Some people seem to think this argument is satisfactory, but
I no longer think so. Our society has absolutely latched onto this notion that
“What’s true for you may not be true for me” as if it were so simple. I personally
find it quite lacking and more than a bit of a cop-out, especially for
roleplay. Roleplay is, after all, a hobby that involves more than just you, so
indulge me for a minute and understand it’s not just about your own little
sphere of creativity where you can just act however you please.
Many are convinced there are not objective reasons for
demanding quality (or a desire to reach quality) in roleplay, as many
communities simply go, “This is what we want to see. This is our taste, respect
it or leave.” That’s totally fine, but I think it can go further than that. In
a lot of my articles in the past I’ve referenced one of these objective reasons
I would argue matter: the enjoyment of your own roleplay. It’s a tricky one,
but really, if you have more fun roleplaying, because you’re improving in
quality, it becomes significantly more enjoyable. When the roleplay is more
enjoyable, you tend to stick with it longer, hopefully not falling into that
cycle of dipping in and out of activity.
This extends into a lot of areas, many of them relating to
motivations to roleplay. For example, if you’re roleplaying simply to live out
another fantasy and escape your own miserable dimensions, then your desire to
roleplay will fluctuate alongside your own personal satisfaction with your
life. If you haven’t figured that out, it changes a lot, so it’s kind of not
the greatest thing to rely on.
But that’s just the recap of what I’ve talked about already.
Maybe another time I’ll go into that stuff again more directly, but today I’m
here to talk about something else.
Why should you seek to improve your roleplay?
