Pioneering Your Imagination #1 - GE RP Explorations.

As my other factionmates will tell you, I leave games because of a lack of role-play. I would go as far to say that computer games that have no role-play or immersive potential are the easiest to abandon. Granado Espada was no exception. During my spring break, I opted to check out Second Life and effectively "played" a game that had zero combat substance. The interaction wasn't exceptional either, save for a few folk, but it was there and I thoughoughly enjoyed it.

I was recently roped back into Granado Espada because of a role-play contest, the third part of the Return of the Dark Lord. However, I expect to lose this time around. Polarbearz is a better writer than myself, and I couldn't survive the arduous trek to Deprimav to display any worthwhile character development inside of the game.

sGE has near-zero RP. This is partly because GE is a Korean-style MMO, which does not encourage interaction nor does it cater to individuals that nitpick about plot details. Role-playing is primarily an American and European activity from my experience, mainly due to having a larger-than-necessary English vocabulary as a general prerequisite.

Anyhow, let's skip to the basis of this posting-sequence: "What is Role-Play?"

The basic definition of pole-play is better described in a list, so here goes!

• Role-playing is like acting without a script. You play your character's personality as if you were that character. Putting your feet in another's shoes is the essence of Role-Play.
• Role-Playing is forgetting the interface even exists. The only additional medium you should be concerned with is the text-box. When acting out your character, you don't see people's names floating above their head or their health-bars.
• Role-playing is describing what the game cannot display or represent with its given models. For example, a gash on the face or a bird-plop on your shield.
• Role-playing is subjecting yourself to issues that the game doesn't force you to consider, such as needing to eat or, heaven-forbid, having a bowel movement.
• Role-playing is involving yourself with more than one individual, whether just for a chat or engaging in long-term relationships. Although the definition can be interpreted to be an activity for a single individual, the term generally implies it as a group activity. Role-play that concerns only its writer might be considered fan-fiction by extension.

Next up, I'll embelish on the reasons why someone would waste their time doing the above!