Social Awkward/Loner players in a game

[jpariury]

In the situation you described above it sounds like the player was continuously trying to get other players involved in something they were uninterested in.

I think you missed the part where they just wanted to be included in what other people were doing: "I ask them if I can help out".

Matt, I think you'd agree I'm glossing over quite a bit with "assorted social awkwardness". Suffice it to say, there exist players who run into issues with fitting in even as geeky and dorky a group as LARPers, and it's just how it is.

 

[Deadlands of Old]

Send them my way.

I'll totally hang out with the most misfitted misfit that ever went misfitting.

It's what I do for a living everyday.

 

[Pantzike]

Send them my way.

I'll totally hang out with the most misfitted misfit that ever went misfitting.

It's what I do for a living everyday.

This finally explains the Heresy / Vry mentoring relationship!

 

[Jevedor]

Send them my way.

I'll totally hang out with the most misfitted misfit that ever went misfitting.

It's what I do for a living everyday.

This finally explains the Heresy / Vry mentoring relationship!

you know i was biting my tongue on that one

 

[Ondreij]

There are just plain players -- there are obnoxious players -- there are players who bend the rules a little bit -- there are lonely players -- there are players with Aspergers, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders, etc -- there are players who are just bad sports -- there are players who want to get involved, but don't know how to do that --there are all kinds of players ....

And then there are AWESOME players who have fun AND who reach out to help EVERYONE get involved. They counsel the cheaters and the cheesers -- they advise the obnoxious -- they look out for the lonely, the disenfranchised, the clueless, and the just plain new player ...

And, sometimes, if we are lucky enough, the owners, marshalls, Plot, logistics, etc get these Players of Awesomeness to get involved in helping to run the game, to get involved with customer service, to help write plot, to become Marshalls, etc.

A really well run game cherishes ALL its players.

I happen to be lucky enough to play in Connecticut where we have lots of Players of Awesomeness all over the place. Some of them are involved with helping to run and manage the game -- some of them are just players who are just real nice folk -- some of them are players who also are struggling with their own limitations and reach out to folks who they recognize as also struggling -- some of them are just people who are real helpful in their personal lives as well as at game, like teachers, nurses, and various types of therapists and such.

I wish everyone was as lucky as we are in the Caldaria game.

Thank you, all of you Players of Awesomeness. You help make the game so much fun.

 

[Deadlands of Old]

Send them my way.

I'll totally hang out with the most misfitted misfit that ever went misfitting.

It's what I do for a living everyday.

This finally explains the Heresy / Vry mentoring relationship!

You know, Craig, if he's feeling a little jealous I'd be happy to speak with the hunt about donating the couple hundred gold it would require to pay someone to be Woo woo's friend?

 

[Deadlands of Old]

But seriously...

I think part of the problem is that it takes a certain level of confidence and charisma to effectively reach out to others who might lack a certain level of confidence and charisma.

You can of course see the Catch-22.

So I guess the responsibility to reach out is in the hands of the least self-conscious.

I've never really seen this to be a major issue in our game.

From the biggest dorks to the coolest cats, everyone who wants to seems to eventually find their pack. That's one of the nice things about our hobby, I think. That is why I've always recommened it to almost every awkward kid I've ever worked with.

 

[Dan Nickname Beshers]

If you really do feel intimidated or excluded by the team you see as the cool kids, you could always join your chapter's plot team, discredit and perm half of them, then marry the most popular one left in and out of game, cementing your place as the new hippest cat in town.

Worked for me.

No, I agree with Gary. The burden of acceptance, as it were, is on the community of the game as a whole and the player or players in question. It behooves veteren players to reach out to new players, but if the new players don't respond in kind, then maybe there's more going on than just typical shyness.