Gaming in a Vacuum Really Sucks

3d rendering by Nagy Zoltán Csongor

Gaming in a vacuum really sucks.

It wasn’t a single “Eureka” moment (yes, vacuum humor) that led me to this conclusion.  I’ve known for years that operating in a vacuum was not conducive to producing the best results.

Imagine this scenario:

From your birth until now, you have been isolated from all movies except old black & white silent films.  We’re talking Charlie Chaplin and his contemporaries.  It was the only visual entertainment you’ve ever known.  Until now.  Now, you are being asked to lead a discussion about movies and film-making with a class full of film students.

How do you think the above scenario plays out?  Obviously, there is no way that you are on the same wavelength about the topic-at-hand as these aspiring film students.  You are probably lost within minutes.  Or the laughing-stock of the room.  You have lived your entire life in a vacuum, where movies are concerned anyway, and now you are suddenly thrust out into the cold, cruel world outside of your little bubble.

I guess I have a thing for “niche hobbies.”  Maybe all geeks do.  I consider myself a model railroader even though I haven’t done any actual model railroading in years.  I’ve read a ton of books on the subject, watched videos, attended train shows, and built a number of models and fledgling layouts.  The one thing I always lacked was people to share my hobby.  I was always working in a relative vacuum.  Sure, I had magazines, books and videos on model railroading, but I had nobody to share it with.  I didn’t have any fellow model railroaders to share their experiences and techniques first-hand.  I was a lone wolf.  I was going solo.  Hell, yeah!  I embraced my status.

I never got a train layout anywhere close to complete.  I’m still interested in model railroading and still read the magazines and books, but I don’t actively participate in the hobby.

As a musician, if I only ever played one style of music with the same four people, I wouldn’t be a very complete musician, would I?

The same goes for gaming.

A Black Hole of Gaming

When I was a teenager, I was always looking for new people to game with.  My friends and I treated it almost like a contest to see how many new people we could bring into our secret little club.  We asked anyone we met to play Dungeons & Dragons with us.  Most of them gave it a try and many of them kept playing for years.

When I got married, started my career and moved to an area where I didn’t really know anyone I didn’t work with, and fo several years didn’t know anyone who played rpg’s, things changed.  I didn’t have anyone to game with.  I still read the books.  I still designed campaign worlds and adventures.  I tested new classes and game mechanics all by myself.  I only got so far.  I couldn’t actually play.  I went almost six years without gaming with a group.

When D&D 3e was released, I again was in a position to play with lots of different people.  I was one of the early adopters in my area and had the benefit of DMing my local game store’s “official” 3rd edition D&D game.  People were rotating in and out of my group frequently.  There was a waiting list.  I got to see a lot of different play styles.  Still, I was only playing one game.  I didn’t get to play in other people’s games.  I was only playing with people from my area.

My vacuum had more horsepower, but I was still playing in it.

When the LGS closed, my vacuum once again shrank.  I was playing with people from the same small pool of players that were in the area.  I did play in a few games with other DM’s, but I didn’t go to any cons and didn’t play any other games.

(I Can ‘t Get No) Satisfaction

At some point, I became dissatisfied with something… or with some combination of things.  I changed systems (from D&D 3E to White Wolf’s World of Darkness).  I changed players to a small degree.  I mean, the local pool of players I knew was only so big.  Still, I had a growing gnawing in my gut.  Something wasn’t right.  Maybe it was all of the gamer food I’ve consumed over the years.  Maybe it was something else.

In 2010, I turned my group over to someone else to GM and I set out into the great big forest of the unknown.

Clint Black of Pinnacle Entertainment Group GMing Savage Worlds at SCARAB 2011

Eureka!

I found out that forest wasn’t so dark and scary after all.  There are cons out there, like X-Con, SCARAB, RoundCon, ConCarolinas, MACE, DragonCon… the list goes on.  There are players out there.  Some not even that far from my own backyard.  Some are a few hours drive away.  Some are on Facebook and Twitter.  Most of them are awesome people.  They’ve been really nice and welcoming to this wayward traveler.

There are also games out there.  I’ve re-discovered 3rd edition D&D in the guise of Paizo’s Pathfinder.  I’ve discovered incredible “indie” games like Fiasco, Dragon Age, Zorcerer of Zoe, Little Fears, Geiger Counter, Dogs in the Vineyard, Savage Worlds and others.  Most of these games are designed by awesome people who are willing to talk about their games and encourage someone who wants to play and design games, like me.  People like Jason Morningstar and Steve Segedy, Jason L. Blair and many others.

I’ve stepped outside of my vacuum and found a wonderful world of games waiting out there in the previously unknown world.  I encourage you to do the same.  Go to a con.  Attend or organize a gameday or mini-con (like Green Dragon’s Non-Con‘s in Charleston).  Get on Twitter and talk to the people who write the games you want to play.  Most importantly, introduce some people to the hobby.  Find a good entry-level rpg like Dragon Age or Zorcerer of Zoe and gather around a table with people who’ve never played before.  Know some people who love movies?  Get them around a table for a game of Fiasco.  Are the some people near you who used to play, but have since drifted away from the hobby?  Invite them for a game of Pathfinder or some OSR (Old School Rules, like 1e or 2e or even Basic D&D) gaming.

Just… please, get out of your vacuum.

Have you ever been in a gaming vacuum? Let me know your story and how it felt to discover the world of gaming around you.