Roleplaying and me – not a love story
I don’t understand RP.

I can see RP as a form of creative writing; getting into a character’s head is probably very useful for authors and doing it with a “real” avatar might be easier. That being said, despite being a book lover, I find in-character blog posts utterly boring. I honestly tried to read a few and didn’t last past the first paragraph. Why would I want to know what your undead priest did yesterday? (Yes, I know it’s somewhat of a contradiction, given how I apparently do care what the real person behind the priest did in last week’s raid.) The only sort-of-RP stories I’ve enjoyed were Tam’s Gerald posts, but that’s only because he’s funny.

Khrista on Defias Brotherhood
My priest on Defias Brotherhood RP-PvP

On the other hand, in-game RP is fascinating… from a voyeuristic point of view. I have characters on two RP servers and seeing RP is interesting, it’s experiencing a completely different side of WoW, even though that side isn’t for me. However, I found RPers quite unwelcoming, despite being told the opposite. I ended up on my first RP server because I had RL friends there, so I posted on the realm forums asking for a leveling guild that doesn’t require RP. Cue 20 posts telling me to gtfo back to my server and stop ruining their fun. Needless to say, I had an appropriate name, knew the rules and wasn’t in the least interested in griefing… but hey, better flame, then ask! Then came the Too Many Annas ‘incident’ and the throngs of RP ‘defenders’ coming down on one person who didn’t know better… yep, friendly folk.

In conclusion, so far RP servers seem just the same as normal servers: idiots and nice people alike. And the spelling? No, people on RP servers aren’t better at that, no matter how much I wish it were true.

As for RP itself, I have trouble understanding why someone would want to become someone else. I can find rational explanations, of course, from depression to a desire to explore one’s hidden sides, but I never had any sort of impulse to do that. It probably has a lot to do with my reasons for playing the game: it’s less about the lore and the fantasy setting and more about the social side. When I meet people, I want to meet Billy or Mary, not Ghortok the orc or Xxbelfgirlxx. How can a connection with a fictional character mean anything? If it’s just a different form of fiction, why wouldn’t I just read a book? The odds of finding a good writer are higher than finding a good RPer, and then I’d be able to lose myself in the story without having to interact with anyone. (Antisocial? Maybe.)

My green haired night elf
So we get to something I’ve thinking about for a long time: racial choices. My first character was a human and I tried to make her look as similar as possible to me (oh, the sad day I discovered I can’t have the proper ponytail). It took me a year to consider making something non-human; they all seemed so alien and not-me.

Jen on Alonsus
I don’t RP, but I still like pretty clothes.

Since then, my preferences have changed: human aside, I have two level 80 draenei, one night elf, and my following 80s will be a night elf and a draenei. On the Alliance side, I might level a gnome to 80 at some point (my rogue is cute as a button, but I just can’t make myself like that class), and if I ever went Horde I’d have a collection of blood elves and maybe a tauren and an undead. I refuse to play other races – I find dwarves ugly and/or boring, while trolls and orcs are just plain horrible (yes, even the ‘nice’ faces). I keep reading about people who love their ’sexy orcs’ and it boggles the mind: how can someone think that horrible green scowling Hulk can be pretty?! Sorry orc lovers.

But why?
Today, this post from Pilf got me thinking. Why do I play the classes I do? It got me thinking so much it got out of hand and I decided to make a post instead of a huge comment.

And I think the real explanation finally occured to me: I play those classes (and always female) because I find them visually appealing (sexy, pretty, nice, cute… etc) and that’s how I want the real me to be seen. I want to be a pretty girl in real life, so I want to project that in the game world too; I assume that people who play ‘ugly’ characters do it in a more RP-ish way (the characters have their own personality, so their appearance doesn’t reflect on the ‘owner’). I doubt my preference for pretty characters comes from some massive feeling of not being good enough: I’m a fairly standard European woman and I’m generally OK with my looks. Of course, I’d change things if I could (wouldn’t anyone?), but I don’t see anything majorly wrong with me.

Instead, I think WoW is a perfect playground for dress up and a distorted mirror to see a “virtual Jen” closer to the “real Jen” I’d like to be. I get to play hot girls and dress them up in pretty robes (the only thing I hate about heirlooms is the way my clothies never get to wear pretty things). I get to stare at my elf’s boobs in raids (they’re better than mine, but hey, I’m happy with virtual ones). I get to change her hair and tattoos once a week, even though I’ve had the same haircut for 10 years in real life and I generally can’t be arsed wearing make up. I get to talk about virtual fashion with friends I can’t see IRL.

Is there a conclusion to this? Probably not, but I’m interested in other opinions on the subject. Please keep in mind that, even though I’m personally not interested in RP or in-character blogs, that doesn’t mean they suck and need to disappear. No flames please, kthx.