I'm having to word  myself carefully in this situation as I've well known that my opinion always first seems unpopular untill the full depth of it is understood. To clarify, this is not a slight in anyway, but it is a caution bout semantics - roleplaying is a very word-specific craft and we must at all times be aware of the implied impact of what we say as a community. That said, this simply the observation of one man who's spent his whole life pretending to be different people for personal enjoyment, and genuinely wishes for an open and loving community that approaches matters, including touchy subjects, with an effort into mutual understanding rather the assumption of understanding.
I'm going to start with the blunt: In my experience -Â Roleplaying is Wish FulfillmentÂ
Heres the Caveat: in the same regards as all Alcoholic Drinks contain Alcohol.Â
I respectfully submit to the community that it is healthy to recognize that there is no separating the two so much as there is treating it responsibly. If there is a modicum of desire to roleplay something, you are fulfilling a wish.Â
I use alcohol as a reference because I feel Roleplaying in general must be treated with the same level of caution and respect, and those who are falling into common IC/OOC separation or immersion difficulties must also be approached with the same level of understanding and concern, rather than disdain. (Indeed a lot of my philosophy of Roleplaying involves treating the craft like a hobby in Alacholic drinks. I.E.: You control the Character (drink) the character (drink) does not control you. There are times will you do things to your character that are out of its line of comfort, or make them do things that are against their base nature, etc.)
Reading some of these posts, I find myself fearful that this community, in an effort to try to create a drama-free environment, often sets itself up for more due to harsh language usage and exclusion behavior.
Everyone has their own style of roleplaying, and their own control to immersion limits. Not everyone understands their own limits and sometimes must be guided to do so.
This is why, the hand-in-hand top priority of all roleplaying is consent and communication. So long as the people involved in the roleplay all consent to the goings on, all else is secondary. You can have wish-fulfillment so long as it's done safely and not to the harm of the players behind the monitors. To state otherwise universally does so at the inadvertent exclusion of people who's wish fulfillment is benign.
For example: We have many members of the RP community that are Gender Fluid or wish to experience the gameplay from the perspective of a Gender Other than your own. Yet, someone new who's not grasping the subtle differences on the concept of 'wish fulfillment' may fell dejected by the notion that it's so passionately protested against (even though it is inherent in our craft).
Be it the wish to play a part, or the wish to immerse yourself into a world, all forms of roleplaying intrinsically functions as wish fulfillment. With respect to the community here, I feel it's wise that we recognize that and focus more on the concept of communication, consent, and self-control than to paint that particular matter as a clear 'other' to the natural behaviors of the community.
I'm going to start with the blunt: In my experience -Â Roleplaying is Wish FulfillmentÂ
Heres the Caveat: in the same regards as all Alcoholic Drinks contain Alcohol.Â
I respectfully submit to the community that it is healthy to recognize that there is no separating the two so much as there is treating it responsibly. If there is a modicum of desire to roleplay something, you are fulfilling a wish.Â
I use alcohol as a reference because I feel Roleplaying in general must be treated with the same level of caution and respect, and those who are falling into common IC/OOC separation or immersion difficulties must also be approached with the same level of understanding and concern, rather than disdain. (Indeed a lot of my philosophy of Roleplaying involves treating the craft like a hobby in Alacholic drinks. I.E.: You control the Character (drink) the character (drink) does not control you. There are times will you do things to your character that are out of its line of comfort, or make them do things that are against their base nature, etc.)
Reading some of these posts, I find myself fearful that this community, in an effort to try to create a drama-free environment, often sets itself up for more due to harsh language usage and exclusion behavior.
Everyone has their own style of roleplaying, and their own control to immersion limits. Not everyone understands their own limits and sometimes must be guided to do so.
This is why, the hand-in-hand top priority of all roleplaying is consent and communication. So long as the people involved in the roleplay all consent to the goings on, all else is secondary. You can have wish-fulfillment so long as it's done safely and not to the harm of the players behind the monitors. To state otherwise universally does so at the inadvertent exclusion of people who's wish fulfillment is benign.
For example: We have many members of the RP community that are Gender Fluid or wish to experience the gameplay from the perspective of a Gender Other than your own. Yet, someone new who's not grasping the subtle differences on the concept of 'wish fulfillment' may fell dejected by the notion that it's so passionately protested against (even though it is inherent in our craft).
Be it the wish to play a part, or the wish to immerse yourself into a world, all forms of roleplaying intrinsically functions as wish fulfillment. With respect to the community here, I feel it's wise that we recognize that and focus more on the concept of communication, consent, and self-control than to paint that particular matter as a clear 'other' to the natural behaviors of the community.
