In Character
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[edit] Acting
In Character is an acting term referring to an actor playing the part of a character, either in a format setting (e.g. a play or film) or a public appearance. At a public appearance the actor behaves in accordance with the role or assumed personality of the character. For example, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen often appears in character as Borat or Ali G and at public events. Celebrity and historical impersonators, among others, likewise appear in character.
[edit] Gaming/Roleplaying
In roleplaying games, In Character (or IC) refers to the world of the characters, rather than the world of the players. That is, a character talking to another character is an IC interaction, set within the IC world, while two players talking about a football game or their real lives is an Out of Character ('OOC') interaction.
Most online role-playing communities make allowances for the intrusion of "RL" (real life) by introducing standards of communication, such as insisting that all "OOC" comments are placed inside brackets, or given some prefix. For example, "(OOC) Blast, the phone's ringing again, I'll go and pull it out of the wall."
In addition to this very clear distinction between real world and fictional world, IC and OOC are used to refer to more subtle distinctions as well. Dedicated roleplayers are known for pouring themselves into their characters much as actors might. In this subtler context, a character's action, while prima facie valid (i.e. not flatly contradicting the setting) might seem to poorly portray a character. Thus, IC and OOC are basic concepts for roleplaying, and complaints/praises about player behavior will often employ them. For example, "That was funny, but not really in character." (This would suggest that the action in question was not something the character would have likely done; rather, the player of that character is being criticized for trying to get laughs by breaching realism.)
