or in extreme conditions. Among these players there are also different categories: “fighters” - who prefer the actual “combat” actions, “munchkins” - aimed at the result of the game and those for whom the game process is attractive in itself. There are also those for whom gaming is primarily a form of leisure, or even just an opportunity to go out into the forest and sit by the fire. From the point of view of an active roleplayer, these participants are the ballast of the game.

The modern stage of development of the role-playing movement is characterized by the emergence of “workshop” or “creative” groups - associations consisting of a small number of people who invent and develop concepts for original games, held one-time or regularly, as well as other events - festivals, tournaments, theatrical performances, etc. These groups are distinguished by high creative and intellectual potential, their game projects are related to the worldview concepts and interests of the group members and are characterized by careful thought, a complex plot, and symbolic and semantic richness. Among those who have actively declared themselves today are the creative groups (TG) “Floating House” (Moscow, games “Song of Fire and Ice”, “Black Squad”), “Golden Forests” (Moscow, Elven Archery Tournament), “Bastille” ( St. Petersburg, games “Pulp Fiction”, “Diamond Chariot”), creative group of Macduff (St. Petersburg, games “Khazar Dictionary”, “Chapaev and Emptiness”, “Coelacanth”, etc.) and many others.

According to the organizational principle, role-playing games today are represented by the following varieties: field games or “ranges” - games in nature of a theatrical nature lasting from one to several days (these also include “maniacs” - games where the plot is weakened or absent, and the main meaning is game combat interaction). And games in a limited space - “cabinets” (games at home) lasting one or two days, “pavilions” (analogous to “cabinets”, characterized by a larger scale and held in a service area - a gym, office, etc.). Of particular note are games in urban landscapes, lasting from one to several days, which are held quite rarely. The level of games depends on the professionalism/amateurism of the players and organizers.

Role-playing games also include board games - Dungeons & Dragons, or D&D for short, in their various modifications.

The plots of the first domestic role-playing games were associated primarily with fantasy novels. Today, the plot palette of role-playing games seems extremely varied and diverse, largely reflecting the postmodern code of modern culture. The following plot-thematic complexes can be distinguished, on the basis of which games are most often played: world and domestic fantasy (the most famous games are various variations of Tolkien’s plots (“The Hobbit Games”, “Silmarillion-Extreme”), games based on the works of C. S. Lewis , A. Sapkowski, J. Martin, G. L. Oldie, E. Khaetskaya and many others); European mythology and epic (games based on ancient myths, Celtic mythology, the Finnish epic “Kalevala”, plots of the “Arthurian cycle”); historical events and periods (an extremely wide chronological and cultural spectrum from primitive times to the October events of 1917, from Japan of the Edo era to the oprichnina and the French Revolution. Sometimes the cross-cutting plot of the annual games becomes a historical retrospective of a country or culture, for example, in In St. Petersburg, games “across Ireland” are held annually, recreating the history of this country (including mythological) starting from the “era of the Ancient Kings” (IV-III centuries BC) and ending with the turbulent political events of the early XX century); cultural and geographical loci (games “Carnival in Venice”, “Tibet”, “Chukotka”, “Texas”, “Voodoo”, etc.); domestic and world classics (games based on the plots of Shakespeare, Hoffmann, Dostoevsky (the game “The Brothers Karamazov”), Chekhov, Cortazar, etc. appeared relatively recently - in the early 2000s and became a sign of a new round of development of role-playing games); popular and children's literature (games based on books by L. Carroll, T. Jansson, Conan Doyle, B. Akunin, and of course, based on “Harry Potter”); pastiche, i.e. a mixture of plot fragments and heroes from various works (one of the favorite plot-forming techniques of role-playing games, the so-called “crossroads of worlds” - within the game there can be heroes of different works of the same author, for example Shakespeare or Hoffmann, heroes of works of the same genre (the game “Tales of Old England” ") or heroes of different literary works, genres, authors and eras, for example, in the game "Andersen's Fairy Tales" as a result of the intrigues of the Snow Queen, Don Juan was killed by Don Quixote); films, cartoons (games “Pulp Fiction” (“Tarantinovka”) (film “Pulp Fiction”), “Rose and Thistle” (film “Braveheart”), “With Fire and Sword” based on the film of the same name, etc. ); song plots (a relatively new phenomenon; in May 2006, a game based on the songs of the popular group “Melnitsa” was held near Moscow); anime and manga (plots of Japanese animation and comics).

This is by no means an exhaustive classification of what inspires role-playing gamers and players. “You can even play with the instructions from the fire extinguisher. For example, you will be a fire extinguisher, I will be the “object of fire,” he will be the author of the instructions, and so on. The main thing is that it makes sense.”