What is Role Playing?....Would it help to learn a new language?

What is Role Playing?....Would it help to learn a new language? 

In its most basic form, roleplaying is just that: playing a role other than yourself. The most prevalent and well known form of this would be acting, where someone becomes a character either for the stage or screen. They study the character, his/her personality, accent, thoughts and then throughout the film/play, the actor essentially ‘is’ that character.

Another way to roleplay would be Play-By-Post Online Roleplaying. This is generally played on forums, and takes upon itself a role similar to acting, in that you are taking the role of a character (or several) and throughout the roleplay you essentially become that character. The major difference, of course, is that online roleplaying is performed through writing, rather than playing the actions yourself. Online roleplaying could very well be more aptly defined as ‘collaborative creative writing.’ You are working in collaboration with other writers to write creatively – each person taking the point of view of one character in your story.

With the arrival of the metaverse and 3D environtmets, roleplaying became an important part of the MMORPG, "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game", like world of Warcraft and Second Life. Role-playing in a medieval sim in SL, means that students and professors play the role of a character living in a fantasy world. How much or how little they role-play is up to the level and command of the language they have, also the degree of digital literacy and SL skills they can handle; In order to roleplay in most of the sims, roleplayers must construct basic background histories for their characters and adopt unique mannerisms when they’re “in character.”


This kind of roleplaying in 3D worlds is the best for language learning, since roleplaying occurs the way it'll happen in the movies or the theater and at the same time it ocurs throught writing, oral skills are also improved and learning happens in a more natural way,students interact with people from the world. Roleplaying is an excellent way to get new vocabulary, enhance reading skills, use critical thinking and have fun. Students are given the chance to learn, create and design the characters that later, they will portrait making it meaningful to them and becoming producers and creators, storytellers and the stars in their own stories.

Basic Medieval Role Playing

Concept

Role Playing, indeed, is a form of acting. Though it does not take place on any sort of stage and there are no scripts used. In Role Playing there are multiple people, each controlling their own character and acting as that character. Typically one person will create a storyline of sorts to follow and they all will “play” out that set storyline adding their own twists & turns along the way. These characters, “course, have a personality, history, and role in the story. The easiest way to describe Role Playing is as Work in progress book that is written together by many people.

Each person that joins will have a character. That character CANNOT be controlled by anyone else but him or her self. Depending on the type of Role Play the characters might be dressed in a certain way and equipped with certain items. Normally characters will be based mainly off the actual Person playing that character.

Creating a Character

Characters will vary depending on the type of Role Play (RP), setting, and the preferences a person has. Every character will need certain aspects to bring it to life. Some characters will need more then others as the Role Play might require it.
Characters usually have and need the following…

    * Name, age, & gender
    * Appearance (eyes, hair, facial features, build…)
    * Clothing & Accessories
    * Bio/History (Ex.- Their parents died at age ten)

Sometimes, depending on the sort of RP, you’ll need descriptive fields like these…

    * Magical Abilities (Ex.- Can control fire)
    * Weapons
    * Special Skills
    * Class (Ex.- Mage, Thief, Archer, Warrior, etc…)

You can use a Character Sheet to get started or you can use paragraph form to describe your character. Here it's an example:

** here you can find a name generator for your character if.. you can think one on your own.. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Tool.aspx?x=dnd/4new/tool/cng


Most often the characters are supposed to fit the setting. If it’s a medieval fantasy then it’s most likely your character will have some sort of armor on or a cloak of sorts. They also might carry a weapon; perhaps a bow or a long sword.

When discribing your character you can say things like:
“His sharp brown eyes searched the halls…” or “Thomas ran a gloved hand through his short, dark hair.”

A key point to character creation is giving the character a personality that is consistent. For instance… a laid back trouble maker that cares only for himself. Or a young girl that loves nature and is rugged, can defend herself, but has a kind heart. They need, above all else, personality! It truly brings them alive.

Benefits of Role Playing

Role Playing is not only fun, eventful, and an amazing adventure but it is also “educational” and can help writers hone their skills. It can even teach those who loathe writing to love it. Your grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and overall knowledge will improve and expand through Role Playing. This creative writing craft opens minds to new ideas and worlds and challenges the imagination.

Not only are writing and grammatical skills enhanced but there is so much new and odd information for you to obtain. There are endless things to learn from RPs. Sometimes it’s random info and facts and other times you’ll pick up entire concepts. A little fact I learned was that if a person is sleeping and you disturb them slightly their breathing pattern will change, indicating they might wake up. This gives you a warning. It’s a neat little tidbit. Other things I’ve picked up include some feudal Japan history, Greek alphabet, tactical skills, and countless other little things.

Overall there is so much to gain and learn from Role Playing and you don’t even realize you’re learning. That’s the brilliance of it! You take in so much, get better at writing, become more social, develop a more advanced vocabulary, and you’re having fun while undertaking crazy adventures with friends at the same. Your imagination gets to run wild and you have no bounds. I truly encourage you to try Role Playing out if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it.

Taken from:
http://quazen.com/games/roleplaying/concept-benefits-of-role-playing/

Prepared by: Pionia Destiny