The Elfish Gene - Another attack on gamers

[Herschel]

<tall joke>How's the weather up there, stretch!</tall joke>

Why you little %$$#^$*#$%*#&# !!!!!!

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

This was bad luck, really as it seems to me now that many of the people playing the game today are slightly better adjusted than the general population.

Obviously your book is a memoir and is based upon your personal experiences, but I would contend that there were many people playing the game back then who were equally well adjusted. Of course our large, very social group (up to 2 dozen people with multiple games ongoing) may have self-selected for better adjusted people. There were a couple of players who had social issues, but they didn't tend to show up as often, probably because we had less tolerance for anti-social behavior, especially since we played in the back room of a hobby store for free as long as we didn't cause too much disruption.

 

[Gort]

Generally speaking, D&D players are the worst people that exist.

Just saying.

 

[Remus Lupin]

I always suspected as much.

 

[pawsplay]

In the book, several sentences where spent dwelling on Frank, the "normal" science-fiction fan, and why he should have been doing else besides gaming. Then there's Billy, who came across as insecure and flamboyant, but a really nice gent. Some adult theater guy also GM'd some games. If you squint, you can see a different reality than what the narrator presents as the world of that young boy. Certainly, people can cling to bad gaming like it was a bad relationship. Doesn't make gaming bad.

 

[Beginning of the End]

In the book, several sentences where spent dwelling on Frank, the "normal" science-fiction fan, and why he should have been doing else besides gaming. Then there's Billy, who came across as insecure and flamboyant, but a really nice gent. Some adult theater guy also GM'd some games. If you squint, you can see a different reality than what the narrator presents as the world of that young boy. Certainly, people can cling to bad gaming like it was a bad relationship. Doesn't make gaming bad.

The Elfish Gene is the story of a sad, pathetic, socially maladjusted boy who suffered from borderline delusions in an effort to escape his sad, pathetic existence. He fell in with a group of s and chose to continue hanging out with that group of s even when it meant pissing over the people who were actually his friends and becoming an himself. In the process, he grew up to be a sad, pathetic, socially maladjusted adult.

Between those two points on his lifeline he played D&D, which -- according to him -- retroactively caused him to be a sad, pathetic, and socially maladjusted person.

Furthermore, he'd like you to believe that he got over being an . But even in the controlled narrative of his own book he can't hide the fact that he spends a great deal of time considering himself "superior" to wide swaths of people. Consider his "fatties are failures" thesis, for example. Or the fact that he pinpoints as the moment that he became a responsible adult as the moment in which he left an injured child laying in the middle of the park so that he could try to hook up with a cute girl. And not just any injured child: But a child that he had actually injured himself.

Which isn't to say that a lot of what the book has to say is truth. Even a resonant truth: There are a lot of socially maladjusted pricks in this world. And there are a lot of socially maladjusted pricks who play D&D.

The problem I have is when Barrowcliffe claims his experience to be universal and uses it as a poorly wielded bludgeon to derogate gamers in general. (Which is, of course, nothing more than Barrowcliffe's continued proclivity to be an rearing its ugly head.)

In short, there's another story of D&D to be told: In my life, D&D was the social venue in which I learned how to interact with fellow human beings in a mature fashion. D&D encouraged my development in both verbal and mathematical skills. And there are a lot of other people just like me.

Barrowcliffe thinks that everyone else is an because he's an . That's a typical thing for an to do.


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[houndstooth]

From the author
Thanks for your comments, Beginning of the End.
Not sure I agree with all you have to say - I did say the 'fatties are failures' was a prejudice, not a thesis. We all have them and I think it's honest to confess them. I also didn't say I became a responsible adult. I said I put fantasy behind me (turned out to be wrong on that score too).
I don't think everyone else is a whatever the word is you're covering up. Just some people. You'll notice that the portrait of Billy is very fond, as it is of many of the gamers I played with. Sure, Andy Porter is criticised but I just reported his behaviour. He got back in contact to say how much he liked the book. There's nowhere in the book where I even say I don't like him.
The only character I come close to calling a seven letter smilie is Chigger. And he, in my opinion, was a seven letter smilie as virtually everyone I knew agreed. You're absolutely entitled to your opinion but I have to say, I find it baffling. I thought Elfish Gene was quite a gentle recollection of gaming - as most reviewers noted. If you want to read some real bile from me try my first novel Girlfriend 44 'So funny, so nasty and so over the top' - New York Times.
Anyway, thanks for reading the book. I take it you won't want putting on my Christmas card list! Come up and punch me if you see me at a convention. I probably deserve it.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Hey all!

Actually I think the Elfish Gene is the best book I have ever read*, with some genuinely funny laugh out loud moments as well as some parts where I was unashamedly moved to tears.

*Okay, best novel, 1E AD&D Deities & Demigods is the best book I've ever read.

As someone in the UK (Belfast) who started gaming only a few years after the book is set I could really empathise with a lot of what was going on, although the events in that book seem extreme compared to anything I ever witnessed.

Ironically I was given the book as a birthday present (about 18 months ago) by Zander, who posted earlier in this thread. He doesn't seem to share my opinions on the novel.

@houndstooth...thanks.

By the way, since you're here, I think I have met your friend 'Billy'. I won't name any names but if his first name begins with the letter 'S' I may have gamed with him in London.

 

[Remus Lupin]

I think Houndstooth deserves a lot of credit for being willing to take some of the brickbats being thrown his way with aplomb. I liked the book an awful lot (it has only been supplanted recently by "Fantasy Freeks and Gamer Geeks" in my vast "fantasy memoir" collection), but I see why many people would not.

I'm glad the author is willing to come here to take the criticism and respond respectfully. I know from experience how hard it can be to take criticism of something you've spent years writing.

 

[S'mon]

Hey all!

Actually I think the Elfish Gene is the best book I have ever read*, with some genuinely funny laugh out loud moments as well as some parts where I was unashamedly moved to tears.

Hi U_K/Craig - I think '80s Coventry was quite a lot like '80s Belfast (minus the bombs - the IRA in Cov used to go over to Birmingham for their bombing); and the Nazi-obsessed gamer in Elfish Gene reminded me a lot of one or two of our old pals. Overall I think the book is a pretty good portrait of a section of British working-class youth in that era.