You Don't Talk Shop at the Dinner Table

[S'mon]

You do realise, don't you, that just by being willing to discuss a subject, it's very likely that you're not bigoted, at least in relation to that subject. A bigot is someone intolerant of any view other than his own on a particular matter. Ergo, a bigot isn't open to discussion about that view.

Well, I know I'm not bigoted, but there's plenty of topics I know would anger many people if I discussed them, and it's not because those people are bigoted in any conventional sense, maybe more the opposite. Anything that would prompt an "If you think X, then you must hate Y, which makes you a Z" stuff.

 

[PwrMnky]

religion vs. politics

It's funny ...

Our DM has set up our campaign to specifically challenge our views on religion/god. And yet we still never argue about it. I think we all have similarly aligned views on both. "Live and let live" ...
Regarding politics we all have similar views as well.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

We have four forbidden topics...

1) Sports
2) Politics
3) Religion
4) My ex-wife (because this just derails everything while everyone, myself included, rants about how much we despise her).

At one time, there was a 5th; Magic the Gathering. But that was back in "the day."

 

[Numion]

Nah, we talk about everything. We're friends outside the game, so it's all good. The game is also an opportunity to socialize for us, since people have busy private lives.

 

[Berandor]

We try not to talk about anything except gaming because we usually don't have that much time to game in a given month, anyway. However, any topic that comes up is fair game.

We know how to argue without being too rude or condescending, and we know each others well enough (and consider ourselves mature enough) that even a general disagreement in any one field will not impede our fun overly much. In the end, while we may have different opinions on P and R, as long as those topics don't infringe on our gaming (say, a liberal player making a fuss about half-breed marriages, or a conservative religious guy refusing to play with a pantheon of deities), we don't care that much.

 

[sniffles]

We don't have to ban any topics at our gaming tables because we're all pretty much in agreement on most topics. But the general tendency is not to discuss anything of import during games. We'd rather talk about tv shows, other games, or pets.

 

[Bagpuss]

you don't discuss class in the UK

Who are you kidding?

 

[S'mon]

Who are you kidding?

I never got in so much trouble as when I made a joke about class at the game table, Tallarn thought I was accusing him of looking down on a lower-class player. I have noticed though that the English now say "class doesn't matter anymore", but that doesn't mean they're happy to discuss it, quite the reverse.

Edit: I noticed how with the whole Shilpa Shetty/Jade Goody thing, the class angle was studiously ignored by the media.

 

[Wormwood]

Politics destroyed my gaming group in 1994.

I should have mailed my dice to Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton.

 

[Agamon]

If my players are talking about something besides the game, I'm not doing my job very well.

That said, nothing has gotten to bickering or arguing at the gaming table. We're all friends away from the table, so it's not much problem.