Quote from: Kiero;825660Not really, no. I've never prioritised or sought loss of control or an altered state of mind. That's one of the myriad reasons I've never experimented with drugs, and don't like being drunk.

Martial arts, exercise generally; sex all give that buzz of feeling completely alive and in touch with my body. Can't say anything I do sitting-down-calmly really compares to the visceral, blood-pumping thrill of physical activities.

Gaming is an entirely sedate, cerebral exercise for me. There's nothing ecstatic about it.

Hmm, no, it's still more to it than mere physicality. It can and often does happen in such activities, but not everyone can or let themselves do. An example would be the ecstatic, almost liminal, state during a sparring match with a well matched equal. Similar with dancing, or passionate romance, or orgy of whatever.

There's this period of time distortion, heightened senses, loss of control, anxiety, euphoria, etc. It is a state of dancing upon the edge and crossing boundaries. A time and space to lose control to a higher state and watch magic unfold.

Just about anything can be ecstatic and sparkly. Immersion into intoxicating reverie is a very real thing and is often sought out (even across species). But it isn't for everyone and probably explains why your topical replies seemed out of place to me.

Quote from: Opaopajr;825784Hmm, no, it's still more to it than mere physicality. It can and often does happen in such activities, but not everyone can or let themselves do. An example would be the ecstatic, almost liminal, state during a sparring match with a well matched equal. Similar with dancing, or passionate romance, or orgy of whatever.

There's this period of time distortion, heightened senses, loss of control, anxiety, euphoria, etc. It is a state of dancing upon the edge and crossing boundaries. A time and space to lose control to a higher state and watch magic unfold.

Just about anything can be ecstatic and sparkly. Immersion into intoxicating reverie is a very real thing and is often sought out (even across species). But it isn't for everyone and probably explains why your topical replies seemed out of place to me.

Well, yeah, an ecstatic state where you go off into your mind is pretty much the opposite of the hyper-present state I seek in physical activity. I have no desire to lose control or experience euphoria.

Quote from: flyingmice;824884I'm having the best gaming of my life now, and I've been playing for a long, long time.

-clash

I'm guessing it's partly because as a game designer you're constantly striving for that perfect game (perfect for your tastes, of course), and if you keep striving towards something, odds are you're going to get at least part-way there, or at any rate closer than you were to start with.

In my case it's also partly to do with mixing in new techniques and things I have learnt and transferred from experiences with a broader range of RPGs and related sorts of games - mostly live roleplaying games, partly a variety of tabletop RPGs including freeform tabletop, and in some fringe cases even storygames.

Quote from: ZWEIHÄNDER;824917Writing my own RPG really brought back that spark for me. I managed to recapture the bang pop wow! factor that I initially experienced whenever I began playing WFRPG and D&D.

See above - the payback for all those hours spent poring over rules, playstyle and setting details as a game-designer is that even if you don't make the megabucks, at least you get a better game for your own tastes.

Quote from: Kiero;825660Can't say anything I do sitting-down-calmly really compares to the visceral, blood-pumping thrill of physical activities.

Gaming is an entirely sedate, cerebral exercise for me. There's nothing ecstatic about it.

Tabletop can be a euphoric experience for me, but foam-sword LARP is much more reliable in that respect. Every gamer should try foam-sword LARP at least a few times (a few different sorts of LARP too, with different crowds of people). As I've pretty much said to you before, it engages the whole person - intellect, emotions, physicality, everything. It's a total experience.

Quote from: Kiero;825437Freshness, like novel-ness or uniqueness is vastly overrated. Same goes surprise. I couldn't give much of a toss about the feeling of exploring the unknown, I'd rather be certain I'm going to get something I enjoy because I've done it before.

But if you never do something you've never done before, you'll never push the boundaries of what you can do with RPGs and how much enjoyment you can get out of them. Everything you ever do you once did for the first time. Every tweak and modification you once made for the first time.

Anyway, tastes differ, and in my case "something I enjoy" and "the feeling of exploring the unknown" are often one and the same thing. Predictability can numb my enjoyment of games, TV shows etc. Sometimes there are exceptions. Point is, I imagine many feel similarly.

Quote from: Omnifray;825959Tabletop can be a euphoric experience for me, but foam-sword LARP is much more reliable in that respect. Every gamer should try foam-sword LARP at least a few times (a few different sorts of LARP too, with different crowds of people). As I've pretty much said to you before, it engages the whole person - intellect, emotions, physicality, everything. It's a total experience.

I did boffer LARPs once, I thought it was lame. It didn't feel like roleplaying at all; taking it away from the tabletop completely ruins any suspension of disbelief I might have had; same issue with all LARPs for me.

Furthermore, I'd rather do full-contact sparring than faffing about with padded weapons with people who don't actually know what they're doing.

Quote from: Omnifray;825959But if you never do something you've never done before, you'll never push the boundaries of what you can do with RPGs and how much enjoyment you can get out of them. Everything you ever do you once did for the first time. Every tweak and modification you once made for the first time.

Anyway, tastes differ, and in my case "something I enjoy" and "the feeling of exploring the unknown" are often one and the same thing. Predictability can numb my enjoyment of games, TV shows etc. Sometimes there are exceptions. Point is, I imagine many feel similarly.

I really couldn't care less about "pushing the boundaries of what I can do with RPGs", that's not why I play them. It fulfils a particular entertainment need, that's it. Reliable beats novel every time.

Quote from: Kiero;825970Reliable beats novel every time.

That's what differs vastly from person to person. For me, generally, new experiences, unexpected experiences, are much more thrilling than reliable ones. I guess it's the difference between P-types and J-types if you have any patience for Jungian personality theory / MBTI / socionics, or it might be something to do with openness to experience on the Big Five personalty thingy, which seems to have quite a following these days. You are more averse to the risk of a crappy game than the near-certainty that a game will not exceed your expectations; I am the other way round. I love the highs and see the lows as a learning experience; you loathe the lows so seek the certainty of at least the middle ground. Or something like that. But even so any generalisation like that can probably only be true up to a certain point.

I'm doing the best gaming of my life, right now.

As am I; unfortunately its not with RPGs, as such, its with Braunsteins.