Does Adulthood Change the RPG Experience Much?

[Rika]

People mature and so do games.

I know that I'm more interested in certain aspects of games now than I was when I started playing at 15.

Certain storylines that appealed to me at that age don't now and I'm dying to try others that I would have been bored to tears by 10 or more years ago.

 

[KingCrab]

Things are much different as an adult.

When I was young, I pretty much lived in the fantasy worlds I created. Now it's impossible for me to immerse myself to that degree in a fantasy world. The real world is too real to me.

 

[RFisher]

I don't know.

For me, gaming is certainly different now.

• I have less time
• I care more about how much fun everyone else is having
• I have less desire for detailed simulation
• I care less about learning, exploring, & mastering rules
• My tastes in fantasy & science-fiction have turned more in the pulp direction

Some of those may have to do with maturity, but others I think are independant from it. Plus, I think my experience might well be more of an outlyer than inside a standard deviation of the mean.

 

[Storyteller01]

Yep. The adult players have more to add to the game. Youngsters go 'Where's the wench!!' and roll dice. The adults don't need the dice.

That, and adult rules lawyers/physicists/realists (like myself) have more material on hand for their arguemnts.

 

[steenan]

I think my RPG needs have changed since I started gaming as a teenager. Different things are fun for me now. It wasn't one sudden change or even one gradual change - more like several different phases.
- I used to crave power. Now, I like to have varied and useful abilities, but I don't feel a need to be powerful. I also understand that the heroism does not depend on characters' strength.
- I used to want to win. Since then, some of the best scenarios I played ended with my character's death and/or defeat.
- For some time I played only dark and angsty games. I still like emotionaly intensive roleplaying - but it contains much wider spectrum of emotions now.
- I liked detailed and precised game mechanics, with realistic rules for every situation. Now, my games are much more simulationistic, but they are run with much simplier rulesets.

 

[delericho]

Yes, and unfortunately not in a positive way. Ever since leaving university and getting a real job, I've been finding it harder and harder to get the group together, find I have less and less time to prepare, and am generally a whole lot more burnt out on the whole thing.

Having a much larger gaming budget is quite nice, though.

 

[radferth]

Some, but less than I thought it would. Kids, on the other hand...

 

[Set]

I said yes, but I translated 'adulthood' to mean maturity and not just age.

Gaming with immature people, I find that random shopkeepers get attacked, particularly if they aren't obsequious and don't give away their wares. The immature players then get their nose out of joint that the forces of the town are actually capable of repelling a 2nd level character who thinks he's 'all that.'

Also, much less role-playing. As gamers mature, they seem more comfortable with funny voices, flowery declarations, shouting enthusiastically when they crit and playing characters outside of their comfort zone (particularly cross-gender characters), whereas the immature players seem to be limited to playing characters, 'like Wolverine, but with a sword! No, two swords! And they're katanas. That are on fire! And he gets with all the girls!'

 

[Clavis]

When I was younger, in my late teens and twenties, I was heavily into immersive role-playing and telling sophisticated stories that revolved around deep human emotions and tragedies.

Then people I knew started dying. Struggled with real addictions. Got divorced. I started having those REALLY DEEP FEELINGS we were roleplaying.

It sucked.

When I was younger, I sometimes liked to create intricate new rules, that would accurately simulate reality. I would also try to play against type, and break archetypes, because I was too cool for vanilla.

Then I grew up, and realized that RPGs are just games. All that really matters is how much fun the people at the table are having by being able to forget about all the responsibilities they have, and all the screwed-up things that are happening in their real lives.

So now I've rediscovered the joy of playing a fun game. I don't try to create emotionally powerful storylines. I don't try to perfectly simulate reality. I don't want to do the same amount of math that it takes to do my taxes just to create a character. I shamelessly swipe storylines and characters from movies, books, and TV, and don't try to hide it from my players. I don't care if things are original, if they're fun. I mix genres without hesitation, and don't worry about role-playing manifestos or aestetic purity. I don't impose a plot on my players. My games are an excuse for 8 people to get together and do something fun, not explore our deep desires and fears. Nothing more, and nothing less.

 

[Emirikol]

It's changed for me in a couple ways:
1. I don't have time for idiots anymore. All the negative-player-types that are out there (rules laywers to munchkins) are pretty much shunned by myself and all the other gamers I know.

2. Real life suddenly became more important. It's true! Having a job so that I can make my house payment, feed my kids, and allow my wife to raise them is way more important than any hobby. There are some people who let their hobby get the better of them..and they're the ones that inevitably end up begging from money from their fellow gamers. I find that seriously distasteful.

3. I'm done with the child-like approaches to gaming that I had to put up with from TSR and early wotc.

4. I don't put up with freeloader gamers anymore. There are a lot of people out there who just want to freeload a game from you and not give anything back. Yea, no time for those people anymore either (see #1 above).

Sounds elitist, I know. It is. It's called being a responsible adult and not putting up with idiots anymore. I can have fun AND not have to waste time anymore

jh


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