Why RPG's are limiting the potential of the human soul

[Yorick]

Jerome you speak much truth for one so young. All entertainment can indeed be called escapism as it removes one from the problems of reality even if but for a moment.

The key is, as with anything, balance. Enriching a vivid imagination is a healthy thing. Avoiding reality is not. Finding that balance can be a lifelong struggle for some.

You raise some interesting thoughts Jerome, but I disagree with the view that in the game we can supercede our own potential here. In a fantasy game you can become a huge fish in a very small pond. Relative to those around you you are indeed supreme. The abilities you gain are in no way matched by the abiities in life however. (You can't swim, run or even sit down for starters.)

I shall take some of what you've said to heart though and will switch off my computer and go outside. To have some balance.

Talk to you later.

[Memnoch]

Let's look at people's motivations for playing RPGs. To me, RPGs are a form of entertainment, nothing more. I think they encourage creativity, lateral thinking, problem-solving skills and freedom of thought for me (even though I haven't played since I was 15 - 10 years ago). I play CRPGs as a leisure activity. Anything that gives your mind a break from the stresses and challenges of working life today is a positive thing. I certainly don't play it as an ego boost because I feel I can't live in the real world today! To me CRPGs fall in the same category as seeing a movie, watching a play, playing sports - some provide mental pleasure, others physical - but they are all LEISURE activities.

And as Yorick said, it's all about balance. Anything you do too much of is unhealthy for both your body and soul. I had a colleague at work who got the flick because of BG2, he just played ALL the time, didn't get enough sleep, ended up losing his job because he was addicted to it. So moderation is always the key.

And who measures whether or not you do make an impact? (and i sincerely hope you do!) Society, right? It is through the collective opinions of others around you who define if you make an impact. That same society also allows us to define people as good or evil by providing us with a collective opinion of what is good and evil.

I hope all that makes sense, I'm rushing off to a 7 pm meeting (on a FRIDAY!! )

[Bahamut]

Hey! I wish sometimes it was true... at least I could just start a romance with a hot chick... but thats bout it. It helps at times. How? In RPGs, you create your "ideal" characters. They areb't just characters you play with... at least for me. I try to make them perfect as the can be. Regarding this thread, after lets say, finishing your game or finishing a quest, you relax and stuff. But actually, these data sticks in your brain... about being the ideal person, for you and your friends. Your only prob is if you can't determine reality from fantasy anymore. try playiing The Sims, you'll find out... it is a more direct approach about this topic. Every RPG too... I just wonder about those fighting games... : )

You aren't saying anything new. OF COURSE I play RPGs to escape reality thats the point!

[Jerome]

Methinks my post sounded a little harsh. I agree wholehartedly that all forms off media are used as froms of escape, this does not mean that i dont use them or enjoy them but i think we should be aware of the fact they will not effect us in any way. I've played BG1 and BG2 and have reccently been trying to play Deus Ex, each game has given me plesure in the form of storytelling. i dont mean RPG's (or anything else) shouldent be sampled as forms of enjoyment rather than reflections on real life.

An excellent example is the "romances" in BG2, while this is a brilliant addition to the game that adds a lot of inter-character development. If, for example, someone rushed home from work\school every day to see how the next chapter of the romance develpoed and it became a substitute for a real girlfriend

*(Please note that this is purley hypothetical and no-one married or otherwise should be offended by it)*

As to my career, i do indeed intend to write novels but i actually plan to be a lawyer, writing is more of a hobby to me right now.

The basic message here is simple DONT WATCH FOOTBALL ON TV...GO PLAY IT FOR REAL.

[Zoratorak]

hmm... i totally agree that there must be a balance in everything between your life as well as your other life (meaning fantasy, hobbies, reading, jerking off..err if you call that a life.., and blah blah)
based from my own experience... these things are already too good to be true... before there were computers like 386 that only like 2d chess with chezzy players and the best thing that came out there was "Ancient Art of War" (and that is really an old old old old game since it only fits a floppy disk (the big one not the old one) and only runs on 386 with a white monitor hehe..

anyway...im straying kinda far from the topic but ill relate my own experience... im an avid reader.. still am but before i was a MANIAC... i read everything that is related to fantasy or something like that. once during my cost of reading constantly gave me a price... my grades became low, became kinda antisocial... i became such a reader that i finished the entier series of Robert Jordan (well the six books he had that time) in one whole week... not a book per week but a book per day... ) talkin about fanatic... thats when my grades went from mountains to valleys to beaches finally underground... took me a while to make up that loss.

nowadays, its so easy to be hooked up into entertainment because nearly everything is so entertaining you can bear to leave it until you finish it or until your bored with it... sometimes i think the world today lackes too much dicipline... (hey i admit im one of them) and they think they can just play and play not knowing when reality finally catches up with them will they finally know thier error... but then it is too late to change thier mistakes because thier life by then is ruined beyond recognition... i think entertaiment nowadays is somthing like a drug that gets worse if you dont play and play... sometimes i think it is a blessing in disguise that it is not as high tech as it seems to be ... it would be sooooo soooo cool if it would be like startreck wherein you can make virtual reality BUT (remember this) with power to do anything comes the dicipline of using it... the creators did a good job in putting up the sign between loading "although the people in bg2 doesnt eat remember that you do and we dont want to lose any gamers" to remind them to always keep in touch in reality...

Jerome has good wisdom on what is good and bad is... it is neither... both good or bad unless based upon your beliefs... heck there are always the democrats vs republicans, communism vs democracy vs monarchy... i mean each has its own beliefs and we only have one life time (unless you believe in rebirth) to put our belief (whatever your belief is anyway) and believe in them as well as act on them...

ps on this paragraph= athietism (i hope i got that right spelling) is a what i belive is a belief right?? so there will be people believing in something ...if not your not a human anymore...

ps for the post= i just posted this here so people can listen to my views and hope that others that do not have yet experience the temptaton of gaming world be warned of being trapped there forever... its a drug that gives both extasy and pain...

[Jerome]

Defend whatever you belive in, and to hell with what everyone else thinks, the world needs rebels.

Cheers for the compliment but i dont think im wise, i just observe what happens in the world then complain about it!

[Tobbin]

That may be so, Jerome, but a lot of our best advances came out of curiousity. Maybe it wasn't always for the best, but it's our strongest trait. To be able to see something that is wrong or isn't working out how we want and to be able to come up with a different view or an altogether new one, that is what defines us. Escapism is ok, as long as it is tempered with reality. That's why I will stop playing CRPG from time to time. Sometimes, I will not go back to them for a year or so at a time. Anyways, RPG's in themselves do not limit our potential. It is really the fact that WE limit our own potentials. Because we let ourselves be controlled by something that can not control. Because of this, it is very difficult to regain control again. After all, normally, you give control to someone and then get it back when they give it back to you. But when you give control to something that can not return it, you need help to find it again.

[Jerome]

I dont think curiousity is the most important human trait, everything both good and bad about us makes up the complete image. Hate, jelousy, greed, each is difficult to class as a "good" trait but yet each plays a vital role in our lives. Raise your hand if there is someone in the world you dont like. Myself i was mostly motivated through school because of my rivraly with another boy. It was simply a character clash, him beliving in diffrent things from i.

While curiosity is important more so is life. In probably less than 100 years i'll be dead and buried. No-more shall i be able to affect this world or its inhabitants. For exactly this reason i intend to make the most out of it and i encourage others to do so as well.

Wow, just realised how serious this thread is becoming......

Just want to warn you Jerome, not to become a lawyer. It's a sad life. Even at the top of the rung. I plan to expose the life of the lawyer in a comic one day. Really, the way litigation works is ridiculous and you are not going to get things accomplished that way. Rather it's a way to annoy, mostly.