Role play
What is role play?
Role play is simply pretending to be someone or something to simulate an experience, usually interacting with others doing the same.
Why would I want to role play at all?
To experience something limitations prevent. In the real world, the 18th century has passed, natural disasters infrequent, and identity fixed (for the most part). Role play is a well established principle of education, psychotherapy, self-exploration, and entertainment. We pretend to remove those limitations when simulating an experience.
Why role play in Second Life?
Unlike real life which limits the extent of presentation changes to represent a role, Second Life affords endless ways to represent a given role.
I heard role play is bad in Second Life. That it is just sex slaves.
Yes there are sex slaves. But role play in Second Life often takes on an incorrect pejorative connotation. Many assume role players are only pretending things outside those persons' boundaries. Everyone's boundaries are different. Before generalizing and condemning all role play, consider role plays for natural disaster recovery and first response treatment, leadership training, language training, interpersonal skills training, fire fighter training, interactive novels and more. The best way to learn something is not to read or hear about it, but do it, even if simulated. The corporate world trains employees globally using this technique, while others enjoy it for entertainment. It's all about immersion.
Aren't we all role playing all the time in Second Life?
You find as many opinions on this topic as you do avatars in Second Life. Some strive for a real life connection to their avatars, others seek escape from real life. One advantage to considering some role play communities and sims is that the line is more clearly drawn in such cases v.s. just your general avatar. Most role play communities allow renaming yourself with an "RP HUD" or tag of some kind allowing your normal avatar to still be used even if you may use that avatar for more work conferences and such. Some choose to get a completely new avatar (an 'alt') just for the role play they are involved in.
What role play communities are there in Second Life?
About anything you can imagine has a community in Second Life, including traditional fantasy and science fiction genres. For this one, we have started a page listing the role play communities and sims. If you hear of one not listed, consider contributing a listing.