Information about role-playing in general and in Second Life
Information about different ways of role-playing, variants and possible problems, both in the virtual world Second Life and otherwise.
Role-playing usually means acting in a different way than one usually does, or would like to do, owing to the situation, people's expectations, own free will, or a combination of the above. Since most people adapt their behavior to the situation in at least some ways, in one sense they all role-play all the time.
People may role-play in very different ways and at very different levels, so one shouldn't automatically assume that everyone have got the same ways and aims as oneself, and be careful judging those who don't. Even if the way that other people go about things may be frustrating or even seem malicious, it neither has to be intended that way, nor perceived that way by others.
Some people are the same and act the same way in Second Life (SL) as they usually are and do in their first/real lives (RL), while others may alter both gender, age, behavior and physical appearance from their RL. Some have one avatar for all their needs, with a look they don't change any more than they change their look in RL, by changing clothes, make-up and hair-style, while others may have completely alternate avatar shapes, including different genders and non-human forms like furries, elves, dragons or robots, and others again may have two or more different avatar identities for different moods or purposes.
Some people keep their SL and RL existences strictly separated, while others see the two as the same existence but in two different environments, similar to e.g. being at home and at work.
Some people see their avatars as just a bunch of pixels to play around with, while others identify strongly with their avatars. This means that an action like decapitation or maiming of the avatar may be regarded as a fun thing to try for one person but may be highly traumatic for another one.
Some people spend lots of efforts on creating an avatar appearance to their taste, while others settle with a generic avatar and spend their efforts on things they believe are more important or fun, e.g. creating or socializing.
Some judge others by e.g. how short time their avatar has existed ("noobs") or if they have payment info used or not ("free-riders"), but the age of an avatar does not need to reflect the experience of the person behind it, nor does the lack of payment info used mean someone is without funds or engagement, since they may still run successful businesses and e.g. rent big estates on private islands, contributing to SL economy.
Some people are looking for "serious" relationships in SL, be it professional, social or sexual ones, while others just play around, even if they may seem or pretend to be serious about it.
The presentation in an avatar's profile may be either a description applicable to the owner's RL, SL, both or none, and the information under the 1st life tab does not necessarily refer to the owner's RL existence, regardless if it seems plausible or contains photos or not.
In most cases, "common sense" will advice how to behave and role-play, but since "common sense" far from always really is "common", there will always be those with a different "common sense", possibly upsetting each other with their different behaviors, even if their behavior is perfectly sensible to themselves.
When there are written rules about behavior and role-playing stated by the owners of land or groups, these rules should be respected while on that land or while being active in that group. Such rules are the SL Terms of Service (TOS) for all of SL, the covenant for private sims, and the notecards with rules often handed out automatically when one arrives at a location where role-playing or other interactions are expected.
If behavior or way of role-playing violates explicit or implicit rules, or "common sense", out of ignorance, thoughtlessness, arrogance or malicious intent, people will usually react. If lucky, one will simply be informed or reminded of the rules and get a chance to comply, if not so lucky, one may get a bashing, be kicked out and banned.
Even if people role-play in different ways and at different levels, they still often can have a valuable interaction, but sometimes it can result in frustration, feeling either let down or experiencing too high expectations. Staying aware of the possible differences, signaling ones own ways and intentions, either in profile or chat, and being attentive to such signals from others will reduce that risk.