Once you're 'within' you can easily argue about nearly everything. Games, game versions and editions, game accessories, gaming styles and tactics, gaming principles of any kind... Well, there's probably not a thing you cannot argue about or bring to dispute.
Against any non-gamer the gamers will stand firm and united. Leave them to themselves however and they begin to create their own personal hell on earth. A conclusion surprisingly similar to the quote of one of the Russian Tzars about the Poles.
I, myself, am not free of this quality though I would rather support unity than difference of opinions, most of the time.
But there is one thing that touches me personally that I just need to point out.
I see it as a symptom of degeneration of the gaming society. Or at least a part of it.
It was the principal reason my gamers' pack disbanded.
It's, in a few words, treating RPGs too seriously.
What do you mean, I hear you ask. Aren't RPGs the best thing under the sun?
Well, Bill Shankly once said about football;
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that."
I need to be frank with you. This will never work with RPGs. Stop fooling yourselves right now.
One thing is worth remembering at all times. RPG is 'just' a game.
That's the first step for a healthy approach to it. It's probably the best game in the world. I will not argue about that.
This post is not about how RPGs are great though I could probably bore you to death proving it.
I love the game. I like it more than any other game. The best thing about it is that it becomes what you want it to become. The players make the game. They set it to match their needs. So cool!
You can't do that with a video game. You can't do that with a boardgame.
But you know what's unhealthy? When you start to believe there's only one way to play it right.
When you start setting your expectations so high, that at a certain moment it feels too scary to even start playing. Too easy to fail in your attempt to match the expectations. When you expect to experience a catharsis on every gaming session. When you expect to discover yourself and your soul through the game.
When you start building your self-esteem on the basis of what you play and how you play. Or more importantly what you do not play ('because it's so lame and naive').
In the late 90s on the polish gaming arena I noticed a strong tendency to go into this 'ambitious' direction with all games available at the time.
The appearance of the WoD games on the market, which I find most pretentious. The sudden turn that Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay took into the dark and gritty game with almost no magic (try using a mage in 1ed) and basically human vs human conflicts (it had its merits).
I have played sessions of CP2020 that had nothing to do with the flamboyant and gaudy tone of the '80s in the future' as it was originally intended. More like a Blade Runner after a heroine trip.
Yeah, maybe we were teens back then and we craved for some deeply emotional experiences, downright depressive... To feel that we're doing something more than just playing games. To feel that we're crossing some invisible line, experiencing something extraordinary. It was all around, everyone played like that. Well, at least people that counted back then.
But somewhere on the way we also lost fun from playing.
In the years that followed I managed to look at RPGs with a fresh eye. It does not seem naive or childish to me anymore to play a heroic paladin who saves a village from the bandits or crawls through narrow dungeons to find some forgotten relic. I don't feel bad that the setting I use is not populated solely by degenerate people who only think of survival and their own gain. I don't actually expect to feel frustration, pain, misery and depression during a gaming session that I need to overcome in order to feel more mature and think better of myself.
You know, I have that everyday in life. It started the moment when I took responsibility of myself and my life. And when I play RPGs I just want to have fun, that or another way.
I believe that RPGs are on of the best things you could ever play. I believe it's really worth sharing with other people.
And here's another important aspect of having a healthy distance to it. I can't help but notice, that people who take RPGs too seriously tend to either be too ashamed to publicly admit they play or too socially awkward to care.
Once you get a more balanced view of what RPGs are it's easier to draw new people in. It's easier to show them how really entertaining and educative they can be. I tried it and I know. Trust me.
And we can only benefit from promoting RPGs in the society. Not only among the 'blessed elite'.
So go on, play your Vampire, Werewolf, Cthulhu (great game), Kult, Paranoia, Conspiracy X, Idee Fixe, gritty WFRP etc. if it turns you on. Someone else will play Old School sandbox. I will play my cheesy AD&D and occasionally something else. We're really riding on the same cart down the mine shaft.
Anyone's brought a torch?......
