Improving writing skills is shown to improve your overall ability to learn, helping to strengthen neural connections and pushing those who write to think critically in order to put their thoughts into words that others can understand.
For me personally I don't think my RP writing has influenced this much, I don't put that much 'critical' thought into roleplaying cause it's mostly just something I go to for fun. I'll discuss and plan future RP developments with others, but I always aim to keep it rather vague/open with possible in order to enable more flexibility in the moment. Basically when it comes to RP's I'm a "Have fun" writer first and a "Make it a work of art" writer second.
So I more-so feel what on Iwaku has helped me 'think critically' would be General Chatting. The reason for that being:
1) Debate/Discussion threads.
When civil, these give a good means to exercise expressing thoughts, opinions etc.
2) Exposure to a diverse yet tolerant community
I get exposed to people from all around the globe, which gives me better insight into different views and perspectives than I'd ever get simply surrounding myself with Canadians alone. Combine that with how people are generally more open on the Internet and I can spend more time learning about the way other people work, and less time getting through painful formalities and small talk. Additionally, everyone here has grown up as (and still is) a Geek and/or Nerd. We've all dealt with being bullied and ridiculed growing up, and although I find a couple members here have taken those experiences to justify being vicious to others, the majority of people here are actually pretty cool. Making a mistake is more likely to be met with a pat on the back than public ridicule. Being slightly off in social customs is a welcomed sigh of relief, not something people will start alienating you for. All of this adds up to giving me more time to actually engage with people, get into interesting discussions and learn more about different people rather than worrying about if I'm playing the 'social game' properly, which allows me to learn to think more critically in a social setting, and more time to practice actual communication (including wording).
In addition to that, as a community, Iwaku gives the opportunity to forge bonds with potentially like-minded people and create friendships (I have made several fast friends here myself).
The stuff I said in point 2 would all play into this too. Because of the generally chill and open community we have here it makes it more easy to actually make genuine and close friendships.
Do you think Iwaku has impacted your life?
Individuals on Iwaku? Yea, I've met people here and known people from the Guild who for better or worse (sometimes both) have had big influences in the kind of person I've grown to be, or at least influenced how I try to tackle and address certain situations.
Iwaku specifically? Kind of.
See if I had never learned about Iwaku I likely would have stayed on the Guild and been more active in certain Facebook groups instead still getting my fill on online forum activities and such. However, the communities those places have are also
very different than the community on Iwaku. The former operates a lot like High School incarnate, cliches, popularity contests and public shaming everywhere. The latter are pretty open and accepting, but they debate threads are a way of life. It's 99% fun poll or debate, very little in between.
So if I had stayed in those communities for the majority of my time? My general exposure would likely have pushed me into either a more judging and pessimistic person, or kept me stuck in the "Everything should be a debate!" mentality I held in my late teen years. Iwaku however? I'd be lying if I said the community was perfect and I didn't maybe pick up 'any' bad habits (ex: sometimes being paranoid of debates) but for the most part it's been a more positive effect than I think I would have gotten elsewhere. It's helped me be more welcoming and caring to others, it's helped me understand different types of people more easily because where usually a bad first impression could always linger people here are pretty good about giving second chances, or simply letting their opinions not be clouded by one incident.
Now, you could argue this is the result of the individuals in those communities not Iwaku specifically. And you'd have a point, but the aspect I'm getting at here isn't stuff I point to any one or group of individuals and say "They're the one's who influenced me", it's something basically everyone here has been able to chime into because it's all a bunch of contributions to the overall culture of the site.
