Break Your Personal Looking Glass Through Role Play: How We Use the Game to Reinvent and Reaffirm Our Sense of Self

Often it is the playground of the bored, the technologically adept, or the wayward mind feeling that very dire need to find a place to fit themselves into a group; role playing. Though it sparks up in many forms from the intimate games we instigate between ourselves and our mates to the at times massive libraries of gaming books that lead us to create complex characters and respond to situations fathomed up by someone running the show; most of us adore a good chance to pretend regardless of our age.

Common enough when we are only small children, few forget the playground games emulating our favorite movie and televisions characters or the old standby of playing 'house' with a family; we learn our playful ways at a young age. We also learn to make ourselves over into an image we prefer. The quiet child quickly becomes the head of the household or the star of the movie while the eager youngster picks up the role of trickster or sidekick. Encouraged by our peers and adults we are taught that imagine is a key to some of the most satisfying things life has to offer and an escape from points where we feel as though the whole world is against up.

Then as we grow we take up new roles, stereotypes fill teenage years and people reinvent themselves once more. A natural part of life, and in understanding our own persona; but there are some people who take the game outside the expected path and turn it into a personal haven.

For the avid role player, be it through a tabletop genre such as the popular Dungeons and Dragons or any of the multitude of chat rooms that pop up on many serves with the lure of an interactive game with others in real time, stepping outside themselves is second nature.
Only not truly, because there is always a link back to the creator behind the mask; a silvery thread often overlooked by even the person themselves.