Here is a video that I rather liked on this subject, and my comments are below:

What is Role Playing?

1. Everything…
2. Interacting in the game as the Character you are playing.

I can see how both can be the same. Is it wrong for someone to just ROLL PLAY? No. Role Playing can get tedious if taken to an extreme, and Roll Playing is not evil.

This issue reminds me of a time when I was GMing a Dungeon World game with Players who were all ‘hard core’ D&Ders. I tried to GM in the spirit of Dungeon World using Fronts rather than a set plot. I asked the Players, “What do you think is going to happen?” and similar questions. I had an idea of what was going to happen, but if someone came up with a good idea I went with it.

One Player told me, “I don’t like this. You are just being lazy!”

I asked him if he would prefer that I just railroad the game and force him to do what I thought was best? He didn’t answer, but just said that he didn’t like it.

I then invited him and anyone else who did not like how I was GMing to leave. No one left so I proceeded as before, but then just gave up and started railroading them.

They seemed happier.

Is there a right way to Role Play? How do you encourage Players to Role Play vs Roll Play? I try to reward Role Playing by giving the Player/Character an advantage of some sort in their next action if it relates to the Role Playing. I know some games and GMs give out tokens of some sort that can be used as Inspiration et al. Is there a better way?