I love The Neopian Times. I've read many of the past issues on file, and I
read last week's issue when it came out. One of the articles I read last Friday
was one about Lupe Roleplaying, or Lupe RP. I have spent more than a few hours
browsing through the chat rooms on this site, and you might say I've conducted
my own research.While I do not claim to be an expert on the subject of Lupe
roleplaying, I do feel confident in saying that I do not agree with all the
statements presented in last week's Lupe RP article. There are several points
I would like to bring up about the previous article and Lupe RP in general.
While I have no grievances with al_the_chia (author of the Lupe RP article),
I do think his article left out some very important things regarding Lupe roleplaying.
In the article, he states that "these RPers are probably the most intelligent
Neopians in the world." That is a broad generalization if I've ever heard one.
It is comparable to saying that all Battledomers are rich and know everything
about Neopets, or that all Site Spotlight winners have the best HTML skills
in the world. It's just not true.
I do not doubt that there are many intelligent RPers playing Neopets. I have,
however, encountered several Lupe RP boards created by people who are more than
likely not "the most intelligent Neopians in the world." In addition, I have
met people on Neopets who are very intelligent and not Lupe RPers.
As far as I can tell, Lupe RPers are not using Old English. Old English is
the language of The Canterbury Tales and other such works. Please correct me
if I'm wrong, but I have yet to see a Lupe RPer whose language compares to that
of Chaucer. The language of the RP boards is definitely imaginative, but Old
English it is not. In describing RP board word choice, I feel that "imaginative"
is the best way to describe it.
These boards contain more made-up words than I thought possible. Apparently,
"orbs" does mean "eyes", as does "octives." At first, I thought that octives
was merely a misspelling of the musical term "octave". Closer examination revealed
that it was being used as a substitute for "eyes." I ran for my dictionary.
Sure enough, "octive" is not listed. Neither is "ivorn", another common descriptive
word. I can only assume that ivorn is a derivative of "ivory" since the Lupes
in question are always white.
Further exploration in my dictionary informed me that ivory is a variable color
"averaging a pale yellow." I cannot fathom why anyone would want to portray
their lovely white Lupe as pale yellow. With these made-up words thrown into
the long chains of adjectives favored by Lupe RPers, the language of the Lupe
chats is frequently cumbersome and not at all like the flow of Old English.
Rather than poetic, it seems that many Lupe RPers are owners with overactive
imaginations and a handy thesaurus.
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Lupes, their owners, or their decision
to RP. Roleplaying is a fun way to interact with your pet and other pets and
owners throughout Neopia. As al_the_chia put it, "Anyone with an imagination
and/or a Lupe can participate." And they most certainly do. | 
