Oh wow. The more I read this thread the more I'm reminded of myself. I can handle forums and the like but once I get in game where everything is real time and people can see my character and interact with it I freeze up. There's less hiding behind the screen, people can see you move, and you can't edit out the typos you miss. It all feels more personal, you know? Someone complimented my glamour the other day and I started to say thank you then freaked out thinking "Oh no, what if they try to have a conversation with me?!". I completely stopped moving, alt tabbed, and waited for the little red chair to pop up next to my name. You're not alone, OP!
I'm still struggling with in game RP. I'm new to RPing in MMOs and am a really weak writer but scheduling issues are what's really killing it for me. So either my advice will be good because I know where you're coming from or bad because I'm still struggling myself. Honestly, I think everyone here has already given you a lot of great advice.
There are a couple things I can add. The first is a bit of advice that's really helped me in the past 6 months or so. You don't decide whether you're worthy of someone, they decide. Don't pass up an opportunity because you're new and don't think you're good enough. Tell people you're new and if they don't want to deal with that then it's on them. If someone experienced is willing to work with you, take that opportunity and learn as much as you can from it. You lose nothing by trying and you'll only get better by doing it. I wouldn't be doing savage raids if I didn't take this advice to heart.
The other involves you saying you might make your character shy. There's pros on cons to it. I play a shy character because I have experience roleplaying that type of character and I can draw from my own experiences a bit. The problem is that kind of character needs to be pushed a bit to interact with people. You either need to create reasons for them to interact (they bumped into someone, they need to ask for directions, etc) or preplan things with people. Some people will find it annoying because they don't like having to "do all the work" to interact with your character. The best you can do is try to make sure your character only needs to be pushed and not dragged. Maybe they're curious and ask lots of questions after the ice is broken. Maybe they're lonely and really want to make friends. Maybe they're really polite and feel obligated to carry on with a conversation. Lone wolves who try to push everyone away rarely work.
Otherwise just take the advice here and do what's best for you. For some people being pushed in the pool is what they need to get going. For others that's traumatic and they need to take it slow and get used to the water. Keep trying to dive in like you have been but if it doesn't work for you then don't sweat it. Throw up a Making Connections thread here and plan with people a bit so you know what to expect. You'll get into it eventually if you keep trying.
I'm still struggling with in game RP. I'm new to RPing in MMOs and am a really weak writer but scheduling issues are what's really killing it for me. So either my advice will be good because I know where you're coming from or bad because I'm still struggling myself. Honestly, I think everyone here has already given you a lot of great advice.
There are a couple things I can add. The first is a bit of advice that's really helped me in the past 6 months or so. You don't decide whether you're worthy of someone, they decide. Don't pass up an opportunity because you're new and don't think you're good enough. Tell people you're new and if they don't want to deal with that then it's on them. If someone experienced is willing to work with you, take that opportunity and learn as much as you can from it. You lose nothing by trying and you'll only get better by doing it. I wouldn't be doing savage raids if I didn't take this advice to heart.
The other involves you saying you might make your character shy. There's pros on cons to it. I play a shy character because I have experience roleplaying that type of character and I can draw from my own experiences a bit. The problem is that kind of character needs to be pushed a bit to interact with people. You either need to create reasons for them to interact (they bumped into someone, they need to ask for directions, etc) or preplan things with people. Some people will find it annoying because they don't like having to "do all the work" to interact with your character. The best you can do is try to make sure your character only needs to be pushed and not dragged. Maybe they're curious and ask lots of questions after the ice is broken. Maybe they're lonely and really want to make friends. Maybe they're really polite and feel obligated to carry on with a conversation. Lone wolves who try to push everyone away rarely work.
Otherwise just take the advice here and do what's best for you. For some people being pushed in the pool is what they need to get going. For others that's traumatic and they need to take it slow and get used to the water. Keep trying to dive in like you have been but if it doesn't work for you then don't sweat it. Throw up a Making Connections thread here and plan with people a bit so you know what to expect. You'll get into it eventually if you keep trying.