How did you get started with roleplaying?

I think most kids play pretend when they are young, and for some people roleplaying might be a continuation of that. But how did you discover roleplaying (online)?

For me it was Star Trek. I was dragged into a yahoo group and started writing for a bartender who had a cat (in the mess hall... I wouldnt even let my cats on the kitchen table. But the rp cat was very clean and well behaved obviously). I made many good friends, two of whom I still talk to and write with.

 

Much like Invisie, I started back in '99/'00 in those silly chatrooms where everyone was everything all at once until I found a themed supernatural chat where people were vampires, werewolves, demons, and the like. Then my friend introduced me to Neopets and roleplaying there, which is how I got into wolves, then anthros, then wolves again... and now I'm back to werewolves.

It's definitely crazy how friendships from those days can either disappear or last a lifetime. I still have friends from those silly chatrooms, and Neopets, and some of the old forums I used to haunt that I talk to regularly, and then there are the ones who I used to be metaphorically joined at the hip to that I haven't heard from in forever.

 

I actually got my start over at Neopets, in fact, I still use my first account (though a number of others have been frozen and/or offed for various reasons). I recall a day where my younger sister was playing on it, and she explained to me what she was doing on the boards, and how to use them, and I was off. The first rp I ever got involved in was about Superheros - Teen Titans, I believe. All I remember is my character named Aidan, who of course controlled fire, and a guy a played with named Waldo. Wolf roleplays have always been my favorite though, and those were in good supply back when Neo's boards were higher traffic.

I don't know how you guys hold on to friends though, as soon as a site dies or a roleplay's done, they seem to scatter to the four winds. I think the only people I still get to talk to are my RL ones that play as well!

 

In my case, I am one of those pesky people who managed to find a boyfriend through rp (and yes, it is horrible and no one should do that, certainly not these days, and long distance relationships suck even if you manage to move in 4 and a half years after meeting online). So one friendship in particular really lasted ... enough to stick together to buy a house. And have 2 cats.

We still have one writer from the Star Trek days whom we keep in touch with, and who has been our guest a couple of times now. It's rare, I think, that that happens, because it isnt often you meet someone online that you click with on a friendship level and who lives close by enough to stay over for a weekend.

Friendships in general dont always last as long as you hope or think, irl or online.

 

Gosh... that's a LONG time ago! :: Shrugs :: I can't remember. I think it was either from a chat group/list or on a chat room. Again, around 15yrs ago! LOL. It simply snowballed from there. :)



~Lady B

 

My proclaim to the pages of RP are thanks to Neopets. It is something that I am rather proud of considering the fact that I was a complete noob and the community on there was great. Very helpful and informative on the dos and don'ts of the rp world.

 

I have written my own stories for a lifetime until discovering RPGs, but in my mother tongue. Well, one of the stories was co-written with my deskmate in Uni, some others were discussed when written with my highschool friends... but mostly, written alone.

I discovered RPGs in August 2009, by mistake. Until then, I had no ideas something like this exists.

I had stumbled on an alternative history of the Byzantine Empire, written as character extras, I think now, for a game which had a video dimension too, while I was researching for Byzantine history timelines for my Viking story. Or so I guess. But it took some time to understand that it was an AU timeline, and I asked on an international discussion forum where I had some friends who were into online games in general, sending the link, what this might be. I received the answer, I asked if there are interactive stories by writing only and I got the link to RPGD to choose my game... The rest is history...

Why did I start it? Because I loved the idea, and because I wanted to challenge myself to see if I can write literarily in English. It is not the same thing as writing technical-economical projects and corresponding with the European Union, what I do at work...

Why do I like RPs vs writing alone? I like having a group of likeminded people, loving writing, from all countries in the world, to write together, to bounce ideas together, to develop a better story than each one of us alone. Friendships are created in the meantime, we learn new things one from the other... and it is much more interesting than writing alone.

 

Once, long ago in the mists of time and the internets there was a chat site called WBS and ickl 11yo me found it. And on that site there were some rp chats and lo, it was a fun thing. I had my new favoritest thing in the world- it was like playing pretend but with words and pictures and fancy ~*typing*~ ---'--,-(@ this and well, there I stayed. Until WBS closed but by then I was a mature teenager and had other things to do like shop and talk about boys so I didn't mind, and anyway there were journal rp's that were like, way cooler and stuff.

I'm pretty sure I owe an apology to everyone who put up with tweenage me's rp style because I had not figured out things like continuity or characterization. But I did learn eventually, lol.

 

Back in 1998, I found Trekkies online who enjoyed roleplaying, which soon lead to joining Star Trek: Avenger. It was chat based. We met in the same private chat every week on the same time. Ended up playing there for twelve years.

1999, got into another type of chat roleplay, Rhydin, which was AOL member created public rooms. That was largely IM roleplay in the end.

2004, I discovered forum roleplaying, which I like much better.

 

My brother and I and our neighbours did silly, impromptu LARPing a fair bit when we were like, 8-12 years old, with worlds based primarily on Zelda. In 1999 I got into chat RP in various fandom chats (Pokemon, Sailor Moon, DBZ) and eventually a friend turned me over to wolf forum RP as I was a fan of fuzzy creatures.

 

I started when i was 18 purely because my ex had been suffocating me and i wanted an escape, plus it was something that was new and i wanted to just write write write. I never thought i'd still be doing it and be able to go on to study more writing.

 

I got started at 8 (yes 8) years old. Given that I turn 27 this year- I've been roleplaying forever. Actually, I started on pen and paper. Then moved to instant messenger. I got into for fun. Its still really a big getaway for me.

 

I started role playing at 12 on MSN Chats. Oh man I am so embarrassed of those old days...I sadly retired the two characters that I actually made back in the days, they just weren't doing it anymore. Of course, they have reincarnations that I use occasionally, but it's not just them. I play D&D as well, I even get to DM occasionally which I find to be the most fun out of all things.

 

Eh, when I went to college, I got a laptop as a graduation present. I'd been a table top roleplayer (D&D) through high school and a friend introduced me to the idea of roleplaying via a chat room . . . mIRC actually if I remember correctly. I loved the little actions and the copy/paste things I could do. From there it was to email rp - and then a friend drug me over to a play by post fantasy forum. From there, I was hooked and I found myself eventually to a wolf rp forum via another friend and I've stayed in the critter forum rp since. I still do table top rp as well, even now. :D

 

I started in high school in 1999-ish? I had a computer with internet in my room that year and I'd just read some of the Harry Potter books. There used to be a free website maker called ExPage and people would make Hogwarts classes and you could turn in homework and earn points. Without knowing what rping even was, I'd often write a story about a character to accompany my homework.

I found someone who's classes were always really fun and she had a message board associated with her classes. I feel like what we were doing was a sort of... primative role-playing! Especially compared to how involved I like to get now. We all sort of got better at it, moved to proper forum software, and went from there!

I've almost always written in just HP, but I've tried Dragonriders of Pern, Star Trek, and some original settings.

 

I actually am fairly certain I started out on Neopets.com xD (back in like early 2000s). Through the PM system and on the forums first, and then eventually I joined the freewebs craze where we were incorporate hidden messages for people to go to our freewebs site and see what we RP'd and how to contact us since it was (and still is) against the TOS to link to off site things like that on there. Mind you I was only about 10 or 11 at the time. I don't really remember how I discovered RP forums, but it was definitely with Proboards (whom I still stick to when looking for new forums to join) and it was Warrior Cats and Harry Potter -Ginny (if she wasn't with Harry...don't even get me started on how much I hate the pairings in that series lol) or Draco's daughter if it was one of those sites that had her orrrr just an OC.

Now I mostly just stick to RL settings since I haven't really found a HP site I like or can really get in to.

 

I actually found an ad for a Harry Potter RP on FB. I clicked. I joined. About a week later, I was hooked. LOL I'm not longer on that site, but I've been on a few others since then.

 

Iiii started on Neopets too! Lupe RPs and all of that. Then it was an elemental wolf RP where I first met one of the ladies I've asked to be a bridesmaid in my wedding. Haha <3. After that I joined a site called Northern Boundaries, and then Distant Whispers, then From The Ashes. Those were my big firsts before I started making my own RPs. I'm sad to say that I've finally marked Risk as the last game I will ever make, so hopefully it works out. :P

 

Well, if you get a different itch, there is a HUGE list of games here to click through. (I'm told some site admins have time to run one site and play on another...Yeah, i don't have that much extra time. LOL)