Road to a Natural 20 Based Lifestyle

Before I launch into my no doubt deep and soulful answer to the question of why it is we've all chosen to do what it is we do, I just have to say - wow, the excitement for this whole trip is getting out of hand. And believe me, I'm just as tired of sounding like some sort of lovesick fanboy as you are of reading about it, but there it is. After viewing the sweet video Charlie posted and digging up a little more information of my own, I have a bigger dreams and grander expectations. It's to the point where it simply isn't going to be possible for this level of ramping up to sustain itself, because in very short order I'm going to quit my job and go sit outside the Indianapolis Convention Center and wait.

I found this helpful link/site about Gen Con during my online digging, and thought I'd share it here. I linked to one specific article on the site, which itself seems to be some sort of repository for Gen Con knowledge. I'm a little threatened, to be honest, since that's how I envisioned our site, but I remain open minded. After all, maybe we'll overtake the whole of the online community as the premier Gen Con discussion blog. Anyway, the linked-to article did provide some interesting insight on how to conduct one's self at the event, so I included it.

But enough stalling - on to business. I have been tasked to answer a question that is so deep and all encompassing that it has never (to my knowledge) been definitively answered. Sounds like fun.

Having taught communication skills for the last few years, I've become interested in an idea called 'the map is not the territory.' In essence, this is a theory that states that the world is as the world is, and that the map in your head does not necessarily represent the truth of what's out there. In fact, it says that the map in your head definitely does not represent what's out there, and that no person's perception is right or wrong, they simply are. In other words, I can only talk intelligently about what intrigued me and brought me to gaming (initially to Dungeons and Dragons). I'd be willing to bet, though, that parts of my thoughts are at least familiar to people out there. Still, I'll stick to larger trends. (As a side note, I want to point out that I think it's true that most of us became hooked on role playing in our younger junior high/high school years. This is an impressionable time for kids, and I feel that it plays a large part in the process of hooking us all. Therefore, my reasoning from this point on is based on the idea that the majority of players first became involved with role playing in their early teens.)

The largest trend, I think, is simply this: people who 'don't belong' are a big part of role playing. We've (Charlie and I) already referred to ourselves numerous times in our postings as geeks, or indicated that what we'll find at Gen Con might not be 'a bunch of cool people' - and I think that's telling. The very fact that I can say what I'm about to and (I'll bet) have much of my reading audience nod their heads in agreement is also telling. Namely, none of us knew any star athletic types as we grew up that were big into role playing. Notice, I didn't use the word 'popular', since I did, in fact, know a couple semi-popular kids that played (not many, though). However, these people weren't popular like the quarterback or the homecoming queen were popular. These were sort of 'dirty popular' - the kids whose parents were well known, but who were in trouble with the law quite a bit, smoked pot, or engaged in other similar, anti-social behaviors. Maybe 'infamous' is a better way to describe this group. They most certainly weren't the nerds and geeks of the time, but they were also set far apart from the 'pure popular', if you take my meaning.

So I think that's the most important cause going on here. But another reason I listed this idea of social awkwardness first is because, in my opinion, it ties in (or, indeed, is a straight up cause for) the other personality quirks that make up a gamer. Like intelligence - my second identified trend. I'm going to bet that if we took an average on-floor IQ during Gen Con, it would be substantially higher than, say, the average IQ of the Oakland Raider fans who sit in the end zone during each home game. Not to be stuck up, but you just don't find a lot of RPGers who have no interest in facts and figures, no real desire to read for pleasure, or little love of analyzing information and trying to solve mental puzzles. Role playing calls to people like this, and it offers them the chance to be proud of being sharp, and maybe even be the sort of person others might look up to just because he or she can do math quickly in their head or recall vast amounts of information from memory.

So we come to the third trend - the top tier of requirement for involvement in gaming - an imagination. I think the first two trends build on this one. Without ever having a feeling of maybe wanting to be someone else, or without a brain that's been opened to free thinking by lots of reading and mental exercises, can there be an imagination? I really don't think so. And doesn't this seem to bear out why a lot of the people who lead happy, included, popular lives don't see anything interesting in 'sitting around pretending to be an elf'? After all, why would they want to be someone else? To editorialize a bit, though, I think it's pretty sad that they're so closed off and have no soul. What sad, small lives they must lead.

So what do we end up with, when all is said and done? We have kids that feel left out, want some like minded people to hang with, have impressive mental skills, and have fertile imaginations . . . could there be a bigger draw than role playing?

As far as Gen Con goes, I think one real, fundamental reason it's held (even if it's not openly spoken of) is simply to get together with people who are like you are for a change. To be able to drop the constant downplaying of something that's important to your life, to stop being embarrassed and actually celebrate how you are for four glorious days? To experience what it's like to swapping stories that evoke real emotions of humor, anger, love, and excitement - and to have it be OK that all of those emotions are based on fantasy stories, things that to the common person are 'fake' or 'lame' or 'a waste of time'?

At least, that's my best guess at what's going on. What do you think, my Gen Con buddy?