Life Without Gaming--What would we do???

[Andrew D. Gable]

No gaming...sheesh, that's a tough call...

In a way (though it sounds like bloody blasphemy on these boards)...I almost think my life would've been better without gaming. Well, in some ways. No gaming may have meant I would have applied myself more in school...gotten better grades...and maybe actually done something rather than work at a grocery store.

But...realistically, the world of no gaming would've likely found me as a beer-guzzling stoner who watches Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy every other day...wait a minute.

 

[Phowett]

What would I do? The same as I do now, of course. Hang out with friends, play sports, workout, write stuff, etc. Then again, "gaming" has never been a major part of my life, and never will be.

 

[Cedric]

I'd probably be on a Submarine operating a Nuclear Power Plant for the Navy...

I'll take gaming, thanks.

Cedric

 

[Mahiro Satsu]

I'd have to start drinking again. oh, boy....

 

[Tyler Do'Urden]

Life without gaming? Let's see...

My grades wouldn't have been any better- I was always a disorganized slob, and I was bored of school by the 7th grade anyway. Social Life? I would have probably met most of the same people by getting more deeply involved in hacking and phreaking than I was. And I'd probably be in prison right now.

All in all, I think that I'm probably better for my gaming. I've made lots of great friends- and, since I stayed out of trouble, managed to get into a good college. I've been inspired to study lots of subjects that I never would have touched if it wasn't for gaming (Comparative Religion? History? Philosophy?), and playing characters and having a social support group made up of "odd ducks" (birds of a feather flock together, no?), I've been comfortable being weird. I feel free to speak my mind, dress in bizzare outfits, eschew the typical (barbaric) "beer&broads" partying of my peers, make friends with intellectuals twice my age, and generally be the kind of person I want to be.

I used to be something of a game addict, but I've quit playing computer games and I only roleplay one night a week (I always DM these days). Now it's just another hobby... I'm to busy for it to be anything more. If some evil deity wiped gaming from the face of the planet tomorrow, I'd probably not miss it at all.

 

[Oogar]

I'd have read more. I have read hundreds or thousand of books ranging from classic to crap. But I would have had time to read more. I doubt I would use a computer much, either. (RPG = CRPG to some extent). I may have done something more with my life.... but I really don't have that kind of motivation. I would have fewer friends, I think. I might daydream even more then I do now.

 

[Warchild]

LOL!!

If there hadn't been gaming I would be a pathologicaly shy computer geek with no friends. I would have way more money than I have now but I would also be a lot duller.

I think gaming isolated me much less so than computers did! I just naturally swerved towards people who spoke my language. Okay, maybe i still have a non-gamer friend or two. But i don't think i have any non-computer friends(can't think of any right now). I agree i might be a duller person, though. Your right about that, Ace.

 

[Theron]

Interesting question. Since I'm one of those old timers who got into the hobby via wargaming, I'd have probably continued in that vein. Thing is, by the time I discovered D&D, I was already playing a rudimentary RPG we made up from Metagaming's Melee, Wizard and Death Test (which was, for all intents and purposes a Dungeon Crawl), so I don't know how things would have turned out exactly.

I'd have probably tried harder to find the SCA earlier, probably never would have taken up comic collecting (I only started buying comics when I began playing superhero RPGs). I probably would have made better grades, and might have finished college (on the other hand, the prospect of finding the SCA earlier probably would have had the same net effect on college as gaming already did).

To be certain, I wouldn't have the math skills, I wouldn't have the Room O' Games, and I wouldn't have a lot of the great friends I've made over the years.