September 25, 1998 - Pulse on the Net
Etiquette For Gaming Geeks
Etiquette For Gaming Geeks
|
September 25, 1998 - Pulse on the Net
Etiquette For Gaming Geeks |
CHAPTER 3: ATTITUDE
Embrace the attitude of Ptolemy and repeat after me: "I am not the center of creation. The world does not revolve around me." This mantra will help you avoid such errors as assuming that anyone who is mad around you is mad AT you, that your opinion on any given matter is of greater importance than everyone else's, that no question can be resolved without the sum total of your understanding of the subject being provided and that the entire value of something is determined by your own limited opinion of it.
Now, I know a few of you out there are thinking: "You moron! It wasn't Ptolemy who realized that the Earth isn't the center of the universe, it was Copernicus!" You're right. I made that mistake on purpose for the sake of asking this question: In the interval between my error and my acknowledgement of it, did you decide that I was obviously a pompous idiot whose opinions were of no consequence? Ha. Caught you. Now, I'll grant you the pompous part, but the issue here is dismissiveness: the attitude, developed after an insufficient amount of interaction, that others are intellectually inferior. Inductive reasoning can lead to great scientific breakthroughs, but in cases such as the preceding, it can also lead to colossal rudeness. Sure, you're smart. Use that power for good, not evil. Resist the urge to cut people down when they make mistakes.
That goes for your peers at the gaming table, too. If someone screws up on a rule, don't beat him over the head with it. If YOU screw up on a rule, admit your mistake graciously and move on. (Nothing is sadder than the guy who, having been proven wrong on a rule interpretation, keeps belaboring the issue in order to prove why his interpretation SHOULD have been the right one.) Remember, the competition isn't over who knows the rules better -- it's who can make the better use of them. Don't waste your time and energy arguing side issues. All that does is detract from the fun. Remember fun? You know, the reason you play games?Which brings us to the matter of perspective. Many gamers will argue with equal force and at equal length over the topic of monumental importance and the most negligible little detail. They will take the same offense at a mosquito-prick slight as they would at an all-out betrayal. They will sweat blood over how many horses were actually shot at Antietam, as opposed to those that just keeled over from dehydration, yet fail to grasp why the normo over there thinks they need to take a bath.Take a deep breath, switch from macro-vision to wide-angle and try to evaluate the relative importance of things objectively. Comprehend what is essential and what is nonessential. As Confucius said: "Things have their roots and branches, affairs have their ends and beginnings; know what comes before and after, and then you'll be near to the Way." When you get in an argument about something during a game, step back for a moment and ask yourself how the actual outcome of the game is affected. You're there to play a game, right? So put the game before the tangential issue. And you're playing the game to have fun, right? So put fun before the game. When the game ceases to be fun, continuing the game is self-defeating.
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Copyright © 1999-2002. ConsimWorld.COM. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited. Web Masters are encouraged to link directly to this page, this URL is not subject to change. For general site information: kranz@consimworld.com
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Copyright © 1999, 2000 ConsimWorld.COM. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited. Web Masters are encouraged to link directly to this page, this URL is not subject to change. For general site information: kranz@consimworld.com
