Please help me understand Roleplaying char vs non

[Renius]

Are they not all roleplaying? What does it mean when someone says I have a roleplaying character only? No idea and this confuses me all the time

[Bixillarla]

It means they have created a backstory for their character and talk and act like thier character would. Not just someone playing the game and talking normally. Some role play groups have themes such as pirates and you would talk as a pirate would and dress like a pirate, etc.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Basically, think of roleplay like an interactive novel. You're telling the character's story in the same way you would were you to write a book. Roleplay is merely collaborative.

[viewtyjoe]

To make more sense of the OP's stated question, for players who do serious RP in MMOs, some characters have levels and equipment and actually play the normal game, while others are used only for roleplaying activities, so they will note a character is for roleplaying only so that people know not to try and run duties with them.

[Atoli]

Basically what the others have said already:
RPers are in their character's mindset while playing, and talk and act like them.
That usually means they play a character that was born and grew up in the game world and has it's own story to it, and very often said RP does not revolve around the game's story at all.

As an example for FFXIV:
our RP group's story revolved around a ghost ship around Limsa for a long time, or about one character's horrible sense of direction that got us into all kinds of adventures while trying to reach Ul'dah.
None of us had anything to do with the Warrior of Light, the Scions, or any of that.

Many Roleplayers do that part-time, while also playing through the game normally on the same character, but some have characters that are for RP only. Which can mean a number of things, from not planning on progressing through the story to being in RP mode even in content, and even all the way to refusing to communicate normally (as players, not the character) at all, even in /tells. That really depends on the person though

[TheCurls]

Now who's the one being pretentious?

[Lokier]

Now who's the one being pretentious?

*grabs some popcorn* Let the butt-hurt begin.

[ADVSS]

Yeah pretty much whats been stated here, as much as i can see it being fun, I prefer to just do dailies and progress my char(which i made in sort of my likeness but thats how i roll in fantasy settings), Endless nights of typing dialogue in the quicksand just isnt my cup of tea, but to those that enjoy it more power to you all.

[Korbash]

While it's nice they finally added a RP thingy that shows whether you RP or not, not being able to add a RP story (bio) to your profile so that the others can check it out is a bit useless. Other MMOs also have bios on top of the RP symbols.

[OMG]

Can someone explain the whole walk-ups welcome / not welcome thing I see mentioned in quite a few roleplayers info window?