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What exactly is roleplay to you?

Maxxor

Maxxor

Moon
Joined
Jan 20, 2023
Hey there, I am just asking for fun as we all have our own reasons for doing it as well as our own reason for joining it. I personally find it as a fun way to relax the mind like a hobby. I do like it as stories can be made with our own creative minds into something special. It can be the theme, chemistry of the characters, or the chemistry of the role players that can help the experience be a good one.
 
I think the term "roleplay" is perhaps a little inaccurate when it comes to collaborative writing on a forum such as this, when compared to TTRPGs.

In a TTRPG, you are actually "playing a role" - or engaging in role-play. The DM/GM/Narrator/Storyteller describes a scene and/or situation to YOU, and YOU then describe how YOU (your character) responds. You are taking on the role of your character while playing.

When writing on a forum, I feel it's less about actively playing a role, and more about telling a story from the perspective of the character(s) you've created.

I suppose it's more of an Active vs Passive perspective: TTRPGs are more active roleplaying, and collaborative writing is more passive roleplaying.

Either way, though, the core of roleplaying is about escapism and relaxation: while engaging in the activity, you are, temporarily, leaving the realities of the world behind in favour of the world you are creating with your friends/partners, and that brings its own special little joy.
 
Sync said:
..When writing on a forum, I feel it's less about actively playing a role, and more about telling a story from the perspective of the character(s) you've created.

I suppose it's more of an Active vs Passive perspective: TTRPGs are more active roleplaying, and collaborative writing is more passive roleplaying...
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Group roleplays are more like TTRPGs in that regard, I think. Someone usually has to take the role of the GM, and the rest make characters they roleplay in their setting. But 1x1s have a different dynamic unless one of the people wants to undertake the role of a DM/GM for the other one. I've actually seen this dynamic become more popular as of late. At least, I've been seeing more request for it. Dunno how many of those requests actually get answered.


Online roleplaying on forums like BMR is, for me, a chance to share my ideas and characters with others that might appreciate them and want to engage in collaborative storytelling. On adult sites, it's a different dynamic that I look for than on non-adult sites. Where on non-adult sites I focus completely on story building and setting and character dynamic, they shift on an adult writing site to accommodate the sexual element. When I'm on an adult site, I'm definitely looking to engage that adult element in a big way. Otherwise, I'd just be advertising on the non-adult sites that have a lot more traffic to potentially glean other writers from. On adult sites, I do a lot of 1x1 RP. On non-adult sites, I exclusively look for group RPs. I'd love to find good groups on adult sites, but the environment doesn't seem to support that kind of gathering very well. Still, I remain vigilant.

All that being said, online roleplaying is a favorite hobby of mine. I love to write. I love to worldbuild. I love to create characters and drum up plots and scenarios. And I'm also no slacker when it comes to my hobby. I go hard. "Advanced lit" by the lingo of the community. I rarely have more than one roleplay going at a time. So, all my creative effort gets poured into that one RP idea. But as full-throttle as I go into an idea, my muse veers me off track very quickly. I switch up my interest in a very capricious nature that is honestly a little frustrating. I can't focus on old notions once I get into a new idea. This goes back to my "pour all my creative effort into one RP" trait. So, I find myself cycling through ideas in a manner that often doesn't let me complete any of them. lol

In the end, online roleplaying is me hoping to write a story together with someone else that has enough shared vision of a concept with me. Then they can shoulder some of the writing and cooperatively create something that we both enjoy reading as it unfolds. Writing by myself is definitely more uniform, but the effort of doing it all myself is daunting. And it's always nice to see someone else add in notions that I didn't know I really liked!
 
Sync said:
I think the term "roleplay" is perhaps a little inaccurate when it comes to collaborative writing on a forum such as this, when compared to TTRPGs.
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Interesting way of putting all that. I mean I do more 1 on 1 stuff, but I have also done a few group ones as well.
 
Murdergurl said:
Group roleplays are more like TTRPGs in that regard, I think. Someone usually has to take the role of the GM, and the rest make characters they roleplay in their setting. But 1x1s have a different dynamic unless one of the people wants to undertake the role of a DM/GM for the other one. I've actually seen this dynamic become more popular as of late. At least, I've been seeing more request for it. Dunno how many of those requests actually get answered.


Online roleplaying on forums like BMR is, for me, a chance to share my ideas and characters with others that might appreciate them and want to engage in collaborative storytelling. On adult sites, it's a different dynamic that I look for than on non-adult sites. Where on non-adult sites I focus completely on story building and setting and character dynamic, they shift on an adult writing site to accommodate the sexual element. When I'm on an adult site, I'm definitely looking to engage that adult element in a big way. Otherwise, I'd just be advertising on the non-adult sites that have a lot more traffic to potentially glean other writers from. On adult sites, I do a lot of 1x1 RP. On non-adult sites, I exclusively look for group RPs. I'd love to find good groups on adult sites, but the environment doesn't seem to support that kind of gathering very well. Still, I remain vigilant.

All that being said, online roleplaying is a favorite hobby of mine. I love to write. I love to worldbuild. I love to create characters and drum up plots and scenarios. And I'm also no slacker when it comes to my hobby. I go hard. "Advanced lit" by the lingo of the community. I rarely have more than one roleplay going at a time. So, all my creative effort gets poured into that one RP idea. But as full-throttle as I go into an idea, my muse veers me off track very quickly. I switch up my interest in a very capricious nature that is honestly a little frustrating. I can't focus on old notions once I get into a new idea. This goes back to my "pour all my creative effort into one RP" trait. So, I find myself cycling through ideas in a manner that often doesn't let me complete any of them. lol

In the end, online roleplaying is me hoping to write a story together with someone else that has enough shared vision of a concept with me. Then they can shoulder some of the writing and cooperatively create something that we both enjoy reading as it unfolds. Writing by myself is definitely more uniform, but the effort of doing it all myself is daunting. And it's always nice to see someone else add in notions that I didn't know I really liked!
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Interesting way of wording first paragraph. I feel it is different as well when it comes to 1 on 1. DM/GM reminds me a bit more of my days when I played D&D honestly.

As for the second one, this will be my first time I really use forums. I am looking forward to it as I come from other sites like F-list and Discord to name some. I will admit I do like ideas to have story/erp in them, but I try to fine a ratio to balance it out. I also only really include it only if romance is involved as it means the erp can be a result of it or can help romance to flourish after it. I again try to fine a good balance and spread out any erp in idea.

For the third paragraph, it is a favorite hobby of mine as well. It also help me explore stuff like D&D alongside similar things like watching Critical Role. I do admire you are able to stick to one roleplay. I usually try to do a few only to help balance out as some roleplay partners can take time to reply. At least this way I get some replies from others even if they are different days. End of the day we all have lives outside of roleplay, but I feel this helps me balance it out better as those few I do roleplay with at same time don't all answer at the same time, you know?

Also interesting way to put what roleplay means to you. I like hearing what everyone says.
 
Retrojapan said:
Writing stories, being creative, exploring and going on an adventure with someone.
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Okay that is also an interesting way to put it. It works as well. I feel it just varies on the vision or idea to give an idea if it fits all those. :)
 
Creative writing with suspense. Over the years, I've attempted no shortage of solo-write projects; they never go anywhere. I usually run out of steam by page four on a google doc (if even). Knowing everything that's gonna happen (especially when I outline it, as recommended) maked it hard for me to actually wanna write it. Roleplaying keeps things fresher since I write exactly half the time. It's like a creative meeting of the mind. c:

I wouldn't compare roleplaying to collaborative writing though. There are similarities, but the two are distinct concepts to me. I've actually tried collaborative writing (i.e., write absolutely everything in a post, meaning, you write all the main characters, their dialogue, etc., and your partner do the same on their turn), and while it was overall a good experience, it's not as amusing for me. I like that roleplaying reminds me of ttrpg, in that you play a role and just that role for the most part. Unlike ttrpg, in roleplaying you might sometimes write more worldbuilding, more npcs, etc, which I find enjoyable as well.
 
ƒeral said:
Creative writing with suspense. Over the years, I've attempted no shortage of solo-write projects; they never go anywhere. I usually run out of steam by page four on a google doc (if even). Knowing everything that's gonna happen (especially when I outline it, as recommended) maked it hard for me to actually wanna write it. Roleplaying keeps things fresher since I write exactly half the time. It's like a creative meeting of the mind. c:

I wouldn't compare roleplaying to collaborative writing though. There are similarities, but the two are distinct concepts to me. I've actually tried collaborative writing (i.e., write absolutely everything in a post, meaning, you write all the main characters, their dialogue, etc., and your partner do the same on their turn), and while it was overall a good experience, it's not as amusing for me. I like that roleplaying reminds me of ttrpg, in that you play a role and just that role for the most part. Unlike ttrpg, in roleplaying you might sometimes write more worldbuilding, more npcs, etc, which I find enjoyable as well.
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Also an interesting way of putting it. I personally like the experience overall as well. I will admit I like it more where like I write my own actions/dialogue for my roles as I feel another roleplay who plays off that with their own character/role leads to good chemistry and experience overall.
 
For me, roleplay activities are a form of expression, much like any hobby can be. Putting myself in the mind of a character helps me digest the ideas that I want to represent in my writing or in my life in general. That and I just think everyone wants to be someone else at times. Indulging in the fantasy is satisfying and keeps me sane, if I'm being entirely honest.
 
A creative journey and a fun way to explore new themes and ideas! I love the feeling of writing with another person. Not knowing where they might twist or turn the story to. Sometimes having your expectations of what might happen next completely flipped on its head. It's quite a thrill! I also love exploring new themes through roleplay. It's actually been a way for me to learn about a lot of stories, themes and ideas that I like that I never would have thought about writing on my own!
 
brightstars said:
For me, roleplay activities are a form of expression, much like any hobby can be. Putting myself in the mind of a character helps me digest the ideas that I want to represent in my writing or in my life in general. That and I just think everyone wants to be someone else at times. Indulging in the fantasy is satisfying and keeps me sane, if I'm being entirely honest.
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Interesting view. I can see the lives of others we imagine in the ideas being interesting if we want to play them out. I do agree that end of the day it should be a hobby and not feel like work or homework, haha. In that case, it would not be fun anymore.
 
Ashelia said:
A creative journey and a fun way to explore new themes and ideas! I love the feeling of writing with another person. Not knowing where they might twist or turn the story to. Sometimes having your expectations of what might happen next completely flipped on its head. It's quite a thrill! I also love exploring new themes through roleplay. It's actually been a way for me to learn about a lot of stories, themes and ideas that I like that I never would have thought about writing on my own!
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Interesting view. I do admit while I do like twists, I personally like to give a vision and as long as it is followed as close/best as possible I am fine with it. I am putting this as some twists have been hit or miss with honestly a bit more of a miss as of late. To be fair, I give you a vision and then out of no where they throw in something that may seem a bit of of no where that doesn't fit, somewhat ruins/stops my train of thought I had for the plot, or really at times leaves a bad taste. I only bring this up after a particular incident that was straight forward with what I had in mind to end the current scene in order to help progress it. They ended up not following or just ignoring it which made me feel a bit unsatisfied only because they agreed to my pitch, but I feel like they did not read or are listening to me due to that. Again this really just really got to me after they agreed to my pitch only to pull something like that at the end which in a way made the scene/what the characters did a bit less special.
 
joint storytelling.
I like the aspect of building upon characters and the world around them with a partner.
It is also a gentle relief from reality.
 
A way to escape the stresses from day to day life in the real world. Also a way off meeting like minded people.
 
Telling a story, playing a game, and having a deep conversation with proxies all rolled into one. In the early days it was mainly about escape, but other people are not always dependable for that kind of weight placed upon it, myself included.
 
Mjorne said:
joint storytelling.
I like the aspect of building upon characters and the world around them with a partner.
It is also a gentle relief from reality.
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I agree it is a gentle relief and just a nice hobby meant to relax the mind or just focus on something you want or make in this case. :)
 
Erebus Hart said:
Telling a story, playing a game, and having a deep conversation with proxies all rolled into one. In the early days it was mainly about escape, but other people are not always dependable for that kind of weight placed upon it, myself included.
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Yeah I agree. It is nice when you find the right partner or that mind set where two people put the work to reach a common goal.
 
felinelover69 said:
For me it's a social ice breaker as well as a creative outlet for my active imagination.
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Well said it really is. The ice breaker part I admit has been a success or fail for me in the past but I feel it varies on partner and how much they are willing to discuss something.
 
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