Suspension of disbelief and gamers

T

Tinker Gnome

Explorer

• Feb 1, 2004

• #1

Well, i have noticed that out of all people. Gamers seem to have the most trouble suspending their disbelief for anything. It seems to me that gamers have the poorest imaginations i have ever seen. I once heard someone say that their suspension of disbelieve was shattered just because they were using minis. No offense to gamers(cause i am one). But most seem to have a poor imagination.

 

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Ankh-Morpork Guard

First Post

• Feb 1, 2004

• #2

Methinks you've got it backwards...I think to BE a gamer is to HAVE a good imagination. Minis or not.

 

Dirigible

Explorer

• Feb 1, 2004

• #3

What Ankh said. My experience is that the gamers I know have the best imaginations of anyone in my cohort.

 

Last edited: Feb 1, 2004

A

Adonis

First Post

• Feb 1, 2004

• #4

Ankh-Morpork Guard said:

Methinks you've got it backwards...I think to BE a gamer is to HAVE a good imagination. Minis or not.

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Im going to have to agree here. I dont know where you got your notion of "no imagination from" but it seems to be dead wrong.

 

Nifft

Penguin Herder

• Feb 1, 2004

• #5

"Good imagination" + "nitpicky pedantic system-analyzing bastard" = "gamer".

So, our imagination isn't getting in the way of our suspention of disbelief... it's that other part.

-- N

 

K

Kyramus

First Post

• Feb 1, 2004

• #6

Galeros said:

Well, i have noticed that out of all people. Gamers seem to have the most trouble suspending their disbelief for anything. It seems to me that gamers have the poorest imaginations i have ever seen. I once heard someone say that their suspension of disbelieve was shattered just because they were using minis. No offense to gamers(cause i am one). But most seem to have a poor imagination.

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Personally, I don't think it is about gamers having poor imaginations. It's the fact that with all the technology, special effects and such out there. It's hard to sometimes picture what you want to perceive in the dnd game without saying "Hey you got that from (insert movie here)" comments.

With my gaming group, I've found that while suspension of disbelief isn't all the way, they at least know and feel that the campaign world has a life of it's own. The NPC's do act like normal people, even npc's that are adventurers.

 

Painfully

First Post

• Feb 1, 2004

• #7

Perhaps your exposure to gamers is more limited than you think.

 

Aeolius

Adventurer

• Feb 1, 2004

• #8

Galeros said:

I once heard someone say that their suspension of disbelieve was shattered just because they were using minis.

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Heck, over-reliance on rulebooks can shatter one's willing suspension of disbelief, at times. I have a problem when players would rather dig through a book for the specific means to solve a problem, rather than use their imaginations. To me, D&D is a tool to nurture one's creativity; it isn't solely a war-game.

 

Numion

First Post

• Feb 1, 2004

• #9

Galeros said:

Well, i have noticed that out of all people. Gamers seem to have the most trouble suspending their disbelief for anything. It seems to me that gamers have the poorest imaginations i have ever seen. I once heard someone say that their suspension of disbelieve was shattered just because they were using minis. No offense to gamers(cause i am one). But most seem to have a poor imagination.

Click to expand...

This is so true!

According to some posters on RPGnet forums their suspension of disbelieve is shattered by the D&D hitpoint system, but not by that 300 lb sweating Simpsons comicbookguy playing Legolas, complete with quotes in genuine elvish!

 

Wombat

First Post

• Feb 1, 2004

• #10

I have seen gamers with great imaginations.

I have seen gamers who think they have great imaginations because they create characters that are Legolas-with-a-different-name-and-hair-colour.

I have seen gamers who say, "If it isn't in the rules, you can't do it, and you must follow all the rules."

I have seen gamers who are just frustrated method actors and would-be Robin Williams-es and would throw out all the rules entirely.

In other words, when it comes to imagination, I think gamers are a pretty darn mixed bag.

Part of it boils down to what you define as "imagination"