Why do you game?

[Limper]

I'm again frustrated by this whole schism in the hobby.... the role vs power player thing. I find it very annoying when players don't read the rules... know the rules or care to know the rules. This attitude slows play for all involved. Its a game, it has rules.... knowledge of the rules truely isn't optional especially if your ignorence is impinging on other's play time..... this aside.

It has come up within our group.... why do you play the game? I'm looking to see if there might be some sort of corrillary which can be drawn based on reasons we game.

I'll start..... I play the game for escapist reasons.... I wish to fall into my alternate persona. I wish while I'm in that persona, to not have to deal with things like bosses.... taxes... all the baggage life deals us... In the books it was an arduous task but the hero accoplishes his mundane life painlessly.... this is what I want. I don't want plots which delve to deeply into the sort of things I could go to work and get paid for..... there is a point where realism in game annoys me.

 

[Rashak Mani]

I play more or less for the same reason but the Realism helps in that it gives players safer parameters of what is possible... in a high fantasy/crazy DM campaign its much easier to feel lost because you dont know what to expect. Or DM rulings become harder to understand/agree.

Besides the escapism I like the tactical aspect too... the wargaming if you prefer and the problem solving. The social aspect of getting together with friends is a very good reason too.

 

[barsoomcore]

I game because I love GREAT stories. And as a DM I get to get all my friends together and tell humungous, hellacious, hilarious, heart-wrenching stories that can go on and on and on and NEVER STOP until we feel like it.

Beyond that, I don't care. I don't care about rules, I don't care about role-playing, I don't care about power or balance or anything except insofar as it serves the story-telling. Everything else serves the story. So sure, you need some rules. You need some role-playing. You need enough balance so that everyone gets to contribute.

I want my campaigns to be full of stories that make me wish someone would write books like this.

That's why I game.

GREAT question!

 

[Breakstone]

Quite simply, it's fun.

I love to DM D&D because it's like writing a story, only you don't know exactly where it's going to go, and other people are enjoying it just as much as you are.

I love to play D&D because it's like reading a story, except you get to control the character. I suppose it's easier to relate to characters in D&D, because you are the character...