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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thornir Alekeg" data-source="post: 3560742" data-attributes="member: 15651">I would descibe myself as an ordinary person with a social hobby of role-playing games.  In the same way some people get a group of friends together for a regular poker night, I like to get together with friends for some role-playing games.  I've been doing this for more than 25 years now and my level of engagement has been up and down throughout that time.  Back in the carefree days of primary education, I was most engaged in the hobby, spending a lot of time with my close circle and attending local and occasionally distant gaming conventions.  During college my gaming was less frequent and a little more casual as it was used mainly as a stress-buster.  After college there was a period where gaming stopped altogether, but eventually it resumed.  Unfortunately real life has made keeping a group together and staying heavily involved in the hobby more difficult.  When I found this forum, it helped fuel my interest in the hobby again and has allowed me to stay involved and informed even as I game less frequently.The RPG community:  Wow, how can that be summed up easily?  The community is as diverse as any I've seen.  Other than the fact that we all enjoy playing RPGs, I think there is probably very little that is common within the community.  The community is everything from classic uber-geek types to straight-laced professionals who won't openly admit they play RPGs.  What do I love/hate about RPGs and the community?  I love the chance to stretch my mind and my creativity in a fun, harmless hobby.  I hate the stigma that RPGs carry to people outside the community.  I have had friends who have been concerned for my immortal soul because I play.  Fortunately they were good enough friends to actually listen to my explaination of the game where they came to accept that it is just a fun pasttime, not an exploration of something sinister.What keeps me engaged?  I enjoy playing the game, especially with my good friends, and through it I have met some wonderful people (admittedly I have also met people whom I hope never to see again, but in that respect it is no different that any other social activity).  As long as there are friends to play with, I will continue to excercise my imagination by engaging in a game that creates a story.  Several of my best friends, my wife and I look forward to the day when we all live in a retirement community together and can game all day the way some seniors now play bridge or other card games (and as our memory fails we will only need one adventure to go through again and again).</blockquote>

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