Does Adulthood Change the RPG Experience Much?
- Thread starter Mark
- Start date
National Acrobat
First Post
Absolutely. Tastes change. Lifestyles change.
What affects it more is marriage and children and increased familial and job responsibilities, which go hand in hand for most people with adulthood.
I gamed once a week, usually all day saturday or sunday before getting married at 26.
I gamed regularly when I got married, but not all day on the weekend days.
I have three kids and my wife works night shift. I'm lucky if I can game once a month now, and most of the guys that I game with (the same folks from college, we've been gaming together almost 20 years) have the same situations. We're really picky about what we play and how we play given our limited time available.
What affects it more is marriage and children and increased familial and job responsibilities, which go hand in hand for most people with adulthood.
I gamed once a week, usually all day saturday or sunday before getting married at 26.
I gamed regularly when I got married, but not all day on the weekend days.
I have three kids and my wife works night shift. I'm lucky if I can game once a month now, and most of the guys that I game with (the same folks from college, we've been gaming together almost 20 years) have the same situations. We're really picky about what we play and how we play given our limited time available.
Wyrmshadows
Explorer
As a 13yr old the dungeon thing was it...go into the dungeon, kill things, get treasure, power up...rinse repeat. As a 37yr old I would actually rather watch paint dry than play that way any longer.
At 37yrs old I am an much better game master than I ever was as a younger person, not because I am better at memorizing rules, I'm not. I am a much better storyteller, I can make more believable NPCs, my pacing is better and honestly my imagination is better insofar as I can say its more holistic...the parts all work together as part of a whole as opposed to a cluster of creative yet disjointed ideas.
I see it like this. When I was 13 I thought that some pretty dumb movies were cool (I can recall some Steven Segal and Jean Claude Van Dam flicks) and they were when I was 13 or 14 years old. Now I can appreciate that I enjoyed them then, but honestly, even though I can get a good laugh and watch films like that again from time to time, I couldn't watch movies like that more than very rarely without getting bored. Same with gaming. Tastes change as we mature and that is how it should be.
I may be an old DM, but if Old School is dungeon crawls with Erol Otis covers then count me as not Old School. If old school is character and story mattering more than kewl powers and endless tactical combats then I am old school. It all depends on one's definition.
Also, gaming was more of an escape when I was a kid, it isn't an escape anymore. As a game master I get to be creative and that is, for me, what its about. Drama, depth, complexity...all the things that real life is...this is reflected in my games. As an adult I embrace the things that were too overwhelming to deal with as a child. The things that make "real life" interesting are the things that make good gaming plots interesting...they always ultimately reflect some aspect of the human condition and connect us to the characters and the challenges they face.
Wyrmshadows
At 37yrs old I am an much better game master than I ever was as a younger person, not because I am better at memorizing rules, I'm not. I am a much better storyteller, I can make more believable NPCs, my pacing is better and honestly my imagination is better insofar as I can say its more holistic...the parts all work together as part of a whole as opposed to a cluster of creative yet disjointed ideas.
I see it like this. When I was 13 I thought that some pretty dumb movies were cool (I can recall some Steven Segal and Jean Claude Van Dam flicks) and they were when I was 13 or 14 years old. Now I can appreciate that I enjoyed them then, but honestly, even though I can get a good laugh and watch films like that again from time to time, I couldn't watch movies like that more than very rarely without getting bored. Same with gaming. Tastes change as we mature and that is how it should be.
I may be an old DM, but if Old School is dungeon crawls with Erol Otis covers then count me as not Old School. If old school is character and story mattering more than kewl powers and endless tactical combats then I am old school. It all depends on one's definition.
Also, gaming was more of an escape when I was a kid, it isn't an escape anymore. As a game master I get to be creative and that is, for me, what its about. Drama, depth, complexity...all the things that real life is...this is reflected in my games. As an adult I embrace the things that were too overwhelming to deal with as a child. The things that make "real life" interesting are the things that make good gaming plots interesting...they always ultimately reflect some aspect of the human condition and connect us to the characters and the challenges they face.
Wyrmshadows
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MrFilthyIke
First Post
Your free time is very reduced, so it is a very different experience.
SteveC
Doing the best imitation of myself
It can be a very different experience. For me, I really find myself savoring the ability to roleplay even more, and with less tolerance for incidental distractions that keep me from gaming.
I'm running KotS at the moment, and a new player is playing a tiefling warlock, and had some great roleplaying moments with some of the townsfolk. We were starting to exercise the roleplaying muscles ... and then the group started to get bored with it, so back we went to the more strict gaming agenda. It's a shame, because I was enjoying getting back into it.
As far as the second goes, I find I have less patience for distractions that keep the game from going forward. I don't have a lot of time any more (two jobs, dating life, volunteer work ... ick! not much time left over) so as a result, I tend to have a strong dislike for things that get in the way of the gaming time I do have. It mostly comes down to people who don't want to be there (wives and girlfriends of some players who don't want they or their husband to be there) and too much talk about work or politics. Both of those things away from the table, thankyouverymuch!
That's just me, though, of course...
--Steve
I'm running KotS at the moment, and a new player is playing a tiefling warlock, and had some great roleplaying moments with some of the townsfolk. We were starting to exercise the roleplaying muscles ... and then the group started to get bored with it, so back we went to the more strict gaming agenda. It's a shame, because I was enjoying getting back into it.
As far as the second goes, I find I have less patience for distractions that keep the game from going forward. I don't have a lot of time any more (two jobs, dating life, volunteer work ... ick! not much time left over) so as a result, I tend to have a strong dislike for things that get in the way of the gaming time I do have. It mostly comes down to people who don't want to be there (wives and girlfriends of some players who don't want they or their husband to be there) and too much talk about work or politics. Both of those things away from the table, thankyouverymuch!
That's just me, though, of course...
--Steve
paulsometimes
First Post
I'm probably the exception to the rule here, but I've actually found a lot less people that I want to play with. In high school, I didn't meet a lot of gamers, but most of them I met I liked gaming with. These days I'm surprised by the amount of people I meet that game (or would at least like to). Yet I find I get along with very few of them.
I’m completely opposite. I prefer “lighter” entertainment these days than I did as a kid. I didn’t read a Conan story until I was in my 30s.
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