A lot of things draw people to the World of Warcraft. The fantasy aspect, the gameplay, the community. But, among this huge community is a niche group of writers and creative thinkers that play their own stories within the world given. What has driven you to start roleplaying?
I started roleplaying when I joined WoW, almost exclusively between myself and the world. But when I moved over to WRA at its inception, I saw how truly immersive and engaging a player-driven story could be. That, coupled with my love of DnD really locked me in.
Iâve been roleplaying for longer than Iâve been playing world of warcraft. I started on unrelated forums, and when my sister got me into the game I ended up falling in love with the universe (and worgen!).
So I brought a friend Iâd met on my PvE realm and we decided to try out Wyrmrest Accord since we heard it had the best horde-side roleplay. Meeting amazing people and crafting month/year long stories have kept me inspired and happy to stay here, even if I donât roleplay much these days. 10/10, great server with amazing writers who inspire me to keep writing myself.
I actually started RPing (unintentionally) back during WC3 RoC. I would do custom maps against AIs and RP in my head as I went up against them. Trying to attack their forts, retreating and played it all out like an epic movie in my head with those little RTS guys. Keep in mind I was pretty young at the time.
I remember seeing in trade something about RP and I didnât quite understand what RP exactly was and asked if the guy would show me and teach me how its done. And sure enough he was kind enough to do that and it was within the first 3 minutes of it that it all just fell into place and clicked.
Driven is the word. & it depends on how you define roleplay.
âLittle worldsâ like mmos? WoW would be my first (2013) & if there were a way to level up through roleplay I doubt Iâd ever have entered a dungeon/raid. What drove me to it was seeing a world that iâd like to immerse myself in to the point of just wandering around looking at things.
A tabletop rp game? DnD in 1978. & What drove me there was the opportunity to collaboratively experience a world we created together - based on the fairy tales & literature I grew up with. The persona to persona interactions were more important than the quests. A good session was one where we were so engaged that we forgot about rolling dice.
Improvisationally playing a persona? 1971 - drama classes & plays in high school. Experimenting with how other people perceive different behaviors - creating someone more substantial than just a mask - was the driving force there.
But I think it started with mogging. Cobbling together my own superhero persona from a towel, clothespin, cast-off Halloween mask & a piece of lumber for a weapon when I was about 4-5 years old then playing at being that person from an alternate world to the point I forgot I was a human boy.
I guess itâs the pure pleasure of creation that drives me.
Started off playing custom maps in Warcraft III and found this map called âTitan Land RP!â. Had no idea what this âRPâ was, but I was trying out every map I thought sounded cool, so I joined.
I had no idea what the point was so I just built a base and saw people kissing up to the titan player that basically had supreme power over the map for facilitating role play. So I kissed up to him too, trying to gain his favor.
Eventually I got into the role and started acting like an acolyte while some other players fought against his rule. I had a good time and played that map a few more times before really figuring out what role play was.
Iâm so glad the players in that game put up with my newbie behavior and allowed me to learn what fun you can have. I played Titan Land for a few years before realizing I could roll on a role play server in WoW too. Tried it off and on since MoP and eventually settled into WRA at the end of WoD.
I started roleplaying as a teenager in Starcraft chat lobbies like Town Square.
Iâve always loved to read and write. Creative writing has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember, so when I discovered creative RPing could also be cooperative writing I was sold on the idea almost immediately.
It has been a long road since then and I went from RPing one-dimensional âanime neko guysâ in Warcraft 3 and Gaia Online to fully-fleshed out fantasy characters in MMORPGs like WoW and GW2.
Roleplay has been an amazing hobby for me but I also recognize that although nowadays I do it purely for the pleasure of cooperative writing, it used to be escapism and wish fulfillment. Thatâs a dangerous roadblock to taking the steps necessary to improve oneâs REAL life, and I am very glad I was able to remove myself from that cycle before it ruined me entirely.
I RPâd before but wanted to check out what was going on in the WoW RP scene and since I got that annual pass thing to get Diablo 3 I decided to do something other than trawl trade chat for DS runs on a dead server.
Helps that I already had a sort of character for Milladee in mind, doing the whole âsomewhat (un)reliable secret agentâ thing with huge crushes on lore characters.
Iâve dabbled in forum and notebook RP since I was a kid. As I moved into my grown adult child life I got into D&D and tabletop groups that had RP elements to it. Yet that adult life makes it hard for all these adults to have a consistent group that can meet regularly.
What I like about WoW RP is a lot more easily accessible, an almost instant gratification sorta feel to it. I can just log in, walk into a tavern and be like âhow do you do fellow charactersâ and thereâs always a person ready to respond right back at me.
While itâs definitely hard trying to find folks for bigger events or group things, I can still fall back on going into a tavern and find someone to interact with.
Iâm an artist, so roleplay was inevitable. One of my favorite games as a child was âplaying pretend.â But when I first acknowledged it as âroleplayâ it was after starting WoW when I was like 12, but I was doing the rp in a different game. I liked making characters as I honed my art skill and I wanted to do more with them than just draw them and create a personality and backstory. I wanted to go on their adventures with them. I wanted to be told my characterâs story, rather than me writing what it is. I achieved this through continuing drawing things relating to them, but also by RPâing them.
WoW was what introduced me to the concept of a history that wasnât⌠completely dull and lifeless, and was what got me into writing, reading, and ultimately roleplaying to begin with.
Honestly, at the time it just seemed fun xD Something new to do. I was terrible at the time. Iâm still pretty bad, but itâs a different kind of bad!
Thats actually hilarious because I felt like I was the only one who had an experience like that.
Itâs amusing cause to anyone looking I was just randomly moving targets and what not all across the board. But in my head the heroes were all talking to one another, I had a different voice for each of the 3 heroes who led their troops. Sometimes Iâd have one of the heroes take a squadron and âbetrayâ the main forces and build their own base somewhere else on the map so the main team would have to hunt down the renegades.
Great question! I love reading everyoneâs beginnings.
I started WoW on the PvE server of a family member (and still play on there). I did not know what roleplay was, but my love of writing inevitably had to manifest itself, and unwittingly I began giving my characters backstories, emoting at people, and roleplay walking. Eventually I found out that there were roleplay servers exclusively (almost) for giving your chracters life which greatly piqued my interest, so I read up on it. What I did first was server hop (back when that was a thing) any chance I got to roleplay servers or join roleplay groups in group finder (cringes). I believe I even infiltrated Silvermoon with my rogue while server hopping and snuck into the inn. One of my fondest memories is roleplaying on my rogue with a Pandaren named Alchiados from Wyrmrest Accord after killing Moonfang at the Darkmoon Faire. I was impressed by all the good roleplayers here and it was he and other chance encounters in Booty Bay who brought me to this wonderful server. Thus began my roleplaying journey. Wyrmrest Accord is not perfect, no server is, but it is hands down the best and kindest roleplay server I have ever been on or seen.
Thank you all for reading and bringing me so much joy! I love you guys.
Iâve always enjoyed television/film/theater. In highschool, I did theater and got started playing and GMâing D&D and other tabletop RPGs. I didnât take any classes related to the arts in college, but I hung out with a lot of people who did. I also enjoy dressing up and getting into character at Renaissance Faire.
My history of roleplaying in WoW is considerably shorter. I started playing WoW back during Burning Crusade, but didnât start really roleplaying until late in Wrath.
I mained a holy priest on a PVP server and was increasingly frustrated with my inability to just wander around and enjoy Azeroth. This was when raiding was still relatively unaccessible, but even though I got to see content I felt I couldnât appreciate it.
But I knew I enjoyed putting together little outfits and drunkenly mumbling at my Snowshoe Rabbit, so clearly an RP server was what I needed.
Oh! Also, I should mention that RP was a way for me to interact with people without interacting with them as myself, so to speak, so it helped me get over some of my issues with social interaction and make actual friends. xD.
I was into art and writing since I was a kid and did pen-and-paper stuff starting in the 5thish grade. Then when I got a few IRL friends into the game in TBC all the races were taken so one friend and I did Belves. We immediately ERPâd but it was merely a tryst⌠we did play IC frequently though. Then, in WoTLK, I moved here.