Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?

Sunny · May 27, 2019, 4:50 AM

What it says on the tin. I'm super curious. Define 'enjoy' however you want.

Wretched · May 27, 2019, 5:00 AM

As someone building a game that is going slowly, and hasn't really RP'd much in the last year +, let alone really invested in a character, because of the aforementioned game building and health. Its a generous and vigorous mix of love and hate.

Sunny · May 27, 2019, 5:01 AM

@Wretched said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:

As someone building a game that is going slowly, and hasn't really RP'd much in the last year +, let alone really invested in a character, because of the aforementioned game building and health. Its a generous and vigorous mix of love and hate.

You really need to RP. Please take some time to RP.

surreality · May 27, 2019, 5:02 AM

OMG stereotypical surreality response: It depends.

Literally, it depends on the week. Some are amazing!!! Some suck rotten eggs.

Auspice · May 27, 2019, 5:08 AM

As much as I may argue when I am on here... when I am not, I don't really think about you lot. And as @Ghost-like (love you, man) a response that may be, it is one that comes from the philosophy I've been trying to adopt on life. I place my values in important places. (Important to me, personally, that is.)

I play on games I enjoy. If I stop enjoying them, I leave. And while this has caused me to step away from games I wish I could enjoy (really, I wanted to get into that Altered Carbon game so bad but I just wasn't jiving with it so it just wasn't for me, y'know?), it's been for the best. I'm happier, the people around me are happier. I find I'm engaging in my play in a more joyful, present fashion.

Are there people I miss playing with because we simply aren't on the same games right now? Yes, a resounding hell yes. But our day will come again, I know it. I wouldn't want them or me to play on a game that makes us unhappy 'just because' it's a place to play together. That way lies frustration (and worse).

Three-Eyed Crow · May 27, 2019, 5:21 AM

Yep. I try to be quick to cut the parts of it I'm not enjoying at any given time.

mietze · May 27, 2019, 5:23 AM

I definitely enjoy the hobby, including (especially) the people in it, far more than I don't. Are there people who trigger sad feelings and frustration in me, sure. But no more than any of my other hobbies, and usually a hell of a lot less!

Testament · May 27, 2019, 5:25 AM

I think I'd enjoy it more if life allowed more time to dedicate to it. But I don't, so I'm overall tend to be kind of meh on RPing in general. I still do it, because somewhere, I remember how much fun it was.

On the upside to that, most of the political OOC drama an whatnot, I can't say I care too much about. Which is nice, considering at once point, I did. That either may be chalked up to maturity or really the fact I don't have enough time.

Most days, I go back and forth on whether or not I still enjoy it.

Kanye Qwest · May 27, 2019, 5:25 AM

I enjoy my hobby a lot.

I think probably people who don't read this board enjoy it more.

scar · May 27, 2019, 6:07 AM

For me, it's the emotional labor or the (sometimes aggressive) expectation of emotional labor. Fabulous writers combined with the safety that comes from meeting on a screen instead of face to face.. by which I mean safety of expression.. There are just aspects of this hobby that can bring out the worst insecurities like the perfect fucking storm. Sometimes it really takes it out of ya and when it gives back, it doesn't always break even.

Sunny · May 27, 2019, 5:57 AM

I am startled. Thank you guys for answering me, especially the posts from those that did not say 'yes' to explain their answer. It's an interesting reality check and kind of scary to realize where other people are in the hobby on this.

eta: I appreciate all votes, even the yesses, but those don't surprise me

mietze · May 27, 2019, 6:09 AM

I think I enjoy the hobby a lot more now than I have in the past, in part because I no longer feel as compelled to do a lot of emotional labor for others. Or solve every problem that I see. And it's nice to have friends that when I DO get hung up on either one of those things, will lovingly or bluntly tell me to knock it the fuck off.

surreality · May 27, 2019, 6:10 AM

I think the immediate moment is always going to vary some, and it's always going to color the over all experience to some extent.

I don't know, in this moment, if I've had more fun than not. I've had a lot of bleah, a lot of bad, and a fair share of apocalyptically bad in various ways over the years.

I've not had an equivalent amount of awesome. I can say that as objectively as I can say, well, anything.

I don't necessarily think it's awful vs. awesome that's the key balance here, though: it's awful vs. optimism, instead.

I still think there's the potential for the awesome to balance or outstrip the awful.

When I can no longer say that, then it's time to fuck off.

Three-Eyed Crow · May 27, 2019, 6:14 AM

@mietze said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:

I think I enjoy the hobby a lot more now than I have in the past, in part because I no longer feel as compelled to do a lot of emotional labor for others. Or solve every problem that I see.

For better or worse, letting this shit go is a lot of why I'm still able to enjoy it. I'm probably less engaged than I was 10 years ago but also less frustrated by the things/components of players that I cannot change.

Tinuviel · May 27, 2019, 6:32 AM

"The hobby" is a really bad way of phrasing it, in a way. I enjoy the game I am presently on, I probably wouldn't enjoy a vast many others.

I also have this nasty habit of not caring about what is said here, because it doesn't matter, so I get to have my cake and eat it too.

Derp · May 27, 2019, 6:47 AM

For the most part I enjoy it. I enjoy the RP. I enjoy the games and the stories.

What I don't enjoy is all the extraneous baggage that tends to come with it. At some point people started piling their RL into their games, and we had this weird culture shift where not wanting to deal with all that makes you a monster.

I am all for being supportive of people having issues. I really am. We all have times when we need a shoulder to lean on.

I'm not so much a fan of this growing feeling that a lot of "issues" people have in this hobby are a subtle way to manipulate things in their favor by using cultural expectations to their advantage, and the sheer levels of outrage that come along with it, or how so many people seem to have so many different issues that must always be recognized and accommodated. It's starting to feel improbable. And insincere. And pushing back against the sheer weight of that, and the just mountains of "traumas" going back for decades because of games...

It's exhausting.

Tinuviel · May 27, 2019, 6:50 AM

@Derp Oh man, this so goddamn hard. Not being able to make a planned scene because RL comes up? That's a fine thing to bring up. But the big one I fucking hate with a firey passion is people that go on and on and on and on and on about their various maladies and concerns and issues and... do that shit in private. I don't need to see it come up in the middle of every fucking conversation ever.

Seraphim73 · May 27, 2019, 7:14 AM

There are times when this hobby (and the people in it) is insanely frustrating and maddening and not particularly good for my RL state of mind. There are also times when it is entirely fascinating, invigorating, and inspiring. There's definitely some balance, but I generally fall more on the 'good' side than the 'bad.'

surreality · May 27, 2019, 7:36 AM

@Derp said in Poll: Do I enjoy this hobby more than I don't?:

I'm not so much a fan of this growing feeling that a lot of "issues" people have in this hobby are a subtle way to manipulate things in their favor by using cultural expectations to their advantage, and the sheer levels of outrage that come along with it, or how so many people seem to have so many different issues that must always be recognized and accommodated.

Part of this, for me, is the expectation that people know.

If I'm here, I am not necessarily going to know who or what or where you have played, ever. If I am on a game, I am not necessarily going to know who you are here or anything you've said or done here.

I am even less likely to know your age, profession, marital status, gender, sexual preference, country of origin, religion, personal life experiences, etc. etc. etc.

Expecting me to know these things is an unreasonable ask, but I regularly see people behave as though not only are others expected to know, but to adjust accordingly. Adjusting to something is sometimes entirely reasonable, and sometimes it's not, but it is a hopelessly unreasonable expectation when no one is aware of these things in the first place.

(Generic) your close circle of friends probably knows these things. Don't assume everyone does just because they do. It never goes well.

Tinuviel · May 27, 2019, 8:01 AM

@surreality I especially despise people that rely on an appeal to authority to some claimed professional or educational knowledge. I hate appeals to authority normally, but especially on the internet by faceless, nameless, probably lifeless people? No, I don't care if you say you have degrees in X, Y, or Z - 1) I don't believe you, 2) That's not an argument.