Everyone loves a good role player...but is there a line in the sand with obsession.? Are all role players obsessed.? Should there be a line.? Perhaps...perhaps not. Here are the thirty warning signs of obsessed role player syndrome.
1. You are going out/thinking about going out with a fellow role player.
2. Most of your friends (if not all of them) are role players.
3. You have taken on a strange nickname (ex. Shadow or Elfy).
4. You are speaking actions/emotions (ex. Saying ‘gasp’ instead of gasping).
5. You have multiple Dungeons and Dragons/White Wolf/Vampire: The Masquerade/fantasy/science fiction books in your library.
6. Real people (people you speak face to face with) have started calling you ‘Blood Sucking Bitch’ or some other fantasy/d&d/ww/v:tm stereotype.
7. You think about your characters’ situation/statistics/other characters when not role playing or even near a computer.
8. You get twitchy when you hear the internet connection buzzers and you’re not near a keyboard.
9. You think swords are better than guns.
10. You have considered getting a tattoo to match the one your character has.
11. You begin to wonder if everyone else’s blood is as sweet as yours.
12. You have begun writing a story/poem/novel/novella around your character(s).
13. You actually understand when someone mentions +12 dex: Arcana Scroll: Psychoactive Armor: +3 immunity: and the like.
14. You have lost sleep due to an in character tragedy. (or lost sleep because the battle was the most important of your life)
15. You think Queen of the Damned is a great movie.
16. You read all of Anne Rice’s/J.R.R Tolkien’s books even though you hate the author’s style and/or the author.
17. It’s hard to tell when you’re in character or out of character.
18. You mindlessly doodle sketches of your character or their weapons while ignoring something really important.
19. You know more mythology than your professor.
20. When you see the headline ‘Man Shot Ten Times Survives.!’ you can’t help but think god player.
21. You have a pet named after a mythological creature/being (or something like Minion).
22. You are now referring to people as mortals or humans.
23. You constantly say ‘reality sucks’.
24. You always relate situations you face with those of your characters’.
25. You ask yourself ‘what would my character do’.
26. You no longer consider yourself part of the human race.
27. You have actually bought a sword because you thought it would be something your character would carry.
28. You have seen Lord of the Rings/Harry Potter more than two times.
29. You have learned/are trying to learn/would like to learn Elvish.
30. You constantly mistake Elvis for elvish (when people say Elvis you think they said elvish and begin a conversation involving elves) but get angry when others mistake elvish for Elvis.