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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 5809232" data-attributes="member: 27160">In <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/317600-social-skills-starting-bug-me-9.html#post5808857" target="_blank">this thread here</a> [MENTION=10479]Mark CMG[/MENTION] wrote (in some frustration, I think) thusly:Here, he asks what others think "roleplaying" is but is really quite vague about his own picture of it. It's a term I see bandied about - often with some implication that it is "obvious" what we mean by it, but with no real explanation or justification.So, I have made this thread in an attempt to have some ENWorlders explain what they mean when they say "roleplauing". To get the party rolling, I'll start, but first a disclaimer: I am trying to promote discourse and develop my own and others' thoughts, here, and I thus reserve the right to modify my views later - especially if others post some really good, thoughtful stuff that make me think anew about what I view "roleplaying" as. If anyone comes back saying "but in post #14232341 in February, 2012 you said..." I may get rude.So: I think roleplaying is......characterised by two steps:1) I form a view of the world in my imagination as a character (which I am "roleplaying") sees the situation they are in, and2) I have that character take decisions based on that view of the (imaginary) world.The "view" i create does not have to be a literal, pictorial "view" of what the character sees, hears, smells and so on - it can be a conceptual picture of their position as it relates to other characters in the world, to organisations in the game world or to physical elements of the game world (e.g. "there is a cliff over there, and it would be a tricky climb for me but possible").Likewise, the decisions for the actions the character will take do not need to be at the level of minutiae - much less do  I need to act them out, although I might choose to do so. In other words, I don't need to "wear the mask" of the character's physical presence in order to roleplay - I just need to envision their view of the world around them as it pertains to decisions that the game group have decided to focus on for the purposes of the game, and then to make those decisions congruent with that vision.What do others here think? Is more/less/different required for you to call something "roleplaying"?</blockquote>

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