Quote from: Ian AbsentiaBy the way, in response to the Douglas Adams quote, I hate the inventions of cell phones, the internal combustion engine, and the abstract concepts of time and money.  How old does that make me?

I don't know how old it makes you, but I do know it makes you monumentally ungrateful.

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaBy the way, in response to the Douglas Adams quote, I hate the inventions of cell phones, the internal combustion engine, and the abstract concepts of time and money.  How old does that make me?

I'm beginning to wonder how literally we should take that Bigfoot silhouette in your avatar...

Quote from: BalbinusIndeed.

I remember when I was a teenager everyone assuming we didn't talk anymore due to video games and watching tv, but in fact we just talked about video games and watching tv instead of radio serials or whatever.

Interestingly enough, the exact same people who complained about my playing video games when I was a teenager objected to my reading books as they stopped me going out and playing with friends or whatever.  They didn't.

Times change, technology advances, new hobbies arise, but I don't think rpgs and video games do the same things or provide the same fun so I don't feel that one is terribly likely to replace the other.  Hell, I certainly still enjoy both and my current playing of Jade Empire is not filling the same niche for me as the upcoming Traveller game I'll be playing.

I don't think that video games are going to make RPGs go away anymore than TV and movies have made the theatre go away.

Theatre does have the advantage of a couple of thousand years more tradition behind it, but like theatre forms the basis for so much of TV and movies, RPGs also form the backbone of a lot of video game design.  Some of the earliest computer games took their cues from D&D, and countless former RPG designers have gone into the vidgame sector.

Moreover, until we have full neural interfacing and neural-net, near-sentient levels of AI, we will never be able to replace the creativity of having a real human in the GM's chair who's limited only be what he can imagine and describe to the players.

Quote from: J ArcaneI'm starting to feel like I walked into a nursing home with this shit.

As someone who's grown up with video games (my parents got a 2600 as a wedding present, and there's been games in my house ever since) and still has more than enough imagination to go around, I'd like to deliver a hearty "Fuck you!" to the jackass geriatric crowd.

That fact that some idiots can't understand new technology says more about their imagination (or lack of it) than it does about anyone else.

I'm assuming your comment here are directed to my posts.  So let me toss back a hearty "Fuck you!" to you.  

So, I'm in the 'geriatric' crowd eh?  Funny, considering I'm 37 years old, and played one of those "2600"'s you mention above when I was about 6.  Oh, except we didn't call them "2600"'s back when they first came out, they were "Atari's".  And "Colecovisions," "Intellivisions" and all that crap.

Point is, I, too 'grew up' as part of the 'video game generation'.  So, your vast generalization about me 'not understanding' new technology is basically complete crap.

It's not that I do not 'understand' video games or new technology (quite the contrary, I have been contracted as a technical writer for hardware manuals on wireless networking devices, as well as writing the script for a sequel to a high-profile PC game).  It's that I find video games utterly and completely boring.

My comments about the current crop of TTRPGs holding no interest for me stands.  I haven't seen anything interesting enough to want to run in a few years now (the last 'new' game I tried running was Vampire: the Requiem when it first came out, and I found it trite and lifeless).

The thing is, I've been around the RPG hobby long enough that I know what I like, and I know what I don't.  I've played more RPG systems in my career as a gamer than just about anyone I've ever met.  And in the end, I keep going back to the same two or three games that do what I want them to.

You say "geriatric old fuck" I say "smart consumer who knows what I want."

Quote from: WarthurI don't know how old it makes you, but I do know it makes you monumentally ungrateful.

No you don't.

Quote from: CaudexI'm beginning to wonder how literally we should take that Bigfoot silhouette in your avatar...

Quite literally.  They charge me extra at the barber and everything.

!i!

The theater/TV analogy is actually very interesting to bring up.

Just as so much of TV is unthinkable without theater, so many video games are unthinkable without RPGs. But that the one derives from the other does not mean it supersedes it. Just like theater, RPGs preserve a kernel of experience that's nontransferable, and that is why, just like theater, they may survive as a highly specialized practice with a reduced but significant audience.

Meanwhile, I started playing video games with the Odyssey, so I pwn you pants shitters.

Quote from: DrewBy 2027 the loose-belt toga will be back in style.

So it goes.

 It would be more comfortable in the summer months - and at the game table.
 Aso, since more than half of my players are women ..if we ALL wore those outfits ... the scenery and comfort factor at the game table would improve.

- Ed C.

Quote from: JaegerUmmm... "Fuck you!" right back.

Your parents got a 2600?  So did I, for christmas, I played that shit new out of the box.

I remember when nintendo was new. Sega genesis, super nintendo, Yup. I've played everything up to these newfangled Xboxes and PS 3's.

I even have and use this thing called a computer. (I'm using it right now) And I've been known to play a game or two on it as well. I used to play games on my commodore 64, but it got old. So I use my (now obsolete) P4 powered custom rig now. (It has intel inside)

But you know what? when I was younger video games were not as prevalent with the youngsters as they are now.

I played cops and robbers/cowboys and indians. Played war with my G.I. Joe action figures.  Me and my best friend would even pretend we were spies and go around the neighborhood on secret missions. Hell, I even read books. And played a littled D&D. (OK, a lot of D&D)
Lots of kids my age did shit like this.

I contrast this with how I see some of my younger relatives growing up. Unless it's some type of sport they hardly go outside. (unless they're "hanging out", which I'm hesitant to call a sport)

When they are with thier friends they don't play any make-believe games. They play video games.

Why play cops and robbers when you have GTA at your fingertips? Why play war with action figures when you can have armies smash each other in Warcraft? An RPG? Oh, you means games like Final Fantasy!

And they try not to read too much because they have to do that shit in school, and it's boooooring.

Naturally, all kids are not like this. But in my experience there sure are a hell of a lot that are. And their numbers are growing.

There's just so much more for a kid to plug himself into these days for instant entertainment. They just don't need to use their imaginations that much to entertain themselves. Most of the work is already done for them.


.

Growing up in this generation, I can honestly say the difference between a computer gamer with a life outside that and a computer gamer without... has a little to do with when they start. Videogames at age four is a no-no. At age twelve, you've probably stopped playing pretend and lego (the true beginning of good geek  upbringing... along side the right reading list) by now. Also, read to your kids. Seriously. Don't even worry if it's "above them." If they think you're cool (and they do when they're really young) and you read to them, reading is cool. If they start reading with some strange woman distracted by thirty other screaming brats (decidedly not cool)... that book better be solid fucking gold, or they're never going to read on their own.

Don't blame the technology. Spend some time with your kid, and if they don't go outside on their own, lock 'em out now and again.

Quote from: zombenI'm assuming your comment here are directed to my posts.  So let me toss back a hearty "Fuck you!" to you.  

So, I'm in the 'geriatric' crowd eh?  Funny, considering I'm 37 years old, and played one of those "2600"'s you mention above when I was about 6.  Oh, except we didn't call them "2600"'s back when they first came out, they were "Atari's".  And "Colecovisions," "Intellivisions" and all that crap.

Point is, I, too 'grew up' as part of the 'video game generation'.  So, your vast generalization about me 'not understanding' new technology is basically complete crap.

It's not that I do not 'understand' video games or new technology (quite the contrary, I have been contracted as a technical writer for hardware manuals on wireless networking devices, as well as writing the script for a sequel to a high-profile PC game).  It's that I find video games utterly and completely boring.

My comments about the current crop of TTRPGs holding no interest for me stands.  I haven't seen anything interesting enough to want to run in a few years now (the last 'new' game I tried running was Vampire: the Requiem when it first came out, and I found it trite and lifeless).

The thing is, I've been around the RPG hobby long enough that I know what I like, and I know what I don't.  I've played more RPG systems in my career as a gamer than just about anyone I've ever met.  And in the end, I keep going back to the same two or three games that do what I want them to.

You say "geriatric old fuck" I say "smart consumer who knows what I want."

Dude, chill.

There ain't a damn thing wrong with being disinterested, but there's certainly nothing right about being disinterested angrily.

And I know where you're coming from. I'm 19. I grew up with... well, enough to dabble. Frankly, I just suck at FPS (I have to play this odd southpaw configuration and even then I'm mediocre). War games I can do... I get reeeally into them for about a week and don't touch 'em again for a month.

As for your system preferrences, I can't really comment. I wasn't born when most of the people here started playing.

Quote from: CaudexEven Julius Caesar was criticised for his too-trendy wearing of a loose belt with his toga.

Alexander the Great took a crapton of shit when he started wearing the latest Persian fashions after he conquered them . . .

Quote from: zombenYeah, my son's going do definitely be the odd-man out when he's growing up.  I mean, he's going to have an imagination, and the ability to think for himself!  (If I have anything to say about it, anyway...)

Where the fuck do you get off having ideas about how to raise your kids? How fucking dare you.

Quote from: zomben*snip a lot of dodging the issue*

People who actually understand something don't usualyl make pig-ignorant statments about them like these:

QuoteYeah, my son's going do definitely be the odd-man out when he's growing up. I mean, he's going to have an imagination, and the ability to think for himself! (If I have anything to say about it, anyway...)

QuoteThe problem is that kids don't play "make-believe" anymore. They go straight to video games.

Idiotic, xenophobic generalizations just don't tend to stem from understanding or reason.  

That's just my experience though.  I could maybe make some comparisons to similar xenophobic attitudes towards other mediums of artistic expression and entertainment, to culture, race, sexual orientation, etc., etc.  

But instead, I prefer to simply mock you, because it takes far less time, and both possible courses have pretty much the same outcome:  You remain an ignorant fuck.  So I may as well save myself the time.

Now, it could be that you're not an ignorant fuck, you're just an utter and complete snob, which is as easy an explanation, but then you go and defeat that notion by informing me of how willingly you're apparently inclined to dismiss every RPG made in the last ten years out of hand in a similar fashion, and so I'm left again with the aforementioned conclusion that you are, in fact, a pig-ignorant son of a bitch.

Well, now that you've finished that, maybe you can work on that global warming thing for a few minutes.

Quote from: AosWhere the fuck do you get off having ideas about how to raise your kids? How fucking dare you.

So, is it wrong to deliberately raise your kids to be ignorant?

What's your position on the teaching of creationism in schools?  How about purely religious education?  Sex education?

Are you a Vedek Winn or a Keiko O'Brien?

Quote from: AosWell, now that you've finished that, maybe you can work on that global warming thing for a few minutes.

...uh...

...wtf does that have to do with anything, off-topic or otherwise?