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I was a member of my college's gaming group way back when. I did play D&D-- I can remember staying up until 5 AM one night/morning playtesting 3rd ed.-- but my first love were White-Wolf's World of Darkness games, especially Vampire: The Masquerade (table-top). I still get together with friends every few months to play it. (We'd meet more often, but we're technically grown-ups now. Not as much free time. Ah, well.)
Then I discovered the best role-playing game of all: Life. I threw away the books and the dice and the lead figurines and got on with something much more rewarding. Why play pretend when you can play at the real thing?
Can you play the best 1/2 of a 2-headed-Giant in irl?
Can you argue with God every time you don't agree with the rules of life? AD&D taught me how to effectively argue with others.
Heck my friends almost got so fed up with me arguing all the time ( and winning every argument) they practically forced me to DM so I just would stop arguing with the DM over the rules.
And because my very 1st RPG group existed out of Americans and 1 Australian kid I had to learn English to understand the rules and play AD&D.
I played D&D before it was cool, starting from 1975 with the very first set of rules. A friend of mine even worked for Gygax and TSR. We went on to play Traveler, Boot Hill, Rune Quest, and Space Opera. Won tournaments at GenCon, etc. etc. etc.
Then I discovered the best role-playing game of all: Life. I threw away the books and the dice and the lead figurines and got on with something much more rewarding. Why play pretend when you can play at the real thing?
You know cpg...the precise same could be said for any hobby. They are totally superfluous to real life, mere fluff to make us more interesting people at least in our own eyes. I have plenty of hobbies that contribute more or less to my personal well-being in real life and the same could be said for gaming. The real magic of role-playing isn't pretending to be someone else or living a false life. It's comaraderie with like minded people partaking in a social activity, nothing more, nothing less. Any hobby could easily be seen as pointless in the right context.
So what activities engage your attention that I would feel are useless wastes of time?
You know cpg...the precise same could be said for any hobby. They are totally superfluous to real life, mere fluff to make us more interesting people at least in our own eyes. I have plenty of hobbies that contribute more or less to my personal well-being in real life and the same could be said for gaming. The real magic of role-playing isn't pretending to be someone else or living a false life. It's comaraderie with like minded people partaking in a social activity, nothing more, nothing less. Any hobby could easily be seen as pointless in the right context.
So what activities engage your attention that I would feel are useless wastes of time?
Well, I write novels, play a musical instrument, sail, and bike.
But, you misunderstand. I used to love RPGs. But you know what I really started to understand about people who were really, really into the activity? Whether in our large gaming club or at the conventions, it slowly dawned on me that a very large proportion of the people who played ultimately couldn't get their act together in life. Divorces, terrible careers, money problems, and a general cluelessness about life prevail to a startling degree in the RPG community, because so many do indeed choose to escape the general complexity of life by living vicariously in an imaginary world.
Is it a case of the chicken and the egg? Now you can say that those people would have been that way without RPGs. But I would offer that a person can be a latent alcoholic, living a normal, productive life until he has his first sip of Jim Beam.
And I think your parallel with Ham Radio operators, stamp collectors, golfers, chess players, or women who collect ceramic cats just falls apart, chiefly because none of these kinds of hobbies really fuel such escapism.
Whether in our large gaming club or at the conventions, it slowly dawned on me that a very large proportion of the people who played ultimately couldn't get their act together in life.
The reason why I'm not a financial 'successful' artist is because I refuse to financially wh*re myself.
Quote:
Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.
Albert Einstein
Quote:
Divorces, terrible careers, money problems, and a general cluelessness about life prevail to a startling degree in the RPG community, because so many do indeed choose to escape the general complexity of life by living vicariously in an imaginary world.
And again I've to agree with Albert that reality is an illusion, albeit a persistent 1.
Quote:
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
Albert Einstein, (attributed)
Well, I write novels, play a musical instrument, sail, and bike.
But, you misunderstand. I used to love RPGs. But you know what I really started to understand about people who were really, really into the activity? Whether in our large gaming club or at the conventions, it slowly dawned on me that a very large proportion of the people who played ultimately couldn't get their act together in life. Divorces, terrible careers, money problems, and a general cluelessness about life prevail to a startling degree in the RPG community, because so many do indeed choose to escape the general complexity of life by living vicariously in an imaginary world.
Is it a case of the chicken and the egg? Now you can say that those people would have been that way without RPGs. But I would offer that a person can be a latent alcoholic, living a normal, productive life until he has his first sip of Jim Beam.
And I think your parallel with Ham Radio operators, stamp collectors, golfers, chess players, or women who collect ceramic cats just falls apart, chiefly because none of these kinds of hobbies really fuel such escapism.
Um..no I don't think it falls apart. Chiefly because I work with some rather successful idividuals who game regularly. They're engineers who live a pretty comfortable life. I'd offer it being just as likely that you were running with a group of losers.
I would assert that, for people who are prone to obsession and addictive disorders, the level of immediate escapism in an activity is not necessarily a vital component in developing destructive addiction. There are lots people who develop obssessive disorders with collecting. I don't see how collecting offers much in the way of escapism. And yet, people will spend large amounts (in some cases financially damaging sums!) of their income on inconsequential tchotchkies with no value to anyone but them. I've also heard of specific individuals who become obssessive over music and leave good jobs to "play in a band!"
While I agree, RPG's can offer a high degree of escapism and that may have a tendency to draw a higher percentage of obssessive personalities to it, participation in an RPG for a well adjusted individual does not constitute greater likelihood to become a destructive factor in one's life.
In other words, I completely agree with you, there is latent obssessive addictive disorders that can destroy people. But I assert this would have reared it's head in a person's life regardless of whether they had chosen to play an RPG or a guitar or take up stamp collecting. But most likely, these individuals would have eventually turned to alcohol and most probably did anyway.
Like cpg35223, I used to play when I was younger, although not EXACTLY in the same time frame.
Starting around 1980, I would always go to the hobby store with my father who happened to be big into models. (Sidenote: He was a VERY good builder. It was not uncommon for the store to give him 2 models for free as long as they could display one).
Now as a child, I had ALWAYS loved the midieval ages. Knights battling one another and all of that. Well, it just so happened that this hobby store had the little lead figures that you could paint. I just could not help myself as a 9 year old and I talked my father into buying me some figures and some paint.
Now the funny thing is that at the same time I started painting, my parents also got me the old red D&D manuals to go with the figures. It took me a few years to do more then glace at those manuals. I was more interested in painting those figures. However, eventually I realized that maybe I should start playing D&D just to put the figures to use. By that time AD&D was out, which is what I played. From then on I played until I was in college. Once in college I just found a different hobby, the SCA
Is it a case of the chicken and the egg? Now you can say that those people would have been that way without RPGs. But I would offer that a person can be a latent alcoholic, living a normal, productive life until he has his first sip of Jim Beam.
While I do agree that too many people tend to escape in fantasy (look at people addicted to MMOs), refusing to engage in Roleplaying because some people take it to extremes is as silly as refusing to drink because some people are alcoholics.
While I haven't played D&D in a few years, I did play while in college and beyond. I am a successful individual, and I do still engage in some miniatures-gaming and RPG-based computer games from time to time. I just can't afford the time commitment for a D&D campaign at this point in my life.
But D&D is not inherently harmful, any more than alcohol is inherently harmful. In fact, it is more social and requires interaction not afforded by activities such as writing, practicing a musical instrument, sailing, or bicycling.
My husband and I play D&D 2nd ed. We have a group of about 5 people who play. We used to all meet at my house, but since everyone lives about 2 hours from eachother, and gas prices went up we decided to continue our game online through the Open RPG website. It takes a bit longer to play, because not everyone can type as quickly, but it's still fun and a way to relax once a week.
My husband and I play D&D 2nd ed. We have a group of about 5 people who play. We used to all meet at my house, but since everyone lives about 2 hours from eachother, and gas prices went up we decided to continue our game online through the Open RPG website. It takes a bit longer to play, because not everyone can type as quickly, but it's still fun and a way to relax once a week.
I'd never heard of Open RPG before. Gonna have to check that out!!
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Can you play the best 1/2 of a 2-headed-Giant in irl?
and winning every argument) they practically forced me to DM so I just would stop arguing with the DM over the rules.
And because my very 1st RPG group existed out of Americans and 1 Australian kid I had to learn English to understand the rules and play AD&D.
And again I've to agree with Albert that reality is an illusion, albeit a persistent 1.
