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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steel_Wind" data-source="post: 5152074" data-attributes="member: 20741">Distractions, distractions...The distraction factor is a little oversold, in my experience.  The argument goes like this: I'm running a game and one of my players, instead of paying attention to the game, is checking e-mail or surfing the web. Laptops are a distraction at the gaming table. Same applies to smart phones and blackberries. A pox on all their houses. Ban them from the gaming table!    I am sure we have all experienced this from time to time both at the gaming table and in other contexts. I know that I am frequently interrupted during meetings with clients or at a discovery where there are witnesses and parties who are checking their Blackberries when they ought to be concentrating on the matters before them.  The same complaints arise from interruption at dinner and while on a date, too.   While I suppose all of this may be true, I think, in fairness, the technology is not really to blame. The Golden Thread running through all of these instances, be it at a client meeting, at a discovery/deposition, at dinner, on a date or at the gaming table is that the person involved is acting in a churlish manner. In all cases, the fault lies not with the technology, but with the person who is using it.    Most especially when it comes to a game, the fault might also be spread not simply to the impolite surfer/ e-mail checker, but potentially to the GM who perhaps isn't running a game that is quite as captivating as it ought to be.  In any event, I do think that while the problem is a widespread complaint in all manner of social and business situations, the ultimate responsibility for the problem lies not with the technology, but with the user of that technology.     Don't blame the laptop or the smart phone for your acting like a jerk.</blockquote>

Verification