I have heard about the RPG but unfortunately I've never played . This is not only a great way to spend free time, but also for meeting friends. The ability to create own characters and the incarnation in it must be awesome, but it also requires great imagination and creativity. It's a nice escape from the real world, and a moment of rest from daily routine, which by the way has a positive effect on the functioning of the brain. Developing the ability of abstract thinking, learning work in a team and how to deal with unusual situations or how to improvise. It's a bit like the gym for the brain, I think. :)
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I've played a lot of "Pen & Paper" RPGs, which we now call sitting around the table playing roles (as the opposite to cRPG, which means role-playing video games). Actually, during junior highschool, I was one of the Game Masters in our city's RPG club. I specialized in the Call of Cthulhu universe, which comes from famous horror books written by Lovecraft. I remember that everyone wanted just to play Dungeons & Dragons or Warhammer, where anyone could be an absolute champion ruling the battlefield. In Call of Cthulhu, no-one could win - ancient gods are the main enemy, and you certainly don't fight ancient gods, at all! :) Players were more the detectives, slowly uncovering terrible truth about the town they lived in. Those sessions gave some chills to the people involved, I can assure you!
Recently, in the Polish media, a serious topic about rapes in RPG games come out. It all began with a story from a teenage girl who played a female character in Pen & Paper RPG game. Game Master was telling her the story privately and he put a scene of rape in her heroine's biography. She was shocked and felt dirty after hearing the whole tale. Of course, a lot of criticism fell upon the RPG games right after this article, some people even said that this can be comparable to a "real" rape. However, I think that everyone involved in RPG games should really put a strong line between themselves and their characters. In order to keep the game "healthy" and avoid arguments with friends, we really shouldn't feel like we are our own characters. Playing is one thing, but separating yourself and the hero/heroine is another.
For example, my friend is an admin of a forum board RPG. As a game master, she has the power to lead the tale and decide which character is going to die or leave. Some people were so mad at her for having their characters excluded that they sent her abusive messages in real life, on her real phone and real Facebook account! That's called being unable to see the difference between the real world and the fantasy world, in my opinion.
I played online RPG a long time ago, and recently, I 've tried to play board RPG- I agree with Piotr Wilk- it's totally different and much better as far as social skills are concerned. I was always far away from an idea to play this kind of RPG but I had an opportunity when I spent some time with my friends in a country house far away from , let's call it, everyday life. It appeared to be great idea – watching my friends and their reactions , their will of fight or lack of it- it's true that you have to remember about a border between yourself and your character but you'll never avoid giving your character a big part of your individual charateristics. Observation of my friend's feelings in situartions created by the game's designers was the best part of the experience. I never played again but now I also think about it as a great idea to spend time with my fiends.
Why I never though about it before? It is because when I was a teenager there was a big problem with a group of boys from my class- I can't remember which RPG they played but it took them so much time that they started to play instead of doing their homeworks , not mentioning other activities during breaks. When they stared to play instead of going for some lessons there was a big meeting with parents and teachers and a head teacher introduced a ban for RPG games at school. Martyna Zych wrote about people who can't see the difference between their character and themselves in real life ...I think that when you're a teenager you don't have such ability – this is why I consider RPG games as an entertantment for adults... of course not for all adults ;)
Well, in our club there were approximately 40 people in the age of 13-25 and we all played together without any problems. Teenagers are smarter than you think, I guess :)
Main "problem" of the role play games is that they are only in our minds and everything which happens there is unique and adapted to us. That is why when you have vivid imagination RPG's are great for you. I named this problem because of that you can't (hopefully yet) record it to show someone else or watch again.
I never play RPG game but i know how it works. I think this is ok but i can't say this is the most spectacular idea for evening. Maybe it's wrong but when I think about RPG i see bearded guys in black t-shirts with some heavy metal band on it. On the other hand this type of game requires nice skills from players. They need to be creative and have to thing out of the box. Empathize with the roles is the key to good gaming. I think this game is for extroverts because playing some role you often need to do unusual to your character actions. For sure this should be only for adults. As others said this requires some life experience to really understand reality.
Of course I've heard about RPGs. Still, the last time I "played" them was somewhere around primary school - it wasn't anything like the proper, professional games, with set rules, as we didn't even have a dice - yet somehow we managed to have fun for long hours. And yeah, I fully agree with everything that was said - it can be a lot of fun for someone with great imagination, and possibly a way to survive in a boring, straightforward world.
I've never played RPG games. When I was at the turn of primary school and middle school I was collecting and playing card game called Magic: The Gathering which was pretty awesome at that time. Me and my friends were competing who had a larger deck and coolest cards. We were trading with them too. Talking back about RPG games, I think it should be pretty entertaining putting yourself in the story of your favourite book, being main character. If someone should ever invite me for such meeting I think i would accept it, but only then. Think I'm just too busy for organising it myself, devising all scenario. ;)
Heard of them, played, still playing... Yeah, I started pen & paper RPG only few years ago and I still enjoy it. It's fun to play as another character and to experience things from his perception. I don't think it requires great imagination. Right it helps, but what is more important from my point of view is good Game Master. It doesn't matter if you come up with something amazing if your game master doesn't allow you to do that, because it destroys his concept of story.
I have heard about the RPG but unfortunately I've never played . This is not only a great way to spend free time, but also for meeting friends. The ability to create own characters and the incarnation in it must be awesome, but it also requires great imagination and creativity. It's a nice escape from the real world, and a moment of rest from daily routine, which by the way has a positive effect on the functioning of the brain. Developing the ability of abstract thinking, learning work in a team and how to deal with unusual situations or how to improvise. It's a bit like the gym for the brain, I think. :)
ReplyDeleteThere is a mistake in the URL link, if anyone has any problem viewing the presentation, just remove "and" word.
ReplyDeleteI've played a lot of "Pen & Paper" RPGs, which we now call sitting around the table playing roles (as the opposite to cRPG, which means role-playing video games). Actually, during junior highschool, I was one of the Game Masters in our city's RPG club. I specialized in the Call of Cthulhu universe, which comes from famous horror books written by Lovecraft. I remember that everyone wanted just to play Dungeons & Dragons or Warhammer, where anyone could be an absolute champion ruling the battlefield. In Call of Cthulhu, no-one could win - ancient gods are the main enemy, and you certainly don't fight ancient gods, at all! :) Players were more the detectives, slowly uncovering terrible truth about the town they lived in. Those sessions gave some chills to the people involved, I can assure you!
Recently, in the Polish media, a serious topic about rapes in RPG games come out. It all began with a story from a teenage girl who played a female character in Pen & Paper RPG game. Game Master was telling her the story privately and he put a scene of rape in her heroine's biography. She was shocked and felt dirty after hearing the whole tale. Of course, a lot of criticism fell upon the RPG games right after this article, some people even said that this can be comparable to a "real" rape. However, I think that everyone involved in RPG games should really put a strong line between themselves and their characters. In order to keep the game "healthy" and avoid arguments with friends, we really shouldn't feel like we are our own characters. Playing is one thing, but separating yourself and the hero/heroine is another.
For example, my friend is an admin of a forum board RPG. As a game master, she has the power to lead the tale and decide which character is going to die or leave. Some people were so mad at her for having their characters excluded that they sent her abusive messages in real life, on her real phone and real Facebook account! That's called being unable to see the difference between the real world and the fantasy world, in my opinion.
I played online RPG a long time ago, and recently, I 've tried to play board RPG- I agree with Piotr Wilk- it's totally different and much better as far as social skills are concerned. I was always far away from an idea to play this kind of RPG but I had an opportunity when I spent some time with my friends in a country house far away from , let's call it, everyday life. It appeared to be great idea – watching my friends and their reactions , their will of fight or lack of it- it's true that you have to remember about a border between yourself and your character but you'll never avoid giving your character a big part of your individual charateristics. Observation of my friend's feelings in situartions created by the game's designers was the best part of the experience. I never played again but now I also think about it as a great idea to spend time with my fiends.
ReplyDeleteWhy I never though about it before? It is because when I was a teenager there was a big problem with a group of boys from my class- I can't remember which RPG they played but it took them so much time that they started to play instead of doing their homeworks , not mentioning other activities during breaks. When they stared to play instead of going for some lessons there was a big meeting with parents and teachers and a head teacher introduced a ban for RPG games at school. Martyna Zych wrote about people who can't see the difference between their character and themselves in real life ...I think that when you're a teenager you don't have such ability – this is why I consider RPG games as an entertantment for adults... of course not for all adults ;)
Well, in our club there were approximately 40 people in the age of 13-25 and we all played together without any problems. Teenagers are smarter than you think, I guess :)
ReplyDeleteMain "problem" of the role play games is that they are only in our minds and everything which happens there is unique and adapted to us. That is why when you have vivid imagination RPG's are great for you. I named this problem because of that you can't (hopefully yet) record it to show someone else or watch again.
ReplyDeleteI never play RPG game but i know how it works. I think this is ok but i can't say this is the most spectacular idea for evening. Maybe it's wrong but when I think about RPG i see bearded guys in black t-shirts with some heavy metal band on it.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand this type of game requires nice skills from players. They need to be creative and have to thing out of the box.
Empathize with the roles is the key to good gaming. I think this game is for extroverts because playing some role you often need to do unusual to your character actions.
For sure this should be only for adults. As others said this requires some life experience to really understand reality.
Of course I've heard about RPGs. Still, the last time I "played" them was somewhere around primary school - it wasn't anything like the proper, professional games, with set rules, as we didn't even have a dice - yet somehow we managed to have fun for long hours.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I fully agree with everything that was said - it can be a lot of fun for someone with great imagination, and possibly a way to survive in a boring, straightforward world.
I've never played RPG games. When I was at the turn of primary school and middle school I was collecting and playing card game called Magic: The Gathering which was pretty awesome at that time. Me and my friends were competing who had a larger deck and coolest cards. We were trading with them too.
ReplyDeleteTalking back about RPG games, I think it should be pretty entertaining putting yourself in the story of your favourite book, being main character. If someone should ever invite me for such meeting I think i would accept it, but only then. Think I'm just too busy for organising it myself, devising all scenario. ;)
Heard of them, played, still playing... Yeah, I started pen & paper RPG only few years ago and I still enjoy it. It's fun to play as another character and to experience things from his perception.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it requires great imagination. Right it helps, but what is more important from my point of view is good Game Master. It doesn't matter if you come up with something amazing if your game master doesn't allow you to do that, because it destroys his concept of story.