SP, STFU.

I came here to talk about gaming. PM your petty flamewar.

Quote from: beejazzBURNED!

What? You people have odd nepotic scoring system. That retards barely scratched surface yet. Shee-it, soon as she gets her helmet on we'll really get ready to rumble.

Quote from: beejazzSP, STFU.

Uhm, make me?

QuoteI came here to talk about gaming. PM your petty flamewar.

No.

Quote from: hgjsBeen there, done that. :cool:

I knew I smelled something rotten. You have to keep an eye on the retards lest they get into something nasty.

QuoteI used to feel like that too, but then I discovered Scientology!

You're making this no fun.

Quote from: Serious PaulUhm, make me?

It's called an ignore list. You're about to be on everybody's.

Aw shucks that'd hurt me.

Quote from: beejazzBURNED!

On an unrelated (but entirely on-topic) note, what got all of you into this back when you were younger? I mean, all this terrified squabbling about what's going to pull folks away from gaming (oh noes! teh videogames!) is all well and good, but...

What got you guys into this to begin with? What is the equivalent of that today?

When I was in school, some of the cooler older kids played D&D during lunch.  Sometimes they even let me play!  They graduated, but later I found a group of my own, and the rest is history.

To answer your second question, I would say the modern-day equivalent of D&D is D&D.

QuoteAs for simplicity, were the games you played when you were younger simple? Did you care? Were they broken? Again, did you care?

Just some thoughts.

Simple?  No, but that was part of the fun of it!  Broken?  That wasn't a word I would have even thought to apply to games.  The game was what it was, and I liked it.

QuoteI wouldn't argue for "elite", as that term is way too vague and nebulous, but rather I'd say that gamers who are actual "role" players, versus "roll" players, are fewer than you seem to imply. (It's hard for anyone to quantify any of this with numbers, so I hope yo'll bear with me.)

Oh sweet fucking Lord.

Quote from: beejazzOn an unrelated (but entirely on-topic) note, what got all of you into this back when you were younger? I mean, all this terrified squabbling about what's going to pull folks away from gaming (oh noes! teh videogames!) is all well and good, but...

A Finnish computer magazine called MikroBitti used to feature a long-running column ("Peliluola" by Risto Hieta) which touched on other kinds of gaming as well, and that's where I first learned about tabletop RPGs. So you might say that I moved from video games to the pen-and-paper variety.

Quote from: beejazzOn an unrelated (but entirely on-topic) note, what got all of you into this back when you were younger? I mean, all this terrified squabbling about what's going to pull folks away from gaming (oh noes! teh videogames!) is all well and good, but...

What got you guys into this to begin with? What is the equivalent of that today?

My brothers started playing D&D, then moved on to AD&D, with their friends when I was in the first grade.  I remember them painting their first miniatures, the groovy yellow dice Jim had (everyone else's dice were blue), and my father co-DMing early on.  As I was the youngest, my brothers were stuck dragging me to wherever when my parents weren't home, so this often meant they were stuck bringing me along to game sessions on the weekend.  Eventually, I was (grudgingly) allowed to join in.

My brothers gave me the Moldvay/Cook Basic/Expert D&D books and it was over from there.

I could see the same sort of thing happening today with today's games.

Quote from: GrimGentA Finnish computer magazine called MikroBitti used to feature a long-running column ("Peliluola" by Risto Hieta) which touched on other kinds of gaming as well, and that's where I first learned about tabletop RPGs. So you might say that I moved from video games to the pen-and-paper variety.

See? The computers are our friends!

Quote from: Serious Paul72?

Post 72.

QuoteI wouldn't argue for "elite", as that term is way too vague and nebulous, but rather I'd say that gamers who are actual "role" players, versus "roll" players, are fewer than you seem to imply. (It's hard for anyone to quantify any of this with numbers, so I hope yo'll bear with me.)

Oh give me a break. The "rollplayer-roleplayer" dichotomy is the poorest, most overused argument in the history of gamerdom. Kindly stop using it.

QuoteI'll agree, but when you write a role-playing supplement do write it so it is accessible to anyone, or just those smart enough to figure it out? Lowest common denominator right?

Trying to sell a game to smart high school kids* should probably involve something above the lowest common denominator, I'd think. Gygax used a lot of big words and didn't simplify his language, and yet managed to create a wildly successful game. More than a decade later, Vampire became a hit without appealing to the basest intellects (although it did appeal to snobs! :pundit: ). Accessibility doesn't require a dumbing down, but it can use clarity. It could mean a game whose concept is clearly explained with an adequate number of play examples and DM advice, playable without excess upkeep and available in a $30-$40 starter set (cheaper than video games, but affordable to most American teenagers). Something like that, and some support in the form of adventure modules and whatnot for those who'd like it.

*Although the decline of youth has been well documented since the invention of cuneifrom, I just don't believe there aren't enough teenagers with an active imagination and a hankering for adventure.

Quote from: MelanPost 72.

Ah. I'm not up n the slang 'round here.

QuoteOh give me a break. The "rollplayer-roleplayer" dichotomy is the poorest, most overused argument in the history of gamerdom. Kindly stop using it.

No. It may be over used, but I think it is accurate. I also don't think it's a poor example at all, especially given that there isn't really any significant empirical data to really judge the community as a whole.

And did you just say gamerdom? You did. Do you people talk like this in real life?

Most of the rest of what you have to say I think is fair and accurate.

Quote from: Serious PaulNo. It may be over used, but I think it is accurate.

As much as some hate it, I'm beginning to think that "roleplay/rollplay" as a concept must be doing something right to keep coming up again and again. I've been hearing it nonstop since the 80s and don't doubt that it may have been around in the 70s, too.

If that many people over that long a time find it to be useful language for categorizing play, I don't know that it's any less valid than any other such system (GNS/GDS, Robin Laws' player types, etc).

A valid and well timed point, Yamo.