Turning over a New Leaf

[Hussar]

Was reading GoodKingJayIII's little goodbye thread and it got me to thinking. I've spent way too much time of late worrying about the "state of the industry" or the "health of the hobby" and all that crap. And it's not a good thing.

So, for the next month, I am going to endevour to either start or participate in threads that only pertain to actual gaming. Either table issues, or rules debates, or things that actually matter AT MY TABLE. I'm going to try to ignore and not participate in any thread that deals with larger issues like the GSL/OGL, the "great divide" or any such thing like that.

It's not that I don't care, it's just that I'm burned out about going around and around on the same thing over and over again.

So, is anyone with me? If you are, change your sig. I'm trying to start a bit of a grassroots movement here. Let's focus on gaming rather than the game for a while. Most of us have no power over the game anyway. But we do have lots of power to affect what happens at our tables.

Let's get back to gaming.

 

[Rechan]

Welcome to No-More-Headaches-Ville! Yes, I think this is a good idea. Among other things, it's just too damn late because the books are all ready out, and too damn early to worry about the reprecussions; we won't see any indication of what the GSL means or 4e means for months, if not a year.

I, however, just don't care at this point.

Might I suggest you dive into various threads dealing with fleshing out things? (Like oh, this one, about my campaign.) Pop onto the House Rules/Fan creations thread! Or Plots and Places! Post about your game! Help flourish others' games! Chat about things like various WotC updates or whatever!

Welcome to a month of small problems and rules lawyering.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think I have been doing this to some effect by now. Though I still enjoy general game design debates, "State of the Industry" and "GSL vs OGL Deathmatch" is currently not what I focus on.

 

[Jack99]

I try to be a good boy as well...

 

[Roger_the_jolly]

Was not too interested in those debates before and after seeing a few threads I have lost whatever little interest I had.

I game for fun with friends - what we need and lack we make / invent / change. If it is good it stays, if not it goes.

To my mind, "the state of the industry" is just the aggregate of all small groups like us either having fun or not, and frankly, I couldn't care much about some unknown group who is not having fun now and is too set in its ways to change.

So, I'm with you on this - let's cut with the crap and get back to the real business - how to make games better at the table by solving real life issues arising from playing with people.

 

[Weregrognard]

I'd love to, but I have to admit I'm addicted to the drama. It's like watching bad daytime talk shows! Still I can try to help by posting more about actual gaming in the near future

 

[pawsplay]

I got into this mode a year or two ago, and it's helped a lot. I do care about the industry, but it's not my personal thing to take care of, so mostly I stick with actual game play stuff, and looking at the actual consequences of some copyright/trademark issues that concern me.

 

[Agamon]

I've already started doing this, but yeah, well said. Damn interwebs, just play the game fer cryin' out loud.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

Let's focus on gaming rather than the game for a while. Most of us have no power over the game anyway. But we do have lots of power to affect what happens at our tables.

Let's get back to gaming.

Good for you.

I tend to be rather selective about which parts of a forum I go to, and even more selective about which threads I bother to read.

And after that? Half the time I'll make a reply, and then I simply delete it unposted. Heck, I've spent more than a half hour on some of these posts, doing searches, formatting it nicely, and so forth. At the end of the day, a lot of it just doesn't matter that much.

You know another thing that might help?

Try not buying anything for a while. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy... try it anyway.

All these forums seem to be full of people desperately looking for something to spend their money on, or going on about how much their latest purchase kicks ass, blah blah blah. And then next month they drop whatever it was they bought and rush off for the new shiny. The book someone else is going on about somehow always seems to be cooler than the one you're actually reading right now...

I actually have been doing this since January of this year. I did break down and pick up Dark Heresy (I've got mixed feelings about it), but other than that I've been good. I'm trying to last a full year without buying any gaming stuff for myself (new or old). Just going to play/run the games I've already got.

Welcome to the more relaxed side of things. Just be careful, or you might wind up getting slapped with that dirty "casual gamer" label.

Disclaimer: I'm so unconcerned about most gamer things that I don't consider myself a gamer. I've played and run so many rpgs in the last 20 years I can't remember 'em all. I don't see that changing either. While I personally advocate actually playing the damn games you buy and treating rpgs as a hobby instead of a way of life, I'm aware of the fact that I'm a minority.

Hopefully more folks will follow your example.

 

[Walknot]

I game for fun with friends - what we need and lack we make / invent / change. If it is good it stays, if not it goes.


That's a sentiment worth repeating. And without that part the gaming industry is sunk anyway. So it's one big happy.