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If the 'roleplaying' game is trying to perfectly *be* your imaginary person, I'm not sure why that's fun or interesting. But playing to be a type of person that has a fabulous job, or is an uncontrollable flirt, or is in a dramatically romantic circumstance, can be fun even if you don't always act the part because you get to *do* some of the stuff you'd normally only get in a story.
But SL is different. My SL person isn't so much of a "character", there's no role or story. It's just a different face of me I guess, same as I'd show a different face if I joined a hamster club in RL, I still wouldn't wear an "I love hamsters t-shirt" around town.
'course I'm still working on becoming a breakfast nook so what do I know! ^_-
In one realm my character has an utterly devoted, adopted daughter, an eccentric, unrequited love affair with a man, and authority over those who willingly serve my character, within the backdrop of bloody chaos. Except for the chaos, however, none of those things existed until we created them through our character interactions... each player drawing on the framework to construct their own histories and avatars. I could never have all of those in one lifetime, or even several... but through the roleplay I can suck like a vampire on the vicarious experience. Ghoulish, I know, but... it's seductive. Even RL doesn't have enough fodder for my play. I've a pretty big head
My biggest gripe is that graphical MMORPGs are much more 'games' than places to roleplay. Dumb things get instituted, like equipment certifications, or making roleplay-useful items loot, or even inability change lighting for mood, or skill/level systems that punish you for playing in ways different from the designer's intent. That's the pleasing thing about MUSHes and MOOs, since it's all text, rather than graphics, and (often) permit online construction of objects to use in your play, much like SL. Nonetheless there's still a common theme from which players can draw history.
Yes, I will admit frankly, I'm fundamentally lazy, and would rather glom onto someone elses theme than do the immense legwork to build it. I'm hoping that if someone has already done it, they'll see this and point me in the right direction.
--v
