Hey Folks. Anna here. Arrens is still dealing with the job schedule of suck, so I’m taking over his blog again, albeit just for the morning (… this time). Hopefully you don’t mind TOO much, right?

How to maintain a Roleplay attitude when Life keeps you out of Game.

Roleplay is awesome. It’s addictive, and it can swallow up your creative mind and suck up your game time and sweep you away on a wave of nerdy bliss while you let your character run amok. It’s just gosh darn fun.

Unfortunately, sometimes real life kicks your nerdy fun time in the teeth. And sometimes, like one well known Professor Arrens Caltrains, that tooth-kicking doesn’t just up and go away after a few weeks. Sometimes it’s night shifts all the way down, and you’re left wondering how you’re going to manage to keep up with the commitments you made and the friends you love and the RP that makes you tick.

There is not, of course, an easy answer. (There rarely is, not for any difficult question, right?) But there ARE some things that you can do to make this whole situation a little easier to swallow.

Dislcaimer: This is for those times when you WANT to be in game, but can’t be – obviously not for things that take such emotional precedence as to keep you from thinking about character stuff at all. During those times, real life wins, you let the WoW stuff slide, and you don’t worry about it. Because Real Life > WoW. Always.

So here goes – how to Keep the Spark Alive:

The #1 most important thing is – Don’t Give Up.

Don’t go cold turkey; don’t assume that just because you’re not around during “normal” hours or the same hours that you’re used to, you’ll never get to RP again. Roleplayers – and roleplay by its very nature – are nothing if not creative. Sure it’s a bit of a shock at first? But you CAN make it work.

Very few situations mean that you’ll never get to log in again. Obviously some do, but this is not that advice column. This is for people who expect to still have some occasional game time, or expect the Sucktacular Schedule of Awful to someday change.

Other suggestions?

Keep up with the News

Read forum posts, ask what’s going on, basically keep in touch with the greater RP scene in your guild. Forum posts are nice because there’s no pressing timeline. You can read them on your lunch break, in the morning with your coffee, whenever you have a spare few minutes of time. Even if your character is sadly out of the loop, YOU don’t have to suffer that fate. It doesn’t take long to browse the forum and find out the general IC and OOC buzz.

Keep your character in mind

Do a little plotbunny hunting, talk to friends about the character – basically don’t let your character be a stranger. If you can work up a way to have a fic about why your character is missing, all the better. (Dark Summonings, anyone?) Fic, like forum reading, doesn’t require that you and anyone you write with be in the same timezone. You can fic at 4am when nobody else is awake and your friends can add things at 12:30pm when they’re on lunch. Flexibility is the name of the game here.

Stay connected

This is similar to keeping up with the news, but is one step more interactive. Talk to the people you RP with, even if it’s just loosely to go over RP ideas, and talk to them about not-RP things too. If your relationship is OK with it, email is wonderful. Even if all you get out of it is commisseration that your job now totally blows goats, you’ve created a communicative link and won’t have just “fallen off the earth.”

If you’re feeling rusty, don’t be afraid to admit it

It is totally normal to feel a little rusty or awkward when you try to do again something that seemed so natural a week or so ago. Creating a mental relationship with your character takes time, and if you can immediately slip backinto their skin, you’re a better RPer than I am. Remember that, especially in a close RP relationship (friendly or romantic), these are people that want to RP with you. If you’re feeling awkward, tell them.

Don’t be afraid to jump back in when you get a chance

Even if it’s only for a few days before RL kicks in again, it’s worth it to give it a try. You spent time cultivating relationships, and they don’t just go away magically. Even a little time spent in game can keep those sustained enough that when things change, and you’re around again, they’re still there.

Of course, sometimes things don’t change. Sometimes they continue to drag you away from the game and the RP that kept you sane.

In those situations the best thing to do is (any of our readers can probably fill in the blank here. Yep, you knew it was coming) communicate. Let people know. Encourage them to talk to you if they’re feeling out of things, and be gracious. Maybe a romance will need some time on “break” to prevent too much character injury. Maybe a romance will grow stronger through a series of emailed “letters” between characters that let you both keep that one little bit of RP going.

Real Life always takes precedence.

People can and will work with you while you get things settled, while your schedule changes, and while you figure out what you do and don’t want to continue doing in game.

And then, hopefully, someday things will change back, and you will get to dive back into the wonderful creativity of roleplay again.

Tags: break, collaboration, communication, real life, Roleplay, RP Tips, schedule