So... what is this game's purpose, exactly?

So last night was Thursday-night-roleplaying-in-the-big-city. I like the weekly event for a variety of reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with playing a game:

(a) I get to widen my social circle to people I almost certainly never would have met otherwise; in fact, some of them brought me here - they have blogs, and the urge to comment on their blogs led me to dip my toe in this pool. Whether that enlarges the richness of the wider world, or not, I have my doubts. But whatever. Sometimes I read some funny stuff. Sometimes i may even say some funny stuff. So that's good.

(b) I get to spend more time with a part of my family that I hardly ever see. The vagaries of big-city parking being what they are, and the fact that my aunt and uncle (the bohemians) live reasonably nearby, lets me stop off for a few hours to see them on an almost weekly basis. This has been enormously gratifying for a variety of personal reasons, including the fact that I got to see one of my cousins a few times before she died. So that's good.

(c) I get to realize that, really, it ain't so bad living in the not-so-big-city. The stuff that I'd probably care about, day to day, is pretty durn good right here, thenk-you-veddy-much. The bookstores ain't bad, the gamestores ain't bad, the restaurants aren't nearly as varied, but the ones I like ain't bad. The streets are cleaner, safer, and less congested. But I think a regular visit to the-big-city is a good way to keep all this in perspective. So that's good.

I also like the event, for reasons that do have to do with playing a game:

(a) I get to be in the group of a reasonably important figure in the hobby, it doesn't matter what his name is. What does matter is the opportunities this affords for me to observe and try to let some of those "I'm attempting to do this for a living" skillz find their way into my ownself's bag of tricks. So far, I've seen a few things which I'm trying to incorporate into the evenings I host.

(b) It gets me playing a wider variety of stuff. It's nice to see how the rubber actually meets the road with a wider variety of games. 'Cause it gets one noticing more things about how the rules work in the other games one plays.

(c) It's interesting to be in a group where I know that, no matter what I or the others in the room might want to try hosting, it ain't never gonna happen. It's the golf pro's event, and it has a professional purpose for him, and he's always going to be the one refereeing. My other regular group does not function this way, and never has. Every single person in my regular local group has hosted at one time or another, and there's a fairly regular tension and incentive to perform (if you can't keep your stuff on the stage regular, fresh, and interesting, then baby you'll lose your time to the next guy in line). Sometimes that pressure is good, and sometimes it's not (this is supposed to be a diversion after all, not a pro-am event). In the past two years, I've also tried floating a second local group, where I was the guy hosting all the time. This brings other kinds of pressures. So it's nice to be in a situation where the only pressure is to (a) get my ass into the-big-city on a weekly basis, and (b) remember what we did last week, and (c) relax and participate.

All this leads me to think about the game we're currently playing, and thoughts on rules and how they influence what actually happens in the game. But I'm not going to go into that now, and frankly may never do it, because I'm sure that road has already been trod by far more eloquent and thoughtful folk than me. (Yeah, that's what the world needs is another rolegame critic: Barthes-lite, or some-such. Feh.)

So... what is this game's purpose, exactly?

So last night was Thursday-night-roleplaying-in-the-big-city. I like the weekly event for a variety of reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with playing a game:

(a) I get to widen my social circle to people I almost certainly never would have met otherwise; in fact, some of them brought me here - they have blogs, and the urge to comment on their blogs led me to dip my toe in this pool. Whether that enlarges the richness of the wider world, or not, I have my doubts. But whatever. Sometimes I read some funny stuff. Sometimes i may even say some funny stuff. So that's good.

(b) I get to spend more time with a part of my family that I hardly ever see. The vagaries of big-city parking being what they are, and the fact that my aunt and uncle (the bohemians) live reasonably nearby, lets me stop off for a few hours to see them on an almost weekly basis. This has been enormously gratifying for a variety of personal reasons, including the fact that I got to see one of my cousins a few times before she died. So that's good.

(c) I get to realize that, really, it ain't so bad living in the not-so-big-city. The stuff that I'd probably care about, day to day, is pretty durn good right here, thenk-you-veddy-much. The bookstores ain't bad, the gamestores ain't bad, the restaurants aren't nearly as varied, but the ones I like ain't bad. The streets are cleaner, safer, and less congested. But I think a regular visit to the-big-city is a good way to keep all this in perspective. So that's good.

I also like the event, for reasons that do have to do with playing a game:

(a) I get to be in the group of a reasonably important figure in the hobby, it doesn't matter what his name is. What does matter is the opportunities this affords for me to observe and try to let some of those "I'm attempting to do this for a living" skillz find their way into my ownself's bag of tricks. So far, I've seen a few things which I'm trying to incorporate into the evenings I host.

(b) It gets me playing a wider variety of stuff. It's nice to see how the rubber actually meets the road with a wider variety of games. 'Cause it gets one noticing more things about how the rules work in the other games one plays.

(c) It's interesting to be in a group where I know that, no matter what I or the others in the room might want to try hosting, it ain't never gonna happen. It's the golf pro's event, and it has a professional purpose for him, and he's always going to be the one refereeing. My other regular group does not function this way, and never has. Every single person in my regular local group has hosted at one time or another, and there's a fairly regular tension and incentive to perform (if you can't keep your stuff on the stage regular, fresh, and interesting, then baby you'll lose your time to the next guy in line). Sometimes that pressure is good, and sometimes it's not (this is supposed to be a diversion after all, not a pro-am event). In the past two years, I've also tried floating a second local group, where I was the guy hosting all the time. This brings other kinds of pressures. So it's nice to be in a situation where the only pressure is to (a) get my ass into the-big-city on a weekly basis, and (b) remember what we did last week, and (c) relax and participate.

All this leads me to think about the game we're currently playing, and thoughts on rules and how they influence what actually happens in the game. But I'm not going to go into that now, and frankly may never do it, because I'm sure that road has already been trod by far more eloquent and thoughtful folk than me. (Yeah, that's what the world needs is another rolegame critic: Barthes-lite, or some-such. Feh.)