"Wizards of the Coast? "
"Nah."
"The Blumes? Lorraine Williams?"
"Nope."
"The Gamers?"
"Shya!"
"Video games?"
"Are you kidding?"
"Then who? Who killed gaming? And are you even serious? I mean gaming is alive and well. 4e is going strong, Pathfinder is on the rise, the OSR is busier than ever, print on demand is making Indie publishing more viable than ever."
"Yep, serious as a fart attack in a crowded elevator."
"Well I don't get it--you aint even got a body. There's absolutely no evidence that gaming is dead. In fact there's tons of evidence to the contrary."
That's just it. It's dead but I can't find the killer and can't even point to the scene of the crime. 'Cause you see, it's dead for me. It seems that way at least. It's like I'm walking in a land of zombies, or at least bad clones. Why is that? Everybody saying they are the original, the real deal, they are "it". And they aint it. At least they certainly seem to be bad imitations to me. I just can't figure it out. More games than ever. Games games everywhere and not a one for me.
Lots of people point to the OSR and laud it for it's creative and "do it yourself" spirit. Everyboy creating their own games, everyone writing their own adventures, everyone doing it for themselves. Perhaps this is the true spirit of the original edition of Dugneons & Dragons. The "vision" of what could have been had OD&D never been abandoned. Everyone building their own version on a theme. It's not what I remember. It's not what I loved about the game. For me it's not even what the game was about. I'm not laying down the law or anything. To each his own and all that. But I've been trying on lots of hats lately, and none of them fit. Funny thing is it's like noone makes my hat anymore. It's almost like it didn't exist. My style of gaming. My game. Where did it go? Nobody is doing it. And don't say it's just me. It aint; because there were tons of people doing exactly what I was doing in my neck of the woods back in the day.
It did exist, it did! And sometimes it feels like it was a figment of my imagination. Can you see how frustrating it is? Everyone seems to be abandoning the idea, leaving the dream behind. Well, I mean maybe they are chasing their own gaming dreams recreating their own magic and making new magic in their own realms. But where are my guys? Where are they?
Who killed my game? Or maybe, since I can't seem to find the body or the killer, maybe it was just game-napped. Hidden away. Spirited to some other realm? And if so how do I find it?
If I get some time later this eve I'll let you know where I have found the most evidence of it. You might be surprised.
My style of gaming. My game. Where did it go? Nobody is doing it. And don't say it's just me. It aint; because there were tons of people doing exactly what I was doing in my neck of the woods back in the day.
ReplyDeleteI don't know about you, but my style of gaming was heavily influenced by my youth. When I was young and enthusiastic, I was willing to get involved with games that had lots of flaws.
As I got older, I got better at spotting flaws before I got involved.
Another factor is that when I was more ignorant, a vague description seemed evocative, and now vague descriptions just seem like bad writing.
Another factor is ... well, there are a lot of other factors. They can be summed up as "I got older." It's been 30 years since I got into D&D. Water has passed under the bridge. I think my game died of old age. Maybe yours was murdered.