Quote: "But you dress up to play... don't you wear a cape when you do that?"
Nope - never worn a cape to any of those things. I did Vampire live action which involved a lot of black trenchcoats and pvc, but never a cape. Did some other genre's: fantasy, Mage, and almost went to a Firefly one last weekend, I would have gone as a technician, trader or companion - hadn't decided).
If it makes you happier, you can think about it as improvisational drama - but really, it's just cops and robbers for grownups. When you were little, games like that taught you stuff - the cops always have to win, because robbers are bad, etc. Companies do roleplay for training sessions "Right, Andy - you can be 'The Customer'..." and writers and actors are constantly trying to 'get inside the mind' of their characters - so I like the short controlled bursts of being someone else for a while.
I'm less interested in throwing little bits of paper at each other while shouting "FIREBALL!!!" than I am roleplaying out the effects of terror in someone faced with something supernaturally horrifying, etc.
@Saikoro: You're quite right - in a world with rapists and murderers, D&D and other rpgs really are the least of your worries. I've always found most roleplayers to be very decent people - sure, some of them play 'evil' characters - but they expect and look forward to being foiled by the good guys in game. Generally, rpers have a very developed sense of justice - what do you expect being raised on a diet of heros, villians and quests
*please note, if you know of a sick twisted roleplayer, then that doesn't make all roleplayers sick and twisted - just as I know non-roleplayers who are sick and twisted, I don't class all non-rpers as sick and twisted. Exception to every rule, and all that.
