Roleplay
- You may be looking for Role-Playing Game.
| Related terms: | Roleplay |
| See also: | Cosplay, RPG |
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Roleplay or role-playing is a popular practice among numerous fandoms, its basic premise is taking a character (or a group of characters) and "pretend" to be them, this can be done in a written format or a real life version, known as LARP.
While in fandom oriented places canon characters are the most popular, original characters tend to also have their shared amount of attention.
History
Fandoms
Some fandoms with prominent roleplay communities:
Communities
Offline
Roleplay in real life, also known as LARP is a pretty popular activity among several groups, ages may vary but it seems like adults are active participants of it.
Those who practice it tend to characterize themselves as the character they are playing, in similar fashion to cosplay.
Games like DnD work in a pretty popular dynamic of roleplay.
Online
One of the oldest and most frequently used online spaces for rp enthusiasts are the Roleplay forums, many of them operate in an open policy, where anyone can join, usually only asking for a simple application where the player provides basic information about the character(s) they are going to use. Some others are more selective, demanding an example of writing and reserving their right to reject an applicant if decided.
With the pass of the years several websites like Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, DeviantArt and Discord have developed their own roleplay communities, each one of them have their own rules and distinctive identities.
Another popular modality online are the ask blogs, where the general public are encourage to send asks that will be answered in character, sometimes with gifs or fanart to make it more entertaining and interesting.
Private roleplay, known also as 1x1, is also a frequent option. In this one two users take their characters into a private story, usually using the direct message option they prefer, and setting their own rules.
Back in the day virtual worlds like Gaia online or Habbo Hotel would also be used for rp purposes, usually being the first platform where younger players would encounter this concept.
