A Breath of

Fresh Air

August 29th, 2011

Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Go Outside Week, a week devoted to getting out of the proverbial basement and going into the great big out-of-doors for a bit of sunshine and fresh air. Of course, if you’re like a lot of tabletop gamers (or so the stereotype goes) you’re not such a big fan of sunshine and fresh air. You probably don’t recoil from daylight shrieking, “The yellow face! Agh! It burns us!” but then again, maybe you do. It’s not my place to judge.

In fact, for a lot of gamers, there are lots of drawbacks to the out-of-doors. For example, even a relatively light breeze can cause havoc on all sorts of tabletop games, blowing away character sheets, maps, and the like, and forcing you to weigh everything down so you don’t have to chase it. Dirt, dust, grime, dew, and unidentifiable sticky substances wreak havoc on character sheets and playing cards (though, if you’re playing without sleeves, you can only complain so much, after all). And for some reason, stray dice that roll under a table or behind a couch seem to be much easier to recover than those that wander into tall grass.

And then, of course, there’s the wildlife, and the not-so-wild life. Obviously bees, birds, creepy-crawlies, and other annoying pests are unavoidable in the out-of-doors, and those…well, they’re annoying pests. But I think that the real reason that so many gamers don’t like playing outside (and, let’s face it, it wouldn’t be a stereotype if there wasn’t at least some truth to it) is because they feel vulnerable and exposed, out there where other people could potentially see them.

Obviously this isn’t a universal trait of gamers, and maybe it doesn’t apply to you, and if so, that’s great. Pat yourself on the back and consider yourself well-adapted. But a lot of gamers aren’t quite comfortable enough with their hobby to put it out there where various passersby will…you know…see it. Ultimately, I think it comes down to a combination of two factors:

All the cultural conditioning we get (from movies, TV, books, and the like, but also from teasing in high school) saying that roleplaying games, and tabletop hobbies in general, are uncool.
Many roleplayers invest a decent amount of themselves in their games, characters, plotlines, campaign settings, and the like.

These two factors combine to make, for a large number of gamers, a sort of Achilles Heel, a major vulnerable spot where even a total stranger’s random thoughts and opinions (something that the average person has limited concern for) can deal major damage to the roleplayer’s self-esteem. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, deep down, on some level, a lot of gamers are practically ashamed of their hobby.

Obviously, in the comfort of your (or your friend’s) home, when the game is on and the Orc King really needs to be put in his place before the elven princess is sacrificed to the Demon King Orgl’grub, no one stops to say, “This is silly. We should go play some baseball.” No one would think about it. Under those circumstances, not only are you not ashamed of it, it’s cool. But, for some people, when you’re outside, you just can’t help but think “If someone were walking by and heard me talking about Orgl’grub right now, it’d sound pretty silly.” And that just takes you out of the game, makes you self-conscious, and often hurts your fun. After all, if gaming is escapism (and it’s not, for everyone, but for a great number of people it is), then constantly being reminded of the real world, and what “normal” people would think, can make the whole thing feel childish and distasteful. You find yourself spending less time thinking about the elven princess’ plight, and more time hoping that you don’t have to deal with any more people jeering at you as they pass by in the park, or, worse yet, little old ladies coming over to ask you to explain what it is that you’re playing.

So, considering all of the stigma associated with tabletop gamers and the out-of-doors, why oh why would we here at Necromancers of the Northwest (and, let’s be truthful here, necromancers have an even worse relationship with the great outdoors than gamers do, especially sunshine) be devoting an entire week to going outside?

Well, there’re a few reasons. For one, once you’ve had a bit of time to adjust, it turns out that sunshine actually isn’t so bad. I’m still kind of on the fence about fresh air, mind, but it’s possible that all these “outdoors people” might actually be on to something.

For another, it’s a bit of a novelty. This is true both in the sense that one can only have so many “race and/or class” weeks, and in the much more important sense that it’s a novel thing for your game group to do. After all, it’s summer now, which makes this the perfect time of year to have your next game day outside (unless you’re in a different hemisphere, in which case I suppose it’s the middle of winter for you. Sorry about the bad timing.). I can already hear some of you mumbling about how it’s a bad idea, doomed to failure. I’ll admit that it’s possible: in case you haven’t guessed by now, I have some reservations about the surface world myself, but it’s something to try, and, after all, you probably won’t get another good chance for about a year: it’s nearly September, after all.

But the real reason we felt it would be a good idea to have a week devoted to going outside (or, so I assume), is the other kind of gaming. The kind that doesn’t use dice, or pens, or paper, and almost never plays inside. The kind that’s used as a sort of dirty word, or, at the very least, a derogatory term, in the rest of the roleplaying community. That’s right, I’m talking about LARPing, short for Live Action Role-Playing. For those of you that don’t know, it’s sort of like other roleplaying, but you run around and act it out. In person. Outside.

I should probably preface this by saying that I don’t know that much about LARPing. I know that it’s probably a lot healthier than tabletop gaming, for all that anyone cares about that. I know that, as a style of play, it takes a lot of flak from other gamers. I know that, in order to do it, you either need to be very comfortable with your gaming hobby, and not mind showing that to the world and explaining it to little old ladies, or you need to be so uncomfortable with your gaming hobby that you feel a need to hit people over the head with it repeatedly until they agree with you.

Personally, I’m not really sure why LARPing gets all the hate that it does from so much of the gaming community. It’s true that in some respects, as a game, LARP games tend to be a bit…simple. They have to be, after all. If you have the advantage of being able to actually run around and swing swords and all that fun, you don’t really want to stop everything to pull out your 47th rulebook and look up how rule 2739.8b interacts with rules 039482.99c-e. In fact, you don’t want to roll dice and consult a complicated sheet. You want something fast, fun, and, above all, simple. After all, most of the fun is coming from the talking and the running around and doing stuff.

While I count myself among those who find throwing pinecones in lieu of fireballs to be “too silly,” and “beneath me,” I’m aware, on at least an academic level, that this is stupid. After all, is it really any sillier than doing it with pen and paper? Can you honestly tell me you’ve never tipped over a mini and made him give an agonized death roar as his plastic body collapsed to the playmat? And, honestly, isn’t worrying about what does and doesn’t seem silly a little juvenile, anyway? I missed out on a lot of cool movies and things throughout my adolescence because I was “too mature” for them.

Personally, I think that the real reason LARPing attracts so much ire from other gamers is that LARPers do what they do…outside. In the big, bright, outside world. They regularly go out, where other people can see them, and heedless of any potential embarrassment, they do their thing. And that’s something that a lot of gamers aren’t comfortable with.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to stay in the dark and play your games in private. And, to be honest, I imagine that the world would largely thank us for keeping our games where they are. But I think it’s important, every once in a while, to set all the awkwardness aside, play your game out in the open, and try not to worry about whether “Orgl’grub” is as good a name in the daylight as it is in the darkness.

That’s it for this week. Join me next time, when I’ll be discussing NPCs, and in the meantime…what are you waiting for? Go Outside!