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[Varrent]

So as most of you probably know by now I am rather new at the Roleplay side of EVE. My only past Roleplay expeierience was with D&D, but that ran with a dungeon master and this is a very differerent setting. I'm also trying to integrate myself into the community better and get involved with you all, so here goes:

My question was, out of pure interest and curiosity, why do you roleplay? What got you started, etc.?

I personally got into it because I loved the PF and love all the stories that can evolve. I actually got started after applying to Veto, and learning about the great RP community EVE had hidden from me out in lowsec as a newbie, so.

Anyhow, i'm interested to hear from you all!

[Casiella]

I RP because I can't stand to play games purely as games. Rather, I like to see the game itself as a way to tell a story, and so my characters have to be embedded into the fictional universe in a way that makes sense and fits in.

[Ghost Hunter]

I was a very - active, fanfiction writer as a child. Roleplaying came as a natural extension of my story writing, and the unknown engagement with other people was fascinating. I'm not an overt fan of being a solo writer, and I find roleplaying helps to realize the living fantasy world that I find engaging.

[Mizhara]

It gives a reason to undock and do shit, because to be perfectly frank... I have yet to find an MMO that stands on gameplay alone. It needs something more, and RP gives that motivation.

... sometimes. Lately it's been rather crap.

[Alain Colcer]

because it allows me to extend the gameplay and "inmersion" to everything i do in this "mmo sci-fi fantasy". So in short is about enhacing the game for myself.

[Varrent]

I have yet to find an MMO that stands on gameplay alone. It needs something more, and RP gives that motivation.

Interesting point. Do you feel this way from the start of the game? Or only after you've played it for a while? Because I find myself agreeing with you, however only after a couple months of just the gameplay. I find most games can stand on gameplay initially, but the community and RP is what keeps me around.

[Mizhara]

Well, initially most MMOs can stand on their own, gameplay wise. But sooner or later, often within just a month or two, the gameplay alone isn't enough to keep me playing. If I haven't found a community I enjoy by then, the game is uninstalled. Singleplayer games or normal Multiplayer games often have far better gameplay solutions in that regard, allowing me to enjoy it for longer or something I can return to after a while.

MMOs rarely manage that, unless there's a community/RP to be had.

[Half Cocked Jack]

I'll echo Casiella, Ghost Hunter, and Mizhara. To me, games require a bit of extra imaginative input to be worth playing. I never play anything solely for the strategy of it. Accumulating isk, standings, killmails, etc. are all just numbers games. I like to look beyond the numbers and immerse myself in the games I play as if they are unfolding narratives. I like the roleplay community because it makes that possible, offering interactions that aren't inane, mechanics-based, or otherwise fourth-wall-breaking.

Another way of putting it, I suppose, is I can't stand anyone else besides roleplayers.

[Vieve]

I started roleplaying in EVE because I ran into someone who was freaking out over being recruited at by a roleplaying corp -- and I was bored enough that I decided to play along. A few weeks later, I got frustrated with myself enough that I decided I needed to start being social (I'd been playing the game for a year, without getting as much as a deep shield scratch from another player, and I fell for a stupid trap.).  I still had a copy of the awesome recruitment mail Strix had sent that freaked out player, so I looked them up and conned them into accepting me.

This pretty much explains why I roleplay. I get bored, or I get frustrated. I run into people, and we tell each other stories. Sometimes, one or both of us freak out.

[IzzyChan]

Someone told me to.

[Bataav]

I never really considered myself a role player. I'd played EVE for a bit and taken a long break when my trial account expired but came back to it one day.

I was mining in my Iteron pewpewing the same Veldroid in the same rookie system I'd started in for what seemed like (and probably was) hours relearning the game. At the same time I was reading what I considered "fluff" back then - you know, the background storylines, the news articles that kind of stuff... and then I found it.

An old news story about how Intaki had been denied the vote in the Federation elections. I thought for a moment, double checked my profile and confirmed what I suspected...

I was Intaki! They couldn't do that! How dare they?!

And at that moment, surrounded by noobs in their Navitas frigates, Velators and Iteron Mk1s, all oblivious to the little revelation going on inside my pod, that little roleplay-gland in the back of my brain twitched and squirted it's murky contents into my bloodstream.

I found and applied to the ILF the next day.

As to why I still do it?

It definately gives my actions meaning and worth. Those sploding pixels on screen might give the hardcore 100% PvPers something shiney to look at on screen but I think those of us who roleplay and invest emotional value to what those pixels represent take something more from the game when we log at night.

It turns out I'm more emotionally attached to my Intaki side than I thought I would be when I first started. I could sometimes be forgiven for questioning whether I'm roleplaying at all at times, lol.

[Arkady Sadik]

Immersion, basically.

A game, book, movie, or story is more interesting to me if I can "immerse" myself into it, if I can "feel as if I am there" - and forget that it's a game, book, movie or story (not literally, of course, more in the "suspension of disbelief" sense).

As a side note, I also find it interesting to note that there are vastly different kinds of "role-playing" and what people enjoy in it. I sometimes wonder if it's really useful to put all of the different ways, some of which are inherently incompatible, under a single term. It does appear to me as if that can cause quite a lot of bad blood without any need, as can be seen by the frequency of "urdoinitwrong" appearing in such discussions.

[Saede Riordan]

I enjoy being able to step out of reality into a really fantastic amazing world, and I definitely find that roleplaying adds to that world, making it deeper, more immersive, more vibrant, and honestly, just more there.

[Kaleigh Doyle]

Why roleplay, you say? Hmm, that's a good question. I do much less of it these days than I used to.

Like most others here, it's about immersion. The challenge of acting out another persona and imagining how they would behave or respond to various situations has been of immense interest to me. Roleplay is a bit like a math equation: the character personality variables are plugged into various unique equations (situations), and the outcome is a huge unknown. What usually kills that is predictability; I like NOT being able to predict outcomes, otherwise it gets boring.  The alternative, especially in MMO country, is ripe with illiteracy, immaturity, homophobia, and internet e-peenery that doesn't really inspire me to keep playing.

And as others have said, roleplay gives meaning to my actions for the character. I don't just run missions for any corporation; I have always chosen ones that seemed appropriate for my characters. I don't just pvp to kill people for killboards, I have found a reason to justify said character's behavior. I don't ever let it limit my behavior, it lends substance to it.

It also lets me be creative in ways that I may not pursue out of the game that I can here. Artwork, writing, game design, these are things that I love to do but would seldom take the initiative to do if I didn't have an immersive universe to play with.

[Katrina Oniseki]

I roleplay because it lets me do things and be people I cannot or will not actually do/be.

I roleplay because if I wanted to be myself, I'd just go outside.