I spent a good bit of time thinking about this. Why do I stick around with the TSN? Why do I spend four or more hours of my Saturday afternoon and even more time on the fourms screwing around with a bunch of people I’ve never met (yet) in person?
Sure, I enjoy the game, it’s a lot of fun, but I don’t think that’s the main reason. I definitely enjoy hanging out with the people I’ve met here, and a few of you I’d venture to call you my friends.
I also enjoy the RP. But here’s a question I’ve been pondering: How much of your RL self do you show in the RP? Is your RP self completely different from your RL self? I don’t think that’s possible. Sure, there’s aspect about yourself that you don’t have to (and in some ways can’t) show, but how much do you be yourself in the RP. I think it’s easier to RP when I’m being myself, and I enjoy it more.
As another member of the Phoenix‘s crew, I think that our OOC antics and conversations contribute to the fun of the RP. I can get to know people instead of just characters. I’ve served on other ships now and then, but I’ve never felt at home like I have on the Phoenix because of that. I’ve often thought of requesting another assignment to get experience with other command styles and crews, but then I realize I don’t want to. I genuinely enjoy serving on the Phoenix, where in general I know the crew as well as the ship herself.
I remember a mission awhile ago in which two ships got destroyed. The GM spawned them back in and they RP’d a sensor glitch or something that made it seem like they were destroyed instead. The general consensus(OOC) on the Phoenix‘s bridge at the time was that both ships should be permanently destroyed. But that would’ve complicated a lot of things and mightn’t have been fun for the players, and all in all it probably was the right call. I remember another time when I was still working on learning the weapons console and I dropped a mine on a friendly ship (I think Aramond was in command, but I don’t remember the ship name). The ship was destroyed, but they RP’d a big hole in the hull instead and respawned it. Again, probably the right call.
There’s limits to the RP during the duty shift, and if everything had to be RP, I would’ve left long ago, and I suspect there would be a lot fewer people around. On the forums of course, in the bar and on the holodeck and on missions like the Manticore mission, having as little OOC stuff as possible is perfectly fine imo.
I want to ask, though, and this is a question for everyone: Why do you like the RP so much? Do you prefer RP over meeting and getting to know people? Some people get into RP stuff because they want to run away from some problem or other, and not be confined to their perception of themselves. That’s certainly one reason why I originally joined (I also just wanted to play artemis, and I couldn’t get my friends to play consistently). But now, it’s because I genuinely like many of the people in this group, and I now feel free, at least among my crew, to be very much myself, and I much prefer that over being someone I’m not. RP is fun, but why does RP take such a precedence in your life?
Just something to think about, you don’t really need to answer me 🙂