Unbeknownst to myself, I started on chats and IRC's in my native language. It was completely random, and I had /no/ idea people called it roleplay. To me at the time (I was probably about 14 or 15. That putting it to be about 10-11 years ago) roleplay was the stuff some people did out in the forests, cause we had a satirical song in the radio about that. I was still learning English at the time, and I had a break until one day after I got so sick-and-******-tired of progression raiding in WoW I made an escape alt on a different realm. I chose Steamwheedle Cartel (EU) because I had some acquaintances IRL who played there at the time. On my old realm it was very normal for me to lurk about on the realm forums for chatter and banter, so naturally I went exploring, and that's where I was first properly introduced to Roleplay in MMO's.Â
During the "break" I had attempted to join a local pen-and-paper club because my mom was wanting me off the PC more, but it being an all-male club and me being an extremely socially awkward girl, I gave up on it after a couple of sessions.Â
I was /quite/ surprised and instantly interested in what all of the guides had to say on the forum, so I read them all basically in one sitting.Â
I spent aaaaaaaaages looking on the forum for a newbie-accepting RP guild, and they were all like "Must make a background" - So I fathomed a pen and promptly designed a backstory about a 19 year old Draenai that was raised by a bear. In the elever lands. (*CRINGE*) So during my IC interview they obviously declined me, and I had a whisper about checking out the game's lore (I honestly had no idea) and then I took contact to them later with a new attempt, and they offered me a second chance to prove my meddle in a relaxed social RP situation - Campfire by Lakeshire, fishing and just two people involved.Â
After that, I was accepted in and promptly given a mentor.  I like to consider my own start to this one of the big reasons why it's important to help newbies to the stage these days. If they hadn't offered me a second chance, I wouldn't be here today. I'd have been some bookworm somewhere. I also don't really hear about a lot of people who started out with MMO-RP, they always seem to come from non-online variants of it, so I'll be keeping an extra eye on what other people say to see if there might be anyone like me Â
I was with that guild for about half a year to a year, and the RP was predominantly social themed. I met some other people via RP - One of them I still talk to and RP with in XIV now - who introduced me to evil/cult RP, which apparently was right up my alley because I got so addicted so fast, that I transferred over my ex-raiding character and just went completely into RP xD All in all I had 2-2½ years RP'ing in WoW, before moving on to Rift for the following 3 years, and I have hung about XIV since it's relaunch. Making it like 6 years in total, give-or-take.Â
I love roleplay because it gives a whole other meaning to playing MMORPG's, without RP I would not be playing them still. I find it so enriching in a way I can't describe, I love writing - but I can't write short stories and novels and such. Roleplay is my main creative outlet these days. I love being inspired to make new characters, I laugh and cry with them and feel how they grow and develop with every step they take. I love when you get to the point with a character where it's not so much you playing them, but the character playing you - Because you have gotten a complete sense of understanding of their "ruleset", you can effectively see how they would react to certain situations and you can tell when something isn't logical for them to do - without questioning it or giving it second thought. To normal people it probably sounds like some kind of split personality disorder stuff, but I truly find it fascinating.Â
It's just a whole bundle of fun, even when it's sad.
During the "break" I had attempted to join a local pen-and-paper club because my mom was wanting me off the PC more, but it being an all-male club and me being an extremely socially awkward girl, I gave up on it after a couple of sessions.Â
I was /quite/ surprised and instantly interested in what all of the guides had to say on the forum, so I read them all basically in one sitting.Â
I spent aaaaaaaaages looking on the forum for a newbie-accepting RP guild, and they were all like "Must make a background" - So I fathomed a pen and promptly designed a backstory about a 19 year old Draenai that was raised by a bear. In the elever lands. (*CRINGE*) So during my IC interview they obviously declined me, and I had a whisper about checking out the game's lore (I honestly had no idea) and then I took contact to them later with a new attempt, and they offered me a second chance to prove my meddle in a relaxed social RP situation - Campfire by Lakeshire, fishing and just two people involved.Â
After that, I was accepted in and promptly given a mentor.  I like to consider my own start to this one of the big reasons why it's important to help newbies to the stage these days. If they hadn't offered me a second chance, I wouldn't be here today. I'd have been some bookworm somewhere. I also don't really hear about a lot of people who started out with MMO-RP, they always seem to come from non-online variants of it, so I'll be keeping an extra eye on what other people say to see if there might be anyone like me Â
I was with that guild for about half a year to a year, and the RP was predominantly social themed. I met some other people via RP - One of them I still talk to and RP with in XIV now - who introduced me to evil/cult RP, which apparently was right up my alley because I got so addicted so fast, that I transferred over my ex-raiding character and just went completely into RP xD All in all I had 2-2½ years RP'ing in WoW, before moving on to Rift for the following 3 years, and I have hung about XIV since it's relaunch. Making it like 6 years in total, give-or-take.Â
I love roleplay because it gives a whole other meaning to playing MMORPG's, without RP I would not be playing them still. I find it so enriching in a way I can't describe, I love writing - but I can't write short stories and novels and such. Roleplay is my main creative outlet these days. I love being inspired to make new characters, I laugh and cry with them and feel how they grow and develop with every step they take. I love when you get to the point with a character where it's not so much you playing them, but the character playing you - Because you have gotten a complete sense of understanding of their "ruleset", you can effectively see how they would react to certain situations and you can tell when something isn't logical for them to do - without questioning it or giving it second thought. To normal people it probably sounds like some kind of split personality disorder stuff, but I truly find it fascinating.Â
It's just a whole bundle of fun, even when it's sad.