Roleplay
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- You may be looking for Role-Playing Game.
| Related terms: | Art Roleplay Game, Celebrity RPG, Fandom RPG |
| See also: | Cosplay, RPG |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Roleplay or role-playing is a popular fanac in numerous fandoms. Fans who engage in role-playing assume the roles of fictional characters or characters based on real-life persons and collaboratively create new narratives. This is often done in a written format or by recording, but a real life version, known as LARP, also exists.
Although canon characters tend to be at the center of attention in fannish roleplay, original characters can also be incorporated into the stories.
History
Fandoms
Some fandoms with prominent roleplay communities:
Communities
Offline
In Person
Live action role-play or LARP is the option that many fans take as a way to express their creativity, incorporating elements of character design and creation (if they are using originals), make up, costumes and acting. Ages may vary but it seems like adults are active participants, possibly for the amount of job and dedication it requires.
Participants dressing up as their characters share strong similarities with cosplay, that's why in many conventions cosplayers may participate in their own LA roleplays.
Games like DnD work in a pretty popular dynamic of roleplay.
By Postal Service
From a fan in 1994:
B7 fandom isn't the only group to have its controversies. The play by mail community had a fairly heated debate recently as to whether people should be allowed to play homosexual characters in postal games. That was about the time my first slash story was accepted. I thought: if they can get this heated over people playing gay characters (even without explicit sex), what in heaven's name would they say about slash? (I'd originally submitted it under my own name.) Now, I wonder if I did the right thing. [1]
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, sometimes called 1x1, is a frequent option as well. Two users take their characters into a private story and setting their own rules.
Back in the day virtual worlds like Gaia online or Habbo Hotel would also be used for this purposes, usually being the first platform where younger players would encounter this concept.
Via Fiction
Dagger of the Mind (aka Hollywood Vampires-Dangerous Games) is a 1995-ish Vampire Chronicles roleplaying game/fanfic that includes RPF.
Links & Resources
Meta & Further Reading
- ^ from Judith Proctor, Lysator (07 Sep 94 )