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From WikiWatch

Basically roleplaying should be fun, but not always is. It can not only be frustrating, it really can hurt you. Why is this so ?

First of all, no matter what role you play, the pixeltoon on your sceen is a part of you. No matter if hes weird, serious, holy, evil, male or female. It is a part of your real life person. Because you can not play anything that isnt somewhere inside of you.

The more fun and exitement your char has, the more immersion happenes to the person behind the screen. The more you want to dive into that role, the more player and played melt together. Up to a point where you might wonder whos dreaming whom. Who is the dreamer and who is the dreamed. In terms of truewatch realife is in fact the dreamworld.

Every actor, be it hollywood or the theater next door, knows about this. Almost any actor went through the one or other crisis in his career. This is, because mind and phantasy are inseparable parts of your person.

Now, if you are really deep in char you can feel the joy but also the pain of your toon. A mighty battle pushes the adrenaline of your real body. Shrooma once cried when she was asked to kill fairies and so did i. Neither the druid Shrooma nor me, the player behind Shrooma likes to kill fairies. Unfortunately EQ2 has a couple of such RP killers build in.

Example are the palace sweepers in Maj'Dul. You have to kill them for their keys. Damn, i am a adventurer, maybe a hero, but not a cheap gangster. A simple pickpocketing when inspecting them would be fine enough.

Another catch is group dynamics. You play with your friends and kill palace sweepers, because they are your friends and you want to do this querst with them. But deep in your heart or soul you might feel a little pain. If so, drop role an be aware that you play a stupid PC game. If this doesnt help drop the quest.

The same way "stupid" mechanics can hurt you, other players can hurt you. Although in roleplay everything should be possible in reality it isnt. Not everyone can go all the way. Best examples are when a good and a evil role meet. Hard words, insulting and maybe even a duell might happen... Hardcore roleplayers (adult players) might go even further.

You got my line ? Not everyone is able to roleplay at 100%.

If you want to go that far into immersion, then play with good friends in a group, or if you have many roleplaying friends in a raid. But dont play full immersion with people you dont know very well. It is also impossible to play at 100% in a guild. To many individuals with different point of views. There is no such guild that can fullfill your immersion. period.

If you like roleplaying and like playing out your phantasy then take care of you. Dont be ashamed to tell others where your fun ends. With the RP-flag set they might laugh at you but cant hurt you. If you play the good and honourable toon, dont think everyone is good and honourable. Some people just play by numbers (DPS, haste, stats, cap, whatever) They are not bad, but will almost not recognice your role (phantasy). The will inspect you and judge you for the numbers they read there. And of course there are some low lifes out there. People who just want to use you for their own purposes.

So... if you like roleplaying then ask yourself how far you want to go and with whom. Dont let others hurt you, some scars remain forever...

Credits

written by Shrooma Littlefoot for Truewatch Library