So I sent out a call to role players, on my blog, on Twitter and on Facebook.  Not long after, the I found the below in the comment section.  With the writer’s permission, I have copied it here. This is a personal story of one young man’s love for role play.

I enjoy all sorts of games. My first games that I came to like were simple platformers, shooters and sports games. It always felt like I was doing more than pushing a few buttons on a control pad and staring at a screen. As I grew older my palate grew and I branched out into strategy games. It wasn’t pushing a few buttons, it was scoring a goal, jumping over a canyon or creating an empire. It was roleplaying.

Now I find myself having grown up during a time when gaming boomed to overtake Hollywood in terms of mass entertainment and is starting to rival both that and real sports combined. Throughout that period games have had to do more for me to keep me entertained. What I have found and what I have suspected they would do for some time, they have deepened their roleplaying elements.

In crusader kings (a strategy game) I don’t just find myself a faceless ruler expanding territories as I would in risk, I find myself arranging marriages and sometimes trying to kill other rulers to ensure my bloodline assumes control of their throne. In NBA 2k (sports game) I find myself playing as an individual player starting his career and even engaging in dialogue with the coach, players and general manager rather than controlling an entire team like a Godly coach. Fifa, the most popular of sports games of the most popular sport worldwide is adding a feature just like this, this year.

So roleplaying is giving me a new lease to these games, it’s adding something that keeps me entertained longer, it’s immersing me. Technology may have progressed to the point they can have an AI give you some little sense of living amongst other realistic avatars in a realistic world but it has along way to go before (if it gets there at all) before it can rival what creating a platform (virtual world) for several humans to act out their fantasy can.

So I look on in amazement as gaming giants like EA, with their biggest franchises such as fifa, (being a giant publisher with your largest franchise doesn’t lend itself to risk well) continue to add roleplaying elements to games in order to entertain, but no one seems to cater to them in their most fertile land, the virtual land, MMO land.

I wait whilst a mother of four, works from her home on a labour of love with her family and with others across the world via the internet, to cater to an audience that clearly exist in a larger capacity than is realised by most.

They say lots of things of the best laid plans of men and mice but I’m glad to know a passionate visionary regardless of how this endeavour pans out. I want you to know that I am keeping the faith and admire the passion that drives you. I believe and I’m glad you do too.

Thank you!!

One thing I have learned over the years, many play games and they play them for many reasons. Those of us involved in game development are inspired by the love the players have for our games, and all games. 

Teila