People make an assumption that their characters don't know what they're thinking.
Some even assume that what they're thinking doesn't affect their characters.
In film, books, comics, television, and other similar things, this is known as a Fourth Wall. The wall that blocks off the characters from knowing what they are, and that something else is happening. Your character may be completely unaffected by your pet's death, or you might write it in somehow as a coping mechanism, but always they are detached from you.
Breaking the fourth wall refers to stagecraft, where the actors are surrounded by four walls: three real, stage left, stage right and the backdrop, and a fourth imaginary, the one facing the audience. The audience can see through the fourth wall at the actors on the stage, but the actors can't look out and see the audience. The point of acting is that they don't know they're being watched. When a character looks through this wall, and sees the audience, and acknowledges it, this what is refered to as breaking the fourth wall. It is usually done for comedic purposes, for irony or asides, verfremdungseffekt, among others.
What happens when a character learns they're a character? What happens when they learn to communicate, or perhaps even manipulate the world they're in? Will people still be able to take them seriously?
--It will be interesting to see how Trilogee lets the audience in. Midwives are standing by. Zoe
- Kalki chuckles musically. "You people and your limited dimensionality. I've already broken the sixth and eighth walls."
- GrayZero just shakes her head. "Being overt about it, though? How very impolite. I must say I do not approve."
- OOCly, [1/0] seems to be an appropriate link here for what happens when there's no Fourth Wall. It might be interesting to create some localized area of the Mess with no fourth wall- no, that breaks continuity, how about a new drug? ~~Windrider
- I loved 1/0, it was rather excellently done. As for a localized wall-breaking area, I got close to that with the Subjectivity Distortion Generator once. I don't know if anyone wants to repeat that experience or not. o.O But...a new drug could be fun. 'New experience--get in touch with your true Creators!' Something like that. --Coalesce
Theories
An interesting way to look at the Fourth Wall. When it's broken, the mindstate of the character and the player can be linked. So what are the essential first three walls that a character needs to establish and/or break first? (there are always those who play with these boundaries, of course) Here's a breakdown of walls:
- First wall--Knowledge of environment. The character sees its surroundings. Accepts them as the working environment.
- Second wall--Knowledge of others. Character recognizes other entities as being other entities. Individuals. Distinct characters.
- Third wall--Self-knowledge. The character becomes self aware.
- Fourth wall--Already mentioned here. Character becomes aware of its player in the alternate reality across the screen.
- Fourth-and-a-half--The character invades the dreams of the player, subconsciously.
- Fifth wall--Other characters from the same environment begin to infringe on the player's mindstate.
- Fifth-and-a-half--Other player's characters invade the player's dreams, unintentionally.
- Sixth wall--When the virtual environment of the character invades the world of the player, if only mentally. Perceptions altered. i.e. the World starts to look like Puzzlebox.
- Personally, if I ever hit this point, I'd go in search of some very powerful drugs. Either that or lay off of the very powerful drugs.
- Or take some very powerful drugs to achieve this point.
- Sixth-and-a-half--Dreaming in the Mess.
- Seventh wall--Puzzlebox is the Red King. Waking Life.
- Wall A1--Player uses character to depict some part of themselves
- Wall A2--Player makes alterations to the character and uses this as a device for altering the corresponding aspect of the player
- Wall A3--Player's alterations are found to be naturally occuring aspects of the one Player.
- Wall Green--Player begins to understand what Schroedinger meant by "The sum total of all minds is one."
- Wall Paper--Player pastes repetitive character design on their walls. The colour is garish, and makes the den look like a funeral parlour.
- Wall Nut--Player uses character in delicious butter tarts.
- Wall Eyed--Character is seriously blissed out on drugs.
- Wall, Fly On The--Character overhears player's conversations, and does that sort of thing where they are listening to something but don't want that person to know they're listening. You know what I'm talking about. Character dishes gossip around the water cooler. Co-workers start giving player dirty looks.
- Wal Mart--Always low prices. ALWAYS.
- Wall Flower--Player stands at the edge of the room, kinda bobbing their head shyly to the music, while character dances with all the other characters at the club.
- Allway--Ayerplay akesmay arachtercay eakspay igpay atinlay. Alternatively: cockney corridor.
- Now you're just getting silly. --Blip
This is perhaps trying to break it down too much, but it's an interesting system to work with. The division between the person and the persona is fascinating to me...it's often a very fractal borderline that can and should be futzed with.
Are there more walls? Eighth? Tenth? There are no laws saying the imaginary 'room' we see into from our own world has to be a cube. What about a dodecahedron? Or...a sphere? Spheres have only one wall, and all points are equal from the center...
All of this musing made perfect sense at 4 in the morning, honestly! --Coalesce
- Edited: Knowledge of self likely comes last, and makes it a more complete mirror-image. Much more accurate developmentally. --Coal
- It still does, to me anyway. I've got an in-progress diagram going in MAX5, I'll post a link once it's done. -Kayle