Elitist bastardism

From: Mikael Raaterova <ginijji_at_telia.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 09:37:19 +0100


Alexandre Lanciani:

>[Mikael Raaterova]
>
>> Mikko Rintasaari
>
>> >There... just call me an elitist bastard too.
>>
>> You're an elitist bastard too. There's only one truth about playing
>> RPGs: if you have fun doing it, you are doing it right.
>
> Well, yes and no IMHO. The point of roleplaying games is to
>have fun (it's
>a game after all) *roleplaying*. Otherwise there is no reason to call them
>RPGs, no?

I'd say that the point of playing RPGs is to have fun while playing a more or less fictitious character. This doesn't mean that _playing the role_ is the highest priority or the sole enjoyment-engine. It _can_ be the highest priority in some _styles_ of playing RPGs.

>
> If you play a RPG as you'd play a boardgame, or a wargame, you're not
>roleplaying, but you are... Boardgaming? Wargaming? If you and your friends
>meet each Friday evening to tell jokes you are not doing "true" roleplay,
>you are telling funny jokes.

What does 'roleplaying' mean? In my mind it means only that you play the part of a fictitious character in an imagined environment. _How_ you choose do that is irrelevant. Even if the game is one of tactical wargaming on an individual level with zero personality development, it's still roleplaying since you play the part of a fictitious character in an imagined environment. There is no "true" roleplaying.

> And to roleplay properly a character you have to understand how he
>perceives his world.

[Snip]

> better roleplaying groups should IMHO aim at level 3
>reality. Better wargaming group probably will aim at level 1, better writers
>at level 2 and better scientists at level 4. But I really don't see any
>elitism in this.

>What you seem to mean by 'roleplaying' is what i'd call a _style_ of
>roleplaying.

What you seem to mean by 'roleplaying' is what i'd call a _style_ of roleplaying. In my mind you mean 'acting' when you say 'roleplaying'; i think 'play' has wider connotations than that.

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