Newsletter Discussion: To RP or Not To RP?

MMOGs offer people the chance to step into the shoes of a completely new persona, be it a mighty fighter or a crafty mage - and some of us take it more seriously than others. This week, we'd like to know:

Do you like to Roleplay? What are some of your most memorable RP experiences?

Share your thoughts with us and post in the discussion thread!

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I've been a Pen nd Paper roleplayer since I was seven, Im now thirty-five and although I dont get to play the pnp RPG's much anymore I do spend a lot of my free time playing MMO's and have always made the effort to play "In Character" in order to roleplay whenever the opportunity has presented itself.

Laregly it has always depended on the game as to whether or not the opportunity presented itself to enjoy some MMO Roleplay. some are more condusive communitywise toward roleplay than others. I give special mention to Lord of the Rings Online as that since its release has been and more importantly remains a place with lots of roleplayers who go out of thier way to roleplay a lot.

Many of the younger generation the so called "WoW kids" don't really get what roleplay is or why people enjoy it and think its silly and deride those who do it.. mostly out of ignorance. But that tends to come more from thier erroneous assumption that MMORPG's are essentially like FPS games..i.e run around kill stuff, get the loot/powerups and thats it.. failing to see the depth and background many of these online MMORPG's universe have and provide and not really getting taken in with the feel of the environments they are playing in.

There are also those who just dont think roleplay is possible within an MMORPG, though personally I have always found that stance profoundly wrong.. An environment where you the player are only seen and known by others as a totally fabricated and outlandish avatar provides the "perfect" environment to roleplay, the only difficulty usually is finding others to roleplay with. Really it is as simple as "playing" the role of the character (avatar) you are playing. Speaking and acting in game as you would imagine he would.. Playing the Role as it were (the fundamental of roleplay).

Those that find it strange are typically those that struggle to separate the game personas from the players behind them.. e.g did his character call me a fool or did the player? Various methods in game are used to differentiate between In character (IC) and Out of Character (OOC) chatter to help a person distinguish what is said by the character or the player. The most populare being "bracketing" (or Double Bracketing) whereby a player speaking as himself and not his character and therefore Out of character (OOC) would type like follows "I Arathil, scion of Pelenor do hereby challenge you to a duel sirrah". but when the player wants to speak normally as himself he would bracket (or double bracket) his conversations. e.g ("So guys are we planning a raid this friday if so what time?). In other games people use different channels for Ic and OOC.

On the whole I am a big fan of in game roleplay it helps you get into a game and take in the feel and theme of the game far more than playing as just yourself. How many times have we watched a film or anime or read a book or comic and thought how cool would it be if we could play these roles or visit these places.. MMO's let us do that, but roleplay in MMO's helps to make it more colorful, persnal and exciting.

I've also played pen and paper for far longer than I've played online. I think that RPing can add an extra layer of depth, although I would imagine it is rare to find a game where people actually do it. If the opportunity should arise in the near future then I'll give it a shot.

Well, I don't think my opinion of RP games is a secret. Next to survival horror and wargames, it's one of my most favorite genres. I also ditto NeoWolf's comment, well said!

Usually when I play Diablo 2, I try to stay "in character." It certainly makes things interesting.