I'm sure there's already a thread about this somewhere, but I've noticed a lot of new faces (... er, avatars?) on the site and I'm curious:
Why do you play role-playing games, including D&D? Why have you stuck with it (assuming that you've been playing for a long time) or, maybe more accurately, what about the game has kept you interested?
No reason to ask, really, beyond curiosity.
First and foremost I love the fellowship with other gamers. I enjoy exploring worlds with them, and live for game situations that can be talked about and analyzed for days afterwards.
Also, I love mechanics, and enjoy learning and tinkering with rule systems that can bring into existence “beings” (e.g. PCs) that live and grow only in thought.
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For me it has always been about imagination. Playing and running games like D&D has forced me to keep my imagination active when so many people around me that are my age simply stop prentending and imagining. I enjpy the posibilities, the what ifs, that role-palying lets you explore. And amazingly, it has helped my connect with people that I might not reach otherwise. I have had several students come through our program that I have been able to get to open up to me when they wouldn't open up to anyone else, simply because we had RPGs in common.
For me, the opportunity to live the books I love so much and to craft such stories with friends. What can I say? Love it.
For me, when I think about it, there are a lot of reasons. Even though I use pre-published adventures a lot of the time, I like the do-it-yourself aspect of the game. My game can be completely different from someone else's or the published material; I can make my own content, my players can go off the rails as far as I'm willing to improvise. Not something that you'll often find in a video game.
As an artist, I don't know where I would be without Dungeons and Dragons. I saw the Tony Diterlizzi dominated 2nd edition Monster Manual and it just went from there. D&D in particular served as a vehicle to introduce a lot of vocabulary and reading into my out of school education. And from there, other games like Call of Cthulu became interesting to me and the cycle started over again. I find roleplaying games (and fantasy/sci-fi/horror/comic books) to be like this well of creativity that I can just come back to over and over again.
And there is the reasons you guys mentioned. I'm hanging out with my friends and goofing off but we're also making a story together.
Fun, creativity, hanging out with friends doing somethingwe all enjoy, interactive escapism. Take your pick.
Because I've always known that I'm really a 20th level barbarian trapped in the body of a 2nd level commoner/green slime crossbreed.
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I come away with more from an RPG session than from a single player video game. Even many times a multiplayer video game doesn't give you all that much unless you're playing with people you regularly spend time with. Still, the quality time you have together in an actual RPG, even if it's only played online via virtual tabletops, sticks with you more.
Why have I played all these years? I've only really started up again in recent months. This is probably the first year I've actually played DnD with people who play it the way it "should" be played. And I can see why it's such a pervasive hobby with so many fans. As a result, I'm even more of a fan than I was years ago when I just wanted to see what it was like to play.
Exactly what one brings away from an RPG session, I'll leave up to other posters.
Director of Narrative
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I started playing as a kid involved in a fun hobby that enhanced and worked with creative and intellectual aspects of myself. I’ve kept it up primarily as a social activity with friends that I’ve had since highschool, and those I’ve met that play since then.
Now I play as means of escape. This would have shamed the Daigle of years past, but I’m fine with it now. Fantasy roleplaying, and the community surrounding it, supports hiding in a make believe world for small periods of time. It supports the absurdity of imagination and holds the mental exercise of collaborative storytelling and analytical thinking to a higher tier than most of the “real world” does. For that, I’m thankful. I spent too much time being too serious, and welcome my gaming sessions each week.
For me it has always been about imagination. Playing and running games like D&D has forced me to keep my imagination active when so many people around me that are my age simply stop pretending and imagining. I enjoy the possibilities, the what ifs, that role-playing lets you explore. And amazingly, it has helped my connect with people that I might not reach otherwise. I have had several students come through our program that I have been able to get to open up to me when they wouldn't open up to anyone else, simply because we had RPGs in common.
I tried to post days ago, but couldn't. So now I shall say, David took the words right out of my mouth: this is reason number 1 for me.
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I guess gaming has provided me with a second layer of life experience.
For example, if I'm at a party with friends, my non-gamer friends talk about stuff going on with their families, they talk about politics, they talk about the weather, they talk about sports, then they run out of stuff to talk about.
If I'm at a party with gamer friends, we talk about all that stuff and them start talking about the current campaign, past campaigns, funny in-game situations, real-life parallels to gaming situations, the efficacy of certain rules in gaming situations, etc.
Granted, our non-gamer friends roll their eyes and move to the other side of the room, but hey, you can't please everybody...
The interaction with my friends... Getting to experience a story in 'first person' view... Because it's fun.
Ultradan
I play roleplaying games for a variety of reasons. One of them being I've always had a very active (some would say very over-active) imagination and it gives me an outlet. I also like hanging out with friends and it's something we all like to do. I also like it for practicing character development. I like to write (although finishing what I start is a little hard sometimes) and it really helps to be able to get into the characters' heads. Roleplaying has really helped develop that ability.
Reality Sucks!
At least it can be boring, too routine.
Gaming opens the door to all kinds of realities. It's OK to be a villain, or you can save the world from destruction. You get to immerse yourself into a story so much bigger than yourself. You get to challenge your brain. It's cool.
And who are those other people at the table? Oh, your friends. It's cool to see them too. ;-)
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I started playing because it gave my creative energies an outlet and for the escapism...I continued over the years because of the players. To me the vast majority of gamers are the highest caliber people you can find.
They are typically trustworthy, intelligent (even if having that intelligence means having vastly diferent opinions and not being shy about sharing them...;) ) and generally fun to be around.
Id rather spend an afternoon sharing a 'story' with my gamer friends, than almost anything else.
Now I play as means of escape. This would have shamed the Daigle of years past, but I’m fine with it now. Fantasy roleplaying, and the community surrounding it, supports hiding in a make believe world for small periods of time. It supports the absurdity of imagination and holds the mental exercise of collaborative storytelling and analytical thinking to a higher tier than most of the “real world” does. For that, I’m thankful. I spent too much time being too serious, and welcome my gaming sessions each week.
Work Hard, Play Hard. There are days when life sucks, no two ways about it. The bills come in, the paycheck goes out, but if I can get away for a few hours on the weekend, where I can create a world where my friends and I can share our imaginations together and create a story where the choices the characters make can shake the foundations of the world they live in.
Very exciting, really. :D Being able to use my imagination is always the big draw, and it's a wonderful source of artistic inspiration as well.
To meet chicks.
1: because I love the Medieval-Mythical Fantasy
2: I love to create stuff
3: I love hanging up with my boddies and shared common interes (RPG of course)
4: Its a nice way to "escape" reality in a harmless way.
5: Its a great way to meet interesitng people (like all of you!)
I continue playing because fortunately my interes didn't decreased but rather increased, as the years go by my time for playing decreased but the budget for it increased, so maybe now I don't play as much as I did but I have more stuff to read and "toys" to play with.
I'm a GM. I play for many of the reasons eloquently stated above, but I GM so that I can share my passion for the genre with others, to engage their sense of wonder and participate with them in a (hopefully) entertaining few moments of escapism.
And to be evil, of course. Can't forget that. To quote a button sold elsewhere on this site: "I'm the GM...Evil is what I do" (Cue maniacal laughter)
To meet chicks.The only "chicks" I have met role-playing is the 16 year old daughter of the owner of our FLGS, and a few of my students. I wish I lived where you do that there is a pool of avalible, legal, gamer girls. ;p
More often it's just guys running female characters! ;-)
Now I play as means of escape. This would have shamed the Daigle of years past, but I’m fine with it now. Fantasy roleplaying, and the community surrounding it, supports hiding in a make believe world for small periods of time. It supports the absurdity of imagination and holds the mental exercise of collaborative storytelling and analytical thinking to a higher tier than most of the “real world” does. For that, I’m thankful. I spent too much time being too serious, and welcome my gaming sessions each week.Work Hard, Play Hard. There are days when life sucks, no two ways about it. The bills come in, the paycheck goes out, but if I can get away for a few hours on the weekend, where I can create a world where my friends and I can share our imaginations together and create a story where the choices the characters make can shake the foundations of the world they live in.
Very exciting, really. :D Being able to use my imagination is always the big draw, and it's a wonderful source of artistic inspiration as well.
Don't forget that you get the opportunity to share your Cookie Goodness with others. :)
Don't forget that you get the opportunity to share your Cookie Goodness with others. :)
That sounds like dirty talking... ;P
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To meet chicks.
To meet dudes.
Um...srsly, I game because I want to get back that elusive high I had when I killed my first dire rat in "The Sunless Citadel." I've had fun since then, but somehow Orkining that rhodent with my Point Blank Shot released a lot of my pent up agression. Sigh...more girls should game. It's better than self loathing, or shooting real animals (or patronizing male players who think you can't build a character by yourself because you have two X chromosomes).
I wish PBS worked in the real world, and I don't mean Public Broadcasting!
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Because childhood Dorak used to run around the school playground pretending he was other people.that was you? cool :)
my answer: i like playing make believe, playing with funny dice and drinking beer. none of them are all that fun as a solo exercise, so i game :)
Yup, that was me. I was Gambit, Han Solo, Robert Muldoon, Jack Ryan, Kyle Reese, Boromir, James Bond, Angus MacGyver, Dr. Sam Beckett, Michael Knight, Peter Wiggin, and the completely imaginary Detective Frank Simmons, and Jal Dorak.
Apologies to younger me if I left out any of my favorites. :)
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Gambit (x-men), Han Solo (star wars), Robert Muldoon (?), Jack Ryan (hunt for red october), Kyle Reese (terminator I), Boromir (LotR), James Bond (um, james bond movies? were you connery or moore?) , Angus MacGyver (MacGyver), Dr. Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap), Michael Knight (Knight Rider), Peter Wiggin (?), and the completely imaginary Detective Frank Simmons (your imagination), and Jal Dorak (? -here?).
Apologies to younger me if I left out any of my favorites. :)
ok, i guess no bonus points for me...
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Gambit (x-men), Han Solo (star wars), Robert Muldoon (Jurassic Park), Jack Ryan (hunt for red october), Kyle Reese (terminator I), Boromir (LotR), James Bond (Timothy Dalton) , Angus MacGyver (MacGyver), Dr. Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap), Michael Knight (Knight Rider), Peter Wiggin (Ender's Game), and the completely imaginary Detective Frank Simmons (your imagination), and Jal Dorak (? -here?).
Apologies to younger me if I left out any of my favorites. :)
ok, i guess no bonus points for me...
I put the answers in because you tried. Normally my genius point attempts go unnoticed. And thanks for the offer, but I like snow. :)
Back to you Bird avatar David?
Back to you Bird avatar David?Debating it. Might Change back again. I still hate the parrot.
The other one was nicer... But one can get use to an avatar and changing it creates a bit of confusion... I would change it anyway ;)
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The other one was nicer... But one can get use to an avatar and changing it creates a bit of confusion... I would change it anyway ;)Back to you Bird avatar David?Debating it. Might Change back again. I still hate the parrot.
I like Abadar better. He looks like I used to before I spent years in Alabama, being force fed a diet of fried foods. I never could manage the beard though.
I like hanging out with my friends, and creating on the table in front of us really fricking cool adventures.