I dedicate this thread to Random Real-life versus Roleplaying stuff. I just had an interesting conversation with someone and thought I'd share a few thoughts here, since they stuck with me a bit.

So how many of you have actually tried to quit roleplaying?
Now, I'm sometimes rude In Character, so I don't want to seem that way too much in reality. So as a disclaimer remember, I'm not calling anyone Old, o.k.? It's all self-reflexive here. It's the Age question. I've seen the ages of a few people here. That's fine. I just find that I'm getting closer and closer to the ages of those people that I thought were too creepy old to still be roleplaying. I Really don't mean to offend anyone. Personally I think I was foolish back then, but for some reason I still feel a twinge of regret after spending a long time working on something roleplaying related. Didn't you all think you'd outgrow it like everyone else some day?
I blame still being addicted on finding a woman who loves to roleplay. Still, we move to a new city and promise ourselves we're not going to get involved...but one grows weak and I think we all know there's no faster way of making friends than hunting down the roleplaying circles in your area. I've made some great friends. But they're Roleplaying friends. Most of them fade away if you stop running, or you only see them in a dice-rolling or LARP context. :sigh:
I think the reason I'm just typing this rant here is that it looks like a lot of you a) have been here a while and b) a fair number of you represent an older demographic than the classic stereotype. Bah. I've GOT to have offended someone now.
I'm 24 years old and I've tabletopped for about 11 years now. I love Live-Action roleplaying and I've done that, from player to ST, for about 6 years. I've only been a player about 6 times in all that time, being the "designated creative explosion" that had to be the Storyteller.
Point is, I've made a lot of friends roleplaying over the years yet I always fear that creative energy is a finite thing.
On another note: What do you do if most of your friends are through roleplaying and suddenly you find no joy in it?
Get better friends. Sure.
Sick of it? Find a better hobby.
Bah. I love roleplaying. But I think it may truly be an addiction. I'm not at that "get a tattoo of my elvin wizard" stage or anything.
Sorry. Just had to rant. Rather incoherently.

From the Exalted core book afterword:
"Exalted is a game of Imagination, but it's by no means shallow. I hope that people take away something, maybe even something profound, from reading and playing it. But ultimately, it's just a game. You can read it, play it your whole life, be crowned Emperor of the Realm and not have performed a single meaningful act.
Read this game. Play it, and enjoy it. By all means, buy every single supplement and convince all your friends they should too. But don't forget there's a real world going on around you, and if you don't take part in it, it will not wait for you. It will simply happen without your input. Go out and do something, stand up for yourself, because the world is full of people who'd like you to sit in a chair and take it while they make all the important decisions.
Fuck that noise---get on your feet and make a difference."
----Geoffrey Grabowski


Wow, is this post disjointed.
Disclaimer: I'm writing this post while I still have a fever, so when I'm better I'll try my best to blame it on the Flu.
Then again, maybe I'm curious if other people have these over-dramatized notions towards their pastime.

Wow was that post disjointed....and LONG.
My apologies.

It's always been pretty simple to me. It's a hobby just like Video games, building models or any other hobby. We are the first generation brought up on roleplaying why should we abandon it if we like it? Roleplaying is a juvenile or as mature as we want it to be so saying that by a certain age you should be done with it seems silly. If you let anything in your life consume you it is a mistake. as the great Jimmy Buffet once sang. "Moderation seems to be the key."

Upon re-reading: It's really not as bad nor as dramatic as I make it sound. But you're right. This is the first generation (or the second, depending) to have grown up roleplaying. I just wish I'd seen more adults doing it when I was younger. Then I wouldn't feel quite so much like one of Peter Pan's lost boys.

Stupid mainstream culture imprinting itself on me.

It wasn't invented until 20 years ago (D&D). It didn't take off until a couple of years after that (AD&D).

You could apply everything you said to computer games.

Correction, DnD was invented 30 years ago. Hence the 30th anniversary of DnD a couple weeks ago.

Sorry Tommy boy, it was invented long before that.It was Marketed as D&D about 30 years ago. Not the same thing-.^

Billy this post is for you.

Well, here it is. There are people who spend years learning how to play chess, Bridge, Read the same books over and over,watch the same show.We are people,and as such take things that comfort us and hold them tight.We Do not wish to change what doesn't need to change,and if you don't like that fact well do something about it. But here it is, I find more comfort playing in a fake world, than living in the real world,and on some levels this no better or worse than those who came before us. They may read the tales of the Bard, get drunk watching their idolized teams trying to win a game, but in the end they are most likely just trying to get away from their normal lives. They want to be something they are not,and let's face it in a perfect world no one would need that.But really is this a prefect world? And can you blame anyone for wish to be a part of something bigger than they are?

We are gaming,and others are drinking. We are learning rules,and others are resisting poems. We are gathering around friends,and they are gathering around friends...We are just people doing what people do,we just do it in our own way. So Billy, do not think poorly of yourself because you hobby is such a new one that it has the title of being for kids,as one day people will see that role playing is no more childish than joining a book club,or bowling team.

And just to keep my well earned tittled as asshole , shut up you whiny little bitch...Bla Bla..I do really mean evrything before "And just to keep..."

Tommy Boy? Do we know eachother IRL?

Well, I called the whiny bitch crap first. But thanks for the reminder. God. I'm better now, and well, ick.
Then again I'm also scared of Book Clubs and Bowling Teams in real life as well for what it's worth.

Chris? Is that you? I thought you were dead!

Typo.

Billy, as an old geezer myself, I think it is more a matter of what you do with your spare time than anything else. For instance, I had the option to go partying in High School, to go bar-hopping in college, and going clubbing after that. I rarely did. I decided that I would rather go to Denny's without the alcoholic blur. I was still hanging out with friends. I still hung out with women. I still spent most of my spare money, I just bought gaming books instead of drinks and admission.

I'm now married to a gaming-girl, have two kids, and still get gaming stuff. I rarely Table Top game now because raising my children is more important to me. It is also nice that my wife won't kill me for slipping out to a game.

i have been called many things in my life, Chis is not one of them. I just have a habit of calling all Tommy's I know, Tommy boy.

Well, Jager you are not only a old man, but you are also a dirty old man.

Well, I've officially apologized for my rant. Not sure what else to say.
Hmmmmm.
Here's a gift to anyone who had to put up with it:



Random Mona Lisa in fishnets doodle. :shrug: It will have to do.

People call me... Chris. When they don't call me Tarot.

Nice doodle Billy.

Billy, you've definitely got that cartoon art thing down pretty well, I am so jealous, I can only draw leaf-less trees.

I kinda know what you mean sometimes you gotta do some real life stuff simply because it's REAL. RPing might be sorta addictive, but at least it's educational as well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.