Why I love gamers

[Celebrim]

This is a part of why I love gamers too.

It is a specific case of a gamers willingness to be playful.

Imaginative play begins with some proposition, "Imagine you could fly." Playful people are willing to accept these propositions and run with them to create a shared imaginary environment - a 'play space' - where playful interaction can take place. These propositions don't have to be as direct as propositions like, "I'll be the mommy and you be the daddy.", or "I'll be a cowboy and you be an indian.", but they are almost always there as part of play.

In the proposition, "Imagine superman can fly and he catches lois lane at the last moment as she plummets to her death.", the playful nerd is willing to accept the playful part of the proposition 'There exists a flying superhero' implicitly. But in considering the implication, 'He catches lois lane at the last moment as she plummets to her death', he immediately rejects the implications of this, namely that the presumed universe is one where energy and momentum are not conserved, as being inherently more problimatic to concensually play in than the one were a very narrow violation of the natural laws occur that allows for a flying superman. Imagining that superman can fly doesn't lead him to imagine that superman can catch lois lane at the last moment as she plummets to her death, and he rejects the 'play space' as being ill concieved. It's not the request to play that is being denied, but rather the nerd is negotiating the terms of that play space so as to more richly engage in the play. The non-playful person by contrast is going to focus on the playful proposition itself and reject it with a statement like, "People can't actually fly." This rejects the request to play completely.

Frankly, people that don't like to 'play' bore me to death. But 'gamers' all love to play, even when they aren't doing so in an organized fashion, and that's why I love gamers.

 

[Will]

The problem with 'but it's just SciFi/fantasy' is that where do you stop?

I mean, if you chuck out everything, you can have a scene where cops make buildings explode by spitting on them. Why? It's fantasy!

Pigs are natural burrowers and start shooting green rays. Why? It's fantasy!

I mean, ultimately, you draw a line at 'ok, let's go THIS FAR.' Nerd arguments about plausibility generally stem from 'you said you were redrawing the line over here, but now you're doing stuff that's outside the line... which is it? Do you even know what you're doing?'

It's one thing if it's intentional, but when it smacks of being poorly thought-out, it's natural for criticisms to ensue.

 

[Aeolius]

Pigs are natural burrowers and start shooting green rays. Why? It's fantasy!

I have death rays in my fantasy games. Mind you, they're stingrays.

 

[Asmor]

It's not a matter of "going too far." It's a matter of internal consistency, as has already been noted.

If you don't mind my beating a dead horse, no one would bat an eye lash when Superman catches Lois Lane if he was said to have the power to instantly dissipate inertia or something along those lines. The problem is, he is not said to have that power (bizarre Golden Age theories about how he's able to lift an entire building by a single corner without the building falling apart aside).

Basically, what it comes down to is this: there are a list of "new assumptions," and anything that isn't a "new assumption" is expected to behave as, well, expected.

 

[Voadam]

You beat me to it. Hammerheads gather in schools of up to about 500 IIRC.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

You beat me to it. Hammerheads gather in schools of up to about 500 IIRC.

Wouldn't want to be a nail in that sea!

 

[jmucchiello]

If I may totally geek out here (should that be IIMTGOH?):

In John Byrne's re-envisioning of Superman, all of Supe's powers are manifestations of being an extremely powerful telekinetic. This is why Supe's can pickup a building from a single focal point. He's actually picking it up from all points at once, the fact that he uses his hands at all is a mental limitation he is unaware of.

So, when Superman catches the falling Lois Lane. Subconsciously he bleeds off her momentum telekinetically before she lands (gently) in his arms.

And if none of the geeks in that TV show brought this up then they need better geek consultants. Perhaps that will be part of the writer's strike negotiations.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

If I may totally geek out here (should that be IIMTGOH?):

In John Byrne's re-envisioning of Superman, all of Supe's powers are manifestations of being an extremely powerful telekinetic. This is why Supe's can pickup a building from a single focal point. He's actually picking it up from all points at once, the fact that he uses his hands at all is a mental limitation he is unaware of.

So, when Superman catches the falling Lois Lane. Subconsciously he bleeds off her momentum telekinetically before she lands (gently) in his arms.

And if none of the geeks in that TV show brought this up then they need better geek consultants. Perhaps that will be part of the writer's strike negotiations.

My love for Superman just grew threefold.

 

[Slife]

You beat me to it. Hammerheads gather in schools of up to about 500 IIRC.

That's one gutsy fish in the lower left corner.

 

[Asmor]

That's one gutsy fish in the lower left corner.

Interesting that you assume the fish is the gutsy one...

Me? I think the sharks are the gutsy ones. I know if I was a shark, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a fish that felt comfortable around me and my 500 pals.