Posted by Kim on October 24, 2015, 12:40pm
How has RP changed your life? Perhaps it helped you gain confidence, become a better writer, learn new things about yourself, maybe even led you to a special someone? During Epic Week (April), we asked members to write essays explaining the effects that being involved in RP has had on their lives and why it was important that it was RP and not some other hobby. The responses were fascinating, moving, and often inspiring.Here is the second essay in that series!
Pretending to be someone else made me a better person
by Sanne
It's safe to say that roleplaying is, for many people, a fantastic hobby. It can be seen as a creative tool that encourages not just the improvement of literary skills, but shapes who you are as a person in ways that go far beyond mere storytelling. For me, it is probably the very reason I am still here to tell you what is so amazing about it, and why I can do it in proper English!I have pursued this hobby since my early teens, and because of it I met the wonderful people who got me through the hardest parts of my life. Those who know me well also know that my years from my teenage years on are not exactly happy ones. A lot happened at once that tore my family apart and it allowed the manifestation of multiple mental illnesses in me. Roleplaying offered an escape from the reality of my life by allowing me to take on someone else's. Even if it was just for an hour, in that hour I needn't worry about the real me. All I had to do was be this character I had created and enjoy what happened in the world we built together. Whenever something bad happened in my life, I still had something amazing to look out for. It kept the pieces together, whether they were broken or simply cracked, and gave me the courage to go on. I became bolder in real life because I learned from the social interactions my characters had. I became more understanding of different personalities and how they affect the way people behave. By creating characters that were not like me, I became a more empathetic person.
The many interactions with other people eventually led to amazing friendships as well. Where in real life I struggled finding like minded individuals who understood instead of questioned everything I did and liked, there was an abundance of people I could relate to who simply accepted me the way I was. I found love, both platonic and romantic, and I found heartache and sadness when I lost some. It was roleplaying that kept on me the path that ended up on this very website: the RP Repository. It didn't take long at all to become friends with Kim. Somehow she turned out to be the friend I needed to better myself, to help me learn to look at life in a different way so that I could turn judgment into understanding. I look back at the me from five years ago and I barely recognize her. Perhaps the changes are subtle to outsiders, but to me they are incredible.
It was Kim's passion for creating that encouraged me to find the career that eluded me for so long into adulthood: being a Virtual Assistant. It's the versatile nature of roleplaying and the aspects surrounding it that made me obtain many different skills, such as drawing, website building, researching, organizing, having social interactions, being fluent in multiple languages and learning efficiently. All these skills allow me to be an excellent Virtual Assistant, and I'm wholly convinced I would not be capable at this job without my experiences in roleplaying.
I would do roleplaying an injustice if I didn't bring up languages. The truth is, even though I'm very skilled with languages and speak at least four different languages fluently, I believe roleplaying has been the biggest influence on my English skills. It was after all the reason I wanted to become better at all. I learned about roleplaying in an English speaking online community and my joy for writing pushed me to improve myself tirelessly. My friends corrected me when I asked them to and offered tips and tricks to remember the rules.
Within only two years I became mostly self-educated and fluent in both writing and reading to the point where my English teachers turned to me and asked 'How do I spell this word again, Sanne?'. Most of my online friendships were (and still are) based on communication in English, and with the aid of voice chats I quickly learned to speak it nearly accent free. I have seen this in many of my non-English native speaking friends too. Their knowledge of the English language improves drastically within months of roleplaying, and helpful fellow roleplayers are one click away to guide and correct made mistakes.
I truly love roleplaying and I will continue to love it for what I think will be a lifetime. It is a coping mechanism for when life gets a little too hard on me. It is a grand tool for connecting with other players when my afflictions get in the way of doing so in real life. The aspects of roleplaying helped me build vital skills for what I found out is my dream career and if I want to learn a new language, I know that roleplaying in it is the best way to do it. Roleplaying is not just a hobby anymore; it has become an integrated part of my life.
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Comments
Whoa! I never knew this about you Sanne! You've overcome so much and grown exponentially because of it! It is an honor to call you may friend!
Sanne
October 24, 2015
4:48pm