I suffer from something like this - really bad! - though mine manifests differently.
It took me awhile to realize it and to figure out how to explain it. It still doesn't make sense to my RP partner when I do explain it!
My problem, personally, is set up. If someone wants to RP with me, or I want to RP with someone, I can't set it up OOC. I can't just casually come up with a reason to be somewhere and say 'hey want to RP? we could meet here' to someone in /t or work out a scene before hand. I shut down. I can't RP. I can't come up with anything to type. No reasons to be there, no motivations. The only way I can easily, naturally RP, is to just go IC somewhere in game and engage ICly - which is rather hard to do. These days no one seems to just go hotspots (other than the Quicksand) and just.. do things IC or loiter a bit. This is one of the reasons I adore LS RP, because it allows me to just jump right in IC no matter where I am and then have IC events/in-person stuff flow from there.
I haven't found a way to get over my issue in 5~ years of XIV RP. People think I'm insular/cliquey and uninterested because I don't PM them or initiate RP OOCly. I've accepted that this is just how it is for me, and accept the judgement from others with no hard feelings if we do ever RP.
I call it stage fright, because it feels the same as walking out on stage and just completely forgetting everything you're supposed to do. Deer in the headlights go! Our manifestation of RP anxiety are different though - and I think that's a good thing. Yours is not something I think you have to 'accept' so much as just work through, or modify your RP habits.
Is it in public situations where you clam up? Is it in 1-on-1 only? Do you need to simply ask OOC if the other person minds your shorter posts til you can get in the groove (so that you don't stress about them)?
Length of posts, prose, etc, was a big deal where I learned to RP. If you posted without a "cut" (that is, had to cut off your post and continue on another line), you weren't worth RPing with. I have yet to meet a person here who expects post length to be met equally. So long as you are making an effort and the scene is enjoyable to all involved, that's all anyone cares about. It's a great thing about this community. Everyone here really understands most forms of anxiety, as we all seem to suffer with varying degrees of it, too!
It took me awhile to realize it and to figure out how to explain it. It still doesn't make sense to my RP partner when I do explain it!
My problem, personally, is set up. If someone wants to RP with me, or I want to RP with someone, I can't set it up OOC. I can't just casually come up with a reason to be somewhere and say 'hey want to RP? we could meet here' to someone in /t or work out a scene before hand. I shut down. I can't RP. I can't come up with anything to type. No reasons to be there, no motivations. The only way I can easily, naturally RP, is to just go IC somewhere in game and engage ICly - which is rather hard to do. These days no one seems to just go hotspots (other than the Quicksand) and just.. do things IC or loiter a bit. This is one of the reasons I adore LS RP, because it allows me to just jump right in IC no matter where I am and then have IC events/in-person stuff flow from there.
I haven't found a way to get over my issue in 5~ years of XIV RP. People think I'm insular/cliquey and uninterested because I don't PM them or initiate RP OOCly. I've accepted that this is just how it is for me, and accept the judgement from others with no hard feelings if we do ever RP.
I call it stage fright, because it feels the same as walking out on stage and just completely forgetting everything you're supposed to do. Deer in the headlights go! Our manifestation of RP anxiety are different though - and I think that's a good thing. Yours is not something I think you have to 'accept' so much as just work through, or modify your RP habits.
Is it in public situations where you clam up? Is it in 1-on-1 only? Do you need to simply ask OOC if the other person minds your shorter posts til you can get in the groove (so that you don't stress about them)?
Length of posts, prose, etc, was a big deal where I learned to RP. If you posted without a "cut" (that is, had to cut off your post and continue on another line), you weren't worth RPing with. I have yet to meet a person here who expects post length to be met equally. So long as you are making an effort and the scene is enjoyable to all involved, that's all anyone cares about. It's a great thing about this community. Everyone here really understands most forms of anxiety, as we all seem to suffer with varying degrees of it, too!
