Why We Play

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EricMarsters

Fighter
Guys... after seeing certain threads on the boards, I have to ask - why do you play? Is loot the most important thing to you? Is it the roleplaying? The outfits? Beating friends with pipe? Or something else? I wonder how this changes based on our gaming backgrounds as well, as people who have more of a video game background may be more drawn to loot, as that's the type of reward they're used to, versus a tabletop gamer who is used to the journey being the reward..
 
I personally play because of the atmosphere, the roleplaying, and the people. I'm a long time D&D player, and for me, it just lets me live out a lot of the stuff I usually just get to say, imagine, and roll dice for. I like fantasy more than I do the real world, so LARPing's just a getaway haven for me. And of course, I wouldn't enjoy this game nearly as much if the people I've met haven't been there. It's a place where I everyone has a uniting factor, something to talk about and connect with each other with. I consider many of the people I've met via LARPing to be close friends, and my life would definitely be different without them.

~ Alexander
 
I play because it's fun.

It's more fun when you beat the other guy (good or bad) and it's more fun when you get phat lewts. But, in general, if you're not having fun when those conditions aren't met, you should probably take a break or something.

The reason why I play has changed over the years, and that's ok too. But if I'm not having fun, I'll just go find something else to do.
 
To preface I was a hardcore video/tabletop gamer. I also had an uneducated bad opinion of LARPing.

Once I actually tried the following kept me coming:
1. A chance to meet new people with similar interests in a creative environment.
2. The overwhelming kindness shown by other players.
3. A way to escape my normal life.
4. Who doesn't love dressing up in costumes? Now I have an excuse outside of Halloween.
5. The roleplaying/political intrigue.

Honestly loot and levels are nice but if I had to start over tomorrow I would still play. It's mainly the social roleplaying.
 
i brought up loot in my forums because we were doing a town mod and were sharing loot, and the total share everyone got was worth about 5 silver. i know i had been honest and sent all the gold and stuff the group loot's way, i just wanted to know OOG if we were actually going to do group loot or if we weren't

i usually have an agreement in my tabletop games before we play about loot splitting because you can end up with sneaky guy having all the money while fi-tor has to beg for gold to eat.

that ended up happening, i had to go get my own food because i couldn't afford the tavern food because i personally turned in all the loot i got to the group loot, and we had 3 group loot events. the rest of the loot i got was copper or potions et al

i don't mind the RP, i just wanted to know cause loot can impact the fun of some people, so i tend to metagame loot. the people told me that they are going to RP it, and i got my answer. then it turned into a discussion hahaha

loot doesn't matter much to me. it makes my character mad being obviously shortchanged and suspicious of characters, but out of game i hold no grudges and don't mind. i got to go sit in air conditioning for a bit :)

anyways.... that's why i brought up loot on the SoMN boards, it got a little out of control....
 
mikestrauss said:
Life long friends, that I only get a chance to see a few times a year.

Everything else is just a bonus.

-MS
Click to expand...

QFT
 
I continue to play because the playerbase is generally fairly welcoming, it's a fun physical activity, it fits a genre I enjoy, I like being creative in storytelling (whether as a player or as a plotster), and it occasionally gives me an excuse to travel across the states and do it elsewhere. Kinda the same reasons I enjoy disc golfing, really.
 
I play for the story, for the chance to live out the kind of tales I've always loved reading about or watching.
 
I used to play for the interpersonal interactions, be they in the tavern or on the battle field. I had always thought the most fun was to try and craft a story around yourself, or just to use your character as a pen of sorts to create a story of your own in the greater context of the game. At some point though I gave up first on trying to do move anything, and then on the other people. When the distance became a barrier, well twice in 2-3 years is not an accident. Still there are some people I have a measure of fun interacting with...and foam practice is foam practice.

js
 
The fun of doing things you cannot do in any other context without getting arrested.

I know it's the old saying "be all you can't be" that we've used, but I've never so much played to be something I can't be, more so to do things I can't do.

For instance, I can't yet run around in the middle of the night killing zombies in real life. (Yes, I wrote "yet." Fingers crossed.)

Also, the people and the friendships and good exercise. Oh! I also really like having an excuse to spend time in the woods. I love the woods.
 
The social activity, meeting new people.
The exercise, and getting out and running around like a kid, getting away from my computer and work
The experience of the story, being part of something greater than myself, while sharing that experience with others

All of the above
 
For the fun of it and I find myself liking the fact that I've discovered new things about my own self through the game. Also to catch up on lost time, my childhood while fun wasnt anywhere near the fun I'm having as an adult. Very little make believe when I was younger.
 
I play because it is really fun to get into character. I love the idea of being something I'm not, I've played evil characters, mean characters, law breakers, totally good annoying people etc etc.

I also like the mystery of the story lines. I love wrapping my head around complex story lines and problems and just being deeply ingrained in them. I.E. "I need to obtain the stone of Wysiwig from Joe the Smith but since he has seen me cavorting with Sally the Barmaid I can't actually directly ask him. Okay what are my choices, Hire someone to do it, steal it, make nice with him, pretend to hate sally etc etc...now which one would my character do." To me that's a really fun mental exercise.
 
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