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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 313731" data-attributes="member: 467">You all do realize that there is more than enough opportunity for "adventure" in this supposedly mundane world, don't you?  I mean, between military life, things like the Peace Corps, and various field academics, you can have adventure and *still* have the comforts of the modern world.  Willing to give up safety and cleanliness?  Hell, there are still lots of mercenaries, pirates, and underworl types out there today.  Want to be a "good guy"?  Try being a cop, or a combat medic/EMT, or a Search and Rescure specialist.  maybe its that you want to break new ground, explore new territories.  Well, just because something is on a map doesn't mean it has been thoroughly explored.  How many millins of square acres are essentially uninhabited in the american midwest or Canad?  How much of the vast jungles and forests and mountains of south America have truly been explored?I mean, really, if you are willing to say you'll drop everything to go to some fantasy world, what is keeping you from dropping everything *right now*, turning off you computer, throwing some clothes ina  duffle bag, and heading out the door. yeah, maybe you'll have to fight for your life and for a living, but I'll bet you'll have one hell of an interesting life.  that's what this is about, isn't it?  People want to go off to "fantasy land" because their lives are mundane and oppressive and however much they may love theirwife/husband/kids/dog/whatever, they just want *something* to happen to them that sets them apart from everyone else.See, the thing is that in movies and books, the protagonists don't have a life like an RPG campaign character.  In a book or movie the character usually works througha  single event/challenge/crisis and returns, though changed, to the status quo.  the RPG character never gets a break.  Every week there is a new orc horde or evil wizard or mad cultists to kill.  No rest.  No time for love or life.  Sure, you get drunk at night at the tavern before heading to the local temple to get sewn up before heading back down to the Caves of Infinite Goblins, but that is not rest or relaxation: it is escapism.  Which brings us back to the point of why people escape -- because they don't like their lives.  Now, at this point, after many scars and many battles and losing so many friends, if a wizard appeared to you and said "You can go to a world that is quiet and warm, and yes you will be human and mortal so you will suffer some pain, but you will also feel joy and happiness."  Do you go then?So as not to skip out on the question: No.  Not because I love this life too much, I do.  I actually don't have a reason.  All I know is that I am still here, living in this house, working this job, and loving this woman, and I have not left yet, even though I could.  i mean, the door is right there.  i can see it from here.  How long could the road be?  but I don't.  There it is.(Maybe the thing that is extra special about the magical portal to fantasy land is that you don't feel and responsibility -- after all, you could not say goodbye or visit if you wanted too.  if you leave in this very real world, you know they they/she/he ar/is out there, suffering because you disappeared without a trace.  Just a thought.)</blockquote>

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