Why is it that often times posters on these boards feel that the phrase "...but the game is really about having fun." or something like it, is appropriate to be tacked on to the end of a post? In my experience, the function of this phrase seems to smack of some kind of qualifier...a statment that lessens how absolute a generalized statement is. There aren't any qualifiers in the phrase, nor does it in itself qualify any previous thought or idea that is expressed before this statment. In short, the use of this phrase in no way changes the authorotative tone of a post.
If, indeed, this is the case, the phrase is either bing misused or used for another purpose. Is there an obligation to make such a statment within the community...like saying "hello" to someone you meet to be polite? It can certainly be dismissive in nature...a catch-all or an excuse. We all know that one of the functions of playing a game (any game) is to relax, take your mind off of real world problems, and "just have fun." It's like pointing out that putting on clothing keeps you warm. Why, then, does such a phrase bear repeating in a post? How do you use your "...but the game is really about having fun"?
As ever,
ACE
I use it when I feel that certain posters have forgotten it. Some 'die hard' players seem to take every issue of playing this game like a life or death situation. Yes, it's a cool game, but when the fun stops, why bother?
Ultradan
(... reminding you that this game is just about having fun!)
yeah, as ultrdan said, i think most people who do use it do so as a reminder to those who are anal rules lawyers that it's "just a game", and if you take it all too seriously you need to get a life.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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The phrase communicates that although I am a gamist, I can still acknowledge other paradigms. These boards present an opportunity to deconstruct various gaming modes and there are certain totemic phrases that facilitate this discussion.
[Hidden sarcasm/tongue in cheek tag]
Yeah, technically you should allow a min-maxer to godrock his guy to high hell, and overshadow the group, but the game is really about having fun.
I see it as a justification for balancing certain changes in the game. In the event of a conflict between technical rules, what is fair, what is allowed, and what is fun, what is fun always wins. The game is about having fun, so that should guide you.
Granted it's an expression that rankles me a bit too. The main idea is that nothing is sacred, that the game is literally whatever the players and DM want it to be and they have total control regardless of official rules or loyalty to canon.
Want to have Klingons as a race in your Greyhawk game?
Want to rule that a dagger crits on a 7 and does 32d20 points of damage?
Want to say the Time of Troubles didn't happen and Drizzt is a dwarf?
It's your game after all, and it's really just about having fun.
Yuck.
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Wow, between Theace and Sebastian I almost had to whip out the ol' dictionary. Great usage of vocabulary. Paradigm? Still not sure about that one, educate me, oh verbose one. Enlighten me with thine intellectual prowess, but remember the game is really about having fun.
FH (the vernacularly challanged)
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Granted it's an expression that rankles me a bit too. The main idea is that nothing is sacred, that the game is literally whatever the players and DM want it to be and they have total control regardless of official rules or loyalty to canon.
Want to have Klingons as a race in your Greyhawk game?
Want to rule that a dagger crits on a 7 and does 32d20 points of damage?
Want to say the Time of Troubles didn't happen and Drizzt is a dwarf?
It's your game after all, and it's really just about having fun.
Yuck.
Cleaver, old chap, we tend to disagree lots - and hey, guess what, we are again! :-)
I think you can do what you want, because it is a game, and it is just for fun. Klingons on Greyhawk? Why not? Sounds like a truly lousy idea to me, but if the players are cool with it, what is the harm? Chaque a son goute, or something.
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I think the point is that sometimes a certain rule or something makes the game not fun. So, yea, sometimes, we can bend or break rules in our game if it means that things will be more fun.
For example, I played a Grippli ranger in a campaign recently. I had excellent climbing, but I still couldn't technically walk on walls or ceilings or whatever. However, being new to the game, I was unaware that I was not able to do so with my character. Since the climbing on walls thing was the whole reason I wanted to be a Grippli (well, at least it was one of the reasons), my GM let it slide and let me climb on walls without the climb checks. It didn't give me a particular advantage in the situations where it was usable, so it didn't destroy the game, but I had fun doing it, and after all... "The game is really about having fun." :P
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Wow, between Theace and Sebastian I almost had to whip out the ol' dictionary. Great usage of vocabulary. Paradigm? Still not sure about that one, educate me, oh verbose one. Enlighten me with thine intellectual prowess, but remember the game is really about having fun.
FH (the vernacularly challanged)
I think its like 20 cents, like giving your 2 cents worth only 10 times that.
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I think its like 20 cents, like giving your 2 cents worth only 10 times that.Wow, between Theace and Sebastian I almost had to whip out the ol' dictionary. Great usage of vocabulary. Paradigm? Still not sure about that one, educate me, oh verbose one. Enlighten me with thine intellectual prowess, but remember the game is really about having fun.
FH (the vernacularly challanged)
I hear 20-20-20, do I hear 40-40-40. Sold to the shapechanger in the back with the Webster's on his lap opened to the "P" section!
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I feel that far too many players spend far too much time arguing about what is "right" or "wrong". There are threads here that are many, many posts long (Greyhawk vs Eberron, Different methods of XP, Rules about Alignment, etc.) with different (often times very strong) opinions about what the correct/best/right way to do something is. While I feel that getting different people’s opinions is a good thing, sometimes people need to be reminded that what works for one person may not work for another – that the only thing that is really "right" is whatever works for your group. It is at these times that I feel that people need to be reminded that it is a game and that it is not necessarily about being "right".
So, if you want stormtroopers and lightsabers in Faerun, if you want to include vorpal hammers that crit on a 10+, if you don’t want any magic items, if you want 1st level commoners to have +5 longswords – do it. Just understand that people may/will disagree with you – but as long as people are having fun, it really doesn’t matter.
I guess that what I am saying is that sometimes people appear to feel that it is more important to be "right" than to have fun. I do think that most people here understand this – I just think that sometimes certain discussions cloud it a bit.
They're all right, Ace. This game has a high draw towards a surrender to mysticism, as Sagan would put it, and a sort of territoriality about things. We can all get a little too caught up in things, and that phrase is what we use to pull us back where we need to be.
It can be used to indicate a lack of hostility in a post, much like the "lol" in Internet jargon after a phrase that could be taken the wrong way (by the way, I despise Internet jargon, and this is in no way an endorsement of it).
It can be used to diffuse a situation where people are getting too worked up, trying to tell others how things should be, when it makes no difference to their game whatsoever.
It can be used as justification by those accused of commiting sacrilige against something that shouldn't, in truth, be important enough for sacrilige to be committed against.
It can be abused, the truth, a cover, etc. It is a phrase of the gaming community at large, or at least this subculture of the Paizo messageboards (to be honest, I don't visit any others).
It can be used as a symbol of tolerrance and acceptance; statements from one DM/player to another that it's okay to have differences an AU wide, to see things and appreciate things in radically different ways. In this sense, it is a personification of enlightenment and freedom.
And, while I saulte your dedication to scientifically unravelling the mysteries of the society formed in this cyberspace, you may, yourself, be thinking too hard about the subject.
Buut, in the end, the game is just about having fun.
Imagine if D&D was not about having fun? Would we be writing more or less about it?
Who cares if someone doesn't like something in another person's game? If they're not playing in it, what's the problem? I like to think that these messageboards are a place where we can have friendly discussions about D&D with the occasional jovial swipe or minor difference of opinion, and where people can sometimes get help on how to run their campaigns or get ideas from other gamers. Of course the game is about having fun? Why else would you play it?
Now for all those vocab challenged...
D n' D is reaally goood!
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Wow, between Theace and Sebastian I almost had to whip out the ol' dictionary. Great usage of vocabulary. Paradigm? Still not sure about that one, educate me, oh verbose one. Enlighten me with thine intellectual prowess, but remember the game is really about having fun.
FH (the vernacularly challanged)
The key word to look up is jargon (particularly meaning #4):
1. Nonsensical, incoherent, or meaningless talk.
2. A hybrid language or dialect; a pidgin.
3. The specialized or technical language of a trade, profession, or similar group. See Synonyms at dialect.
4. Speech or writing having unusual or pretentious vocabulary, convoluted phrasing, and vague meaning.
Imagine if D&D was not about having fun?... Why else would you play it?
Well there are people who play D&D and actually don't have any fun whatsoever. They start arguing with other players (and the DM) from the moment they arrive to the end of the session. They leave the game table each night feeling frustrated, ridiculed and bitterly angry.
These are the people to whom we say "it's just a game and have fun".
Ultradan
My interpretation on the game's measure of "Fun" is that each session should be entertaining for ALL PEOPLE PRESENT.
If any single player generates a character that will be disruptive by nature, plays their character with a personality disruptive to the party or takes specific actions that are disruptive to the party's goals, they are seeking their own entertainment at the expense of the others present.
This makes that person selfish and wastes everyone elses time, not to mention annoying them.
At my table, players like this don't last long. And we ALL know players like this.
Before some of you protest, I know that you don't want the DM cramping your creative juices for character development or denying you a cool race/class/template mix or throwing a wet blanket on your mojo... BUT - certain concessions must be made in the interest of EVERYONE ENJOYING THE GAME.
This is why people don't interact with a movie while in a crowded theater.
...except for "The Rocky horror Picture Show", where it's perfectly acceptible.
M
Now for all those vocab challenged...
D n' D is reaally goood!
Thanks for the clarrification, Phil. The first three or four posts lost me in its graduate-grade vocabulary level.
Sometimes the statement can be used to demonstrate a compromise was made. Kind of like "But hey, no worries...it's all good.". Some things aren't worth getting worked up about and this phrase could indicate such a topic.
Maybe I could get my gaming group to chant "Fun is number ONE!" and high five before each session.
J-
Imagine if D&D was not about having fun?... Why else would you play it?Well there are people who play D&D and actually don't have any fun whatsoever. They start arguing with other players (and the DM) from the moment they arrive to the end of the session. They leave the game table each night feeling frustrated, ridiculed and bitterly angry.
These are the people to whom we say "it's just a game and have fun".
Ultradan
Then those people need to rethink what their doing. If my players don't like something I'm doing I ask them to speak up and tell me. Of course, people can't have fun 100% of the time. In my last game session one of my players couldn't hit the side of a barn door and failed all his saving throws. He got quite moody about it, but there was not much that could be done to alleviate his emotional state. I couldn't really fudge his dice rolls or give him any way out of his bad dice rolling. I must also say that I was bored the last time I played. I wasn't having fun because of the way the DM was running the game, but he was newbee so I cut him some slack.
Of course, all of this must be weighed up against how much fun you normally have playing the game. If the group is not having fun at least 75% of the time then something must be done to stop the rot. How this is adressed is up to individual DMs and players working as a team.
Problems are also compounded by the peoples relationships and other factors that are not game-related. If you are going to run a game of D&D it should be about the game and nothing else. While this is easier said than done its something that should be aspired to.
4. Speech or writing having unusual or pretentious vocabulary, convoluted phrasing, and vague meaning.
Thats really funny
If and when I say it is about having fun; I mean that I am not going to let a rule get in the way of player creativity (there are limits of course). Our house fun rule is "Would it look good on film?" it also means that as a gm I am not going to ram my scenario down your throat if you dont want to do it, your character can turn around and go somewhere else; and yes, as a gm I have planned for that also, it your character; do what you want; have fun;
The phrase communicates that although I am a gamist, I can still acknowledge other paradigms. These boards present an opportunity to deconstruct various gaming modes and there are certain totemic phrases that facilitate this discussion.
[Hidden sarcasm/tongue in cheek tag]
WHAT?
My interpretation on the game's measure of "Fun" is that each session should be entertaining for ALL PEOPLE PRESENT.
If any single player generates a character that will be disruptive by nature, plays their character with a personality disruptive to the party or takes specific actions that are disruptive to the party's goals, they are seeking their own entertainment at the expense of the others present.
This makes that person selfish and wastes everyone elses time, not to mention annoying them.
At my table, players like this don't last long. And we ALL know players like this.
Before some of you protest, I know that you don't want the DM cramping your creative juices for character development or denying you a cool race/class/template mix or throwing a wet blanket on your mojo... BUT - certain concessions must be made in the interest of EVERYONE ENJOYING THE GAME.
This is why people don't interact with a movie while in a crowded theater.
...except for "The Rocky horror Picture Show", where it's perfectly acceptible.
M
Wise words indeed.
Some people need to be reminded of the fact that D&D game is played for fun.
Before every game, as a DM, talking on the phone about the game, I threaten to kill the entire party during the next session. One time a player showed up at the game pissy, had a terrible time. At that time I did not let his attitude ruin my fun and the game for all. At the end of the game he procedded to berate me for making him decide between the game and his family. His girl friend wanted him to stay home and watch thier four sick children with her.
That should be a no brainer family before any game. No wonder he had no fun he was worried about his family. Yet he was willing to leave them so as to attend a game where his character life is threatened. Hey every game Pcs are threatened with death or worse, whether the player is thier or not. Thats what makes it fun. ANy way some people need to be reminded of why they play games. FUN!!!
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4. Speech or writing having unusual or pretentious vocabulary, convoluted phrasing, and vague meaning.Thats really funnyThanks - I'm glad someone thought so!
Though considering that one or two people out of 30 got the joke, I should probably stick to my day job.
Dude, no, I got it too; I guess my previous posting(or more like raving) didn't reflect that...Friday was a BAD BAD day.
Oh, I got it and thought it was hilarious; I just had to fly out the door shortly there after.