The Beginnings - How I Began to Roleplay: Jaekob Faolan

This is the first in a series of posts where our members discuss their first memories of role play.

   It began in Everquest, or did it. I played Everquest for some fourteen years and fancied myself a role player. I was good, or so I thought. Then a friend suggested I check out Second Life where there was lots of medieval fantasy role play. So soon after, I downloaded the client and logged in. I can't say my first experience in SL was a good one, but within a couple of days, I had found a not so attractive medieval outfit and I ventured out to find that role play I was told about.

Jaekob Faolan, Master Druid (and owner) of the River Lands

   Lucky for me, my first stop was in an elven community called Sylvhara. I was greeted with much kindness and my enthusiasm to be a Druid in those lands and my enthusiasm to role play was well received and I was given the first steps to joining the Druid Guild on the spot.
   Still I thought, I was a role player. This is where I belonged. And, then, I was slapped in the face with another reality. I had no clue. I was unskilled and unprepared to jump in the mix with the people in that community. I was nervous, frightened and could barely get a word out in a role play situation. What if I made a mistake? What if I embarrassed myself or worse yet, what if they got mad at me and kicked me to the curb? What I was seeing was role play at its finest and I was just a humble player with no skills at all.
   But, they gave classes on the basics of role play, lots of classes of all different kinds. Some were the same, but from different people with different perspectives. And slowly, as time passed, I got a clue. Okay, yeah, it was a small clue, but I was learning. I didn't often engage in the role play early on. What I would do was wander the lands, acquaint myself with the layout. And when I happened upon a group role playing, I would venture forth to introduce myself ICly (In Character). I would meet them ICly and then I would linger in the group and observe and listen. This is how I learned to role play - by observing others role play.
   Still, I will tell you, I have much to learn. I am an infant compared to some role players I know. It has been some five or six years since I first stepped into Sylvhara. And many I know have been role playing most of their lives. I am still learning. I will always be learning. And, still, occasionally during a particularly hard role play, I get a knot in my stomach and wonder if I will do it all wrong. And, still, occasionally when I am in the presence of more experienced role players, I feel awed. And, I feel thankful that I took that first step and began the process that brought me to where I am today.
  Today, when I think of myself as a role player, I know it is so.