Loyalty among gamers, does it exist?

[Starfox]

I don't owe anyone loyalty because they are a gamer. I am loyal to my friends, some of whom are gamers and some of whom are not. If you have a spot at my table, I owe you something....but not carte blanche! I will remove you if you don't belong. And I will accept your withdrawal if you don't feel my table is a good fit. That doesn't mean that I won't be your friend.

But Joe Gamer down the road? I don't owe him anything. Nor does he owe anything to me.

This might seem self-evident, but I maintain that it is not how people usually react. The world is full of cases where a group is loyal even to its fringe members. Such thing as gay communities, racial communities, golf communities... there are many cases. Maybe the gaming community is just too casual to inspire this kind of loyalty, or maybe it just has not been tested.

In Sweden we have a national association for gamers known as SVEROK. Organizations like that play a rather important role in how Sweden is governed, and SVEROK claims to speak for all gamers - with some success. If the "no ropleplay in prison" episode had happened here, I am pretty sure SVEROK would have spoken out on it. My picture of the US are that you people are just as involved in this kinds of issues as we are here, but maybe that depends on the issue in question.

Let me clarify that I'm just using the RP in Prison issue as an example. In this discussion I don't care about details or the rightness of that case, I am just using it to show an issue where the "gaming community spirit" failed to manifest. It could have been something else.

 

[S'mon]

Maybe the gaming community is just too casual to inspire this kind of loyalty, or maybe it just has not been tested.

Or maybe we are not Swedes. Gamers tend to be pretty individualist IME, their sense of identification with other gamers is fairly limited. Re your 'no roleplay in prison' story, I certainly think of the gaming-deprived convict as a convict (and likely criminal) first, as a fellow gamer second!

 

[Fifth Element]

I don't owe anyone loyalty because they are a gamer. I am loyal to my friends, some of whom are gamers and some of whom are not.

Agreed. If this is what's meant by gamer loyalty, feeling kinship for someone just because they also game, then no, gamers are not a loyal bunch. Forced to make a judgment about someone, "spent time in prison" is likely going to hold at least equal weight as "plays D&D."

Given that we live in a culture where, increasingly, not having the spotlight on you all of the time -- or, gasp!, on another player! oh noeses! -- is considered somehow damaging to the game

Kids these days!

it is hardly surprising that one might not want to play in a campaign one isn't enjoying.

Why would this have anything to do with a "me-focused" attitude? I know you're a proponent of playing the games that you enjoy - I don't see that being dependent on a changing culture, if such a thing actually is happening.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Why would this have anything to do with a "me-focused" attitude? I know you're a proponent of playing the games that you enjoy - I don't see that being dependent on a changing culture, if such a thing actually is happening.

It's the opposite of "taking one for the team".

There are lots of places and times where one should make sacrifices for others. This includes the "spotlight time" of others in RPGs (whatever some might think of that!), but, IMHO, hardly includes sitting through games -- or movies! -- that are not enjoyable.


RC