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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kae'Yoss" data-source="post: 3563578" data-attributes="member: 4134">Hi Willowisp!First of all, best of luck for your paper, and let me say that I think that you've come to the right place. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better roleplaying online-community!As others have said: I'd let them sit in on a game session. All the talk about what D&D (or roleplaying in general) is all about is nice and well, but ultimately, you'll have to be there.I'm sure you could find some decent folk here who will invide you to sit and watch - and play for a couple of sessions, too. Well, for some, it's a hobby. For some, it's a pastime, for some, it's far more than that - just like with every hobby I'd wager. Personally, I'm commited to the game, which means that I'll make time for it and do my level best to make it to the game every time. Not just because I like playing, but also because it's common courtesy towards the other people who play, and kept their saturday free of other things to come and play. One important thing about roleplaying is that you don't do it alone. You (usually) don't do it online, either, like World or Warcraft or other MMORPGs. You meet at someone's home (or in a store), sit down at the table together, and play, looking the people you play with in the face.I love roleplaying for its own sake: Being someone else, getting to do all kinds of things without fear of reprisal, kicking some righteous butt, all that. I also love it because it is a great excuse to sit down with a bunch of great guys and have a great time. It's not like we sit down, banish the real world, and start thinking like Kye the Swordmaster or Myrnold the Dark Knight or whatever we're playing. A lot of talk is about recent TV shows or movies, what we did on friday night, the telling of jokes, and all the other things you do when you're with friends. You sit down, play, eat, drink, and chatter with your friends. I personally consider every session where we didn't laugh until the tears came to be almost a failure.I love it for the challenge as well, be it the challenge to figure out the villain's plot or just the challenge to create a character that is memorable and effective (or just one that can kick some serious butt in a fight).There's nothing I hate about roleplaying itself, though of course most roleplaying games have parts that I don't like. The only things connected to roleplaying I hate are those I'd hate in every other hobby, too: People who are in it just to win, not to make friends. People who seem to be at the table only to show everyone how much better they are. People who seem to be more interested to cause grief to others than enjoying the hobby for its own sake. You know, if you want to know about early history, hunt down Gary Gygax and ask for an interview or something. He's one of the creators of D&D, which was the first roleplaying game ever. He posts on these very boards as Col_Pladoh.It usually seems as if women are a minority in roleplaying, and that they're less vocal than men to boot.Personally, I know something like 20 or more people I played with over the years, and two of those were women, but I heard more than once from people posting here that they're the male minority in their groups, or that genders are balanced in their games.I'm not Stormborn, but if you're interested in my two cents:There was indeed some anti-D&D movement a couple of decades back, mostly in the U.S.A. (I'm from Germany, and nothing of that ever surfaced here to the best of my knowledge). It was mostly some badly informed and probably over-zealous Cristians, but I'd say that it was a minority, albeit a vocal one (as it so often is). I guess it's not so different from people saying that rock music is a thing of the devil and all that.As long as everyone at the table realises that it's just a game, that the guy playing a cleric of Pelor (or any D&D god or goddess, and those are quite numerous) doesn't really think that he's a divine servant of some heathen sun god or something, it's okay.You can be a faithful Christian (or Jew, or whatever religion you want) and still play D&D (or any other RPG). Just because the game contains a whole pantheon of other gods, and devils and demons and witches and all that doesn't mean that we believe those things really exist (though some of the RPG-opponents seem to think so)I don't know anything of that sort, not for the U.S. (we had something like that around here, and I found some of the best roleplayers - and best friends I have to this day - over those sites, but they seem to have disappeared), but, as I said, you could ask around here.The ideal thing would be someone who first explains his game and group to you, talks about the people there and how they play; then let you sit in on a session; and then give you a cameo appearance in their games (which should not be too much of a problem).Just open another thread asking for someone in your area to let you sit in. If you can sit in on a real D&D session, I recommend it. While those online sessions might be nice, they could never live up to the real deal, sitting in the same room with people and not just playing, but socialising.I like computer and video games. Most types of action games, first person shooters, computer roleplaying games, strategy, adventure - As long as it's good, I'll try it. I have a PC and a Wii.I'll also play board games, miniatures games/wargames, card games, and so on.The time I spend playing those games can vary wildly. Sometimes I don't play anything for weeks, sometimes I devote hours each day to it. If I have a new game that is really good, I can spend hours playing it until I have beat it once or twice, and periodically, I dig out older games and then play them again. For some types of games - especially First Person Shooters - it depends largely on the multiplayer mode, since those games are best if played against other people.</blockquote>

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