How to RP ?

[Niwashi]

What is Roleplay anyway? I'm new not sure what that mean.

At its most basic level, roleplay refers to staying in character. Instead of using your character as an avatar to talk (as yourself) to other players of Final Fantasy XIV, you would use a combination of chat and emotes to make your character talk to other characters as fellow adventurers living in Eorzea, and you do things because that's what your character would do rather than because of how it would advance your progress in the game, like you might stop at Buscarron's Druthers for a drink, not because of any gameplay advantage you get by doing so, but because your character is tired and wants a drink.

Players who like to roleplay might give their characters unique personalities distinct from their own, and often come up with more about their character's background than what the game itself provides, since it's a lot easier to stay in character and do what your character would do if you know who he or she is.

The background part in particular leads to a lot of overlap between actual in-character roleplaying and what I call character storytelling. In real life, and presumably in Eorzea as well, people aren't likely to greet a stranger by telling their life story, but roleplayers who have well-developed background stories for their characters may want to tell those stories. So sometimes that sort of storytelling about your character gets lumped in with RP as well.