EVERYONE: What is "RP" to you?

[PiccoloX]

Everyone has a varying opinion of the fictional because it can be anything but "truth". However, it's a personal belief of mine that RP is a misunderstood activity. In essence RP is that you play a role. You can create a character who you believe is nothing like you with an elaborate lie and a fantastic past, but you ultimately can't hide behind the mask of your character. As you develop your characters story you gradually put more of yourself into the story, which is where the character becomes more interesting. It's not the lie that makes your character noticeable, it's the relative humanity you bring to the story by putting yourself in their shoes.

Like most, when I RP it's because the story interested me. I get to thinking "What would I do in this world?" When I get to designing a character I look at different aspects of my personality and how those aspects have been noticeable through different points of my life, give them a face and name then craft them around the world setting by giving them a relevant past based on the story history as well as my own history.

What are your opinions of the aspect of RP? When you start a character do you try and craft it according to the story? Do you craft it according to your personality? Do you craft it according to real life events or the actions of a favored character in another story?

 

[Glitchipedia]

It all depends on the individual character. Sometimes they're based on aspects of my own personality, sometimes they're meant to be the kind of people I'd like to have in my life, and sometimes they're just for fun. Seldom do I play as just one character—in the IRC channel I frequent, I have ended up playing the vast majority of the cast at times, and so I have to try and keep like fifty different personalities straight on the fly.

 

[Vivillon]

RP= a movie/game that does not currently have an ESRB rating, but will have one in the future, most likely before the release date. #amidoingitrite ?

Seriously, though, RP is exactly what it defines itselc as: one plays a role. As such, it can be completely based on oneself and their personality and beliefs, or they can improvise everything and play it by ear. Roleplay can be the acting of roles in any sort of situation, be it a majestic fantasy epic or a simple child's game of "family." It is not limited by anything but the players' imaginations and the need for actual roles. This is roleplay.

 

[CrystaI]

This might be a stupid question, and might be inappropriate for this thread. But because I never do role-play fictions before. What is "Role-play" in terms of fan-fiction definition? And how does it work? There is a Roleplays and Collaborative Stories sub-forum in Bulbagarden, but I don't even know how does it work.

 

[VeniaSilente]

I'm not even sure there needs to be a distinct definition of RP "in terms of fan-fiction definition". Down the end of the day, an RP (if based off of an established franchise) is basically communal fan-fiction.

I usually craft my characters according to their setting. And I always have a small bag of character templates and established characters ready to adapt to new premises. They're always built from an aspect or facet of someone I know or I've heard about - statistically speaking, there's no way around that. So my characters are not, most of the time, "clean slate" kinds of things.

 

[Flaze]

This might be a stupid question, and might be inappropriate for this thread. But because I never do role-play fictions before. What is "Role-play" in terms of fan-fiction definition? And how does it work? There is a Roleplays and Collaborative Stories sub-forum in Bulbagarden, but I don't even know how does it work.

Basically it's like what solovino said. RP can't really be defined in terms of fanfiction because in general an RP is like a fanfic, except that instead of being just one person doing it it's a group of people each with their own character working the story along. That's basically how the RP section here works too.