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Old 01-05-2001, 06:30 PM   #1
Jerome
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Ok, please dont be offended by anything that i'm about to say, but feel free to give me your opinions...

Here's how i see it: RPG's are limiting our potential to fufill dreams and live life normally. Why i hear you ask, let me explain. RPG's are, even at the most basic level, just a way of escaping real life. They are usually set in either the far flung future
(usually abandoning all known physics and\or social limitations) or in a fantasy setting where "goodies" battle the "baddies" and engage in combat with mythical creatures that have NEVER existed except in the minds of its creators and the people who sample this defined media text. Why do we play RPG's? Perhaps it is for enjoyment and fufillment and mabey it is an intresting way to pass the time... but can we deny that we play it because it allows us to superceed our own physical or mental limitations? that we play it because we can BECOME BETTER THAN WE CAN IN THE REAL WORLD. I'm only fifteen years of age but i've come to realise certain things.

1) you cant slot someone into a catagory. You cannot define someone as "evil" or as "good". many people throught a life time will perform acts of minor evil (speeding tickets anyone?) and acts of great good (parenting children) diffrent peoples veiw's of good mean differing social standards. Is a doctor who saves a patients life more important and more "good" than a man who lives for eighty years, works for forty years, has a family and then one night dies?
Hitler (An evil man in my eyes) performed acts HE THOUGHT WAS RIGHT AND "GOOD" while others classed it as evil.

2) People must make the most out of life. I'll be dammed if i'm going to leave this barren hunk of rock without making some sort of impact.
(i plan to be a contraversial writer) Why sit around making a diffrence in an imaganery world when there is much "good" to be done outside of a 800x600 moniter and a mouse. Surely our time would be better spent improving ourselves rather than "killing-one-more kobold-so-i-can-reach-level-8"?

My final relisation is that people will disagree with me, and i hope you do because uniformed behaviour leads to dictorial regimes in my opinion, but i also hope that some part of my message sinks in on some level. Cheers.
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Old 01-05-2001, 06:43 PM   #2
Master Sorcerer
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I have to disagree with you (mostly.) I dont think that you should spend ALL your time playing RPG's. I agree that you cant always classify people as evil or good but who cares. A lot of people play to get away from the real world where they dont have to go by the rules and stuff but theyre just games so why not have fun with them while you can. I play a lot of CRPG's not just to have fun but because I want to get into the software programming buisness. Playing them makes me think like, "howd they do that" and then I research on the net for a while and find out how. I agree with your, "Why sit around making a diffrence in an imaganery world when there is much "good" to be done outside of a 800x600 moniter and a mouse." but I think that people may need a "break" from the real world. dang, i gotta get off so i cant finish but anywhay..... um bye.
 
Old 01-05-2001, 06:47 PM   #3
Jerome
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I diddn't mean to spend ALL you're time playing RPG's i was just questioning the reasons why we do. RPG's, books, TV programs can all convey messages that have a positive effect and i commend them for that, hey, im a BG2 fan too! I just think a little less of fantasy world and more of the real world would benifit us all.
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Old 01-05-2001, 07:22 PM   #4
Holy Mage Wah
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Let me give you a metaphor Jerome.

It was the chicken that layed the egg, but it was also from the egg, that the chicken hatched.

Although being in a fantasy takes away reality, don't forget that it was people out there
in REALITY who created the fantasy. So therefore by saying that BG is something that takes away reality from us has a double edge to it if you know what I mean.

Am I saying that there shouldn't be any more BG???!!!! Get rid of the developers??!!!Of course not - you got to take it in good doses like my brother (4 yr old) with his tooth taken out, eats his sweets.

- one for being good
- one for helping out
- and one at weekends

and he eats about 10-20 behind my back under the bedsheets!!!
 
Old 01-05-2001, 08:15 PM   #5
BLACK KNIGHT
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I personally use RPGs to relieve stress caused by the "real" world. And no they are no set in current times, but it is nice to relieve your frustrations by killing a few enemies. Better than by killing a few people, IMHO, and far less jail time. I am not saying that I couldn't be out making a difference somewhere instead of being in front of a computer playing BG2 (or at a posting site for that matter) but sometimes it is benifical to go to a play of happiness and solitude and forget about life for an hour (or two or ten).

And no, you can't slot people in "good" or "bad" but then again, RPGs have varying levels of good and bad, too. I don't think that you can measure a man by the amount of good one does vs the evil one does. We have all done things in our lives that we won't want to find on a posting board, but do they make us "evil"?? What about the Doctor who saves lives for fourty years, only to find out that he has been doing mercy killings on the sly for years? Does that make him Dr Evil? Not really for us to decide.

The most important point I want to say is that in D&D RPGs, the most successful parties are very diverse, and the strongest party uses the inherent abilities of all their members. The Strongest Fighter and Most Fervent Priest and the Smartest Mages are all equals in the party. It is the Dissimilarities that make them stronger. We need to celebrate our diversity, not dwell on its strangeness. In RPGs, different Races and Creeds work together for a common goal and I for one wish that we could transfer this into the real world. So I disagree with your point that RPGs could be a better Role Model for us. I think that, in a very sneeky way, it already is.

H
 
Old 01-05-2001, 08:18 PM   #6
Jon the Hell Caster
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everyone go to My rant against Rikard and read my and Holy Mage Wah's arguments --- guarented to bring a laugh!
 
Old 01-05-2001, 09:14 PM   #7
omegadawn
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Storytelling and gameplaying are fundamental elements of human nature and are found in every culture everywhere. RPGs are the union of the two, creating something all together new. Storytelling in which you are both a particpant and observer. Gameplaying not to win per se but to work with others to progress, while flexing the muscles of imagination by storytelling. Any constructive use of the imagination expands the potential of the soul. If you think playing rpg's limits your souls potential, then dont play.

This debate remnds me of the d&d bashing here in the U.S. back in the early 1980's. A bunch of Holy rolling bible thumpers went on a crusade, calling d&d "satanic". What a bunch of dribbly bullsh*t.
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Old 01-05-2001, 09:20 PM   #8
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I think you are way off with saying that games and others forms of simple escapism are limiting the human soul. People shouldn't attack such things just because we may sit in a room for hours a day playing a game, reading or watching television. Hell if you are enjoying it that is LIVING, One of the best things I have ever heard someone say is that "that best thing about beign alive is being able to escape every now and again". Its feeding your imagination. Its a pleasure... like reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time, shall we all be hounded for enjoying one of the greatest peices of literiture ever written? Its very possilbe that these other worlds so many of us escape to everyday after work, when we are relaxed or jsut bored are some the BEST things about being alive.

I am pushing it a bit to get my point across but if you are thinking about REAL people who try and "escape" reality in damaging ways you should look at the alcohol and drug abusers. Not people merely relaxing with a great book or game to feed their imagination.
 
Old 01-05-2001, 09:39 PM   #9
One ANGRY lil' man
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Everything is a way of escaping reality lets do the list Jerking off, Internet, Computers, Reading, Movies, and almost everything else. Look you own a computer see your escaping your reality do you read books watch TV? Then your escaping your reality. Strip naked and run into the forest to revert away from the poisoned civilization where people ruin the potential of there souls. So go ahead destroy your possessions and live as a hermit.

Man if your going to be a writer I wouldn't reccomend going around telling everyone they are running away from reality just because they play games. How does it limit the potential of the human soul just because one wants to indulge in a world that doesn't exist? I mean look I play games because of lawlessness I play fallout mostly what changes can we make its not like where we live is really messed up.
 
Old 01-05-2001, 11:03 PM   #10
Armisael
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I've known RPGs for a fairly long while now, maybe a decade and a half. They've been an interest for me for a long time, and that's the key word, 'interest', not 'lifestyle'. I've got other interests; going out with mates, swimming, reading; and I'm sure everyone else does, too.
With regards to the reaching of your potential. When I was thirteen I decided that I wanted a job involving writing. When I was fifteen I realised that novel writing wouldn't be stable enough, and started to look into journalism. Now I'm a journalist working for a fairly large newspaper, i.e. I'm living normally and have reached the goals I set for myself. I might not have had much of an impact on the world, but I've always held the opinion that that goal's a bit too grandiose.
My point is that I don't think there's really such a thing as escaping reality. Every moment you spend trying to ignore it you're pulling back a rubber band. You're reading a book and the phone rings. You're writing a letter and there's a knock on the door. There might be a game on the screen in front of you, but reality's everywhere, and no game or book or television show will ever get ahead of it. And right now there's a bay and a group of mates drinking all my beer who are rapidly getting ahead of me, so I'll take my leave.
 
 


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