i've gotten a lot of good roleplay from MMOs. my longest running characters all find their homes there. i've done a bit of writing on tumblr as well, as well as some RPI (roleplay intensive) MUDs (look it up if you don't know).

the first MMO i took to writing in was Mabinogi, and I've been playing that particular character ongoing for the last 13 years.
the second MMO i've spent a lot of time in is FFXIV. my oldest ongoing character there is 7.

these characters have marriages ranging from lasting 3-11 years. they have children that are growing. i have a child that was taken in as an apprentice and is now an adult and has lived through cataclysmic events, drastically shaping their character.

genuinely can't recommend MMO roleplay enough. an evolving world does so much for a character's story.

I have never roleplayed anywhere else except other forum-style formats. I think I got my start on...neopets! Many, many years ago...

Capsellas your description of toyhouse roleplays actually made me super curious, I hopped around the toyhouse forums and found a whole bunch of wanted ads, and a very interesting community over there. So different from what I've become accustomed to in the forum rp world! I'm almost tempted to join some of them, but a lot of the roleplays being Discord-hosted intimidates me, because it somehow translates to "faster-paced"--which, at a different time in my life, would actually be a huge draw! But right now, I'm in my turtle era and I'm not sure if I can commit...

The idea of an email roleplay sounds really cute, for what it's worth. And the draw of an MMO for roleplaying purposes sounds so cool too--but I'd miss the writing part. I'm also curious about how other people roleplay or write stories collaboratively, on what kinds of platforms...I'm so desperate for a cozy writing/creative community that I'm considering looking around for local DND groups now hahah.

so i rp on wow with close friends and family!
other than that i've tried all kinds of other places/platforms.
i was on roleplay.me for a while (it's just a rp based myspace and i once rped over myspace) but i'm not fond of the type of players there so i ended up dropping it.
if tabletop counts, i did that a LOT in my late teens/early 20s. unfortunately, the people i played with back then disbanded and even though i've tried to get us all back together online, so far, it hasn't worked out.

Honestly, I think Discord/group rps scare me a lot on TH, too... T.T Maybe I'm just getting older by the second, but I think the charm is really in being able to upload OC profiles and keep everyone there, like a little compendium... I do really like the idea for 1x1 RPs, so I can just link a character without having to dump a ton of paragraphs into someone's dms qq I wish the forums onsite were more like traditional RP forums, but I guess that's the novelty of it; it's a different RP world!!

(sometimes I've seen people set up private servers for 1x1 RP, but that honestly scares me, too... I'm so much better at just using dms and ooc brackets...)

navigator I'm really curious about your experience in XIV RP, though... I'm not a WOW player anymore, but I actually spend a lot of time on FFXIV!! If you have any suggestions for venues/places to start off, I'd totally be all ears.. I've been to the Bloodsands a couple times (if you're on crystal!), but anything beyond that has been a little hard to break into for me-- i'd honestly love to RP more on MMOs!! I just think it's been hard to jump into... but the expansive world is There from the start

capsella  - regarding xiv rp - where you want to go depends pretty heavily on the kind of roleplay you're looking for, and the sort of character you're playing!!

admittedly, there has been a very dramatic shift in the rp community. roleplay that is based on the setting is somewhat difficult to find, as there's a growing community of roleplayers that are more interested in clubbing and --- trying to turn roleplay into some sort of money-making scheme lol. but, if you end up liking that kind of thing, you won't have any difficulty in finding it.

my longest running stories have mostly centered around a player-made samurai clan my sister and i carved out of the lore of Doma. we've hosted a number of events and some storylines, and we've made some good connections in the process.

the party finder's "other" tab will often host a slew of advertisements for events and recruiting free companies. another great way to find fellow roleplayers would be through the numerous community discords. feel free to add me on discord (@dreamtangerine) if you'd like an invite and i'll help you to get set up and maybe find what you're looking for. xP

as a fair warning, the rp community is currently quieter than usual while folks catch up on the new expac. that and, MARE (if you know you know) is down, and a lot of roleplayers are suffering withdrawls from the fact lol

if anyone else is interested, lmk and i'll hook you up too!

edit:: adding a couple character carrds in case anyone wants to reach out for rp. :x located on crystal!!
y'cemi'a ghalsa. miqo'te halfblood softboy that sort of kind of accidentally commits crimes. haha.
yokoto tachimaru. humble koshu raen "fisherwoman" that ended up married into doman nobility. danger senpai.