To say that roleplay (RP) is a popular activity in Second Life might be a bit of an understatement; there may be more roleplay communities in SL than there alts cruising around on Zindra. If you’re so inclined, you could find just about any sort of roleplay imaginable. Steampunk, Gor, Firefly, high school, dystopian future, and more than can possibly mentioned here. It is a little difficult to say just how many Second Life residents are involved in roleplay communities. The only way to estimate is by looking at the number of members in RP groups and even then it is tough to assume you’ve accounted for overlapping membership. Let’s just say there are lots of residents involved, somewhere between 30,000-50,000 people. Given the popularity of RP in SL, I thought it would be interesting to learn more about it.
Salvatore Otoro didn’t come to Second Life for roleplay, but has become an eloquent advocate for RP. Salvatore is not only an active member of the City of Lost Angels RP community, he also runs the Second Life Roleplay blog and writes for ROLE Magazine. The Second Life Roleplay blog is a fantastic resource on the ins and outs of RP; among other things, there are examples of good and bad RP, lists of RP sims, and a section on roleplay 101. I was very happy that Salvatore agreed to chat about RP with me.
/me smiles and points excitedly to the jump and says, “I really hope you’ll read on to see what Salvatore had to say about RP in SL!”
Avatars in Wonderland 