Talk:Role-playing game

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This article requires attention for the following reason(s):
  • Needs sources.

Nice article[edit]

Nice article; shame there's so many uses of the words "nerd" and "geek", though. Playing face-to-face RPGs is no more or less geeky or nerdy than, oooh, say, running a wiki, editing a wiki, setting up a wiki to analyse another wiki, running a wiki as a right-wing-Christo-fundie-blog, or even just surfing the net. When I run a Traveller game, there's usually at least four of us, round a table, talking, socialising and playing the game - how many people sit at their computers looking at 'net with a group of people they've invited round? Not many I suspect. Net surfing tends to be a very socially isolated activity... ;-) Spica the HiverIf you tolerate this, then your children will be next... 04:51, 3 April 2008 (EDT)

agreed - I've known some very sociable & non-nerdy D&D players - not lately though.SusanG 05:12, 3 April 2008 (EDT)

Oh come one now - are yo saying there's NO truth in it? Are you denying that an unusually large proportion of DD players aren't Tolkein fans, Star Wars fans, etc? The evidence is clear! DogP 12:04, 3 April 2008 (EDT)

And .... your point is? SusanG 12:08, 3 April 2008 (EDT) (not that I've RPG'd for about thirty years)
I don't see it as being any different to football/soccer nerds (read: complete fucking morons), snooker/billiards nerds (ditto), darts nerds (ditto), baseball/American football/basketball/cheerleading nerds etc etc ad infinitum. My point is that *every* hobby/pass time/sport/game etc has its hard core fans who think of nothing else; to *me* they are no more or less nerds or geeks or dweebs than we RPG-ers. I once had the misfortune to sit next to a 19-year-old *fishing* nerd on a train from London to Manchester. Towards the end of the journey, suicide was, for me, a definite option.... Spica the Hiver If you tolerate this, then your children will be next... 15:05, 3 April 2008 (EDT)
That would be the equal of me having to listen to a NASCAR dumbass. --Edgerunner76Your views are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter 15:19, 3 April 2008 (EDT)
For me, it's a hardcore fan of anything. Well, except RationalWiki, I guess. --Star of David.png Radioactive afikomen Please ignore all my awful pre-2014 comments. 15:37, 3 April 2008 (EDT)
Spica, thank you for giving me a new nick. Complete fucking moronEd at CP 18:31, 3 April 2008 (EDT) (read: football nerd)

OH come on now, get yer heads out of the sand! Look no further for proof of my argument than a) the incredibly defensive tone of these comments, on a site that specialises in ripping almost anyone a new asshole and having no sacred cows; and b) the enormous length and unbelievably serious tone of the article. I dunno, clearly you're all insane, and personally I consider RPG's and their fans to be New Agers and Classic Woo. Total fucking bollocks, all of it -yer all bleedin' Trainspotters in my book. Frankly, this article reads like a Conservapedia article on the Global Flood. Now, as for football, that's clearly a different matter, as that is actually important. DogP 17:49, 3 April 2008 (EDT)

LOLz XD Spica the HiverIf you tolerate this, then your children will be next... 18:19, 3 April 2008 (EDT)

DogP, you sound like you need a two-hour long, in-depth exposition on the organization of the bureaucracy and political structures and institutions of the Third Imperium, possibly with a comparative study of the Zhodani Consulate thrown in for good measure. I'm sure that'll help you see things much clearer. :nods: --AKjeldsenGodspeed! 18:31, 3 April 2008 (EDT)

Sorry, when I said "unbelievably serious tone of the article" above, that was a typo. What I meant to say was "unbelievably STUPID tone of the article". DogP 18:33, 3 April 2008 (EDT)
OK, shits n giggles apart: I remember the massive (and it *was* massive) broo-haha about D&D corrupting kids and turning them all satanic 'n' stuff. It even affected the gaming club I went to when I was at school - our headmaster (a complete raving Christian, btw) came along to several sessions and joined in a game of D&D - "to see what all the fuss is about". He seriously expected kids to be throwing magic fireballs at each other, chopping off each others' arms and legs with swords and for there to be a dragon sitting in the arts and crafts cupboard. He was visibly disappointed when none of the above were present/happened. He muttered something along the lines of "you should all say a prayer before and after playing these games". I think he was just pissed off because his 1st Level knight got skewered and killed in its first melee... XD Spica the HiverIf you tolerate this, then your children will be next... 04:57, 4 April 2008 (EDT)
Heh. I went to a Catholic high school with a Jesuit community right next door. We used to borrow their meeting room in the basement for our games. :-) --AKjeldsenGodspeed! 11:05, 4 April 2008 (EDT)

Male[edit]

One thing's fer shure it was always a Male dominated thing but is now attracting more Females. <?> probably because of the increased social aspect of RPGs & the existence of networking sites.</?> (That's a question asking for discussion BTW not a statement) SusanG 15:29, 4 April 2008 (EDT)

this is strange. While my favorite, albeit almost abandoned, tabletop hobby is male dominated (miniature wargaming), I have always encountered more female RPG players than male - the love of my life (now ex) being one of them. Editor at CPfor a change 15:36, 4 April 2008 (EDT)
Mm. now but back in t'eighties & before I think it was male. SusanG 15:42, 4 April 2008 (EDT)
That's my impression, too. Maybe because RPGs have become more sophisticated in terms of both rules and content - it can be about much more than just "go down the dungeon, kill the monsters, get the gold." Not that female gamers can't appreciate a good old-shool game, of course, but the greater diversity in games probably attracts a more diverse audience as well. --AKjeldsenGodspeed! 15:55, 4 April 2008 (EDT)
I think what brought more women into the hobby in the 1990s was Vampire: The Masquerade, which (like it or not) was a rather different style of game than the usual 'skirmish wargaming in an underground menagerie'. --Gulik (talk) 05:11, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

LOLz[edit]

Yeah, move it to Fun. Any seriousness in the article is swamped by the subject of RPGs - not that I mind, but there are RPG wikis for...well, RPGs. Spica the HiverIf you tolerate this, then your children will be next... 08:16, 22 April 2008 (EDT)

  • Considering how RPGs have long been targets for fundy tardery, I think it safe to say that having a mainspace article on the subject is entirely justified. Unless you've forgotten that there are otherwise perfectly rational people who have bought the "occult" bullshit hook line and sinker just because they've never had an interest in the subject to begin with? EVDebs 23:12, 22 April 2008 (EDT)
I don't really care, so, if EVD wants it here, I'll leave it here - about to de funninate!. SusanG  ContribsTalk 10:18, 23 April 2008 (EDT)

I can't see the missionality of this article[edit]

..until I get to the end. The lead should be no more than a paragraph and should tell me straight away why I need to know about this topic in order to fight the woo-meisters. - π 13:13, 14 May 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, it deserves a bit of a pruning. ADK...I'll revolt your high-powered laser rifle! 13:19, 14 May 2011 (UTC)