Alright. This is my first post on the forum, so it might as well be one full of education and opinion for others to considder. I've roleplayed for over a year now. I started out somewhere else and after a tow-and-drag competition I made the transition into SL. I haven't regret it ever since and I'm glad I got thrown into this vast community and world. I came for the RP and currently just do everything on SL. Meeting new people, Roleplaying or just general fun and chitchat (Hurrah for introverted shyness behind a PC screen.)
Joining a group in order to roleplay.
First off. I call utter bull**bleep** on the rule. It is your profile and you can indeed do what you want. Nobody can force you to join a certain group in order to play or RP somewhere. However! Here comes the catch: Some RP communities require it for reasons! For example, the community where I RP Attack on Titan requires you to be in the Military group if you want to be part of said military. The reason behind this is the Combat HUD. Certain elements will only work if you are in that group, and if its active as your main one. Now, we don't require you to wear it at all times, because that is just utter bull**bleep**. But if you want to use the HUD, you got to be part of it. The choice is then up to you, do you want to be part of that? But in general, there might be reasons behind getting forced to join a group. Stuff like rezrights on the sim ect and to send out notices about events or other information regarding your group of choice. You also have to take In Character (IC) Stuff into account. If you for example are part of a guild group inside a sim, and you're in both, but its against the IC rules, then you're just in violation of the rules the sim/RP requires you to abide to, making it non other but your own fault.
To conclude: No, Nobody has the right to force anything upon you. Both OOC and IC. However, if you wish to play somewhere and they have rules regarding groups, then its up to your own discretion if you would want to mingle yourself in it.
Go easy on my english. It ain't that great. :matte-motes-delicious: