Hi Dark, Well, I know all about those sorts of stereotypes. Unfortunately, they've been going around since the 1970's when Dungeons and Dragons first came onto the scene. A lot of the people who don't roll play really don't understand it and are gullible enough to believe anything anyone tells them.
I can clearly remember when I first started getting into Dungeons and Dragons people telling me that Dungeons and Dragons was Satan worship, that people who were into roll playing games were more likely to kill themselves, and that people who played tabletop RPG were extremely violent people, etc. All of these roomers were groundless, totally false, but never-the-less those roomers spread like wildfire. Especially, in the religious communities who have always frowned on magic, fantasy, and things they consider to be non-Christian behavior. However, in my own personal experience most people who play Dungeons and Dragons are fairly nice decent people. Some have been religious, but not fanatical about it. None of them have been suicidal or even remotely homicidal in any way shape or form so where do these stupid roomers come from? I've also ran into my share of the other kind of person as well. They may not believe all the Satanic, suicidal, homicidal crap, but they may buy into the idea that tabletop roll playing is just a bunch of nerds sitting around a table throwing dice all night and don't really realize the depth of story and creativity that goes into a good session of roll playing. I've known gamemasters who spend an entire weak writing up his her own custom adventure guide for next week's meet and that takes a lot of work and planning just so a handful of people can sit down and play through the game. Its definitely not just about throwing dice. Cheers! On 6/17/12, dark <d...@xgam.org> wrote: > Hi tom. > > the only problem is a lot of people seem to think that rolling the dice for > > stats is all! an rpg is, which is pretty pathetic. I've played with players > > like that before, and they're not fun, also they give rpg gamers something > of a bad reputation. > > There's actually a book on podiobooks that had a really interesting premise > > but was terribly executed. the idea was what happened when rpg player > actually became! their characters in the game world by some sort of magic. > The problem? the author planely knew nothing about how rpgs were played, or > > the people who played them. > > When he represented the game, it was basically the gm telling the entire > story and the characters just listening, and making dice rolls. Half of the > > characters were evil and obsesssed with power and killing each other, ----- > > and the entire group which was all male all seemed equally obsessed > about, ----- mmmm, things not concerned with rp! > > Indeed, the first thing most of them did when getting into the rp world was > > find a bunch of prostitues. > > even his one female character he represents as this ridiculously naive girl > > who just goes on about love all the time, and he even has the gm say "having > > a girl in the group means I can do some less violent plots" ----- > interesting as half of my rp group is female, and indeed my russian friend > is probably more blood thirsty than I am! > > So, the amount of wrong ideas people have about rp is a real shame, and the > > sterriotypes of people who do it, and the fact that there ar! players who > just want to sit around and roll dice and don't actually do any real roll > playing at all isn't good from any angle. > > Beware the Grue! > > Dark. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > 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/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. 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/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.