Role-playing why do you do it? In my opinion I think it's just a bit weird... Making up a story of someone fictional who doesn't even exist... And most stories involve the player killing alot of people ( which I think indicates a bit of a sick mind). I also don't get the use of making a name with a meaning, as it will never be used in the game...

On the other hand, I understand that it improves gameplay, and helps you play with more fun.

But what's your opinion on this? Do you like creating short/ really long backstories, or do you just like to play the game?

Please don't post your backstories here as I couldn't care less

Also I would have created a poll, but I'm in my iPod.

Both i guess. I invented a short story for my char and defined what kind of person he will be in Skyrim.

I only do it off my meds.......... sooooooooo yeah. :sb:

I'm a huge roleplaying person, developing personality, background, appearance, beliefs, and everything else imaginable, just because I find it fun. That and living the life of a fictional character in a fictional world helps me get away from this crap we call "reality."

Heck, most of my characters that I make are essentially parallels of myself in another universe, which makes it easier to roleplay cause it doesn't feel as awkward.

I know, it sounds insane and probably is, but I don't care.

I’m not really a gamer, so for me it’s mostly about the story. Without the fictional part, it would just be a game.

i never have done that before i think the reason i did a small background story was to help with the skyrim jitters because when i talk about skyrim it helps soothe my insane excitement for the game

I feel like it really adds to the immersion. Makes me think about my choices more. I could go around killing everyone for no reason for the sake of loot. Or I can, in my own mind, find a reason for my character to kill off people. Idk why I enjoy RPing in TES games so much... I just do, lol.

I just make up a stitched together story as I go lol

I kind of Roll play, but i usually just make my character do what I would do if i was in that situation, so i'm kind of Roll playing myself (Except i'm not a Khajiit)
i do have a short background story just randomly made up because i went on one of those threads, and i think i'll stick to it

I don't really do or enjoy it. I'm not the artsy type. (Though I'm good at drawing, I just can't come up with things to draw.)

My characters always reflect me, my human characters look like me. Due to this my characters are the same 90% of the time, the other 10% I go crazy and make an assassin, only to get bored after 3 hours. They're always essentially good.

Although I do feel like I'm lacking something when I don't think of something really basic about my characters. So it's always something like this: "[X] got tired of town life at the age of 18-22 and decided to go adventuring. Sadly he ended up in jail for no apperant reason/tresspassing/drunken stupidities." - There, I'm done with my background!

This helps, if people don't have much fun in reality( or crap as you call it xD), roleplaying is used to create an imaginary world.

This isn't me hating or something btw

Done it before.

Enhances story and makes smaller things more compelling.

I.e. hunting as a hunter. One of my favourite ones was stealing gaurd armour (or finding it) in Oblivion then R.Ping as night watch. Good times.

What I find it weird is that you even play Skyrim....and I pity you if you do it only for the hack & slash.

There is no indication or correlation that people who come up with fake stories for fake characters (while still being able to distinguish fact from fiction) have a "sick" mind. That's ridiculous. If anything, their line for reality and fiction is less blurred than people who just go around killing everything. Most people, who don't roleplay themselves in a fictional world, make up a completely different person in which they enact to be however and whoever they choose. Killing people in a fictional world that relies on violence and struggling to survive, such as Skyrim, doesn't mean you're "sick minded," it means you're adhering to the rules of the game - it means you're placing fictional actions into the body of a fictional character. That's about it.

Secondly, I don't roleplay crazily. I have, at the most, a name, the skills I'm planning, and why my character was placed into prison. I don't have his whole life story. I don't have everything that has ever happened to him mapped out in my head. Usually those things can be made up during gameplay depending on what happens to your character. I think this is a good way to do it: most of the lovable characters you know from books, movies, television and games aren't that fleshed out - and it'd be boring if you did flesh out everything. Imagine if you knew that Michael Westen from Burn Notice had worms when he was seven, or that Jon Snow from the Song of Ice and Fire series used to sit around and pick flowers when he was nine. Backstory is needed, but unnecessary, useless character development can be just as detrimental as not developing a character at all.

Ahahahaha thats a backstory I would go for xD

I roleplay, well, because I find it interesting. Making a boss character who can pwn everyone gets boring after a few times. It's interesting to give your character a role and restrict it on some things, well to me anyway. I suppose you could view it as weird, but I see it similar to writing a story, but without words. :shrug:

if you are going to call roleplaying weird for the reasons you say, you might as well call the entire world of fictional writing weird...

not all of us make characters that go round killing people. my characters are often people who wont attack unless attacked. then theres the challenge (to some people) of trying to role play a character completely different to themselves (a killer). and lets not forget, you are choosing to play a game that can involve going round killing people. not much different from making a story for someone who does that.

i dont understand what you mean about "a name with a meaning"...

Not roleplaying is no reason to not be able to enjoy the story/lore/gameplay/whatever.

I don't roleplay; I've played TES games since early Morrowind; I still enjoy them and always will.
Not roleplaying is no reason to not enjoy the game, don't be so petty.

Role-playing just makes the game more enjoyable to play, sure I might write a long backstory and their personalities and whatnot, I do it because I find it fun, and imagining yourself as a noble knight/powerful mage/ expert thief in a fantasy world where magic exists is just plain awesome, and it also serves as an escape from reality.

-Mr. Maric

I've always roleplayed, since my very first MW char, maybe that's why I simply don't understand it.

I mean, what's the point of playing a RPG if you remove half the fun and inmersion of it? It becomes just another game amongst tons of others.

A bit of both really, I enjoy the story a bit more I suppose. But I always have a backstory that guide my decisions a bit.

With name with a meaning, I mean names like 'dark blade' 'dragon slayer' translated into a different language

i like making basic backstories to my characters, purely because it gives me a richer experience. im not bas enough to make intense rightups on their favourite colour and stuff. i play games like skyrim to get away from the everyday norm, sometimes its just nice to live in another realm for a couple of hours in another persons shoes, i dunno, guess its just an overactive imagination, but i enjoy it so meh :disguise:

I wrote this in another thread, but it loosely fits here:

Why's it weird? Isn't the entire games made of made-up people and stories?

As for me, I don't make long background stories for my character, but just some basic characteristics. My first character will be a Breton with a Nord for a father, which implies he tends to use frost magic and looks more Nordic than most Bretons. (Sorry, I really had to use examples ) So I just give my characters a general direction. In Morrowind I recently made a character that hates magic, so he doesn't use any spells. So generally I decide what "gameplay" preferences my character has, but I seldom think about their actual motivations behind their actions.

Will he undress corpses (which is kind of sick), will he focus on making as much money as possible, will he ever break the law etc. Of course, these aren't fixed rules, because I think any person makes mistakes or can change his mind, but they're just guidelines, which I think improve my experience.