When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you — soon you realize that all the World of Warcraft is a stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players.

There are degrees to roleplaying. Some people like it "light," so that it never gets too intense, you never have to actually "work" to make your character profound or lore-worthy, and it's generally just a fun way to pass some time. Others like it "heavy;" they view their characters as works of art, taking special care to make their characters believable and interesting, and sometimes planning special roleplaying events for their guild to enjoy. Some even try to do everything in-character, from repairing armor to marking out targets with raid symbols.

Recently I joined just such a full-immersion roleplaying guild, and have been trying out their particular style. To be fair, I still have a number of friends on my server that I usually speak out-of-character with, because that's what we're used to, but for everyone in this guild, I do my best to stay in character at all times, with everything my character says and does. To some this may seem like an unnecessary pain, but to others it's a fun experience. Here are a few of the advantages and disadvantages of this type of roleplaying.

via All the World’s a Stage: Pros and cons of total-immersion roleplay.

Joe Davis presents “Telescopic Text” – an interactive demonstration of expanding upon content, word by word.

Roleplaying Tips Posted On RolePlayGateway
Starter’s Guide to Forum Roleplay
Tips for One-liners and Speed Posters
Advanced Roleplaying Concepts: Player Perception
Storytelling vs. Writing
Kurt Vonnegut teaches Roleplaying
Role Playing and the World Around You
Role Play Etiquette
Storytelling and Roleplay: Lead Characters
What the heck does that mean? (A guide to Role Play Terms.)

RolePlayGateway also has an excellent group of roleplaying tutors, who are more than willing to give you some one-on-one assistance with your roleplay. You can send them a Private Message or open a topic in RolePlayGateway’s Role Play Academy forum, and they’ll be quick to respond and help you out.

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