What has gaming done for you?

[Keeper of Secrets]

On one hand I have made lots of good friends, become very creative and had lots of fun. On the other hand, I have wasted lots and lots of time. Of course, knowing me, if it wasn't gaming I would have wasted that time in other ways so at least it was a really fun waste of time.

 

[KB9JMQ]

Well gaming has very much shaped my life from 8th grade on.
It helped me pick my friends, my other hobbies, my reading material, my movie material and in college my wife.

It now helps steer how we raise our two sons in a very good way.

 

[Wombat]

What has gaming done for me?

Directly, it got me out of miniatures games and old AH/SPI boardgames...

Also it helped keep me sane during many times, even times when I had no fellow gamers around (...that was a very long two years...).

Given my campaigns, I have been forced to work on my organizational skills. I have been encouraged to read books of history, folklore, technology, ecology, civic planning, basic economics, arms & armour and the rest -- of course, many of these were of interest in some sense before, but gaming kept me at it! And now my bookshelves sag majorly...

I have met many people through gaming and now have friends scattered hither, thither and yon -- all across the US, a few up in Canada, a couple in Scotland, England, and Wales, a fellow over in Brittany, and a couple of folks down in Australia. Yep, far-flung friendships, but all close to the heart.

My writing skills have also been honed, although you could put that down to my work as well.

In the end, however, why ask? Does anyone ask what golf has ever done for them? poker? knitting? stamp collecting? No, but for some reason there is still a need to justify playing rpgs, especially if you are over 30 (I happen to be 45). "Gee, isn't that a kid's game?" My reaction: "Sure, it can be, but not the way I play it."

What have I gotten from rpgs? Fun!

 

[Nareau]

Me [raising hand]: "The druids were part of the celtic priesthood of ancient Ireland. They conducted their ceremonies in forest groves and held mistletoe and oak as sacred."

Oh, I can just imagine if you had said, "Druids are a specialty class of priests, who have access to the Animal and Nature spheres." Heh.

Gaming has provided me with an outlet to explore many themes and situations safely. I've been a vampire, had children, been shot, fought ninja zombies, hijacked a blimp, built a church, died, raised the dead...you name it. I think that by practicing these things in a fantasy game, I am becoming better prepared to deal with such situations in real life. Even though I'm not likely to raise the dead (or a kid) anytime soon, I'm better at thinking on my feet than I would have been without gaming.

Gaming also got me through some pretty angsty times back when I was in highschool. What better way to mope than to sit around pretending you're a vampire once a week? =

Spider

 

[jester47]

Ask not what your gaming can do for you...
...Ask what you can do for your gaming!

Aaron.

 

[derelictjay]

What has gaming done for me. That's hard for me to say as alot of the ground work was laid before I started gaming. But it did help enforce things such as my reading, my love of history, my writing skills and my imagenation. It did introduce me to several friends, though most have moved away now, and I'll be following their lead in a few months. But what its done most for me was help me understand, that there are times when its better to laugh something off and just have fun instead of letting something simmer and bother you for days on in (in a d&d example, when you carefully plan out an encounter, expecting it to difficult. And your players belt it off as if it were nothing, just go with the flow, it works every time towards the fun).

 

[Particle_Man]

Well, I am a college instructor. My union has an odd law that let me get paid for three classes this term while only teaching one, but I had to say what I was doing with my "personal development time". I put down that I was gaining practical experience in small-group work, involving games and roleplaying.

What?

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

Mostly D&D has helped me maintain relationships with friends that I might otherwise have gotten out of touch with, provided me with huge amounts of reading material, and another incentive to get a job.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

In addition to the friends I have made, gaming has helped me to be a little more creative and forced me to learn to be creative spontaneously. It has also given me things to do so I can procrastinate easier - thanks EN World!

 

[jmucchiello]

Penmanship.

Something tells me this improvement is not ubiquitous among gamers.

I have a body of some 15 old and pretty close friends ...

Don't tell us where the bodies are buried!!! We don't want to die!!!

It now helps steer how we raise our two sons in a very good way.

There was a What's New With Phil And Dixie in a long lost Dragon involving grown up Role-Players. After scoffing at their mother for reading her horoscope each morning, they would roll a d20 each morning and consult a chart for what they should do during the day. I was reminded....