Has anyone ever thought about this?
I have pondered this question for years. Has anyone ever gotten well into a game - really caught up in it - maybe pulled an all-nighter and either called in sick or dragged around all day at work after two hours sleep? Have you ever approached a group of your friends and co-workers, folks who will generally discuss anything and everything, and tried to convey your excitement about a particular game, only to draw blank stares and confused chatter from people who clearly don't know how to respond? Or, if they do, someone says something like, "Who has time to spend 50-100 hours on a game?" Isn't it funny that people can discuss movies or books - and some novels take just as long to read - and those who don't read at all or haven't read a particular book will still carry on a normal, unrestrained conversation.
So, are we different? If that is the case, did we become that way after we got hooked on RPGs? Or, have we possessed certain non-mainstream traits our entire lives?
In my own self-analysis, I believe I have been "different" since I was born. I don't take any more time playing RPGs than some people spend watching ball games, reading books, or sitting on bar stools after work, shooting the breeze endlessly about nothing in particular, yet family and colleagues have always found it strange that I enjoy RPGs so much. Second, I believe I have always been wired differently. School was a snap for me, so I would sit in class and write poetry (which several other students did, too) or do "crazy" things such as invent new, secret alphabets. I would write pages of text that no one could understand - things that no one else seemed to do (and saw no purpose in doing).
In time, I disciplined my fluctuating beats of different drummers by choosing a military path (I was always adept with firearms.) and turned some of my eccentricities to my advantage, career-wise. Working in the field of military intelligence (following combat duty) within a sub-culture that is considered esoteric (and a bit spooky) by mainstream officers who just fly airplanes or such, detail-oriented creativity rewarded those who helped keep everyone alive at crunch time.
Once I wrapped up my military career and commercial writing days, moving to a very rural county with no incorporated towns and only two stoplights, I turned to home building. With total flexibility in my schedule, virtual independence, and plenty of time for hobbies since the kids grew up and moved out, writing for fun and playing RPGs have provided many satisfying hours of fulfillment.
Now, whenever friends drop into my newly constructed hobby shop and see ZSNES open on one of the monitors, some are a bit curious. So, I show them how I can quickly craft an English text screen in a particular game. Usually, they just stand there speechless, rather like the people I once tried to tell about RPGs. First, they are amazed that someone can even play an SNES game on a home computer. Second, they can't believe that a game released only in a foreign language is being written on the spot by some guy wearing a flannel shirt who just set down a still-warm chain saw on the front porch of a little cabin in the deep woods next to a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, then walked through the front door and plopped down at a computer workstation two seconds later.
Yes, I KNOW I am different, and I enjoy being that way.
I have friends who can tear down car or motorcycle engines and reassemble them into perfect working order. I know others who are proficient in dozens of skills, everything from handcrafting metal roof systems and training race horses to hang gliding, but all of these people look at me as if I'm the strange one with this RPG thing. Know something? I have made being different work to my advantage my whole life, and I wouldn't change a thing.
So, if any of you have pondered this question, wondered if you are different, decided you are, and maybe worried about it some, I urge you to learn how to make it work for you, too. I hope some of you will share your ideas and experiences regarding this question of whether we are different, and if so, why? Meanwhile, excuse me while I take a little mid-morning break and play Chapter 29 of Luminous Arc-II!
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