How did YOU get into roleplaying?

[Wafflemancer 9]

Yes, indeed. That question! It's always interesting to see how various people got into the world of RP, since there's a lot of different ways to get into it. I mean, you might not notice it quickly, but roleplaying is almost everywhere!

 

I myself got into roleplay when I was around 13 years old. It was on this small community RP server on Minecraft called "The Land of Yalin". So many fond memories, aaaaaah. Wonderful! A friend at school and I found out we both played Minecraft and we agreed upon finding a server to play together. I think she introduced me to the term RP, now I think about it. So, my friend and me applied and the next day we created our characters. Oh boy, most of you can probably guess what kind of character was my first! Yes, Edgy Assassin McEdgeEdge. And the fact that my English wasn't all that well didn't help too much. But hey, I had a great time for the few months the server lasted! I met a lot of people there whom I still skype with to this day and after the server shut down, the community still held together (somewhat). Not everything lasts tho, so as soon the group began to shrink, my friend and me applied for the biggest MC RP server at the time, Lord Of The Craft. Oh boy, 'nother one of those stories. On this server, the RP 'level' was soooo much higher than the Yalin, so I had a tough time adjusting to the new standard. I did get through the application process on the first try, but that was largely due to my giant ultra descriptive and ultra cliché/edgy bio I wrote up. I am happy to say that my character didn't live up to the bio and didn't become an edgelord. Instead, I was a pretty shy but optimistic character... but I nearly got RP killed on my first day. I played very sporadically on that server the following year, but every time less and less, since I just couldn't find my place in the scene and world. Eventually, i just stopped and turned to writing fanfiction and fiction. But then, the old Yalin community gathered once more and we revived, or tried to, the server. It didn't last long but the new age was very fun for the length it lasted. After it died again, I turned to writing and music once more, although I have been doing Vampire: The Masquerade LARPs for the past 3 years. Good stuff!

And now I'm here. Yay. New chapter ahooy!

 

So, what's YOUR story?

Edited June 11, 2016 by Wafflemancer

[Meera 1]

I started making OCs when I was 12 (we don't talk about that time) and I've been doing that ever since. I only actually started roleplaying in games with GW2 (Distinctly recall making a post going "Do people assign personality to their ingame avatars or is that just me?" like, oh honey...).

[Lelling 402]

I've been roleplaying since I was a little itty bitty chld - I just didn't know I was doing it. I would take my friends in 2nd grade (age 7-8) to the woods and we would essentially LARP different characters with storylines that we'd improvise as stuff happened. I always wanted to play other characters, and whenever I was playing video games (even strategy games or city builders) I would always play from a standpoint of "so what would these people do in this situation", sometimes even voicing dialogues between characters I made up that were making decisions .

When I got World of Warcraft I actually learned the term "Roleplaying". I always just thought everyone tiptoes the line between roleplaying & gameplay mechanics, and I was surprised by the amount of people who were not roleplaying - I had always assumed they were the minority, and that creating a background, personality, etc. for your character was commonplace. Luckily, the recommended server for me when I started playing was Darkmoon Faire [RP], so I was put in a roleplaying server before I had learned what that even meant, and eventually met people who guided my 14-year old self through the magical world of roleplay. I changed my character names from Silverspade to Syathin and Stormcloak to Lethys, joined a community called WoWGamer, founded an explorers & travellers guild called Wanderlust and a Night Elf civilian initiative called Shari'Adune, and the rest is history!

[britxh 17]

oh wow here we go

i, too, have always been roleplaying some kind of way since i was a child. i would play pretend with my brothers a LOT, but at that time i didn't know there was even such a thing as roleplay, and that it's *gasp* something that adults do too!!

fast forward a few years, i was around 14 at this time (i remember this clearly since i lied about my age) and i was OBSESSED with this 3D chatting site/game thing called IMVU, where you could make and dress up your own 3D character and chat with other people in a room. a lot of these rooms were called things like "vampire academy roleplay" or "the dark moon clan RP"  and shit like that. i was curious and sure enough i got dragged into it. 

my very first roleplay character was a half fallen angel, half vampire girl, with pale skin, long white hair, red eyes and jet black wings. her name was Onyx and she fought with daggers. (soooooo edge omg) i made a lot of friends during that time but as i gradually got older i became bored of it so i quit IMVU.

i've always loved to RP though and really missed it after quitting, but my social anxiety basically held me back from reaching out to some very intimidating RP communities. BUT now i'm here and i couldn't be happier!!

So that's how that story goes~

[Guest]

Oh, look. That's a thread just for me!

Basically I got into roleplaying when I was casually browsing WoW private servers (yes, I am a peasant that didn't want to pay for the monthly subscription), and I found one of the (in)famous all-GM RP servers, I think it was called Echeloned WoW. When I saw it in the list, I though 'Oh hey, I can be a gamemaster and do what I want!', and so I joined it, not really knowing what I was getting myself into. My first few hours was screwing around with the commands, until once I stumbled upon a casual roleplay of hunters and cats. The idea was simple, hunters were hunting, cats were running. I decided to join in and... Well... It was something. I got instantly hooked and wanted more. MORE, I SAY! My first tries at roleplaying were pretty bad though, as I didn't understand basic concepts of a good character, but I had fun. As time passed by, I was slowly getting better, beginning to expand out the backstory of my characters, giving them flaws.

Later on, Echeloned WoW got C&D'd from Blizzard (goddamnit), so I had to find an alternative. (C&D basically means you need to quit hosting server, and never do it again, or you will face consequences) And there were plenty! I also later on found a 'clone' of the original server, DivinityX, but it was later shutdown too, same thing.

However, I was at time still playing Warcraft III, and yes, you guessed it, there was a map specially created for a custom roleplaying called SotDRP (Secrets of the Depths Roleplay), which basically gives you MORE tools to play out your story, you can create a full town out of scratch, you can create armies, or you can simply create a custom, lone hero.

As time went on, I slowly drifted off the so called 'gaming RP', and switched to text based one, as school made me leave my hometown and in turn shortened the amount of time at computer (Thank god for IRC).

Right now I still am roleplaying, but thanks to OC I started to think about going back to RP'ing in a game, create a backstory for my main character and once again try something I loved doing those years back.

[Shy Niece 5]

I always did that, not even knowing how is it called. For some reason i did not find much of people roleplaying in other games, while i like to play the game itself "in character". That is why i normally play alone and sometimes surprise players with "NPC-like" speech. I did not expect any "in character" interactions in GW2 with other players, but as i like to play it that way, i started to build backstory right at the moment i entered character name in creation screen. I ended up with pun-name wich suits "out of character" interactions and have explanations for "in character" interactions.

One day i was strolling around Rata Sum looking at different asuran things, "immersing" myself into that science-based society and stumbled upon four asuras at Plikter bar. They were talking about their researches and devices, discoveries and failures, and for the first time i felt exited and inspired: "wooo-wait a second! I am not alone here!". Walking to the bar and ordering a drink was enough to start conversing with others. That's how i started RP in GW2

[Lelling 402]

On 08/08/2016 at 1:52 PM, Shy Niece said:

I always did that, not even knowing how is it called. For some reason i did not find much of people roleplaying in other games, while i like to play the game itself "in character". 

Omg I know right  

[Rage 49]

Oh! Am I only one here that stared with Pen&Paper Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay in late '90s?

I feel so old now 

Well, I'm huge fan of roleplays, played Warhammer I, II, Dungeon&Dragons II and III, Neuroshima, and few lesser know.

After my RP team split out on studies 10 years ago I was only on few sessions and get much more into Roleplay in MMORPGs, like Lineage 2, Aion, WoW. But best part for this is of course Guild Wars 2, where at least I can be a cat!

Most of my charrs got their own stories and as soon as I translate them to more international language I would share it on forums.

As start for that introduction, my own drawing of guardian, named Rage Dragonbane, centurion of Blood Legion.

by Kocur Velox, on Flickr