In a related pychological theme, humans both adapt-to and shape their social environment to establish their worth.
Powergaming is often (not always) the product of an environment which encourages powergaming. If it yields some sort of positive response from the DM and the players, it is more likely to spread throughout the gaming table. Primal urges for violence, destruction, etc. bring a sense of harmony and purpose to potentially complicated and divisive scenarios. Let's not argue how to deal with the prisoner -- how many goblins did you get? I got 5!
How much damage is dealt? How many HP do you have? How many attacks do you have? These simple metrics provide an easy way for a player to get on board with munchkins/minmaxers/powergamers. Such a group will be sensitive to maintain a sense of "competitive comaraderie." Conform to expectations and we'll all have a good time beatin' stuff up. It's very like a hunting trip in that respect. If you stop wanting to kill stuff, you're weird.
Anyone with more complex standards of acceptance and worth will find something lacking in such a game. They rage against the reduction of their character to stats and damage dealing ability. "We might as well be a bunch of apes fighting over a banana! How is this fun?"
Campaigns that are a constant stream of combat interrupted only by thin discussions of why violence is (yet again) the primary task at hand -- these are the campaigns that awaken the primal powergamer of the human psyche. Start throwing in scenes which require a lot of violence-free stealth, diplomacy to gain access to a stronghold, or alliance building ...and gamers will either provide more sophisticated human responses or they will quit in frustration. This is the psyche's struggle with its environment. It either adapts or escapes to a more favorable one.
So sometimes players and DM (or just one "stubborn" player) want simplistic models of group harmony in their gaming experience. It is fantasy, after all. No crime.
My personal finding: this need for simpler modes of social acceptance evolve from either or all of 3 themes: A) Life is complicated enough without games requiring complicated interpersonal dynamics. Let's just beat stuff up together! and/or B) one's self image is not resilient or broad enough to enjoy an environment fraught with unclear social responses (IRL their evaluations of self hinge on a few simple variables like income, attractiveness, etc....and they're likely to internally compete with others on the same criteria) and/or C) People who have very few social skills at their disposal will find anything beyond "Let's kill the troll!" to be emotionally taxing.
Powergaming is often (not always) the product of an environment which encourages powergaming. If it yields some sort of positive response from the DM and the players, it is more likely to spread throughout the gaming table. Primal urges for violence, destruction, etc. bring a sense of harmony and purpose to potentially complicated and divisive scenarios. Let's not argue how to deal with the prisoner -- how many goblins did you get? I got 5!
How much damage is dealt? How many HP do you have? How many attacks do you have? These simple metrics provide an easy way for a player to get on board with munchkins/minmaxers/powergamers. Such a group will be sensitive to maintain a sense of "competitive comaraderie." Conform to expectations and we'll all have a good time beatin' stuff up. It's very like a hunting trip in that respect. If you stop wanting to kill stuff, you're weird.
Anyone with more complex standards of acceptance and worth will find something lacking in such a game. They rage against the reduction of their character to stats and damage dealing ability. "We might as well be a bunch of apes fighting over a banana! How is this fun?"
Campaigns that are a constant stream of combat interrupted only by thin discussions of why violence is (yet again) the primary task at hand -- these are the campaigns that awaken the primal powergamer of the human psyche. Start throwing in scenes which require a lot of violence-free stealth, diplomacy to gain access to a stronghold, or alliance building ...and gamers will either provide more sophisticated human responses or they will quit in frustration. This is the psyche's struggle with its environment. It either adapts or escapes to a more favorable one.
So sometimes players and DM (or just one "stubborn" player) want simplistic models of group harmony in their gaming experience. It is fantasy, after all. No crime.
My personal finding: this need for simpler modes of social acceptance evolve from either or all of 3 themes: A) Life is complicated enough without games requiring complicated interpersonal dynamics. Let's just beat stuff up together! and/or B) one's self image is not resilient or broad enough to enjoy an environment fraught with unclear social responses (IRL their evaluations of self hinge on a few simple variables like income, attractiveness, etc....and they're likely to internally compete with others on the same criteria) and/or C) People who have very few social skills at their disposal will find anything beyond "Let's kill the troll!" to be emotionally taxing.
