"Some people don't want to worry about staying in character; they just want to come home, play a game and chill out. That's fine, they have the choice to be a regular player and do what they enjoy. But for those of us who seek the path of the roleplayer, we ought not to stop there."

This is why David is a good Blogger and a great player: He respects all the players, not just the ones who occupy his chosen niche as RPers. (I'm not saying there are any Bloggers here on Insider who are particularly bad at this, but David is quite skilled at keeping the lines of communication open between gameplay styles.)

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"When you log into the game, put the world and all its concerns aside for a while, and log into your character's personality as well. Hold the idea of who your character is firmly in your mind and don't let go. Live it and breathe it for a while as your very own artistic creation, interact with others in the game from this new and creative state of mind, and then when you've had your fill, start making your way towards logging off, or doing something else out of character for a while if you want."

Also, later in the article: "Invest a bit of effort in putting real life aside for a short time, and get inside your character's mind."

This is the best description of immersing one's self in RP that I've read so far. Very well-written.

However, it is always important to note that one must still maintain a distinction between in-game experiences and real-life experiences. Treating the game, which is meant solely for entertainment purposes, as a form of literal *escapism* from the real world can be dangerous to a player's emotional health and well-being.

Trust me on this ... I'm speaking from particular personal experience.

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"Another approach is to sit down with an encyclopedia of Warcraft lore and try to map out a life story for your character."

This is an excellent way to get started, and Dramatis Personae - to which David provides a link, above - is a great place to begin. They have fairly in-depth discussions of the game's Character Creation mechanics that take on a feeling similar to a "walkthrough."

I would also recommend consulting WOW Wiki. The sheer amount of lore from the Warcraft setting that is stored therein is absolutely staggering.

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