This may sound a bit odd at first but I've accidentally found RP to be rather therapeutic in that I've learned some rather interesting real life lessons as a result of role playing. I've also found that at times role playing has been a great way to vent and work out problems that might otherwise take a very long time to work out in real life. Playing characters with certain faults or personality attributes has helped me to understand myself and other people to a much greater extent. Again, this is an accidental discovery as I play purely for enjoyment, not for therapy or anything like that.
To give an example, I once played a very violent character and partook in some very aggressive events. In hindsight, I see how this served as a very useful way to vent real life frustration and the like. Playing arrogant characters has given me some insight into what its like to be arrogant, thus I no longer see arrogant people quite as I once did. Playing a dominant character has helped to to assert myself better in real life too.
I thought it might be interesting to see if any other fellow Cothians have had similar experiences.
So what have you learned if anything as a result of role playing. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who's had this sort of experience.
Well, I know that I've given several lessons in shooting icly that were practical for he real world... Not sure if they remember everything I told them though. :3
Most of the time I have to put on a seriousfaise for both school and my job. So I play my main (Aroes) in a way so that he rarely takes things, including combat, seriously. He tries to be silly and creative if not outright chaotic in the way he conducts himself. It's incredibly relaxing
You know, I feel like we should all learn lessons from our RP. If only to better understand the people that we portray in-game. Not class-wise, but their perception and whatnot. Sitting down and roleplaying a schitzo/DID character (Cladorn), a dead-beat abusive killer (Aulten), a shy and emotionally disturbed person (Keyalis), or whatever it is you choose to RP as, you should always learn something from them, no matter how small. An insight into their minds, one might say.
I find it amusing that you made this thread, because I was about to do it myself.
Coriv - A bit like Aroes, alot of stuff that he's not very serious about. Like, right after the big fight on Alcaz where he slit Barney's throat and Redis died, he wandered around for a bit for changing into his relaxing attire, and everything was back to normal. I had some pretty interesting situations and I believe that I've learned alot from his personality.
Grahouk - An orc brawler, who only has respect for his race and the ones who are able to defeat him in a pitfight. His arrogance, him being a douchebag, stuff like that makes me enjoy playing him. I've learned alot from his personality too, and like the OP said - playing an arrogant character makes you understand arrogance better.
Uloup - The most disgusting rotter you'll find around. His sick and perverted mind, his blood-hunger, all these things makes it enjoyable to play him. A bit like Coriv, he doesn't take -anything- seriously. Coriv atleast fights seriously, but can make silly jokes now and then, while Uloup just puts his twohander in one-hand and wildly swings at everything around him while laughing.
Keith... I taught y'all how to sail. Before crashing us on purpose. Anybody remember that?
Harthor taught that might is not right, he beat stuff up more when he wasn't power focussed xD
Spiligrack taught me how FUN IT IS TO BE EVIL. Nah, not really, about human nature really. When there's nothing stopping you, what people could do. Everything was reasoned to what he believed reason WAS. A little scary.
Rythtrix taught me how much I love my dog :3
Bolgron shows a taste for adventure that everybody has. My current inability to play him reflects how my own has died, replaced by stress hence Spili's recent full revival.
While most of this happened in another RP community that had governments and hierarchies, I actually learned how to be much more assertive and that I have it in me to be a competent leader, provided I'm the Vizier and not the Sultan, ifyouknowwhatImean.
I've also RPed in places that have in-depth commerce, and learned some things to apply IRL in terms of buying, selling, investing, sales pitches, and how to either fill a void or compete like hell, which is related to what I do. Also I picked up shreds of C# from volunteering, heh.
On CotH, not really sure if I learned much of anything, rofl. Though, seeing how people can sometimes take themselves or other things too seriously at times here helps me keep my own priorities in check, which, in turn, gives me a more relaxed and healthier experience.
I find this thread interesting, and I got a dozen minutes before the lunch recess ends.
I suppose it was with the help of Tavren (and plenty of other factors, my self-insert and primary character before the recent limitations of my Internet access rolled in that I realized my innate charisma and misanthropy. It was on him that I met the love of my life. It was through him that I played out many social experiments and pitch black practical jokes.
Maybe I was dimly aware of my nature before I began toying with the Warlock in full, but I know the brightest blooming I can remember didn't begin until well after I adopted him as my primary character.
Still quite wary, however, of how I could do and phrase so many things better than I often go on to.
...Mm.
You know, its funny.. being a computer geek, I was never strong with interpersonal communication. I learned to start conversations with people via RP. I also learned a lot of lessons about *how* to communicate with others as a result.
Leading a small group is an excellent experience and translates very well to real life - even if its just leading a small group though a short rp. Leadership experience is priceless. When I say lead, I don't mean "You, you, you .. follow me", I mean actually *leading*. I've found that by learning to lead in-game I felt more comfortable snapping up opportunities at work to lead others.
All I have to say is eventually you're going to get in to a fight
Someone will punch you and you will shout "HEY, YOU DIDN'T ROLL" And that is when you need to run.
I think of roleplay as dreams I have when I asleep, I particularly love dreaming, so I love to roleplay.
In this way I mean, that in roleplay I don't have to be 'me', I'm something different. My characters are -nothing- like me, because it's fun to be something else for a change, without real life consequences. I haven't learned many 'actual' lessons, but I've used it as a tool for complete relaxation. It's like a permanent lucid dream, to me, is the best way I could describe it.
I think to some extent roleplaying teaches you empathy. It helps you practice imagining what it's like to be in another person's shoes, i.e., our characters.
I still need to learn a lot about other people but one part of that is imagining what it's like and where they come from. Of course I'm not very good at this and don't extend my empathy to everyone.
An excellent exercise would be to model a character after someone whom you completely despise, then try playing as that character for a period of time.
That'd just make me throw them in to fires. WoW rp...you people seem to be taking it way too seriously, I respect opinions but...what?!
Astus, now that I look at it, is a representation of my biggest fear.
Take that how you will, if you know Astus well you might get it.