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How Roleplaying Improved my Academics
By Kate
How Roleplaying Improved My Academics
By Kate, of FiranMUX (property of Adam and Stephanie Dray)
The world of academia conjures images of books, thick glasses, dusty libraries, and countless hours of studious activities. The world of online-roleplaying, to say the least, does not quite summon the same images. That, however, is a severe misrepresentation of text-based games; gaming does, in fact, offer a world of academic-boosting skills. How to read, how to write, how to find information, how to use that information to forge ahead: all of these are imperative skills to roleplaying and all of these are crucial strengths to academics.
I began roleplaying on a game called TFOS (Teenagers From Outer Space) when I was fourteen or so. I had always been a good reader, which then lends itself to solid writing, but in the world of collaborate story-telling, good reading is exceedingly imperative. I discovered that I could not simply gloss over details while playing on TFOS; I had to really read what the other people were writing so I could figure out how my character would react. That ability to carefully and fully study written material would help me as I passed through high school and college; I could examine texts on a deeper level and from there, apply what I learned in said texts to myself or situations around me. I learned both careful reading and how to make what I read relevant, which is invaluable academically.
Just as I honed my reading skill with Mu+s, so too did I hone my writing skills. Obviously, text games revolve around reading and writing; the ability to communicate without inflection or nuances that dialogue affords us is tantamount to being a successful roleplayer. Through gaming, I developed a deeper ability to write and write well. In the academic circle, writing is, perhaps, the most important skill a person can have. Without the ability to communicate an idea, it is impossible to get ahead; I have written papers explaining theories and hypotheses in new and untouched areas. If I had not played on games such as TFOS and FiranMUX (my current habitat), I would wager that such weaving of words would be all the more difficult. My informative writing became clearer, more easily understood while my creative writing has taken on a subtlety that I quite value. FiranMUX, in particular, helped me with that creative writing. By roleplaying with people who use an extensive vocabulary, by roleplaying with people who challenge me to excel as they do, I have managed to step forward in a profoundly important arena.
And thus, by cultivating the fundamentals of the academic realm, text-based roleplaying has not only given me a base from
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| Some other articles by Kate | How Firan Taught Me History
Kate, of FiranMUX, property of Adam and Stephanie Dray.
One may wonder, and justly so, how a fantasy game -- a work of fiction -- could teach someone about history, which is by definition the study ...
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