Overt RP'ing in mmos is basically lame...(hail ye sir knight! hath thou the means to heal me? I was pitched in battle with a minion of evil and now bear the stain of his evil upon me!---I.E.."hey are you a pally? something cursed me and i need a cure.") Like some lame things it can be fun for a joke now and again, but anyone who is walking around seriously talking like that probably has issues irl.
The real RPing (though it is not the kind anyone means when they say RPing in an mmo) happens when players start to refer to their characters in the first person and "care" with real world emotions about one's character and his friends. This can be so subtle that sometimes you don't even realize it is happening. For example, why should you be pissed off irl because something happened to your character in a virtual world? Because you have lost the distinction (at least in part) between yourself and your character. This is a very real type of RPing imo.
Its kind of weird, but it happens when you let yourself get immersed in a fantasy world for 20 hours a day, days on end. Its also what makes MMOs so different and addictive compared to other types of games imo.
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