Semantics: Roleplaying vs. Storytelling

And just to throw oil on the confusion:

What do we mean by "playing a role"?

When I played Karl in Jesses' Sorcerer game, I made up names for my PC's servents, I invented a statue of the Madona that stood at a cross roads so he could wake up from a week of madness at its feet, and described the typical reaction the townspeople had when I appeared in public?

Certainly I was in charge of much of my character's "screen time," but what I did seems hardly limited to playing a role.

Sorcerer offers a lot of Author stance, and Jesse ran with it. I spent a great deal of time not playing my character, but building the world around him that best illustrated the story he was a part of. I'm with Jonathan on this one: RPGs are a lot more than "playing an elf." Or, at least, they can be.

Take care,
Christopher