On Gaming

[vakkotaur]

There are folks who like Role Playing Games, and that's fine - for them. I've found, however, that RPGs are just not for me. When the Siouxland murder-mystery dinner fell through last year I was actually rather relieved, having been concerned about playing a part in it as it. I'd have preferred to have seen an example first before getting involved in one.

A couple years earlier I was involved in a bit that was something like Whose Line Is It Anyway? and it didn't go well, as far as I was concerned. I think sometimes I manage to get a comment in or make some spontaneous joke and it's assumed I can draw on that reservoir on demand. That's not the case. It happens or it doesn't. It's like a writer's or artist's inspiration. It's not a reservoir with a valve. It's more like weather. Sometime there are long dry spells, sometimes light showers, and occasionally an intense storm.

I've done some free-form roleplay on IRC, which is generally fun. The key is that it's free form and constraints are minimal. If something is needed, it simply appears. If someone has an idea, they do it. No waiting in a queue to get on with things, things move right along.

I've tried a MUCK/MUD and found it quite frustrating. It seems to take forever to build up something and then get stuck with it as it happened rather than as intended, or just find it ignored. I can do that in the physical world, and that without someone else's artificial constraints.

I have also taken part in a more formalized RPG on IRC. I found it immensely frustrating as it moved round-robin style from character to character and any idea I thought up seemed to be tripped up by whoever was before I was and so I had nothing to really add. While the idea was "don't plan, just react" I simply do not think that way. Stimulus-response isn't thinking. So it seemed to go too fast as my turn came up and I had to react but didn't have time to think of a new plan to replace the one that had just been scrapped.

The reason for the round-robin setup is sound, it gives everyone a turn at things. Perhaps the one failing of free-form roleplay is that some folks get ignored if their bit doesn't fit in other's ideas of where to go. Sometimes that's good, sometimes that's bad. I've been on both sides of that problem. But the round-robin system also means everyone has to take a turn, and that slows things down. Things seem to drag on.

This left me doubly frustrated. The thing was too slow to finish very quickly, but too fast to be able to usefully think ahead any, and also too demanding of attention to do be able to do anything else to relieve those frustrations.

I suppose all that does give me some appreciation for the problems with role playing games and gamers shown in the fantasy adventure theme of Irregular Webcomic[1]. I find the comic interesting, but am glad to not really be involved in such a game.

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[1] There are other themes to Irregular Webcomic. It's more like several comics time division multiplexed rather than just one comic.

Comments

[kiwihunter8.livejournal.com]

I too, have been disappointed by live-people RPGs. The rigidness and complex rules just aren't fun for me. I want the spontanousness of real life reactions.

I love video game RPG's though- because all the math/computation/rules are behind the scenes, and quickly dealt with by the computer/console.

[nefaria.livejournal.com]

I'm a pretty good writer and role-player, but I simply can't function in an improv-style environment. I freeze up and can't do a thing. I need to think things through in advance before I do them.

RPG video games are a different story, I thoroughly enjoy those (maybe give Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts a try). There's not much roleplaying in them really, but they're exciting and there's usually a good story to them.

[kelloggs2066.livejournal.com]

Roll Playing is okay, but I prefer Cinnamon Buns.

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's pretty much why I stopped playing Toon, too. It occurred to me, "This is like what we do on IRC every night, only a lot slower and with more rules."

[jdm314.livejournal.com]

OK, I've now blown a day on Irregular Webcomic, and am suitably impressed.