Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Sigil" data-source="post: 344846" data-attributes="member: 2013">*chuckles* Or maybe it's just that we like to THINK we're a "smart crowd."  And so do literature people.  And music people.  And so forth. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  If there's one thing I've learned, it's that "smart" people aren't always.Unfortunately, we're in a society where it's becoming less and less "cool" to play nice.  Look no further than The Weakest Link if you want to see that.  Society, unfortunately, praises the brazen, rude, and pompous.  To "fit in" most of us try to be brazen, rude, and/or pompous.Interesting.  I don't think I've ever had a group without at least one person under 14.  Now, this does sometimes cause tension because a 14-year-old's concerns - and selection of knowledge from which to form "in jokes" - are not the same as those of older players - but I find that for my campaigns, I really enjoy having at least one "newbie" to the game or "young person IRL" in the group to balance out the jaded "20-years-in-gaming-means-I've-seen-it-all" types.Ah, but there are those that will argue that Power-gaming COMES from the need to always be in the spotlight.  It's a chicken-and-egg thing.  Are you in the spotlight because you powergame or do you powergame to be in the spotlight? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />  I'm not saying this perception is right or wrong, but it IS there.After almost 20 years of gaming, I can tell you that tastes change over time as you acquire more real-world experience.  Much as I hate to use a phrase you probably hear a lot, "you'll understand better when you're older."  At 12, I was much less sensitive to the subject of abusing small children (because I saw that as me beating up my little brothers - which was a fun and enjoyable pastime) than I am now (where I have small children of my own and the thought of someone deliberately harming them is repugnant, to say the least).I think that goes back to changing tastes as you age.  In general, younger people have a notion that they can "change the world."  Not just the fantasy world, but the real world.  This probably is a healthy and desirable thing.  However, as we get older and realize that it's not that easy and that fighting evil does not mean hunting it down in its lair - because you're liable to get thrown in jail for trespassing and breaking and entering - and that it's not so easy to change the world (heck, it's not so easy to change a diaper!) that we adapt our goals to the smaller scale.  I would love to change the world - but to me now, it's more important to make a lasting impact for good in my kids' lives.  Is this loss of a desire to change the world at large a good thing?  Maybe, maybe not.  I do know that it does seem to happen, though.  Sometimes, though, it is nice to play in a fantasy world where defeating evil IS as simple as strapping on some armor, tracking it to a lair, and slaying it.  There are times I wish I could do this IRL with some of the faceless evils attacking our society today. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />That is probably the most compelling argument I know of... D&D is my escapism. I see a world going to hell and know I can't do too much about it - I can't spread myself far enough.  But in the world of D&D, maybe I - or my character - *CAN* make a difference.Problem is, as I said, that age tends to bring about a certain amount of change in thoughts and tastes.  That means older people tend to categorize younger people as "immature" simply because they have not accumulated as much "life experience."  Bah.  We were all kids at some point - and some of us seem to want to forget that. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" />  That's another reason I like having some youth at my gaming table when I DM - I need that perspective to keep my own fresh and unjaded.  Immature, to me, is someone who has had the experience and not learned from it.  A child acting like a child is... a child.  An adult acting like a child is... immature.  And to be honest, most of the things we like to call "mature" (read: sex and violence) are really rather immature (it's the same things we found funny during puberty - can't we ever grow out of them?  And why is that stuff considered "mature" anyway?  To me, "mature" material means talking about old people <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> - your definition of old may vary).In general, it's a spiteful and hateful term - the behaviors you describe are no worse than hamming it up, but there are "serious actors" who despise "hams" - forgetting that we need a good laugh as much as we need a good cry. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />I think the problem is that it's easier for a "munchkin" to disrupt a group of "role-players" than vice-versa.  After all, the "munchkin" is more about action - and violent action - than the "role-player."  After all, when a munchkin gets bored with the role-player's endless conversation, he simply says, "I pull out my sword and attack the <whatever>" and suddenly, the game is the type the munchkin enjoys and the role-player hates.  It's much more difficult for the role-player who is tired of the munchkin's continuous combat frenzy to simply say, "I stop the fight and negotiate."  I think THAT'S why it's used in so ugly a manner - because a munchkin can "force" a role-player into the munchkin's world much more easily than the role-player can "force" the munchkin into the role-player's world (unless, of course, the role-player "does the unthinkable" and uses munchkin tactics to out-munchkin the munchkin, thus forcing him to listen or die - which is kind of paradoxical - "in order to rid myself of munchkinism, I must become a better munchkin myself").That's my 2 cents.  And Tief, you're welcome in my group any time (I try to have a nice balance and have had munchkins and role-players living together for years in my campaigns now - it is hard, but it CAN be done - but the effort makes most people think it's not worthwhile).--The Sigil</blockquote>

Verification