jester47 said:
Its like Singapore, on the surface it appears really bad, but when it comes down to it, it actually works.
Cell phones are disruptive. Do you go to the symphony, Opera, the Movies? They ask you to turn your cell phone and pagers off there too. Or how bout an airline flight. Come on, lots of us lived for quite some time without cell phones and got by without talkig to our mommies and our girlfriends and our wives (or our daddies, boyfriends, and husbands) quite well. There is a time and a place for everything. Chances are your loved ones will still be there when you are done.
What you do if you are afraid that somthing will happen that you will be powerless to stop but can arrive for comfort and support after the fact (i.e an evergency) is to give the number for the house phone. Tell your loved ones that if the house is burning down, or mommy slipped and cracked her head open that they are supposed to call this number and tell the nice DM that it is very important that they talk to you. Its not that hard.
Looking at what I have said above, I think its because I think cellphones make you weak. They mess up driving, they are intrusive, and disruptive by ther very nature.
Aaron.
See, you personally do not like cell phones, even outside a game. So your bias is obvious - and hence your credibility on the issue is zero.
Playing a game that goes on for many hours, and happens every week, and the only people you might interupt are your personal close friends, is totally different from a movie or opera setting. If you think its the same - it's time to take a break from the game. Because that is all it is - friends playing a game, and just for the fun of it.
Me, I'm an attorney. I need a cell phone on me, at all times. It allows me to communicate with my clients during emergencies (and yes, they are far too common in this line of work, and my advice over the phone at that moment is critical). It also allows me to maintain my social and familial relations better, during those extended times when personal contact is forced to be short. I used to HATE HATE HATE cell phones. Then I got one, and I suddenly knew why everyone seemed to love them. Life really did get better once I had a cell phone.
People said the same thing about radio. They said the same about television. And yes, in your own generation, people said the same thing about both computers and the internet. Imagine, how did people play D&D 1e without EnWorld?
People without new technology always find negative things to say about that new technology (myself included), until they start using that technology. Maybe it's the sour grapes theory, who knows. But it seems consistently so.
And I am sure some self-hater who owns a cell phone will come along quickly on this thread and try and justify why cell phones are evil despite his own use of one, and/or try to make it seem like their D&D time is somehow more sacred a time than other times when cellphone usage is permissable for them. That would also be typical (and in the 70's those same people would have said computer use was fine for at work, but nobody should ever have a need or a want to use one at home).
So bash away, my non-cell-phone-using friends. You too will be drawn to the dark side. And when you do, I'll send you a text message congratulations...
