"That's Role - not Roll" - what role playing is really about

The title of the post is borrowed from an article in Dragon Magazine #188 that just now lies beside me, in case anyone asks.
The ingenious word play does in fact address the main issue we currently have with the hobby.
The everlasting argument that modern games tend to sail towards boardgame model and how old games were all about role playing.
As it seems in the distant 1992 we had exactly the same problems and rest assured that they became visible much earlier than the publication date of the article.

The said article does not (unsurprisingly) bring anything new to the table. It can be summarised in the following points of advice:

• develop background for your character (for players)
• remember what game you're playing (for players)
• don't use cliches while running the game (for DMs)
• deviate from the scenario if it improves the game (for DMs)
• suspend your disbelief and don't question DMs decisions (for players)

Not really revealing and it's not due to the fact that the game was still developing in those days. Believe me, it was not.

So, I was disappointed, but the title left me thinking.

What is in fact the essence of role playing?

How do we role play? How can we role play?

As the DMs role and responsibilities are somewhat broader than 'just' role playing I mean to approach it from a player's perspective. Obviously the term Role Playing Games encompasses various areas of activity and it's not my intention to write yet another imperfect definition of the game. There are people much more apt to tackle with this subject.
What I am coming from is that the grand part of the game is about playing a role. Or in other words taking up a role of someone else, a character, and acting as if you were this character.
The first thing that comes to mind is...

Theatre

Yes, you can say - Cinema. but theatre has a way longer (euphemism) tradition of acting and to me is much closer to the rpgs than cinema. The reason for this is probably a good idea for another post.
What theatrical actors do is act. They take up prescripted roles (let's forget about improv theatre for now) and do their best to convince the audience they are this prescripted character.
They act like that character, they speak like that character (including simulating the choice of words, the tone, the accent etc.) they simulate the emotions that the character would feel in a given context.
There are few major differences everyone will immediately notice. An actor works in a predetermined context which is known to him. The events do not surprise him, he knows the plot through and out. The other thing is that the actor works with his whole body, he walks and gesticulates.
Finally, acting is actor's job. His approach to acting is incomparably more serious than that of a fantasy games amateur (nota bene). But should it be that way?

Holding the steer

Unlike a traditional actor the rpg players don't play in a predetermined environment (theoretically). At least, they should not be aware of any predetermination. Surely, if you're playing a scenario prepared by a DM then some assumptions regarding the plot have been made. Commercial modules have even more rigid frames. But the important difference is that the players do not know how their adventure will end. In fact, they should be holding the steer and drive the events they participate in. If they're not this is either DMs or Player's oversight. This I will not address here, but I have read at least two fantastic and comprehensive articles on the subject:

How to dungeon master and How to play a character

This makes all adventures open-ended. And theoretically the players can do anything they want. This gives them certain opportunities that most of the players are not aware of. And certain responsibilities.
By consciously acting in their environment they not only express their character's nature, but they also shape it. They have total control over their character's personality and destiny. They build the character in a much wider sense that during generating the character's stats. They make moral decisions that influence the course of the game and define them. This is something only recently taken up by the video game industry, but something that was lurking in shadows of the tabletop rpg world from the beginning.

Speech

One mean of expression that rpg players share with actors is speech. Rpg's distinctive feature is that the primary tool used by the players is speech actually.
Players describe what their characters are doing. But they also speak for their characters in first person.
This is an important mean of building the character. Of playing the role. Identify with the character and speak as if you are him and he is you. I mentioned the choice if words, accent, tone, temperament that actors simulate. Those are exactly the tools necessary for proper playing of a role. If you have a player that always treats his/her character as a third person and uses solely indirect speech than there is not much role playing in there. Role playing is not about moving your pawn on an imaginary board. This is 'imaginary chess'.
Role playing is about becoming one with the character, about simulating his manner of being. Including the way he/she aloudly expresses his thoughts.

Body language

As I mentioned previously, theatre actors do have a somewhat broader range of role playing means and techniques.
Rpg players have their tongues - they talk. But wait till the tension at the table rises - they are ready to use their arms and hands.
Still, there is quite a distinctive line between rpg acting and theatrical acting - the space of rpg acting is limited to the player's personal space. In that sense, rpg acting is much more static. Everything you can do with your voice, face (faces, frowns etc.) and waist-up body parts (gestures) can be uses to expand your game. All other manoeuvres that include moving in horizontal space and actions that involve using the whole body need to be described in words.
This often leads to a situation where players forget about certain elements of the body language and thus simplify their game.
Language itself is a powerful mean of expressing one's manner of being, behaviour, personality. Body language is multiplying the effect by 2.
This is a inseparable element of any true role playing activity.

Interaction

One reason I began longing for rpgs after my temporary break was that in no other game I was able to interact and build relations on a comparable level.
This is not only about free choice, but about having no limits in interacting with the fictitious world and its inhabitants. While role playing we are able to approach any single problem from any angle we're capable of adopting. Our characters here share only the same limitations that we have as people.
Role playing on that level brings colours to the game and breaches the boundaries that all other games have. It becomes so much more than just a game as a set of rules that we understand and use better or worse than the others. It creates aesthetic value.  It becomes art in the sense we use it while referring to the 'art of living'. It gives us freedom do be whoever we want to be and try whatever we want to try.

Emotional immersion

This is something I tackled a bit already in one of my earlier posts.
Role playing is not only about superficial actions. It's about simulating internal sensations. Suggesting their existence by our actions. At a certain point this will lead inevitably to experiencing emotions.
A good actor acts emotions out. A great actor seems as if he was feeling them for real. This is something everyone immediately senses, whether emotions are acted or genuine. But as modern psychologists claim, emotions are not only about 'inside outside', but also about 'outside inside'. It means that if we're pretending to feel something, with time our brain will begin to adopt the imagined mindset.
By explaining this I only want to make a point, that true role playing leads to emotions.
And in order to be a part of it we need to embrace them. More than that, we need to actively get engaged in the game. Start treating it seriously for a change, the way serious actors do. It's not all 'fun and games' in your everyday sense. It's role playing, it's about temporarily becoming someone else. Not only on a paper or video screen. In your head! 
This particular part is probably the most interesting in the terms that it's not exclusive to tabletop rpgs. It's becoming more and more common for certain video games to use that mechanism - relating to the main character who symbolises the player. Movies and books have been using it since always, but without providing that level if interaction.


Suspension of disbelief

This one is about immersion in the game itself, not only in your character. Role playing assumes that you take your fictuitious environment for real. There is no spoon? Quite the opposite - the spoon is real. Deal with it.

Role playing is about existing in a given environment, not questioning it - unless its substantiated for the character by some strange events. 

Articles were written for DMs advising on how to run a game that does not force the players to suspend their disbelief. But equal effort needs to be made by the players themselves. 

Remember - whatever happens - happens. Treat the game seriously. That is not only the best way to start really enjoying it, but also to play your role right.

A silly example: if one day you enter your flat and discover that one of the walls is missing, do you say "Ekhm, God, this is not how it's supposed to be. There was a wall here, remember? I refuse to live on if this wall is not back in place."

I am not saying the players should tolerate DMs foolishness at all times, I am saying though that rules lawyering, meta-gaming and questioning your environment is not an element of playing a role.

Bear that in mind.

Conclusion

I am probably the last person to tell you how to play your games.

I am however interested in how much role playing is in rpgs. And in crpgs. And any other games that we play, be it video, board, card games for that matter.

So my point is that if you really want to role play - consider my points above.

And note in such case the particular set of rules you're using is irrelevant. Rolling your dice, having particular system of skills is secondary. You don't need the 5th edition of game X to do the thing you want to do.

It will not improve your role playing in any way.