For my final in my Writing 121 class we were instructed to write on a topic of interest that involved a "cultural shift". As a gamer I've noticed that there has been a change in people's opinions regarding tabletop gaming. In this essay I outline my thoughts and I hope you folks enjoy the read.
Oh and my final grade for the class was an "A". Overall for this semester I got an "A" in Math 20 as well. Not bad, and I'm likely on the President's list again this semester too. We'll see about next semester.
[Update!]
Just a couple of notes on the essay assignment itself, as some folks mentioned to me on Facebook.
- The essay was limited to 5 pages, with a 6th page dedicated for the Works Cited.
- The tone is meant to be casual as it's meant to be in my own voice. The class was online, so this added to the casual nature of the class itself.
- Yes I know that there are other outlets for tabletop gaming like Roll 20...however not everyone knows this. With limited room I kept my example of online tabletop gaming to something a non-gamer would know about, namely Skype. Given more room to write I would certainly have mentioned Roll 20 or another tabletop simulation program.
But thanks for the feedback, I don't mind explaining things a bit to clarify my point-of-view and thought process.
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PCC College Essay By: Sean Ropp (me)
The
Growing Acceptance of Tabletop Gaming
Ten years ago if I asked
a different people around me if they knew what a tabletop game was they might
say Monopoly, or Poker. These days if I
mention it the response might be about games like Cards Against Humanity, Hero
Clicks, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, Munchkin, or Doom the Board
Game. Will I be chided, told such
games are for children and shut-in teens?
Nope, in fact I may be asked whether or not a certain game is fun, or
how it’s played. The world of the
tabletop gamer has changed, and we gamers are seeing something of a renaissance
– a shift in the cultural acceptance of tabletop games. They are becoming mainstream and accepted by
people of all types. But how did
tabletop gaming become popular?
Once a hobby looked upon as something kids, or outcast
youths enjoyed, it’s only been in recent years that it has suddenly seen a
surge in popularity that didn’t exist five years ago. My first point of interest for this is actor,
Wil Wheaton, whom is known for his role as Wesley
Crusher on Star Trek: The Next
Generation. While his acting chops
are well known, its less known that Wil is an avid tabletop gamer. He is, in fact, a part of a YouTube series called Tabletop where he is the host and plays
an array of tabletop games. In an
interview with Fortune.com, Wil was
asked “how have you seen the power of YouTube have a direct correlation on
sales of tabletop games?” Wil expressed
surprise at how the series resulted in them getting phone calls from game shop
owners and publishers who were “not prepared for the explosion of sales that
they had.” (Fortune.com, Wil Wheaton’s Game Theory)
Our celebrities are big focal point for our culture, we
often look into the things that they like to do. Wil Wheaton is simply one example. Action star Vin Diesel (Guardians of the Galaxy, The
Fast & Furious series) is about as macho and tough as they come. He’s not the type of guy you see playing
games like Dungeons & Dragons, and yet he does. Actor Brandon Routh, (Superman Returns, CW’s Legends of Tomorrow), plays the card game Magic: The Gathering. And actress Felicia Day, (The Guild, Supernatural, Dr. Horrible’s
Sing-Along Blog), is a reoccurring guest on Tabletop where she shows her love for a variety of games. For some, when a celebrity says they like
something that becomes a signal for others to like it as well. With celebrities
using social media to promote movies, and to show off their day-to-day lives,
it grants us a look at the hobbies that people may not normally know they
enjoy.
While social media has played a big part in the
acceptance of tabletop gaming, there have been other sources. Yet another example of our change of
awareness comes from video games. Fans
of the Star Wars movies have long
enjoyed the various video games that have come out that take place in that
setting. These games have in turn opened
the doors of interest toward tabletop games.
Existing as a Role Playing Games (RPGs), card games, and miniature games,
a number of different avenues exist that allow those interested to play a game
in the way they prefer. And here’s an
interesting side fact, the original Star
Wars RPG (known as the WEG/West End Games version) has helped influence
some the designs and appearances of several vehicles that have appeared in the
various Star Wars media forms (books, games, etc.).
And now I move on to movies and TV, yes, these two media
forms have used table top games in some ways.
We may not see an “Applies to
Applies” movie based on the card game, but Hollywood has begun to take a
closer interest at games like D&D. Dungeons
& Dragons has already seen two attempts, a failed film and a TV movie. Both were dismal failures, but the interest
has not diminished as directors and screen writers have come to respect
properties like this in more recent years.
I feel this is due in large to the success of comic book films like The Avengers. TV shows in turn have brought in these games,
not as a basis for a show, but as something for characters on the show to
play. The Big Bang Theory is one show where a number of tabletop games
are played occasionally by the characters on there. This helps to further
expose people to these games in positive ways.
You see when tabletop games appear on prime time TV, it
gets exposure that only family friendly games like Monopoly, or The Game of Life
normally get from commercials or use on TV shows. Now things happening in the
game are often played up for comedic effect in TV shows, but for us gamers the
truth is sometimes not that far from there.
Take my own gaming group for example.
We play RPGs, and we often chat for an hour before we actually
game. As our game progresses we break
from our immersion to tell a joke, or comment on something that happened in the
game that jogged a memory we had. We
often work in pop culture references from films to help keep the feel of
tension low. This is what we do of course,
and other people may have a less relaxed attitude toward gaming. So what happens when a game is played on a TV
show? Well it’s pretty much the same, or
at least it can be, not every game group is the same.
My next example diverges from the positives of social
media to problems that it can bring as well through the spread of
misinformation. In the past when one
wanted to know about a game it was limited to commercials for kids’ games, and
the word of mouth from others. However,
for some the uninformed opinions of people were their influence point. This brings me to the ‘80s, some religious
groups thought that Dungeons & Dragons would lead a person to worshiping
Satan and the use of black magic.
Patricia Pulling was one such person.
Her son played D&D and after he committed suicide (1982) she put the
blame on the game and even attempted to sue the company that owned the game at
the time. Though her lawsuit was thrown
out, she continued to promote her anti-D&D campaign through her one-person
advocacy group, BADD (Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons). Patricia passed away in 1997, and she was
hardly the only person to have a skewed view of Role Playing Games (RPGs) in
those days. (bbc.com, The great 1980’s
Dungeons & Dragons panic.)
Because of social media these days, the ability to
research games is much easier to do. Not
only can a person find out that there are often no facts, or evidence, to back
up claims like “Satanism” around tabletop games, but they can also learn the
real stories behind events that often inspire such claims. We are not as gullible as we once were, but
at the same time we still fall sway to gossip and fear mongering. Often certain religious groups like the, Westboro Baptist Church, help spread
misinformation and distrust of games, as well as the people that play
them. The fact that we can now look up
these rumors about the games that interest us allows us to know for ourselves,
whether or not, we should play them.
In my observations I haven’t found a specific point where
we shifted to acceptance. However, I
feel that this has been a building of momentum that took years to reach where
it is now. Looking at it how things have
progressively gotten better for us, I’ve likened this to the same thing we saw
with rock music. Some examples are Black
Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, KISS, AC-DC, and so forth. When these rock groups came out, people
screamed that they were evil and listening to them lead to devil
worshiping. It’s an odd similarity of
opinion for two different mediums, but with time people came to accept and love
these bands. The same is likely true for
tabletop games. Times have changed, and
we as a people are more open minded. We’re
willing to try the nerdy things, to play the geeky games’ because we’re
together with our friends.
Yes, we geeks and nerds still play our RPGs, and poker is
still a game some play with their friends and coworkers occasionally in a dimly
lit room. People no longer need to gyrate awkwardly on dance floors, or huddle
around a bar room table for enjoyment.
Rather we can all hang out at a friend’s house, be relaxed, have a
drink, and enjoy the company of our friends while playing a game. We don’t even
need to be in the same building anymore to play these games. Many classic
tabletop games, as well as more modern games, have a digital tabletop that we can
instead log into. This allows friends from anywhere in the world with an
internet connection to get together and play a game. Some people may just use a
camera and a program like Skype to
play a game with distant friends. Regardless of how we choose to hang out,
games let us still do the things we want to do with our friends and it seems
that people are finally coming around to this. So who needs to be a geek, or a
nerd to play D&D these days. Who
needs to play poker when you can play Card’s
Against Humanity. There are so many
choices of games present that we needn’t play just one game all the time. Either way it’s an open world for gaming now,
you just need to choose your own adventure.
Works Cited
Gaudiosi, John. “Wil Wheaton’s
Game Theory.”
Fortune.com. Time
Inc. 01 April. 2014. Web. 06
Dec. 2016.
“The great 1980’s
Dungeons & Dragons panic.”
bbc.com. BBC.
11 April, 2014. Web. 06 Dec.
2016.
One of the first films I remember seeing as a child was Star Wars. I was born in 1979 and the original film had a knack, back in those days, for staying in theaters. While some may think me crazy, my mother was surprised that I remembered that they had taken me with them to see the first film. As the next two films came out I became enamored with that universe, and its characters. As I grew I began to see the characters I loved in different ways than I had as a child. Luke was of course the hero, the main character, but he also had his flaws. Han was flawed from the start, but each movie polished those flaws out turning a scoundrel into a hero. And then there was Leia, who never really changed and was ever the pillar that held up Luke and Han.
