Chuck, Rupert, et al.--
Having given this a fair amount of thought over the years (being the
target of some of this "enthusiasm"), my thoughts have included this:
The population of people who get real value, pleasure, and excitement out
of RPGs (i.e., sitting around for large portions of their lives thinking
about imaginary worlds and what happens there), is only a limited portion
of the whole population, and I think we would all accept, a minority.
As all characteristics in life are two-edged, this capacity for sustained
fantasy comes with an unnatural aversion to things that oppose our current
"what I want to imagine," as compared to our current "things I want to
imagine."
We all know that the things "I want to imagine" change over our lives, but
the issue is the INTENSITY of that desire/aversion, as that is necessary
for a person to want to play an RPG to begin with. As opposed to waiting
364 days for the next Super Bowl. From what I hear, they still play that.
As I said, I've given this a lot of thought over the years, and this is
one of my thoughts, not all of them. But today, I think it is the most
salient one. YMMV
God bless us, every one.
> On 5 Feb 2016 at 8:56, [Traveller_TNE] wrote:
>>
>> What I have absolutely never understood about our "hobby" is the level
of fanaticism that seems to appear. I've got all of the editions of
Traveller and I mix and match the pieces that work for me and ignore
the ones that don't. I'd like to think this is a balanced perspective
on a "game" that is meant to be an enjoyable experience for the
participants.
>> I've been around long enough to have seen the flamewars over any number
of different topics, and it's just utterly juvenile behavior to me. I
realize that there are those individuals who have adopted a particular
version of Traveller as a "religion" and in typical fashion are
intolerant of those who don't share their "beliefs." That sort of
behavior is just not acceptable for children, let alone adults. In
short, if a game has become your reality then you have a problem
bordering on outright addiction and you need to get a life and learn to
respect the opinions and perspectives of others without spiraling down
into some petty, childish rant about a non-real situation. Intolerance
and hate are for small-minded people. I'd like to hope that we can all
be better than that.
>> But...
>> Your Mileage May Vary...
>
> It's common behaviour for people when it comes to hobbies. There is only
one correct
> scale for a model railway, and so on.
>
>
>
Having given this a fair amount of thought over the years (being the
target of some of this "enthusiasm"), my thoughts have included this:
The population of people who get real value, pleasure, and excitement out
of RPGs (i.e., sitting around for large portions of their lives thinking
about imaginary worlds and what happens there), is only a limited portion
of the whole population, and I think we would all accept, a minority.
As all characteristics in life are two-edged, this capacity for sustained
fantasy comes with an unnatural aversion to things that oppose our current
"what I want to imagine," as compared to our current "things I want to
imagine."
We all know that the things "I want to imagine" change over our lives, but
the issue is the INTENSITY of that desire/aversion, as that is necessary
for a person to want to play an RPG to begin with. As opposed to waiting
364 days for the next Super Bowl. From what I hear, they still play that.
As I said, I've given this a lot of thought over the years, and this is
one of my thoughts, not all of them. But today, I think it is the most
salient one. YMMV
God bless us, every one.
> On 5 Feb 2016 at 8:56, [Traveller_TNE] wrote:
>>
>> What I have absolutely never understood about our "hobby" is the level
of fanaticism that seems to appear. I've got all of the editions of
Traveller and I mix and match the pieces that work for me and ignore
the ones that don't. I'd like to think this is a balanced perspective
on a "game" that is meant to be an enjoyable experience for the
participants.
>> I've been around long enough to have seen the flamewars over any number
of different topics, and it's just utterly juvenile behavior to me. I
realize that there are those individuals who have adopted a particular
version of Traveller as a "religion" and in typical fashion are
intolerant of those who don't share their "beliefs." That sort of
behavior is just not acceptable for children, let alone adults. In
short, if a game has become your reality then you have a problem
bordering on outright addiction and you need to get a life and learn to
respect the opinions and perspectives of others without spiraling down
into some petty, childish rant about a non-real situation. Intolerance
and hate are for small-minded people. I'd like to hope that we can all
be better than that.
>> But...
>> Your Mileage May Vary...
>
> It's common behaviour for people when it comes to hobbies. There is only
one correct
> scale for a model railway, and so on.
>
>
>