I feel like this is the right forum because when I looked at the media forum, there was nothing there that quite fit the topic of this thread.
I'm a fan of the culture of gamers; the psychological and social aspects. I've read a few books on the subject and I've now finished watching my second RPG culture documentary, The Dungeon Masters. (The other one I saw was Darkon, the LARP doc.)
I have come to two conclusions:
These filmmakers hate us
or
We're really that sad.
The second, I refuse to believe. With that, maybe it's worth addressing the first point.
With Darkon and moreso The Dungeon Masters, the filmmakers have chosen to focus on the most pathetic of us, the most jarringly odd of us, or flat out the most masochistic. In TDM, the filmmakers chose to focus on three GMs who exemplify everything embarassing about our hobby.
One is a failed writer, a part-time hotel manager (I think) and what we jokingly refer to as a "fatbeard". This guy I didn't hate, but I pitied. The filmmaker chose to highlight all of his failings and exemplified this with many shots of run-down buildings, messy locales, etc. He works on two projects in the film. One is shown to have failed, the other is completed, but the audience isn't told if it was successful.
The second is, for lack of a better term, a douchebag. He famously says about his players: "If I haven't killed them by midnight, then I haven't done my job." Huh? Do people really play in such an openly antagonistic atmosphere? I wouldn't last a single session with this guy. He trolls on and on about how nobody has finished his campaign with a nod and a wink because it's too hard. He's not doing his job, as far as I'm concerned. If I'm a non-gaming viewer, I'd be turned off from the hobby while watching this guy. He has a wife who actively avoids discussing the game. At least she doesn't ban him from playing, but I wonder how prevelant this spousal ignorance is among us.
The third is the creme' de la creme. A female player who... get this... dresses up as a drow when she DMs the game. I don't really know what to say except this is a blow to the outsider perception of us. There are only a handful of female gamers out there, she should not be representing that hopefully increasing trend. In addition to her quirky play, she is another one whom the filmmakers set up as being lonely, down on her luck, socially pathetic, and a full time female "fatbeard".
Add to all of this a downtrodden and sparse score, tons of transition shots of delapidated buildings, and "overheard" conversations about issues that gaming brings to a marriage and friendship, not to mention a nice LARP segment clearly designed to further ridicule and you have a portrait of gamers as lonely pathetic failures.
I've had enough of this garbage. Where is the footage of how the game is highly social? What about the guy who uses the game's lessons to teach his drama class? What about the healing and imaginitive power behind the game? Or, are there more "fatbeards" and drow-women than there are "normals"? Do these films get it right?
I hope this leads to a good discussion, but im also interested in making my own doc on rpg life. If anyone is interested and wants to hash out ideas, hit me with a PM or email me at mrkemper2005@yahoo.com
I'm a fan of the culture of gamers; the psychological and social aspects. I've read a few books on the subject and I've now finished watching my second RPG culture documentary, The Dungeon Masters. (The other one I saw was Darkon, the LARP doc.)
I have come to two conclusions:
These filmmakers hate us
or
We're really that sad.
The second, I refuse to believe. With that, maybe it's worth addressing the first point.
With Darkon and moreso The Dungeon Masters, the filmmakers have chosen to focus on the most pathetic of us, the most jarringly odd of us, or flat out the most masochistic. In TDM, the filmmakers chose to focus on three GMs who exemplify everything embarassing about our hobby.
One is a failed writer, a part-time hotel manager (I think) and what we jokingly refer to as a "fatbeard". This guy I didn't hate, but I pitied. The filmmaker chose to highlight all of his failings and exemplified this with many shots of run-down buildings, messy locales, etc. He works on two projects in the film. One is shown to have failed, the other is completed, but the audience isn't told if it was successful.
The second is, for lack of a better term, a douchebag. He famously says about his players: "If I haven't killed them by midnight, then I haven't done my job." Huh? Do people really play in such an openly antagonistic atmosphere? I wouldn't last a single session with this guy. He trolls on and on about how nobody has finished his campaign with a nod and a wink because it's too hard. He's not doing his job, as far as I'm concerned. If I'm a non-gaming viewer, I'd be turned off from the hobby while watching this guy. He has a wife who actively avoids discussing the game. At least she doesn't ban him from playing, but I wonder how prevelant this spousal ignorance is among us.
The third is the creme' de la creme. A female player who... get this... dresses up as a drow when she DMs the game. I don't really know what to say except this is a blow to the outsider perception of us. There are only a handful of female gamers out there, she should not be representing that hopefully increasing trend. In addition to her quirky play, she is another one whom the filmmakers set up as being lonely, down on her luck, socially pathetic, and a full time female "fatbeard".
Add to all of this a downtrodden and sparse score, tons of transition shots of delapidated buildings, and "overheard" conversations about issues that gaming brings to a marriage and friendship, not to mention a nice LARP segment clearly designed to further ridicule and you have a portrait of gamers as lonely pathetic failures.
I've had enough of this garbage. Where is the footage of how the game is highly social? What about the guy who uses the game's lessons to teach his drama class? What about the healing and imaginitive power behind the game? Or, are there more "fatbeards" and drow-women than there are "normals"? Do these films get it right?
I hope this leads to a good discussion, but im also interested in making my own doc on rpg life. If anyone is interested and wants to hash out ideas, hit me with a PM or email me at mrkemper2005@yahoo.com
). I've seen a lot worse. TDM isn't something I would be ashamed of showing to non-gamers.
