Unicorns of the Vale

How NOT to Mind-Read
Or, how to avoid acting on information you shouldn't.

Literate roleplay comes with an interesting pitfall to which both new and seasoned players alike may fall prey. While the result of making this mistake is often harmless, at its worst, it can downright ruin an otherwise pleasant roleplay experience.

This pitfall doesn't have a specific name, but sometimes falls under the casual term "mind-reading." It may also fall under the broader terms of "god-moding," and "twinking," although those terms refer to other inappropriate behavior as well.

Players engaged in literate roleplay often write two or more paragraphs of response. They may include information relevant and irrelevant to the other characters interacting in the scene - including their own character's personal thoughts and feelings. "Mind-reading" occurs when other players read the character's post and then allow their character to take this extra information into account.

This is separate from interactions with characters that have telepathic or empathic abilities.

Usually common sense can help a player avoid accidentally using information that their character shouldn't know. However, in the interests of providing a quick and easy primer, here are a couple general lists of details that you probably should or shouldn't respond to in another character's post:

OPEN (or, available to use)

Dialog spoken to your character or said loudly enough to overhear
Physical appearance, clothing, etc.
Overt facial expressions
Overt body language (if body is visible to your character)
Shared knowledge - details that your character already knows about your roleplay partner's character.

CLOSED (or, not available to use without telepathic/empathic ability)

Internal thoughts, usually marked as such (clarify if unsure)
Emotions not being outwardly expressed in speech or body language
Unshared knowledge - backstory or temperament details that your character has not been given

GRAY AREA (things that may or may not be appropriate to pick up, based on your character's experience and relationship to your roleplay partner's character)

Covert or quickly hidden facial expressions
Facial expressions or body language that may be confused for other emotions
Blinks, twitches, and flinches (may be appropriate to react, but not necessarily to react correctly to exactly what caused the gesture)

EXAMPLE ROLEPLAY SAMPLE:
The following is an interaction between two unicorns who have never before met. Cade, who is a very stoic character outwardly, is dealing with an extremely emotional situation. The character approaching him is a complete stranger to him. I'm using my own for consistency, since I've developed these critters over time. Also, this is an exaggeration of 'mind-reading' in some instances for the sake of being a teaching tool. It can be this overt, but it can also be subtler.

Cade:
He'd lost a great deal of weight over the past few months. His coat had lost its gloss and the faint lines of ribs and hipbones were becoming more apparent with each week, while the hollows above his eyes deepened. Quiet and reserved, but cheerful and tractable with most, he often betook himself to the verges of the Hallow Hills for the relief of privacy it offered.

He leaned a shoulder against the sturdy trunk of a great oak, peering out at the rolls of grasslands beyond, without truly seeing them. His heart felt shriveled and small, like a walnut lodged in his ribs, and loneliness took him so often now. Cade was drifting, and he knew it, and hated his own growing uselessness as the muscle of a warrior pared away a little at a time.

THE WRONG WAY TO RESPOND:

Lealta:
The young crimson mare lifted her head from where she stood grazing and noticed a tall, pale figure shaded in the wood. Curious, she decided to approach, a welcoming nicker on her lips.

The closer she came, the worse the stranger looked. He was thin and starving, and his warm brown eyes looked haunted, as if by great loneliness; some troubled past he couldn't escape. She knew he must be a warrior, and Lealta knew that a warrior would hate being as thin and weak as he looked. His stance reminded her of so many broken-hearted stallions she had seen, and she longed to show him that not everyone would break his heart as she guessed had been done to him.

"Hail!" Lealta called gently, when she was near enough to be heard, and smiled hopefully.

Here's the problems with this post:
1. Lealta doesn't know Cade. Moreover, she's a Plainsdweller. She has no frame of reference for what a 'warrior' should look like, as her culture (generally) doesn't encourage violence and certainly doesn't celebrate fierce fighters. If Lealta were part of Cade's culture, she might get it, but in this instance her player took what Cade's player wrote about watching his body degrade, and gave Lealta information she should not know.

2. Lealta observes: 'his warm brown eyes looked haunted, as if by great loneliness.' Cade's post never references any external expression of his inner feelings.

3. Lealta's player knows Cade's history, but Lealta doesn't. Thus, Lealta immediately hits on the heart of Cade's problem using inferences that wouldn't normally lead up to that diagnosis.

Let's carry this conversation on a few more steps.

Cade:
The big tawny stallion's ears tilted in the direction of the voice. He blinked, eyes bringing the ruddy stranger into focus. He didn't know her; good. One less person to feel pitied by. Fixing a pleasant - if somewhat patent - smile upon his lips, Cade straightened up from his heavy lean against the tree trunk and rolled a step forward to meet her.

"Hail and welcome, young mare. How fares the day?"

THE WRONG WAY TO RESPOND:

Lealta:
"Quite well, thank ye. At least until I came this way and saw you, my friend," Lealta turned her face up to Cade's broad white blaze, an expression of tender sympathy in her eyes. "Are you all right? You seem so sad."

Here's the problems with this post:
1. Lealta and Cade don't know each other. That makes her immediate jump into what's wrong with Cade extremely inappropriate on so many levels.

2. Cade is trying to look happy at this point, or at least politely interested. That doesn't immediately translate into sad. Not even for a really, really bad actor.

HERE'S HOW CADE WILL RESPOND:
Cade:
Cade stiffened at Lealta's observation. Great Goddess, was he making it that obvious? He inhaled deeply, let it out slowly, and and shook his head, working up a brighter smile to cover what must have been a faltering one. "The sun's bright, perhaps you were misled by heat shimmers. I'm quite all right, lass - but thank you for your concern. Are you of the Hallow Hills, then? I... must admit I don't know you."

***

The summation:
Cade isn't going to give Lealta (and Lealta's player) what she wants - which is a quick fix to his problem. And he shouldn't. His response to having his feelings ferreted out is to try and hide them even deeper. If Lealta and her player continue to not get that fact, chances are Cade will try to ditch her as quickly as possible, given that she's being intrusive and making him extremely uncomfortable.

WHAT LEALTA AND HER PLAYER SHOULD HAVE DONE:
Lealta's player could have spared herself a lot of trouble by reading Cade's posts carefully and choosing to ignore the narrative that didn't apply to her - which in this case, was pretty much everything but the fact that he was standing on the edge of the Plains, leaning on a tree, and is as skinny as a fencerail.

Moving forward, she should have met Cade with the kind of courtesy you would personally show any stranger you're curious to get to know. It's important to go slowly, be cautious, and let characters keep their secrets until they're ready to tell them. Realistically, Lealta and Cade wouldn't be having that talk for weeks, months, or maybe never.

The best thing to do if you're having trouble parsing what you should or shouldn't react to is to try and put the situation in (relatively) real world terms.

- If a stranger tries to attack you, and you know NOTHING about them except that they are bigger and meaner-looking than you and are shouting about something... are you going to shout back paragraphs at them, try and knock them down, reason calmly with them for paragraphs while they're running you down, or run away screaming? Don't force a character to do something you flatly know is not right for the sake of carrying a plotline that you've already decided is going to happen.

- If your best friend is torn up about his breakup but has left you COMPLETELY out of the loop and taken pains not to tell you that he's broken up with his girlfriend, are you going to know? If he has other things in his life that are going badly OR, everything in his life seems great, but he's down inexplicably, is the first thing you ask going to be "Are you having problems with your girlfriend?" or a more general "How are you?"

- If your significant other is a spy, and you aren't, and they don't do anything that would imply they are a spy, are you going to know?

- If a RANDOM STRANGER is a spy, and you aren't, and they don't do anything that would imply they are a spy, are you going to know?

- If a person on the street is feeling like the world is about to crash down on them and are contemplating strapping on a pair of lead sandals and going deep sea diving, but they're smiling at you like it's a sunny Friday afternoon, are you going to suspect a thing?

I guess the most important thing to remember that may actually be more effective than trying to think of a list of things you shouldn't "notice" is don't rush. Characters who just met aren't going to end up best friends in a day. You don't start reading your diary to somebody you've known for twelve hours, do you? There's absolutely no reason to rush a friendship or a love interest, and those are the main reasons why players unconsciously dig out the details in a post that their character really shouldn't have yet. Calm down, read the posts thoroughly and enjoy the moment rather than forecasting for the future. Give things the time to develop on their own.

*******

How to deal with "Mind-Readers."
Like I've said before, much of the time this is a totally innocent mistake. If it's frustrating you though, and you're beginning to be frustrated by players who consistently infringe on your character's mental privacy, there's something you can do other than hurt their feelings, confuse them and/or make them feel self-conscious about their own roleplay. It's hard to learn that you shouldn't do this, especially when your first instinct is probably to want to fix a problem or make the character feel better. Learning not to mind-read can sometimes have consequences that are far more painful than the player really deserves, and a player who does this certainly doesn't deserve to be belittled or yelled at.

Stop feeding them.
You know those three paragraphs of backstory you included in your post? Take it out. The wash of panic your character felt even when she was grinning? Delete it. Force yourself to write externally as often as you can. If you need to write the post the way you initially want to, and edit it before you post it publicly, do it - you can!

You can quickly solve the problem by hiding your character's inner workings from your roleplay partner. If you want to give hints, like a smile that looks more like bared teeth, or an angry flash of the eyes quickly hidden, go for it! But keep the internal emotions to a minimum unless the character is outwardly expressing them. And don't give away backstory. Don't put details in that you don't want the other player to be able to act on.

Don't make your character react the way your partner wants you to.
Make your character become even more emotionally cut off, obtuse, or vague. Heck, wouldn't you get suspicious if a random person can figure out your innermost thoughts? I know I would! Have them suspect magic, manipulation, foul play, an informant, a subplot; let them get angry. Have your character demand privacy, then stalk off. Don't give in to something you don't want and don't like. At the same time, don't be a dick about it. You don't have to always warn your partner that something will go wrong, but you shouldn't approach it aggressively. If you find yourself doing it aggressively, you need very much to get up, walk away from the computer, and take some deep breaths.

After all, you're roleplaying together for a reason - and that isn't to be mean to each other. But it also isn't to tear your hair out with frustration!

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