Why don't we practice?

Over on his "Uncle Bear" blog, Berin Kinsman touches on an interesting issue about [[http://unclebear.com/comments.php?id=P2732_0_1_0|teaching roleplayers]]. Now, he's talking about the future of the industry and a "what if" of writing shifting toward "how to" instead of rules material, but he ends with a comment about "what if" we had weekend workshops that focused on the craft of roleplaying... workshops on GMing and roleplaying, where you could get feedback and learn new things.

And this brings up something that has interested me for some time. I see roleplaying as a form of performance art. And of all the performing arts, roleplaying is the only one in which the participants do not practice for "the real thing." All of our practice happens "on stage," as it were.

Now, we're not performing for a non-participatory audience, of course... but we are performing for ourselves and the other participants. When I play a musical instrument, I'm not satisfied with the sounds that come out when I don't practice rudimentary scales and basic technique. W hen I sit down into a Celtic jam session, the other, more experienced players are expecting me to have a certain level of competence, and I'm not going to reach that without practicing outside the jam session. And some of the things I have to practice don't even resemble real music.

But in roleplaying, most of us don't practice our art out of the context of the game. It is only at the biggest gaming conventions that you will find a very few workshops aimed at improving roleplaying skills. Which is funny, because it seems like conventions would be the best place for this. Maybe there aren't many who consider themselves capable of teaching.

Even outside of actual teaching, though, we don't get together with our group, or just one or two people, and practice. And this is the thing... in-game, we're dealing with the future of my character. I'm a conservative player, slow to make up my mind because I tend to think through the consequences of my actions. Makes me a boring GM, too. I need a context in which I can practice my skills without worrying about how a certain decision is going to affect the remaining months of the campaign. The thing is, you're in a position where you really don't want to "fail" at the roleplaying thing... and avoidance of risk-taking in roleplaying can lead to stagnant play.

Improv actors take all kinds of classes, play all kinds of teaching "games," and practice regularly. But we don't, even though what we are doing has a lot in common.

Sometimes I think there are (have been) players in my group who would benefit from just reading a play together, to help build speaking confidence and work on voice development without also worrying about what to say at the same time. (Funny that so many introverts can be drawn to roleplaying, myself included.)

I've thought about this concerning the local roleplaying club, but I don't feel qualified to lead a workshop in much of anything.