Viewpoint Why do you RP?

[Bealocwealm]

Bugger if I know. I've been doing this since I was 9, I couldn't stop if I tried. I don't know if it's a hobby or an addiction at this point.

 

[Baphomet]

I RP because I love writing. I want to improve at it. Having other people to do it with helps keep me motivated to keep going. It's harder to give up something if someone is relying on you. I also am pretty shy irl, and this anonymous style of interaction is a great way for me to come out of my shell, be who I am, and fill up my social needs.

 

[That_One_Sayori_Kinnie]

Honestly, one of my friends in like what sixth or seventh grade got me in it, and then I started to roleplay more and more and uh... yeah! Lol

 

[JadeGreen17]

Some combination of
-Its a fun social activity. To me I see it the same way as some people like to get together to watch sports or build model airplanes or geek out over anything else. It's just the sort a wavelength that I can effectively socialize with people.
-It helps me hash out characters, worldbuilding elements, and hone my writing style. I cannot count the number of times I have picked up literary devices, underutilized words or pose, and writing tricks from other RPers. As somebody who does highly literate RP.
-Its a escape from reality. Real life is hard and disappointing, and being invested in and interacting with a fictional world is a nice reprieve.

 

[Jannah]

-It helps me hash out characters, worldbuilding elements, and hone my writing style. I cannot count the number of times I have picked up literary devices, underutilized words or pose, and writing tricks from other RPers. As somebody who does highly literate RP.

I feel this so much. My writing has improved drastically just from RP alone.

 

[LORD SHAXX]

i only have 1 irl friend and i get bored af

 

[jazzz]

I hyperfixate on things, usually fictional characters, and I've found this to be a great way to deal with it.

Also, writing fun =)

 

[Lucifers Advocate]

Honestly I do it for the characters, hahaha. I adore looking into what makes people tick through fiction, exploring characters limits, seeing how far their moral boundaries will be pushed... RP is a great opportunity to explore these things.

 

[Nicodemus.]

Because, when I'm not feeling creatively blocked, writing is one of the most fun and satisfying things in the world to me. It lets me escape from reality, bring to life the ideas rattling around my brain, and I get to play as any one of my favorite fictional characters.

Now, all of the things I just mentioned can be done alone, in a word document - which is also something I do, from time to time. But the collaborative element of RPing adds a new layer of fun and excitement to the process for me.

 

[AstralDreams]

I feel like roleplaying is a good way to make new friends, along with improving your writing style, and growing your creativity!

 

[Nokumi]

I started to rp to escape my messed up life and force myself into a fantasy world away from my manipulative mom who is mentally abusive to me and escape the horrible stress situations I was put through where I had melt downs and panic attacks. It may be unhealthy of me to push away everything that bothers me and anything that bothers me. Instead turning to role play to make me forget my problems. But I don't care anymore. Roleplay is my life. My escape. And my haven. Plus all my friends are online. I only have one IRL friend and she is drifting away from me.

 

[Aurealis]

For me, writing is like a playground for ideas. Sometimes, I just have the urge to write something because it’s something that I’ve been thinking about for some time. And it’s fun because it’s interesting to see those ideas evolve - the way I imagined it in my head can be something completely different when I put words to it. It still surprises me sometimes.

Other than that, role-playing is a good way to find people with common interests and enjoy the story-telling aspect of it. The way I see RP is like having two friends catching up at dinner. Both with a story to tell the other.

 

[Whisker]

I started roleplaying because of video games. Games like Dragon Age: Origins, The Elder Scrolls, RDR2, etc left me imagining what my character must be thinking or feeling. I also imagined what their bonds might be like with their companions beyond what is seen on the screen. It drove me towards making my own stuff and storytelling in general.

 

[MalikaIrene]

I started rp when I was young probably like 11-12 because I loved to go into my own fantasy world. I love creative writing and it was a way for me to share my creative writing while getting feed back from others. I hope to find that type of community again here.

 

[Buttercup.]

I've always liked writing but my brain has this weird defect where it often refuses to come up with ANYTHING without external inspiration, so writing with other people helps me come up with things I'd never have written solo. And well, it's a lot of fun when you click with that other person.
I think it's not unlike jamming in music, if I'm supposed to play my instrument unaccompanied I get bored and run out of ideas in a while but if there's someone around to exchange ideas with it can go on for hours.

 

[Stricken Steel]

Roleplaying really cheers me up, as I know I can sometimes break the laws of time and fight something that was never supposed to be made.

 

[Xillia]

Freedom.

 

[FrostyDragon]

I value RPing as a way to get me motivated to simply write. Having someone else waiting for me to post really forces me to let the muse loose and just write. This benefits my non collaborative writing, because the RPing gets me warmed up and then it no longer feels like a chore to work on my own novel once I’m done writing RP.

writing and RP is a way of escape for me, I have a lot of stressful issues that I’m dealing with in my life at the moment, and there isn’t much I can actually do to resolve them. Without having a creative outlet to focus on, I feel like I’m being taken over by my anxieties and worries about these personal issues.

When things in my life are especially tough, participating In an rp gives me a reason to look forwards to the days ahead.

 

[yutohase]

I will admit, I do it mostly for escapist purposes. I usually think this world is boring or just outright horrible to live in, so I want to escape to a world where everything is just a little bit better. And also one where I can be whatever I want to be, with the right limitations of course. I don't normally see my characters as myself though, I just get emotionally attached to them quickly and easily.

 

[A Sparkling Zombie]

It gives me a creative outlet with which to interact with people. Solo writing can be lonely sometimes, and it's exhilarating to connect with someone on a creative level.

 

[Excusemeprincess]

Are you bored? Procrastinating? Do you want to try out different writing styles? Meet new people? Have an insatiable and crippling addiction that drives you to pour hours of your day into typing out, deleting, then re-typing sentences? What exactly do you get out of it? I'm really curious to know!

I actually started roleplaying with my friend when I was younger but did not not know it was roleplaying, I just called it stories. It was the most cringe shit ever but I really enjoyed it a lot because we would play timespilters and I would pretend to be some princess (I was a weird 12 year old give me a break) or something and my friend would be a merc who was a badass and got all the women but he chose my character. Then I grew up and role-played on amino and discord and that is how I got into Resident evil because some girl was obsessed about Re7 and Eviline.

 

[The Cloak]

I started roleplaying on Max-Dan-Wiz, because a random person in the live messenger chat convinced me to give it a try. Since then, I've RPed to get away from my life and allow my imagination to flourish.

Although most of the people I started with are no longer RPing, or at least not anywhere that I can find them, I randomly join RPs in an attempt to get away from my existence because they seem interesting and I think I can provide something for them. Sometimes I don't even join RPs, I just like reading through peoples characters and try to peer in on what people are imagining.

I've been RPing since my 7th grade year in middle school. That was the 2008-2009 school year, so i've been around for a while. I remember using the school computers to access the web and read the non-java version of the RP I was in so I could reply.

Eventually, the main site I rped on shut down and I was forced to find a new outlet. After going on a few sites created on Webs I finally found RPNation and decided to stick around.

I'm also an RP gamer on FiveM and a few other games, so I try to stay connected and keep up my experience in the RP world.

 

[Aname]

I'm another notch for "escapism".

 

[TestTubeII]

Are you bored? Procrastinating? Do you want to try out different writing styles? Meet new people? Have an insatiable and crippling addiction that drives you to pour hours of your day into typing out, deleting, then re-typing sentences? What exactly do you get out of it? I'm really curious to know!

Well, I watch object shows and RP based off of those. However, it get's boring to just see one scenario in a story. What if Test Tube was a criminal, what if the world was being destroyed and there was only a small chance of hope. It's fun to put your own ideas for roleplays into a place where other people also have ideas for roleplays and try to add onto that. Everyone has a personality which shines onto their character but doesn't take away from the original personality either. I don't remember how I got into it, I guess I was just bored.

 

[Seabunny]

I honestly just love writing. It’s a fun pastime and I’ve been doing it for years. Although, another big reason is that I adore reading about other people’s OCs. There’s something really nice about getting to know another person’s character.