This is very interesting to read.
I got into my own version of RP when I started playing Final Fantasy VII, so about 18 years ago. In the game you have many characters, and I would fill all the silent times with their talk, imagine how they behaved in a combat, what they spoke of while traveling through the map, and so on. It’s a practice I keep alive to this day; in each game I play, I imagine the life of the characters.
The first real RP experience came in the form of D&D 3.5 in early high school (about 12 years ago). Somewhere around that time, I also played a basic forum RP. At university, I continued playing some more D&D, Pathfinder (GMed for cca 2 years), and Savage Worlds. And a few more sessions of D&D here and there after graduating (mostly playing, but sometimes GMing).
I found the Artemis game via this video, which I saw a couple of years ago, but I never tried finding an online community; rather, I waited to play it with friends in the same room. That took until the day I actually joined TSN, which was 3 months ago.
I have also spent a great deal of time fantasizing about worlds, events, characters, etc. I wrote some of the stories down, but nothing complete. I love writing, but I’m mad at myself when it’s not perfect, so I rarely write.