My Little Guilty Pleasure

Okay, so call me a nerd, a geek, a dork whatever you wish but I have a confession. Many people have ways to unwind such as reading a book, taking a bubble bath or even watching old movies. All of which I love but my one guilty pleasure and way to unwind is by signing into my IMVU account for some roleplay. I love my real life, I have three kids, a loving husband and two pets; a dog named Taco and a cat named Stormy. When I sign into IMVU, an alternate world and life open up. One of which I am in full control and is filled with wonderful people from all over the world. I have bonded with these people in the roleplay environment and in real life. This is the story of my "pretend" life and why its so special to me.

In 2008 I found IMVU out of boredom one night. I wanted to chat with people and make new friends online that were not total perverts or spazz's. I signed up for an account and was a little upset when the first 3D room I entered I was booted for being a "Noob." I then took a deep breath and went into another room. A 50s style sock hop. It was awesome! The people were so friendly, the room owners from Australia welcomed me with open arms and we virtually danced the night away to the likes of Elvis Presley, Chubby Checker and many of the great oldies artists. I was hooked. A couple months into the IMVU experience, I was approached by one of the regulars at the sock hop to join her roleplay family. I had an idea what roleplay was because as a kid I used to participate in "Vampire Masquerade" meetings. I thought this would be fun and I should check it out. I agreed and was brought into a 3D castle to meet her family. They loved me and I was accepted into the family the next day by unanimous vote from 10 members. Thus began my 3D online roleplay.

Its now 2011 and I am still in roleplay. I did end up leaving that family for personal reasons, branching off to form my own. You may be asking, what is a roleplay family? Well, its just like a real life family only with a storyline. In fact, my hub author name is my roleplay moniker. I am Empress Lilly Cohoon, a daughter of the Soulfire Empire. Its awesome. I have a "husband" and several children. The great thing about it is that these people making up my online family have become close friends of mine and my real husband. We share joys and sorrows, we cry and laugh together and my roleplay children are like more real life children to me. My real children actually refer to them as their brothers and sisters. The roleplay experience allows you to be what you want to be, to create a character that fits your wildest imaginations. For example, my roleplay mother is part vampire, wolf, shapeshifter and demon. Talk about something you can never find in the real world.

Now, with all this said about the fun and bonding, there are some drawbacks to roleplay. Some who have experienced IMVU's roleplay community have come out badmouthing and bashing IMVU as a whole. IMVU is not full of sex addicts or crazies, but just as in the real world, there are some of those. So player beware. I place safety measures to my online time to avoid these people such as only allowing private chat invites from friends and keeping public and family rooms separate. Runs much smoother this way. There are people who come to me for entrance into my family that must be carefully monitored before extending membership. Why? The answer is simple. Some players come for the sole purpose of causing real drama and asking for gifts, nothing more. These are the kind that cannot roleplay because they don't know how. They just want to cause problems out of boredom or to get a cheap thrill. I will admit, I have banned people before for this, in fact, just last night I had to block and ban two people who tried this. Roleplay is not for the faint of heart because there is drama involved by people such as this. But, if you play it smart you can get away from these people and restore peace once again. Play out your storylines, use your imagination with the ones you hold dear.

Am I a geek, nerd or dork? Probably, but I love it! My character is an arch demon who rules four realms of the underworld with her husband and twelve children. We fight battles known as T1 style fighting where every move is carefully calculated and typed out in paragraph form. It uses a lot of brain power and imagination to do this, which is right up my alley since I am a writer professionally. Not such a stretch for me. My family is part of one of the largest, and most respected roleplay families on IMVU. These people are wonderful to roleplay with and to know in real life. I am truly blessed. No matter what you hear about IMVU, its not as bad as recent rumors that I have heard over the internet. We have some members of our family that are under the age of 18 and we are highly protective of them because of the delicate ages and the probability of predators slipping through the cracks and entering our virtual world. This can happen anywhere, thats why we must stick up for our younger members, so parents; if your child ever expresses wishes to join, first, read the Terms and Conditions to ensure they meet the minimum age requirements and monitor who they talk to and what rooms they visit. Rest assured that many of us families, should they join roleplay, will look out for them and we have children of our own, so we will report any abusive or explicit behaviors from anyone who your child comes in contact with.

Adults, joining IMVU is not a bad thing just use good manners and we all get along fine. Remember, there are real people behind each avatar. Unspoken rules of IMVU include use your manners, do not disrespect anyone, do not enter roleplay empires until you know more about them and you must greet everyone accordingly, and don't think you can play games, hack accounts or act any old way because we do boot, block and report. Safety features help us create an ideal world where we all get along and escape the atrocities that we see in the real world today. As long as roleplayers understand how to separate roleplay and real life, the experience can be enriching and wonderful. Thank you for letting me share my guilty pleasure. Whats yours?