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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 5437464" data-attributes="member: 151">I didn't say they were making an excuse, I said they were setting their priorities.  And there's nothing wrong with that.  But many times, when I hear people say they can't game, what we often discover is that they haven't really tried that hard or that they decide that they don't want to invest a degree of time or effort required.  If your point was that they can't manage a weekly game...well, I agree.  But I was referring to gaming at all (hence my points about conventions, groups, etc.)I have two kids.  I was unemployed for a solid year.  I have friends who are currently in the same situation that I once was.  I have had an invalid parent, I work long hours.  I understand these challenges and I'm not saying that they are simply overcome by pluck.  But I AM saying that many people decide that gaming is not important enough to make that effort or that the enjoyment they derive from gaming isn't worth the effort they would require to invest to attain it.  I have encountered people who don't want to admit that that is the case.My aforementioned unemployed friends with two kids?  They still find time to game.  Not as often as they'd like...but they do.  One runs games himself...and he manages to get new gaming materials occasionally by working for a website that offers him RPG products as payment.  They attend the local library and started a gaming program where there wasn't one.  They purchase games from thrift and second-hand stores (yes, euro board games and RPGs can be found at at such places).  They borrow from friends.When my kids were little, we worked the game around them.  My friends watched their language until the kids were asleep.  We only gamed on Friday or Saturday night.  They understood the game would be prone to frequent interruptions while we occasionally had to tend to the kids.  When they got older, we included them or didn't exclude them.  We worked out elaborate scheduling to allow us to work other hobbies, family and work to co-exist with gaming.  It required a lot of effort.  I can understand if people say: "I tried.  It's just not possible."  But I've encountered a lot of gamers who didn't even realize all the options they had.  That was why I posted those links above.  Those came from five minutes of google.  I understand Hussar's and your points.  Mine was that many people underestimate how many resources are at their fingertips.  Those unemployed friends of mine?  They've managed to attend Origins plenty of times, even with virtually no money.  How?  Volunteering to run events (usually 6 of them), wise use of money and time, hooking up with charitable friends, careful budgeting and so forth.  A weekly game might be impossible...but gaming once a quarter or even once a month?  That should be much more doable.Now, whether that is worth the effort or not is a personal decision.  The beauty of programs like OpenRPG is that it can fill that need for far less effort or output.  That's one reason why it's as popular as it is (as are similar programs).  There may come a time when these online solutions equal the FTF experience...but for me, they're not there yet.</blockquote>

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