Sitting here firmly in 2025, it’s hard to imagine that anyone hasn’t seen an “actual play” series of their favorite RPG.
As a sometimes-GM, I pick up a definite scent of other players trying to emulate something that they saw on some episode of their chosen actual play show (let’s be honest, it’s pretty much always Critical Role) - despite me personally only having watched two AP series (and I recommend them! The Dungeon Run is a world-scale fantasy epic with an amazing cast, and it’s good despite staying family-friendly; DesiQuest is fun and funny, centering South Asian culture as the backdrop of its fantasy world).
I’m well aware that there’s plenty of commentary and advice warning players off from emulating or comparing their tables to AP parties. It’s good advice, follow it.
Here’s why: RPG Actual Plays resemble our gaming experience about as much as a cooking show resembles Tuesday nights in my kitchen. You know how the food at a restaurant comes out looking nothing like the picture on the menu? PSA: If it does, don’t eat that 
, you’d be better of with Fisher-Price toy meals.
Actual Plays are a lot like professional wrestling with better actors. They’ve work-shopped the major plot developments, they know their timings and have assigned character-focus times on screen.
I know this might hit like the truth about Santa Claus, but those shows are incredibly entertaining because they’re coordinated and contrived top-to-bottom. That’s why some of them (correction: one of them) make the big bucks, and it’s kind of obviously how the camera is always perfectly pointing at the right person at the right time. They’re good at production, but no one’s that good.
You’re still allowed to enjoy them, and please keep watching! Just keep in mind that the boundaries of story-telling are different when they’re laid out ahead of time. At your own table, it’s unlikely that the other players will sit in rapt attention through a one-on-one RP discussion with the GM. Your character’s campaign-spanning arc of personal motivations probably won’t get enthusiastic support from your party mates. No one’s going to care about your arch-nemesis; push it hard enough and the party may start taking the jobs they post.
Every campaign is different, but it’s pretty likely that the player tasked with presenting the primary plot will want to have a good grasp on story elements inserted by other players before it broadsides the campaign they spent hours/days/weeks working on.
Sometimes the GM is excited to work character story hooks into the larger narrative, but it’s not something any player is entitled to and expecting it is a short road to Disappointmentville (hey, that’s my home town!). Sometimes the GM has a limited timetable for the campaign and needs to hew the close to the core of the campaign to make sure a satisfying conclusion is in reach. Either way, this sort of group expectation-management needs to be a part of your Session Zero discussion.