Does "Fantasy Role Playing" attract people who have a hard time in reality?

[francisca]

Oh, sure. But so does sports and MMORPGs. Everyone has their obsessions, and I'm sure fantasy role playing is no exception. If you're miserable in real life, kicking butt in a fantasy world is kind of fun.

It's not mutually exclusive, though. Lots of RPG players have great social skills as well.

I want to echo Pcat here. At the tables I game at, there isn't a single person who is socially inept. In one group, I do other things with these people besides game. With the other, I certainly would do other things with them, if it weren't for that damned 24 hour per day limit.

I don't suffer from associating with the stereotypical socially inept fatbeard. Never have.

 

[Mallus]

Do you think that when you're more comfortable/confident with who you are, that you don't feel the need/desire to play some "other person" as much?

Do you think that when you're comfortable with the world around you don't feel the need to read about or create fictional ones (as much)?

 

[Edgewood]

Oh heck yes!

I sell graduation caps and gowns. In my experience, the higher the degree, the less socially adjusted the person, on average (and as someone who has a higher degree, and is friends with three professors and has a brother who is a professor, I can say that obvious it's not a rule just an average generalization).

Calls from people with new PhD's are some of the scariest customer service calls I get (right below judges). I cannot even count how many new PhD's genuinely think they are my only customer, and their graduation is the most important graduation on the planet, and everyone should stop everything they are doing to gather information for them and work day and night just on their gown, tam, and hood, and desire to ship it for free next day air for them to inspect.

Sorry. I am ranting. It's graduation season. I've gone a wee bit temporarily insane.

I know allot of profs in Planetary Sciences and Quantum Physics departments and one question I have always wanted answered is: Do you any of you own a hair brush?? Anyone??

 

[ssampier]

I always wanted to become a dusty, confused, tweed-clad professor. And I would have done it, if it wasn't for all that pesky schooling in-between.

Me, too, I liked my bachelor degree education, but I was never the A student that schools are looking for.

 

[PwrMnky]

Do you think that when you're comfortable with the world around you don't feel the need to read about or create fictional ones (as much)?

Hm.

I have a friend who plays the same character for every campaign. Sure the classes change, and the special abilities change ... but the personality and major portions (gender, looks, abilities...) are pretty uniform.

If we enjoy being that same kind of person in a fantasy world, is it a sign that we wish we were more like that?
Especially, if it is so consistent?

But if we're more comfortable with who we are, our characters tend to be more downplayed?

 

[Nebulous]

Escapism is the route for me. I've actually been thinking about this very topic a lot recently. I also prefer to GM because the experience is much more immersive and i can spend oodles more time actually working on an adventure, as compared to the 3-4 hours the players show up for, and then don't think about it again until next session.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I know allot of profs in Planetary Sciences and Quantum Physics departments and one question I have always wanted answered is: Do you any of you own a hair brush?? Anyone??

I brush my hair with SCIENCE!*

*"Science" is the name of my pet hedgehog.

 

[Squire James]

Ever been to a Hokey game? Soem of those fans are way over the top and clearly are not very socially adjusted.

Yeah, those Virginia Tech fans are the worst... oh, you mean HOCKEY?!

 

[Faraer]

Yes...and really, anyone who says otherwise is more than likely one of those people and wish not to see themselves as such. We all know the kind, we all try to avoid certain types...we can see them coming; we don't want the guy with the anger issues in our game, or the person who loves Rp'ing, but can't seem to talk to others or be around them well except when it's in a chat room and he can see his 3D hero that he wishes he was.

Speak for yourself; I haven't met anyone like that. I believe they exist, but let's not confuse anecdotal impressions with knowing the answer to PwrMnky's statistical question.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I have noticed with certain people that when life is going bad they tend to game a lot more. I think there is a section of the gaming population that uses gaming as way to empower themselves.

Past that, I think it is hard to say. While I have been gaming for a long time, the data set is still confounding

Never thought about what you said before, but right after I got married in 1998, my ex-wife and I ran into a lot of problems and our new marriage quickly went downhill.

Oddly enough, I used this new thing called "the Internets" and found a new gaming group right around that same time and gaming every Saturday for 5-6 hours ended up being my refuge from a marriage going to the dogs. (WebRPG is where I found the group - and I'm still friends with the guy who made the post looking for new gamers, though he rarely games anymore due to a severe medical condition)