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Telling Non-RPers About Your Hobby


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Only a small part of my family knows that I enjoy roleplaying. I view it as a trainer for me with my writing, since I would like to get into writing teen-fiction novels.

Not gonna lie, I wouldn't mind reenacting the Renaissance and all. I have always loved to act too.

 

Writing helps with my stress too.

Those who knows; it's my mother, who did it before when I was younger, my brother who thought it was strange that I kept looking up pictures of many different people... But he realized what it was and even tried to mess with me a time or two (he would literally get on my computer and chat with my online friends pretending to be me just for a laugh,) and, I think my nephew though I don't think he understands exactly what it is.

I do wonder what it would be like when I get married and my wife would ask so many questions... I just know it.

Courirnu // original small-town rp

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I think it varies from friend to friend; my best friend knows I staff on RP sites, has some idea of the ships and plots I'm into, and laughs with me about whatever drama pops up when it does.  I have a few friends who know I "write collaboratively" but they never really ask much about it beyond wanting to know the genre.  My family knows I "write" but that is where it stops.  I thankfully also write stuff of my own so when asked to show things, that is what they get to see; I don't think the fam would really "get" what forum roleplay is about.

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Whenever I bring up roleplaying to someone who isn't familiar with it, I get strange looks and they ask me if it's a sexual thing. It tends to go downhill pretty quick from there if I can't recover fast enough, lol. Collaborative Writing is a great way to put it, though! I'll have to remember that. If I do bring it up to someone, I always try to make sure they understand it's basically writing books with other people, except they don't get published. 😄

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I either go with collaborative writing or I just avoid, avoid, AVOID telling them. Like my husband. I refuse to explain what "the names  on the screen" are...

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I'm a writer, both hobbyist and professionally, so I do tell people about this particular niche of the hobby. I don't call it RP though - because that has a lot of different meanings, from D&D to LARPing and beyond (including some sex stuff), and I don't really do any of that (unless the renaissance faire is involved lol). I also usually describe it as collaborative writing/storytelling, as that's a term that people usually understand without me having to get into it. While there are nuances to forum RPing that differ from traditional collaborative writing, it gets the gist across to non-rpers. And they don't usually question it further unless they're really interested and want to get into it.

 

I most often tell non-rpers about this hobby in job interviews, since I use posts as examples of my creative writing (they're perfect when you need to exhibit some short samples of your work) and rules/guides for rping as technical writing samples (click that link for more of a story on that). And I've learned it's really just how you spin the hobby. Don't get weird about it. Don't be shy. We're all writers. And there are a lot of different ways you can express that hobby. 

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It is only recently I've started to be open about my love for roleplaying. For many, many, many years I kept it to myself like a dark secret, although why I behaved like I was ashamed of it I couldn't quite site. As Sage mentioned, I think there is a negative connotation with the term "roleplay," as with people not familiar with the hobby it immediately brings about sexual or kinky images. While ERP does exist, anyone within the community knows that it isn't the main point. It's about the writing and sharing the joy of creation with others.

 

Even now that I am more honest with my hobby, when describing it to others I still hesitate to describe it as roleplaying, prefering to explain it away as, "writing stories with multiple people." As anyone who knows me knows I got my BA in Creative Writing, they take this as more an expression of a clear love of mine as opposed to some strange niche thing I just happen to do. Also an easy way to say this is my "for fun" writing as opposed to my "professional" writing. 

 

Being at least somewhat upfront about it has been somewhat liberating. Any vibrant piece of you deserves to be seen by everyone, not just the people who have the same drive. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Oof. Alright. I've been here before. It's awkward to tell people at first because people usually think of well, very.... lets say NSFW stuff. XD But I quickly try to tell them that its not that and that it's writing. In the end, they usually think it's pretty awesome that I have have friends all around the world and that I'm like writing a really long novel with people. They also think it's cool because even though it's on the internet, it's another form of meeting people and that I'm not just typing endlessly on my laptop or computer. 

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I say that I write collaborative fiction.

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  • 2 weeks later...

HAha I always called it "Collaborative Creative Writing" to other people who aren't familiar with it.
I think "role-playing" is very often associated with a physical activity of some form or another so unless I'm talking to someone who also rps I don't use the term so loosely because of how easily it can be misinterpreted. 

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Oh boy...I remember I didn't want to tell people irl that I roleplayed cause they either down cast it or simply thought of other things. Most people didn't even know what a forum was. Nowadays I can talk about it confidently and somehow more people know about it lol. I never knew a sufficient way to descibe it without someone having to help me though XD

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I don't generally tell people about this hobby in particular, not because it's a bad or embarrassing hobby, but because it's hard to explain.

 

I have a coworker I'm very close with, and when I started my site I was excited so I told her about it. That was months ago. I've shown her my site, given her sort of a run down of what you do on an RP site, but I suspect she still doesn't really understand. Luckily, she's super nice, so I think she's just being supportive.

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  • 1 month later...

lmao this is an interesting subject. My close friends know about this hobby, but when other people ask, I just have this internalized yikes moment. While roleplaying is an absolutely amazing thing to do, the internet kinda goofed all over it, because bad and shocking stuff is louder than the good things.

 

So my reply would usually be just "writing" or "roleplaying tabletop", given that I am a part of the group where we use detailed character sheets with stats, storyteller roles and dice rolls like in ye olde times, so its not entirely a lie.

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Telling my boyfriend about it was interesting. I waited a year. He'd moved in by then. We cooked dinner together.

"Collaborative Story. Everyone plays a different character in the same book."

He's a nerd, too. It's okay.

 

Normies at work? HOHOHOHOH.

 

"Nerd Stuff." And you leave it at that....

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm pretty open about it honestly. I was a writer before I even considered rp though in recent years a good portion of my writing has strictly been rp. So when I talk about writing, I'm often asked what I write and I tell them "well, lately, mostly forum roleplay". People usually need an explanation for what that is so I tell them it's essentially collaborative writing.

 

But all my friends know about it and some family members I'm close with, as well. My mom and my best friend have even read some of the stuff I've done but I'm not like, shouting it off the rooftops or anything.

 

Far as I can tell, no one's been judging me about it. Usually they just don't really understand how it works. Some have even asked for more info and places to check out because they thought they might want to try it too. My mom and bestie in particular ask me for updates about what I'm writing and if I've been writing so I'd say everyone's really nice about it. At least, they let me gush about the stuff I've got going on!

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I have always explained it, that it was a collaborative writing hobby, with people from around the world. Also adding that you are typically writing from one characters perspective and interacting with others based on their character.

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