How do you see yourself?

As an RPer, how do you see yourself? Do you think of yourself as a creative writer and focus in on that aspect, do you focus more on living through your character, or maybe it's more like playing a game to you?

How about as the GM? Are you a creator? Are you facilitating a game and nothing else? Do you see yourself as an active participant in the process or are you more of a passive observer who just provides information when required?

Lately I've been really curious about what this hobby is to other RPers/GMs.

I see myself as a potato that comes around and goes around.

Creative writer.

I kind of use RP as a fun and light hearted way to explore story themes and flex my creative muscle without having to stress myself out over market research or historical and political allegories. RPing is kind of creative writing without all the bad parts...for me anyway

As a GM, much as I've tried and failed, I used that to get to grips with my worldbuilding skills. My track record shows I'm pretty bad at it though.

You know what? I love Rose's answer. I think I'm kinda like that, too.

I'm not roleplaying to become the best writer or even the best psychologist. In fact I usually write a post, proofread it one or two times, and it's online! I like more exploring my character's interactions, adding more and more traits and backstory as the RP goes on. Speaking of which, yes - it does feel like a game sometimes. You start with some strong and weak points, and a certain personality: then you do stuff in a world the GM (normally) has built for you and see what happens next. And finally (although I really cannot confirm this because it's never happened to me), you get to the end, have your character in the Hall of Fame, and see what has changed!
The way I write of course is important, as you need to be understood and to put emphasis just on what you want to, but in a way comes second, after all of this "game" aspect :D

I see myself as an actor. I make a character, I get into their head, and then I put them through whatever scenario is going on, and there's usually either a fight or another character to play off, so I guess I'm a stunt coordinator and improv artist as well.

As a GM, well, I have very limited experience. But what I've tried so far makes me feel like a tabletop DM, setting up puzzles for my players to solve, building a little sandbox for them to play in, and inventing all sorts of NPCs for them to meet.

I see myself as someone who doesn't know how to RP, but yet wants to participate, so I try and usually fail. But at least I learn.

I'm an actor and a collaborator! I like to play off other people a lot, and help people develop and implement their ideas. This works for me both as a player and as a GM. I also like to push myself and others to really view situations through the characters' eyes and make the choices that they would make, not that we would make. I think it gets really fun when you keep true to a character and things get chaotic because of it~

I am a force of chaos here to entertain myself and others!

I'm in it to practice writing more than to actually strictly roleplay. That's why sometimes my characters can do things I would but maybe not they would - I gotta get better at this.

As a GM I'm most of all concerned with providing excitement and motivation for the players, as I get super happy seeing them enjoy the world we build!

Really RP was an eye opener for me, i was really a crap writer that doesn't even understood about character progression and one point at my start of my RP-ing here.

How do i see myself as an actor... Honestly, after i wrote a few chapters and also read few old RPs, now I'm really loving a RP where i could tell a story where the character grow. The growth of character is actually leaving a profound effect for me as a writer and also as a reader.

Well, so far I've only participated in one rp lol, but I used to enjoy writing things on my own back then.

I think I don't have much problem with getting inside my character's head and write how they would react in certain situations. I prefer to focus in the psychological part of them, so I guess I'm an actor...?
However, description and world building aren't my strong suit, specially the later.

Do you think of yourself as a creative writer and focus in on that aspect, do you focus more on living through your character, or maybe it's more like playing a game to you?

Hmm I think it's a bit of all three. Partly living through my character, or at least it used to be, and partly playing a game. As my character I get to live experiences I may not live through otherwise, through imagination. And as a game, I get to create different variety of characters and interact with other characters and with the RP's surroundings. And then, as creative writing, it has sometines happen that great ideas come from a roleplay and I get to create a story for my characters and expand on the universe on my head.

As a GM, I usually provide the basis for my universe, but I usually expect the roleplayers I RP with to contribute as well, with plot and setting idead. Not everyone will do that, though, and I would probably be horrible as a DnD type of GM. I like to bounce my ideas off of others.