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Author Topic: End of a Creepy Era  (Read 15651 times)

J Arcane

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« Reply #30 on: March 22, 2008, 05:24:31 PM »
Bulletproof is a big damn case of Munchhausen's syndrome.  But it's a version that focuses entirely on human misery stories, and parasitic to boot.  You could post about some dude having been de-limbed and then fed his own fingers while being assraped with his own shins, and just by some magic coincidence that same thing would've happened either to bulletproof herself, or some form of family member, depending on some minimum standard of marginal plausibility.  

She's also the purest case I know of a Tangency-only poster.  She doesn't roleplay, doesn't know anything about roleplay, has never roleplayed, and didn't even know anyone there when she started posting, just appeared out of the blue with her wierd pity porn.

Tangency eats it the fuck up, of course, and no one dares question her lunacy to her face, because that would of course interfere with the "emotionally safe environment".
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Consonant Dude

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« Reply #31 on: March 22, 2008, 05:30:17 PM »
I didn't care for the thread much. Certainly never read it.

However, the reaction around here seems almost as if people felt threatened by it. I've been gaming since the early 80s and yeah, there's I've seen my share of absurd, sad and sometimes downright creepy shit.

I think it was at its worse (for me) when I was a very active gamer and willing to connect with other gamers before the internet era. For me, this was from the mid-80s to the late 90s.

If your gaming is done with friends, through careful screening and through converting, there's a good chance you won't meet creepy/socially awkward gamers. But back when I organized/participated in large events, or recruited/was recruited through billboards in game shops? No chance. No fucking chance in hell.    

It's not just roleplaying. Many activities and hobby will lead to the same results. For instance, through the 90s I was a very busy musician and recruited actively. And let me tell you the ratio of "normal people" gets drastically down pretty fucking quickly.

I'm not saying every story posted in those threads was true. But I think it would be misguided to discard massively what was written. I could almost recognize what I had been through in some of those stories and I have my share of them, only I don't like to dwell on them.

J Arcane

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« Reply #32 on: March 22, 2008, 05:43:01 PM »
"Threatened"?  That's just plain silly.

There is a long running undercurrent of geek hate in the RPGnet forums, has been for a long time, and by and large that thread was mostly about sitting around wanking off about how much more "normal" they were than all those other nasty gamers.  

It's the same kind of geek hate that Matt Snyder has been rambling on about, the same kind of bollocks that has the Forge and Story-Games babble on at length about how to make gaming "normal" or "mainstream".

It's pathetic self-loathing, and it has no place on a site about roleplaying games.
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Aos

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« Reply #33 on: March 22, 2008, 05:43:52 PM »
Quote from: Consonant Dude
I didn't care for the thread much. Certainly never read it.

However, the reaction around here seems almost as if people felt threatened by it. I've been gaming since the early 80s and yeah, there's I've seen my share of absurd, sad and sometimes downright creepy shit.

I think it was at its worse (for me) when I was a very active gamer and willing to connect with other gamers before the internet era. For me, this was from the mid-80s to the late 90s.

If your gaming is done with friends, through careful screening and through converting, there's a good chance you won't meet creepy/socially awkward gamers. But back when I organized/participated in large events, or recruited/was recruited through billboards in game shops? No chance. No fucking chance in hell.    

It's not just roleplaying. Many activities and hobby will lead to the same results. For instance, through the 90s I was a very busy musician and recruited actively. And let me tell you the ratio of "normal people" gets drastically down pretty fucking quickly.

I'm not saying every story posted in those threads was true. But I think it would be misguided to discard massively what was written. I could almost recognize what I had been through in some of those stories and I have my share of them, only I don't like to dwell on them.
Amen.
And anybody who thinks gamers have too much self-loathing I direct you to any of the eighty thousand 4e threads on every RPG forum everywhere. Too much you say? Not enough, says I.
You are posting in a troll thread.

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Aos

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« Reply #34 on: March 22, 2008, 05:45:39 PM »
2 much self-loathing WAAAAAAAAAH! I'm somebody dammit!!!!!
You are posting in a troll thread.

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J Arcane

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« Reply #35 on: March 22, 2008, 05:46:37 PM »
Quote from: Aos
Amen.
And anybody who thinks gamers have too much self-loathing I direct you to any of the eighty thousand 4e threads on every RPG forum everywhere. Too much you say? Not enough, says I.
I think most gamers are indeed possessed of no great self-loathing over their hobby, nor do I posess any such, nor do I see that same undercurrent here or on ENWorld, or Wizards, or even when it comes up on non-RPG sites like Evil Avatar, by and large.  

But, as has been well established, RPGnet is not real life, and there is, among it's weird and cliquish userbase, a certain nasty undercurrent that is simply unpleasant and had a lot to do with the fact that I seldom posted or even read RPG Open when I was there.
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flyingmice

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« Reply #36 on: March 22, 2008, 05:55:14 PM »
Quote from: J Arcane
"Threatened"?  That's just plain silly.

There is a long running undercurrent of geek hate in the RPGnet forums, has been for a long time, and by and large that thread was mostly about sitting around wanking off about how much more "normal" they were than all those other nasty gamers.  

It's the same kind of geek hate that Matt Snyder has been rambling on about, the same kind of bollocks that has the Forge and Story-Games babble on at length about how to make gaming "normal" or "mainstream".

It's pathetic self-loathing, and it has no place on a site about roleplaying games.


You are so on target, your last three bullets used the same holes, J.

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« Reply #37 on: March 22, 2008, 06:06:30 PM »
If I hadn't been banned from RPG.net a long, long time ago I might have read this thread. Brasky told me a little about it, and it sounded like ti could have been funny-funnier if we could have had a way to verify the real stories from the fake, but hey what the hell right?

David Johansen

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« Reply #38 on: March 22, 2008, 09:16:34 PM »
Quote from: J Arcane
Bulletproof is a big damn case of Munchhausen's syndrome.  But it's a version that focuses entirely on human misery stories, and parasitic to boot.


Ah...I'd noticed that a time or two.  It never annoyed me because "she?" is friendly and congenial.  Though, I avoid the chatty threads of doom, so my exposure is fairly limited.  It is possible that her life really does suck (it's not like she's posting from a Somalli concentration camp or anything) that much but I'd lay money that she wouldn't be as willing to talk about it on-line if it did.
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David R

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« Reply #39 on: March 22, 2008, 09:30:44 PM »
Quote from: Consonant Dude

I'm not saying every story posted in those threads was true. But I think it would be misguided to discard massively what was written. I could almost recognize what I had been through in some of those stories and I have my share of them, only I don't like to dwell on them.


Well I thought the story about the guy who moaned his pc's name when he ejaculated during masturbation was pretty creepy. Know anyone like this ?

Aos, got the right of it I think. Passionate discussion is one thing, but sometimes I sense a palpable undercurrent of self loathing. Maybe it's just that some folks have too much invested in their games to the exclusion of anything else.

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Melan

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« Reply #40 on: March 22, 2008, 09:40:06 PM »
Quote from: Consonant Dude
However, the reaction around here seems almost as if people felt threatened by it.

My problem with the threads (beyond the obvious fabrications, light pity-porn and smug self-congratulation going on in there) is that it is used as a reference in the construction of a negative stereotype about roleplaying games and the people who play them. I have the same reaction to the talk about "dysfunctional play". There is a kernel of stuff in these theories, just like there is one in an obviously negative caricature about a subject, any subject.
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Consonant Dude

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« Reply #41 on: March 22, 2008, 11:04:46 PM »
Quote from: David R
Well I thought the story about the guy who moaned his pc's name when he ejaculated during masturbation was pretty creepy. Know anyone like this ?


Eeewww... I hadn't read that one. I gave those threads a cursory look.

And no, I haven't met someone like this but I have met some weird gamers in my time. Some even weirder musicians.

I've seen it happen in other hobbies as well. And I'm talking about hobbies with totally different demographics. Cat fancying would be one.

It's not that you won't meet "normal people" in roleplaying, or jamming, or showing cats. There are plenty of cool, normal people. But it just seems like the ratio of fucked up individuals is higher.

Consonant Dude

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« Reply #42 on: March 22, 2008, 11:16:41 PM »
Quote from: J Arcane
There is a long running undercurrent of geek hate in the RPGnet forums, has been for a long time, and by and large that thread was mostly about sitting around wanking off about how much more "normal" they were than all those other nasty gamers.


Funny how perception are different (I'm not being sarcastic, BTW). What I get as a general vibe from RPG.net is that they embrace the geek aspects and are extremely comfortable with that.

To the point where it's actually a turn off for me because it's over the fucking top.

I think what's going on (aside from the fabrications in these threads, which certainly do happen) is just that, as people who are involved in a hobby, a lot of them are encountering weirdos and blowing steam on a thread. It's harmless. I used to share my "war stories" as well when I was more active in hobbies.

I see nothing wrong about it. Now, half the threads on RPG.net were about such things, I'd be wondering what's going on. But there's plenty of activity every day, plenty of talk about old and new games.

Kyle Aaron

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« Reply #43 on: March 23, 2008, 12:33:50 AM »
Quote from: Consonant Dude
However, the reaction around here seems almost as if people felt threatened by it.
Not me! I think it's hilarious. Well, some parts anyway. And even the parts that aren't funny in themselves, they're funny because the guy posting them actually expects us to believe him :D

Quote from: Consonant Dude
I'm not saying every story posted in those threads was true. But I think it would be misguided to discard massively what was written.
Well, that's the thing about urban legends, or any made-up stories. They tell us something about the way that person sees the world, about the culture or subculture. Sociologists and psychologists lap that stuff up!
Quote from: David R
Well I thought the story about the guy who moaned his pc's name when he ejaculated during masturbation was pretty creepy. Know anyone like this ?
Are you saying it was wrong to make my first girlfriend call me "Jim Bob" when we were going for it?

If you guys are going to mock my great passion for gaming like that I don't think this is an emotionally safe environment anymore.
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Melan

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« Reply #44 on: March 23, 2008, 07:04:24 AM »
Quote from: David R
Well I thought the story about the guy who moaned his pc's name when he ejaculated during masturbation was pretty creepy. Know anyone like this ?

I think that's one of them, how do you call it, bullshit stories?

And no, the other guy didn't game with the brazilian death squad either.
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