What is Roleplaying?

Written by Prince Old Man Jenkins of the Menagerie Planet

Well, I just thought that I'd like to chime in about this, because, really, in my opinion, it's never really been quite clear around here. Now, keep in mind that this is my own, mushy, silly vantage point, and in no way reflects the thoughts or opinions of the management. Thank you.

Role play- let's look at these words, shall we? Role playing- the playing of roles. Seems quite obvious, doesn't it? Now, what are roles? Roles are characters- and characters are reflections of life.

My opinion is that RPing is, in essence, all about relationships. Relationships between the characters and each other, the characters and their environments, and the characters and themselves. Those are the things that we, as people, find enaging, find emotional, find funny, find exciting- RPing is all about building a story- building stories between characters and with each other.

What moments do we find the most satisfying, the most exciting, the most creatively stimulating? The conversations, the responses, the pushing-and-pulling between characters!

RPing isn't getting to the next level, it isn't 'developing' your character by maxing out his ATT stat, it isn't collecting the most items. What you need to do is let it flow naturally- let your character react sincerely and genuinely to what's happening, and all the rest will take care of itself.

Some guidelines:


 * 1) Always say 'yes'. And, by this, I mean, always build on what's happening. If a character says, 'I'm getting a bad feeling about this', don't say 'Well, I don't.' or 'You're crazy'. Build on it! Say, 'Yeah... It feels just like that time the space monkeys invaded my home planet..." Isn't that more exciting?
 * 2) Always make everyone look 'good'. And, by 'good' I don't mean 'good' in the sense of 'pretty' or 'smart' or 'right'- I mean 'good' in the sense of making things fit together, of making things work. Don't ever shut down anyone's efforts.

(Now, some of you may be likening what I'm saying to the philosophy of improvisational theatre- and, you'd be right! In my opinion, they're the exact same thing.)