Reason for Roleplaying

R

Ray

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Title says it all. What's your reasons for roleplaying? Is it for fun, is it for practical purposes, or are you just doing it to just do it? Tell us the reasons why you roleplay and what makes it so much fun for you, as a roleplaying individual.

Personally, I roleplay for the sake of fun and practical reasons. When I roleplay outside of liberteen, I usually ask for 18+ only. Why? It's simple. So they can offer me constructive criticism and help me improve on my writing as a whole. I think roleplaying is quite fun because the idea of becoming a character in a place you've never been before intrigues me. I feel like I'm living their life if the roleplay is done right and I love every waking moment of it!
 
I roleplay because it's creative and fun! Roleplaying allows me to pass time during the day and it allows me to express my creativity through words. It's fun to create your own character and to act as someone else. Roleplaying also allows you to meet like-minded people. I personally find this site to be a great place to make new friends!
 
General entertainment purposes, sometimes escapism.
 
Alrighty,

Considering the fact I have a day off and nothing to do, I will start to write down a lengthy (and perhaps a boring?) answer to why I roleplay. Please, sit down and grab a bit of coffee. Cause why not?

Anyways, the reason why I started to roleplay was simply cause I was bored. I really had nothing else productive to do and just started for the heck of it. If you never try it, you won't know it is what they say, don't they? Well, at first I kept doing it whenever I was bored. First in Dutch and like we all know, our first RP posts are always something we try to hide in dust and shadows. At least, I try to. Believe me, you will gouge out your eyes if you read those dreadful posts again. Brrrrr.

Regardless of that, I started to enjoy it once I had the hang of it. Of course I started to get better (after a year or so) and it started to become fun. Like a hobby where I don't bother my mother or sisters with loud rock music or video game sounds. Or where I wouldn't just lose myself and get frustrated cause of somebody abusing glitches. In a way, it was and still to this day is something I like to do because it gives the idea I am creating something. Me, somebody who tried to play music and failed at it (though I can sing, wanna hear it? And don't listen to those who say I am bad. That is just a personal taste!), still being able to be creative and produce something that others could enjoy. I think that is a bit of why I roleplay.

Oh also because I have met wonderful (And of course horrible) people who live in a different nation, state or what ever you have it. One of my best friends in Belgium and though we don't see each other that much, we met cause we RP'd together. Now we speak each other on a daily base while there is a fuck load of space between us. And that is just one example. I also have met other people due RP'ing that live on a different continent and managed to become friends with them. Wonderful eh?

Sorry there is something in my eyes. Need a moment. Sorry.
 
I roleplay for three reasons of roughly equal importance.

First, because it's fun. It's entertaining in various ways, depending on the thing being roleplayed. Could be hilarious stuff going on, could be an awesome fight scene where I get to make my character into a badass, could be emotional things going on that get to me (though this is rare, sadly). Whatever the case may be, there's fun to be had.

Second, because I enjoy writing. Sort of related to the first point, but whatever. Writing is an enjoyable activity for me, despite what I'm writing and whether or not the subject matter is inherently entertaining. I find it relaxing. It's an almost a meditative activity at times, though it seems to only achieve that state when I'm writing non-creative things, like informative science stuff or responses to debate threads.

Third, because it's a great way to exercise my creativity. My skills in other creative mediums are extremely lacking, so words are my almost sole outlet for creativity. I'm really horrible about keeping up with solo writing projects, always start them and write things for a few days before getting distracted by other things, but I've found that roleplaying has a much stronger ability to keep my attention. I go through periods where the well is dry and my interest in roleplaying goes with it, but whenever the gears of creativity are turning it translates into a desire to do some roleplaying most of the time.
 
Oh gosh, this takes me back.

I started roleplaying when I was thirteen, almost to the day of my thirteenth birthday. I joined a Pokemon RP forum because Pokemon was cool, and I thought it would fun. It was, and it left a positive impression. For a time, I worked on myself, but then I got into a bad RPing relationship that stagnated me, and I didn't even realize it for a good three years.

Almost as soon as I was out of it, I pushed myself to improve, to find new ideas, to play with my mind.

Now, I do it for several reasons.

It's fun. That one's obvious. It lets me use my brain AND pretend I'm doing something useful with myself. Roleplaying is writing. I get to put words down and see what happens between the times I'm thinking about what to write or when I'm just letting it flow freely. I get to learn-- about myself, through research, and about my characters and writing style.

I also RP because it gives me another mind to help me explore my ideas further.
 
I was introduced to it by an online friend.

I do roleplay because it's fun and I enjoy interactions with other people online, and making my character interact with theirs.

I have only done the group game types of roleplay.
 
I've mostly only done group roleplays, but I do them because they're a lot of fun. I've loved writing (and reading) since I was a child, and roleplaying is a perfect mix of the two. I love being able to put a character of my own into someone else's story, and I love other people collaborating to take one of my plots and turn it into a real story. I have a hard time talking to people in real life, but it's a lot easier for me to talk to people on forums, so I like being able to make friends without the stress of having to meet someone face to face.

Also, I like being a good writer, and I like being creative, and I think roleplaying helps me a lot.
 
I originally began roleplaying as a sort of therapy session for myself.
I didn't realize it at the time, but looking back I find it quite obvious.

I was always the sort of person who held their feelings in, and tried to act super tough. Thinking back to some of my earliest memories one of the things I always remember doing is picking through everything I had done and felt that day to decide what I should and shouldn't tell people.
When I was younger I was really bad at dealing with all those pent up emotions, and was prone to some pretty violent outbursts. Not to mention that I constantly felt incredibly volatile, like I might just explode at any moment.
My first OC, Ash, who was made when I was about 12 or 13 is a pretty good representation of that. She's constantly angry, and is simply awful at controlling her emotions.
Once I got to be a bit older I changed from constantly being angry to constantly being sad and blaming myself for everything. I was a nervous wreck.
My second OC, Tavi, is a nervous little ball of guilt.
A bit after that I started overcompensating for how I felt by trying to act all happy, and thus was born my 3rd OC Anya, an at times obnoxious little girl who is too loud and optimistic.

At the time it gave me a way to work out my emotions without actually having to admit how I felt to anyone.

Nowadays I've moved on from turning my characters into copies of my own mental state, but the emotional aspects of roleplaying are still my favorite. I love exploring the way different personalities react to different situations.
It helps to keep me from feeling lonely or bored and helps me to practice my writing and creativity skills.
Plus there's just something so fulfilling about creating a character and putting them into a world of their own.

I love everything about it and like to imagine that I'll keep roleplaying even when I'm a creepy old lady.
 
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I started off writing stories but was eventually drawn in by the allure of...not having to shoulder all the work yourself, I guess?

Yeah. I started roleplaying mostly because I'm lazy, but then got hooked on the anticipation of waiting for responses, not knowing what the other person would write. It's entertaining and forces my creative muscles (hah) to work at the same time.

Originally, I meant it as a way to "stay sharp" while I took a break for storywriting. Never went back, though. Woops.

Nowadays I use it for constructive criticism and expanding my meager vocabulary.
 
When I started I was just bored, which seems to be a prevailing theme here xD

Now I use it to learn - about other people, about my characters, and about myself and who I am as a creator and an artist. Of course, it's also excellent practice, which others have mentioned.

I'm also gonna throw in that the best roleplays are not always "fun." They are addicting. Character mistakes and painful situations are something I feel a need to do - maybe for the sake of control, maybe for emotion potency. Fun rps are lovely, painful ones open a whole new world - and often "pain" doesn't need to even be as extreme as things like character death.

There's nothing more satisfying than closing your eyes during insomnia-ridden nights and finding that you can become so in-tuned with one of your own characters that you can laugh and cry with them in their life.

Or maybe that's just me taking escapism to a whole new level.
 
I -started- roleplaying because I LOVED playing pretend and writing stories. It mashed my two favorite things together in to one even more awesome thing. O_O

I -continued- roleplaying because it offered me a wonderful kind of emotional therapy. My life sucked all kinds of ass, and I was able to escape it for awhile and work through a lot of difficult emotions through my characters.

I -still- roleplay because it continues to be fun and awesome and my passion. 8D I get to be creative, live different lives, interact with other human beings, be surprised, feel things I would have never otherwise felt before, experience things I'd never experience. I get to play pretend and write stories. It's everything I love!
 
When I started out it was mainly to practice my English and to get away from the stress. I'm quite surprised that I learned better English from a roleplay forum that from my teacher xD haha

Now a days I mainly roleplay to escape reality and have some fun. It's also a good way to get out my creativity. While I have a lot of things I want to write, I'm never able to actually make my ideas into books, because after a few chapters I run dry on ideas, or I just have no idea how to get my characters from point A to point B to point C, or maybe I don't even know what point B should be. When roleplaying we're at least two people helping each other out with the plot, thus as long as everyone in it are dedicated to the story, it isn't too hard to make it move forward. If one has a hard time coming up with a way to get from point A to B so they finally can get to C, then maybe the other person has some ideas.

I guess I'm also doing it a bit for some self therapy. My characters usually go through hardship, and even though theirs are very different from my own (usually they have more physical than psychological), I still feel like it helps me when they overcome their hardships.
 
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