Hi Dakotah, Well, my thinking on this is simple. The people who don't roll play probably don't have a very good imagination so don't realise how fun it can be just spending an hour or two sitting around a table pretending that they are someone else living in a totally different world. Obviously, taking it too seriously is unhealthy, but so is any other game experience where the people can't draw a line between reality and fantasy. Which is really the problem here.
For instance, I knew some people who didn't like any kind of science fiction or fantasy shows. When I asked them why they didn't like science fiction or fantasy they replied that it was all fake, all made up, and wouldn't happen. In other words they didn't like it because they felt it was unreal so couldn't get into it. To this day I don't understand their thinking, but the same sort of attitude could be applied to roll playing. People who have an active imagination are more likely to be drawn to roll playing than someone who doesn't. I've always liked playing games of any kind, love to write short stories, and love to just make up things as I go along. Roll playing is right up my alley because I can create a totally new world, new character, and play around in it for a while. Someone who doesn't have a very active imagination might not like it that well. Cheers! On 6/20/12, Dakotah Rickard <[email protected]> wrote: > The difficult thing for roleplayers compared to others is that we, if > we have even a basic imagination, can come up with and play in a world > with a vastly different religion than we believe in. I've seen > devoutly faithful of several religions play happily in a world with > god upon god upon god which interacted daily with their characters. > I've seen atheists play characters who are so faithful it makes one wonder. > > The thing is that people who don't roleplay just can't seem to > understand the ones who do. I was once asked how I could read about or > play games in worlds with such odd religions. My answer was simple. I > imagine, for a while, that the world is that way, and I have a good > time. There are people who really do take it too seriously. There are > people who get so into character that they seem to forget themselves > and become that character. This is just as unhealthy as any other > mental abaration. It just gets noticed more, because normal people > kill each other with guns, not swords and such, so when a nerd or > gamer or whatever spazzes and offs someone with a sword, everyone > spazzes right back. > > As for religious conviction in the real world, I don't blame people > for sticking to their arguments. I prefer people to listen, but I find > myself daily admiring the faith of people who believe sometimes > directly in spite of the evidence they are given. It is easy to > believe in something proven. It is hard to believe despite contrary > evidence. > It all is tied together though, because roleplay is the great > equalizer. If people give it a chance, roleplay could end war. Why > fight when you could roleplay your fight instead. I'm sure that there > are plenty of people who would think it's a better system. > But screw the silly impractical stuff. Roleplay is great because it > builds oneself. How better to explore an aspect of your personality > than to put that aspect into a character, fill it out a little, and > see what happens. I'm a lot more patient, because I play a patient > character and find the virtue within myself. > > Happy Gaming. > > Signed: > Dakotah Rickard --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
