Your First Time in the Roleplay World

[NyxDarklore 92]

This topic is rather simple and all about roleplaying beginnings, so here are my questions to you: where did you get your start in roleplaying? What was the genre of the first site you were on? Was there anything important that you remember about it back then? Who invited you there (if anyone)? How did you get started if nobody introduced you? Basically, tell us all about your first experience and how it influenced you in the years after.

 

My first roleplaying experience was on a Harry Potter site. I don't remember the name of it now, but it was back when applications were emailed in to staff before you could be invited to the website. My first site was one that I was introduced to by a friend in real life during early high school and it stuck with me ever since. Not long after that I opened my first site (also Harry Potter) called A New Hogwarts. Unfortunately the site died when I had to go into hospital a couple of years later.

 

What I remember about that first site - the one I ran and the one I first joined - is not only how young I was but that they were both some of the first sites to use site-wide face claims instead of letting everyone do what they wanted, add descriptions, etc. They were also some of the first ones that allowed truly original OCs in major roles on Harry Potter sites at the time, though that was becoming more and more popular. This is back when classes were still actually run on sites and you had to submit "homework" and such.

[PixieMegs 107]

My first experience with roleplay was on neopets. I don't remember the first thread I jumped into or how I even figured out what I was doing, but I do remember a long running (for neopets) thread I made there. It was a Medieval Fantasy thread, I had designed a map to be used and referred to as we progressed through the plot. I think the story lasted about a week. We set times to meet up the next day, someone would volunteer to start the next post/thread, and it was just a blast. 

 

The first forum I was on was Harry Potter. I don't remember how I found it but ever since, I've been on forums. I do remember a site I was on was called Marauder's Reign, but beyond that I can't recall much of it. 

[clipsed 231]

My first roleplay experiences were all HP universe. The very first (few) were actually via HP guilds on Neopets, but I eventually transitioned into Proboards communities.

 

The first dedicated experience, though, was a board called The White Ferret, an AU, self-hosted Hogwarts-centric board something like 15 years ago. One of my buddies from those days is a member on my current board with me ❤️

[NyxDarklore 92]

I had honestly forgot about roleplaying on Neopets! I don't remember if I did anything there but now it makes me want to check it out and figure it out. Then again, it's been so long since I checked in that I wouldn't even know what email I used and if the pets could die...

 

It's interesting to see everyone's first sites being Harry Potter based though; for those responding after this, do you think that's indicative of what was popular at the time (given that I get the impression a lot of us start roleplaying at the height of pottermania) or do you think it's just a vast enough world that it's easy to roleplay in?

[NFT47 40]

A college friend introduced me to the concept of RP on a forum. I remember being very confused but also excited on the idea of using a face claim and then filling out an application of a character. I got hooked instantly as she was friends with several of the admins and I followed them around on several boards before running across other interests and rps. I then started finding other communities through forum RPs that were more rapid fire.

[Sophey 15]

My first experience was on AOL chat rooms. You know, the tavern ones, Sailor Moon, sometimes a Charmed themed one. Ha.

 

My first forum RP was a Harry Potter one but I wasn’t there very long and and I honestly can’t remember much of it. I do remember I was a student and had to do homework. Years later I found another forum on JCink and that’s when I was truly hooked. I found a community I loved and made friends I still have today, 5 years later. 

[Sailor Chrome 43]

My first RP experiences were also in AOL chat rooms, then I moved on to RPing in the Buffyverse on Yahoo groups. My first forum RP was also Buffyverse, as was the first forum RP I admined.

The biggest thing that has stuck with me through it all is that change is inevitable, trends come and go, and the best thing to do to adapt and focus on the writing because that part never really changes. 

[DivineRabbit 64]

MSN - GNC - Oasiz - Then Forums - Vampire dark ages then modern and now Affliction

[MirrorShades 4]

My first RP site was a supernatural school where students were mutants/metahumans/wizards/vampires etc. The biggest thing I remember was that iwas was a wonderful escapist outlet. We were all teenagers and we carved out a little space on the internet for our own. I had just started higher education and I was bullied all throughout secondary school, so suddenly adjusting to this new setting was horrible and my social skills were terrible. So having this pocket on the internet that I could go to, hang out and roleplay was wonderful. I was never accepted anywhere in higher education because I was the weirdo but in this forum, people enjoyed my presence and we got on really well. I'm still in contact with the head-admin of that site on social media. I don't think I'll ever be able to thank her enough for creating that area on the internet for people (at the time) like me, confused teenagers who were trying to make sense of the world.

[MorriganLFae 12]

Oh man, I am gonna date myself here...but my first RP experiences were in the mIRC chat rooms for taverns or the like (yeah, this was back in the dialup era, when AOL was booming), and moved to Yahoo chat, back when you could make your own chat rooms.  I have done fandom, OC, and RP in MMOs.  Overall, with life as an adult, I have found forum RP is likely where I flourish most now.

 

Edit: Thought about it more...and honestly, RP began when I was in middle school, passing notes IC to friends, who responded the same.  Those were the days...lol

Edited October 10, 2020 by MorriganLFae

[Yume 99]

So, my first RP experience was actually a verbal rp with a friend of mine. We were reading the same set of books together and basically we went from acting out the events that happened int he book as our favorite characters to making up our own events for those favorite characters to go through. And then, slowly, to creating our own characters to participate in the world and events. I was nine years old, I didn't know other people did this on a larger scale.

 

And I don't really... remember how I ended up finding my first online sites. I do remember rping on a pet game that I played. From there I discovered dedicated sites (animal based rp anyone). I'm sure there was a lot I learned back then but I can't really put most of it to words. Just kind of a... I had to learn how  to work through posting and the differences between it and bantering with my friend because there's a difference in implied things because we just Know Each Other That Well versus writing with people that are not as familiar. 

 

... It does cure a bit of the lazy writing.

[Minx 29]

There are gaps in my memory but I know I started RPing on AOL in chat rooms and I thought it was the neatest thing to write stories with other people. I sort of stumbled onto it one day out of the blue. Once dial-up became DSL and AOL sort of faded, I moved on to Yahoo Groups I believe. Several Harry Potter groups, a Vampire the Masquerade group as well as some original story groups that never fully took off. I forget when I moved to forums but I remember feeling a lot more freedom to create in such a space and it was easier for me to keep up with threads and stories in a more organized setting. It's kind of funny though because one of my first RP experiences was a Harry Potter based group and the current one I run is based in that same universe. It's where I've been most comfortable RP wise for the most part which is probably why I keep coming back to it.

[DivineRabbit 64]

MSN

 

That was my first. I never went to AOL, though eventually I was in GNC, EYEChat and Oasiz

[Mayu 12]

Originally a very minor online game and from there moved onto an InvisionFree forums board.

The online game was more or less the game itself whereas the InvisionFree forums board was Kingdom Hearts.

[sightedwolf 10]

My first rp experience was definitely Neopets. I joined a horse rp guild (so cringey I know), and then honestly I fell in love with the set up of the rp forum on Neopets. The character and vocabulary limits were difficult to work with, but I absolutely loved getting real-time answers and watching a story develop almost instantly. Definitely stayed up all night a lot on Neopets because the board was active and exciting, and I didn't want to miss out.  I may or may not still have some old medieval fantasy starters saved to my computer.  

 

I don't remember how exactly I moved from Neopets to forums - pretty sure someone sent me a link via dm on Neo, or something like it - but my first forum was Harry Potter themed as well. I bounced around with a specific group, moving from one of their sites to the next, for several years. I lived in the Marauder's Era for a very long time. I remember I found a Riddle Era forum and absolutely loved it. That's how I ended up where I am now - I was so excited to see another Riddle Era site after years. 

 

I also had completely forgotten about the school forums with homework! Omg, I actually kind of miss that? 😂Honestly I think the fact that so many of us started in HP has to do with a mix of the facts that the world is immersive and perfect for interpretation, and the fact that it was so freakin' popular for so many years when we were younger. For me, HP rp is like the ultimate rp comfort food. It just feels like home and I never get tired of it.