Mercurius
Legend
You know what I'm talking about, right? Yet another long-time ttrpg gamer saying something to the effect of "I'm getting out of RPGs--too busy, career, kids, non-geeky girlfriend, being a Serious Adult, etc--and selling all of my stuff." There is often a variation of "Please convince me to return" or "I'm sad to go and don't really want to quit but am leaving anyway" or "The reason I say I'm getting out is X, but in actuality it is Y but I can't even really admit that to myself yet." I've even seen "I'm stopping gaming because it is dominating my life and/or ruining my marriage."
Let me be clear: I am not saying that there is anything wrong with this; I don't mean to speak about this in a pejorative sense, but I am a bit baffled by the commonality of this among gamers. I even have my own relatively mild version of it: in my 28ish years of being into RPGs I have had three or four periods of a few years in which I didn't play at all and only minimally followed the industry, bought a book or two a year, but generally not been an active gamer. I've had a few purges of gaming material, often eventually regretting what I sold with many items on my shelf being the 2nd or even 3rd copy I've owned.
But I've always come back. My most recent hiatus from active gaming was from about 2003/04 to 2008. I was in a regular 3E game and then moved away and got busy with other stuff. I still checked out the forums on occasion, bought a book or two for reading enjoyment, but didn't get really interested again until I caught whiff of 4E, and then after another move started a campaign in late 2008. At some point around that time I had a bit of an epiphany: I realized and admitted that I would always have, at the least, a life-long interest in RPGs. Previously I thought that I would eventually grow out of them, that one of my hiatuses would turn into true retirement. I knew that I would always be into fantasy and the imagination, but thought my sole outlet would be writing (which it still is, but not overwhelmingly so over RPGs). But I realized that I would always love D&D, always love RPGs, and perhaps even always play - or at least be interested in playing if the situation was right.
It was kind of a relief, really - and I have enjoyed the feeling that, as Ursula Le Guin put it so wonderfully, "the creative adult is the child who survived." My writing has a psychological, even "spiritual", element to it that gives it a kind of weight and importance in my life; RPGs are just fun - and are for no other reason than simply the joy and love of the game, of play.
So in a sense I had a reversal of the phenomena that I am talking about. Not "I am quitting the game" but "I am recommitting to and fully embracing my love of the game."
I am curious about the thoughts of EN Worlders on this: either the first "Quitting the Game, Kinda Sorta" phenomena, or the "Revelation of Life-long Gamerhood" phenomena. Do you relate with one or the other? Have you experienced either of them? Had friends or seen this on various forae?
Let me be clear: I am not saying that there is anything wrong with this; I don't mean to speak about this in a pejorative sense, but I am a bit baffled by the commonality of this among gamers. I even have my own relatively mild version of it: in my 28ish years of being into RPGs I have had three or four periods of a few years in which I didn't play at all and only minimally followed the industry, bought a book or two a year, but generally not been an active gamer. I've had a few purges of gaming material, often eventually regretting what I sold with many items on my shelf being the 2nd or even 3rd copy I've owned.
But I've always come back. My most recent hiatus from active gaming was from about 2003/04 to 2008. I was in a regular 3E game and then moved away and got busy with other stuff. I still checked out the forums on occasion, bought a book or two for reading enjoyment, but didn't get really interested again until I caught whiff of 4E, and then after another move started a campaign in late 2008. At some point around that time I had a bit of an epiphany: I realized and admitted that I would always have, at the least, a life-long interest in RPGs. Previously I thought that I would eventually grow out of them, that one of my hiatuses would turn into true retirement. I knew that I would always be into fantasy and the imagination, but thought my sole outlet would be writing (which it still is, but not overwhelmingly so over RPGs). But I realized that I would always love D&D, always love RPGs, and perhaps even always play - or at least be interested in playing if the situation was right.
It was kind of a relief, really - and I have enjoyed the feeling that, as Ursula Le Guin put it so wonderfully, "the creative adult is the child who survived." My writing has a psychological, even "spiritual", element to it that gives it a kind of weight and importance in my life; RPGs are just fun - and are for no other reason than simply the joy and love of the game, of play.
So in a sense I had a reversal of the phenomena that I am talking about. Not "I am quitting the game" but "I am recommitting to and fully embracing my love of the game."
I am curious about the thoughts of EN Worlders on this: either the first "Quitting the Game, Kinda Sorta" phenomena, or the "Revelation of Life-long Gamerhood" phenomena. Do you relate with one or the other? Have you experienced either of them? Had friends or seen this on various forae?
