There has been several similar threads on what you like in shadowrun. This is more in general what makes roleplay fun for you. I let a mod make the descision if this should be moved to general gaming.

It been said roleplay is a game, you play it for fun.
For me this is true but incomplete. Painting is putting swirls of colour on a canvas. poems are strokes of ink on a page, sculpture is a rock with bits knocked off.

So as you can see I am a proponent of Roleplay is Art group.

there has been plenty of attempts to catagorize themes of roleplayer and so we have names that become slang. Just outline what you like.

I have been labelled a story orintated ref. I am not. I am an experence orintated player and ref.
What I enjoy, what I love, is the moment when the rules, the plot, the characters, the story fade away. When you know that the people play with you are gone, and you feel and think as another person in another world.

And when I get right, that moment stretchs and intensifies with the course of the events of your character/your life. Some part of you is calculating dice odds but your thinking" can I make that jump?"
Hand roll dice and its" Will he betray me?" Your roleplaying but feel, "Can I justify bringing a child into this world with the life I lead?"

And when I get it just right, helped by the ref and the other players, we drop out of character at the end of that moment. And not only have we had a blast, we take something real back with us, an insight or outlook from walking insome else shoes for a few hours.

So amounst the make believe and lets pretend, just like good art, you have felt or learned something real.

Floors open ladies and gents.

There is something sublime when a character takes on a life of its own and actually comes to life... it is a great feeling, and one that I always try to achieve... it does not always happen though...

Your right, it is an Art Form... I would probably fall into that category of Player...

I believe the terms that I have been labeled with on occassion are the "Plumber", The "Builder", and the "Romantic."

All very accurate...

I won't go so far to call my weekly indulgence "Art" but I will say it is the most interactive form of entertainment out right now. As a player, I want to be entertained by my GM and the other players, and I see it as my duty to entertain them in return. Like any gamer, I like rolling dice, but I rarely get geeked up about making my characters "better" via gear, advancement, etc. I take much more pride in what other players talk about later and they are almost universally role playing moments. As a GM, I try to let the players be the focus. My NPC's and the usual story arc take a back seat to what they want to do, but can come up any time to provide meaningful challenge and something to pin everything together. I am a benevolent tyrant. I force my players into my view of the game world, but usually offer "in character" advice to help them move things along when I feel it is appropriate. As a GM, I am obviously "playing" vicariously through my players, so I want them to succeed. But I never want it to be easy . I will say without a doubt, any character that flourish in my games earned that shit the hard way.

There is no art, there is game.
There is no story, there are dice.
There are no munchkins, there are players.
There is no fun, there are the rules.

Benevolent Tyrant?... Benevolent Tyrant?... More like Vicious Dictator... Well, okay, maybe not dictator... and yes, I think we definitely earned it, generally the hard way, though sometimes the nigh impossible way...

Though, all things considered, I would not change the game environment that you provide at all, I tend to thrive on the challenge, even if I do not look like I am doing so at the time, and appear to be pulling my hair out in the process...

I have been in other games that were not so challenging, or were down right ridiculous (some convention games come immediately to mind)

My Two Cents

Bit of threadomancy as i have been away.
Yeah I know that feeling, but if there was no challange and so no real success would it be as fun? Even the emotional hurt when a character dies shows that you have invested emotionally in your creation and so go something out of it. i like every aspect of the game from stat crunching to forcing my perspective to different point of view. But the even the fustration and grief just add to the whole experence.

So... you're Darth Toturi, Dark Lord of the Sithorun?

Many years ago (25? 30?), in AD&D, our team was being royally smashed, players dying, half of us held out of the fray by a Wall of Force, and the only character with a weapon that could touch the nasty, demonic thing eating us alive was held in some sort of extra-dimensional maze. My Illusionist, one whom I had cherished for years, had run out of almost all his spells and was just about to teleport to safety ... when my buddy's character with the specially prepared weapon reappeared from the maze.

I looked at him ... he looked at me, and we both knew anyone left there alone was dead meat. So instead of teleporting away, my Illusionist Magic Missiled the demon, drawing its attention, getting sliced in half (He went something like 25 hit points into the hole from one blow) ... and my friend's character smote the thing mightily, killing it instantly.

After it all, as I left his place, my buddy gave me a big hug. We both knew what I learned that day. If I had to, when the stakes were real, I could give my life for a friend.

To me it is all in the fun. Thoughh I do find that when the PC's start giving life to to the campaign, my job becomes easier as GM (adventure ideas are right there).

I think he won the thread.

Define fun? That's a tough one. I'm gonna have to go with Kate Beckinsale, Eliza Dushku & Kiera Knightley with a can of ReadyWhip and...

Oh! You meant something related to Shadowrun didn't you? My bad.

That's Good...

If you are worried about defining fun, you're probably not having it... hence how I doubt half the posters out here have had much fun RPing ever

Its a sad fact that with experence comes well experence. So if your passionate about something you learn what you like and the consequences involved.
Which is why I dont go on rugby tours any more

Definition of fun:

Not wanting to be anywhere other than where you are right at that moment.