We talk about this a lot: what purpose roleplaying serves, and what we seek to achieve through it.
So I ask: why are you a roleplayer? What do you love about the experience?
Keep in mind that this is why YOU roleplay, not why people roleplay or why people should roleplay. Keep admonitions to yourselves.
It's something to occupy my mind. I simply enjoy it.
I like to have my imagination engaged. A chance to think deeply about something that matters not at all.
I like to express myself and my ideas through acting. Roleplaying is playing with freinds and acting at the same time.
For fun. No other reason.
I enjoy the process of creating. I consider playing a character to be a form of narrow-scope creation, and the writing of a setting to be a broader-scope creation. At the end of the day, it's fun to do this in a group, and it's fun to revisit those stories later and say "look what we made!"
I roleplay an create settings for a few reasons. I'll just go into what i consider a main reason for it and for why i tend to DM frequently.
I have lots and lots of ideas popping up all over the place and being inspired by anything at all. However, in order to get them out of my head, pin them down, make them seem real, and make them seem worthwhile to do, i need to have a place to protray them. For example, in highschool i wrote plays and i had a drama group that would read them and some got fixed up and performed. and this provided motivation to do them, and also helped remove that particular idea from cluttering up my head. Now that i don't have that group anymore, i don't have the motivation to write more plays because "well, no one will see them, and writting for myself is stupid and if i'm just writting for myself, why don't i just leave them in my head and..." or so i tell myself.
It's the same with roleplaying, DMing, creating setting and whatever else. It allows me to get the ideas out of my head and nail them down into some concrete form so i can say "there. that idea has been used and now i can move onto another". also, the fact that there's you guys to read them helps motivate me to actually put it down onto paper.
I have several outlets for these ideas. Roleplay, campaigns, CS's, i started a few fiction stories, some plays, worked out scripts for comics and even started drawing a few (i have acurrently on hiatus webcomic, as well as ideas for many, many issue based comics). I do plan (at least in my mind) to do all of these inspirations in one form or another someday, but that just wont happen since in the time it takes me to get one started, 3 more get tangled into the snarl that is my imagination. but, it brings me joy, helps get my ideas sorted out, and hopefully brings some amusement to others - either you guys or whoever else i may be showing them to.
I roleplay because I have ideas of how people and society should be, which more often than not differs from what they are in real life. In my worlds, the bad guys are punished for their crimes and the good, poor people are helped and saved. I have strong underlying themes of finding happiness and the eventual downfall of evil, as well as the recognition that all good things will come to and end. My settings and characters are meant to remind us of that, and the roleplaying I do is always focused on these core ideas.
First of all, I play to have a good time with my friends (or, in the case of a new group, with people who will be my friends shortly).
Second to that, it's a creative outlet, a chance to try my hand at a form of acting without joining a theatre group, and in an atmosphere where I don't feel restricted (not that I necessarily think I would feel restricted in a theatre group, but still).
Túrin
QuoteSecond to that, it's a creative outlet, a chance to try my hand at a form of acting without joining a theatre group, and in an atmosphere where I don't feel restricted (not that I necessarily think I would feel restricted in a theatre group, but still).
Posting to say that theatre groups are totally fun. In general, I recommend them!
Quote from: Luminous CrayonQuoteSecond to that, it's a creative outlet, a chance to try my hand at a form of acting without joining a theatre group, and in an atmosphere where I don't feel restricted (not that I necessarily think I would feel restricted in a theatre group, but still).
Seconded. While i was involved in my playwritting/Acting/Directing/whatever group it was one of the best times i've ever had and the only thing i've actually tried at and had to apply myself to in many years. I need to find a new one, i miss that...
Online only: Interaction with people in an environment that does not require face-to-face meeting while still allowing me to have some fun improving.
To see what the people do, when given the power of deciding it.
Or, hypotheticals.
Moments where the player gets to make a decision. To create something; what does that person create? How does the character (re)act? How does the player solve problems? Narrate actions of his character?
As a creative outlet for the vast stories that run through my head, as well as for entertainment.
Quote from: WitchHuntI roleplay because I have ideas of how people and society should be, which more often than not differs from what they are in real life. In my worlds, the bad guys are punished for their crimes and the good, poor people are helped and saved. I have strong underlying themes of finding happiness and the eventual downfall of evil, as well as the recognition that all good things will come to and end. My settings and characters are meant to remind us of that, and the roleplaying I do is always focused on these core ideas.
Sorry, was that a joke, or have I totally misread your setting? :P
No, it's not a joke. Am I not at least somewhat correct in saying that a world full of evil, sorrow, and madness holds the most promise for would-be heroes? If they succeed, it's far more significant than if the world was already filled with happiness, and they just added a few coins to the dragon's bed.
Besides, what would you want to play in a game set in The Nightmare? :)
I play for all of the above reasons. I DM in particular in order to provide my friends with an alternate universe in which their actions are of some significance, and for the personal satisfaction of having brought excitement to their lives through my creation. That latter point is the same reason I love to write and act: to make something that will be enjoyed by others.
Also - and this is probably the most important of all - I play to better understand the people I play with. Not on a psychological level; just as "the people I hang out with". It's surprising how much you can learn about someone through a game.
The interesting thing about this question is that, to me, the answers seem to respond as if the question were "How do you play", not "Why". Just my opinion, I'm not sure that I can really elaborate that into a full-fledged point.
To respond in the same vein as the rest of this thread, however, I play(ed) for amusement and creativity. My playing experiences (and what I hope to achieve) vary from group to group, and my goals and expectations change based on which side of the screen I'm on. Overall, most of the reasons mentioned-- fun, creativity, and just hanging out with friends-- are the main motivations for me.
I want to play, someday, because I've played video-games and read novels my whole life, and wish earnestly to work the magic I've seen in them for others. RPG's are a gateway for me to a world that I wish to live in, and so I'll enter that doorway whenever given the chance.
And, yanno, how else are you supposed to meet gamer chicks? ;)
I suspect that I play RPGs because roleplaying is a process that parallels reading or writing a novel, yet allows you to collaborate with friends at the same time, something that is rarely the case when you are intent on reading or writing.
Oh, yeah, and for the gamer chicks that Crit mentions. (Though I've only ever met one gamer chick, and she was married. But I'll support the theory that one can meet gamer chicks, at least.)
Where I live, there's a group called "Gamer Chicks", which is a posse of women gamers. And they aren't insular either. They're always looking for other groups to join, so it's kinda like a big smorgasbord for us players with dangly-bits.
Not that I'd lure females with the prospect of innocent gaming fun!
As a matter of fact, I think someone gave me a link to a website about a group called Gamer Chicks... or that had a lot of rants about female gaming... or something...
Quote from: Epic MeepoOh, yeah, and for the gamer chicks that Crit mentions. (Though I've only ever met one gamer chick, and she was married. But I'll support the theory that one can meet gamer chicks, at least.)
There's three in the group I'm in. Also, at least one fourth of people who go to the largest Finnish con are of the female variety.
Are they supposed to be rare or something?
Quote from: ThanuirQuote from: Epic MeepoOh, yeah, and for the gamer chicks that Crit mentions. (Though I've only ever met one gamer chick, and she was married. But I'll support the theory that one can meet gamer chicks, at least.)
There's three in the group I'm in. Also, at least one fourth of people who go to the largest Finnish con are of the female variety.
Are they supposed to be rare or something?
Yes...you bastard.
Heck, my last game group had one guy (me). They're everywhere, my friend. But one must seek glory with unclouded eyes...
One gaming group i played with a few years bakc had just one other guy besides me. the rest were female.
well, one of the females was at the time transgender she-to-he so i'm not sure if they count since they were early in the process. either way, i have known and gamed with several. they are out there, you just need to find them.