So, David, what did you do at the weekend?

[davywavy]

Well, er...

I was chatting to someone a while ago about how we spent our respective weekends; they’d gone out clubbing and spent the weekend ramming the nearest pharmaceutical into the most appropriate orifice, whilst I’d dressed up as a monster in the upstairs room of a pub (I’d been clubbing too, but the contradiction in our lifestyles was clear enough…).
Something about this struck me as odd, and thinking about it, it came to me what it is. In the industry I work in (Media, darling), and especially some of the offices I’ve worked in, the standard Monday-morning conversation was of the ‘I went out clubbing on Saturday and got off my tits on [Insert trendy drug du jour here]’ variety. However, you can bet money that when I was asked what I’d got up to over the weekend, my answer never began “Well, some orcs had kidnapped the miller’s daughter and stolen a bull to try and breed a minotaur…”
But why is this? When did excessive drug use become socially acceptable, and why is hanging out with your friends telling stories and at worst dressing up not acceptable in most social contexts? How did this happen?
When you think about it, it’s damned strange. Drug culture and the drugs trade have demonstrable links to organised crime, corruption, and hundreds – if not thousands – of deaths and murders ever year. Roleplaying, on the other hand, has demonstrable links to eating too many Pringles and pizzas, not getting enough exercise and – at the most outrageous estimate - three deaths (unless you’re Jack Chick, of course). But, oddly, the majority of people are more willing to boast about – and much more willing to accept – association with a culture which leads to untold human suffering and corruption than they are willing to accept association with a culture whose worst sins revolve about poor personal hygiene and not having a girlfriend.

Some years ago, the government ran a sex-education advertising campaign which pointed out that when you sleep with someone then you were sleeping with everyone they had ever gone to bed with too*. This is possibly the best analogy as to why I dislike drug culture: it doesn’t exist in isolation. When purchasing drugs, it isn’t just buying them off your local dealer – it’s buying them off everyone in the chain of control and production, and everyone affected by that chain. It never ceases to amuse me (in a bleak sort of way) that it is very often the same people who have no problem with drug use who rail the most against government and civil corruption. Bearing in mind that a vast amount of the money which pays for that corruption (especially in the third world) comes from that selfsame drugs trade and associated organised crime, I can’t help but look askance at the apparent immunity to irony which so many people seem to display.

And then we’re back to roleplaying. It’s a hobby which (on the face of it, at least) promotes and generates social interaction, creative, analytical, and flexible thought, and wit: and yet, despite all of that, it’s got a fairly shocking reputation and most certainly isn’t cool. I just can’t help but feel that it’s odd that actively and artificially altering and reducing higher thought processes is widely seen as a better way of spending time that doing the exact opposite. What am I missing here?
Okay, there’s a caveat to all of this, and that’s the sort of people that gaming attracts tend to be ones with fairly poor real-world social skills. We’ve all met ‘em, and the fatbeards are often the people with whom gaming is most associated in the public eye. However, it can hardly be said that the poster children for drug culture are exactly going to be getting invited to any parties either, so really it isn’t the people within the lifestyles who define the acceptability of that lifestyle.

Is it the media, perhaps? As previously noted, I've worked in some environments where I was far the exception rather than the rule for not indulging my nostrils at every opportunity, and gamers were thin on the ground to say the least. Is it control of the message which defines the society around it?

By this point, I know some people will be thinking: ‘But the drugs laws are worng/unfair/stupid/lah lah lah and we should all hold hands and sing a song instead.’. I’m not interested in debating the rightness or wrongness of the legislation; the fact that the black market which thrives through illegality is responsible for a tremendous amount of human suffering, and being involved in that chain is effectively condoning that suffering, is undeniable. If the law changed then I’m sure many other things would too, but for the moment it’s okay to break the law if you think it’s wrong, right, kids? Oh, and if none of your family are being forced at gunpoint to work in Columbian Coca plantations either, obviously.

All that said: the day anyone can put into pill form the feeling I got when I saw the expression on baalazamon’s face when I told him just what I was going to do to the Valentine of Set**, I’m buying.



*A thought which, if I’m reminded of it at the right moment, is capable of causing me to curl into a whimpering, semi-catatonic ball and scratch at my eyes.

**Valentine of Set: It’s like being bride of Dracula, but less of a commitment.

Comments

LOL

[kittensandsteam.livejournal.com]

Damn, I wish I had seen the expression on Dave's face too!
He's sooooo good at pulling faces!

[tooth-fairy.livejournal.com]

Roleplaying feels like a dirty secret, something you have to do in hushed tones in darkened rooms and that you can never tell your parents about. I don't know why this is and it is a shame, it is also odd that call it interactive theatre or something similar and everyone thinks it is ok.

I tend to not mention it, at best people say 'but you don't look like you've crawled out from under a rock' at worst they sort of back away and start concentrating very hard on the wallpaper.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know. 'Interactive improvisational theatre' impresses people and pulls girls. 'Playing D&D' doesn't. Kinduv odd, considering they're exactly the same thing. Perhaps gaming needs a corporate makeover.

[tooth-fairy.livejournal.com]

A corporate makeover is the way foward. It just needs to be packaged right.

Are you up to the challenge?

interactive theatre

[fire-kitten.livejournal.com]

Yup. It's right there on my CV. in just those words.

It is indeed odd. You are meant to grow out of using your imagination to help you see the world a different way, and presumably then grow into using drugs to let you achieve just the same result, although probably with less plot.

It's possibly somethign to do with the dice. Dice (even shiny purple ones) are just not cool, hip or trendy.

Re: interactive theatre

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

What about if we had small, fiddly dice with pictures of Mickey Mouse or a smiley face on them?

I agonised for ages how to put running the Cam on my CV, and eventually gave up on that as a bad idea and just never mention it.

Re: interactive theatre

[tooth-fairy.livejournal.com]

Seemingly dweeby as dice are swap said dice for bigger dice with decision words on them package them up as 'a fun way to decide what to do with your life' and sell them in gadget shop and your on to a best seller!

Re: interactive theatre

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

Whereas roleplaying is right there on my CV in the words 'Roleplaying games' :)

But then I do work in IT, where there's a better than even chance people will know what I'm on about.

And I'm pretty sure I got this job on the strength of it - certainly I spent half the interview discussing systems and the difficulty of running large LRPs with my now-boss :)

[taimatsu]

I've started talking about it more recently - possibly because it's providing my only escape from the hideousness that is my life. A lot of my mum's friends have been throughly confused with explanations of rubber-swording.

[tooth-fairy.livejournal.com]

If it is offering a sole escape route it can be very lonely if no one knows about it...having said that if you are having a bad time and use role playing as relief you have to be careful that it doesn't bring up its own whole set of problems.

Have you tried Yoga, I know it sounds very cliched but it can be very good escapism. The discipline and concentration coupled with the relaxation can at least briefly take your mind off stuff

hugs

[cryx]

I'm Lanei, and i'm a Roleplayer.

Wow, that was cathartic. Wish i could make that kinda crazy admission in the real world!

On another note, i must admit i'd never really thought much about the chain of drug supply, although it is quite obvious when you talk about it that way. Interesting.

Good choice of music there btw. :)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not ringing, so that's good :)

And how cathartic is it when you aren't even using your real name to make the confession, eh? Eh?
The chain of manufacturing and supply is my biggest problem with drug culture, and is one which most people who indulge tend to not notice or gloss over. If it were legalised and regulated a lot of my major problems would vanish.

[robinbloke.livejournal.com]

Enya/Prodigy - Smack my Orinoco up?

Where? How?

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

On my computer, sonny. Want some?

[nevecat.livejournal.com]

*grins*

My parents think it's a bit weird, but they do actually know I'm ANST Werewolf, and what the WOD is (my mum kept asking me to explain it. So I did. She thinks it sounds 'a bit depressing', but being a lapsed hippy could kinda grok the themes ;)

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

When did excessive drug use become socially acceptable, and why is hanging out with your friends telling stories and at worst dressing up not acceptable in most social contexts? How did this happen?

Drug taking is, at least nominally, about hedonism and letting go of inhibitions; it is closely linked to both dancing and sex. British culture has almost always celebrated excess, hedonism and partying, and been notoriously tolerant towards those who enjoy them.

Roleplaying, is at least nominally, about dressing up and pretending to be something you are not - particularly the stereotype (and all stereotypes have some sort of factual basis, even if it doesn't relate in any way to the present company:)) of the the not particularly attractive or socially skilled geek pretending to have the skills, power and charisma they evidently lack in real life. British cultue has always reviled that kind of pretension. WHen you factor in the dice, hierarchies etc that seem to be so important (not that I know, obviously, not being an adherent) and the rules and you're into what most people regard as real trainspotting territory.

That is why I think that your comparison to improv theatre is completely inaccurate - improv is much less restricted and the whole point of it is to function as entertainment for an audience. The audience is the crucial factor - the whole point is that outsiders need to access improv, not be excluded from it.

Sometimes rpers remind me of freemasons, but without the money, political clout or links to the vatican.

Drug culture and the drugs trade have demonstrable links to organised crime, corruption, and hundreds – if not thousands – of deaths and murders ever year.

The drugs trade does have those links, but drug culture (particularly in terms of club drug culture) doesn't, at least not directly and visibly, any more than Nike sticks pictures of the conditions in its sweatshops on its clothing adverts. The textile trade cause far more suffering in the third world than the drugs trade does. YOur average drug-taker demonstrates no greater 'lack of irony' than anyone who buys clothes in a chainstore or from Camden market. And there are far more deaths, diseases and murders from alcohol - the key difference is that your chum Gordon Brown gets a cut of the take with alcohol.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

If roleplaying is all about dressing up and pretending to be more attractive and cooler than you actually are, then I suggest that if you go to any town centre on any Saturday night you'll see literally hundreds of people roleplaying in every club you go into...
Drug taking is also about letting go of self - becoming someone else. Why is one form of becoming someone else cooler than another?

That is why I think that your comparison to improv theatre is completely inaccurate - improv is much less restricted and the whole point of it is to function as entertainment for an audience. The audience is the crucial factor - the whole point is that outsiders need to access improv, not be excluded from it.


The actors are the audience - it might be said to be the most inclusive form of theatre going, because everyone can get involved - at least if the active participants are willing to be inclusive - but when has that ever been untrue of fashion and club culture either? You're either in the club, darling, or you're out. Clubbing's more judgemental, 'cos Rp doesn't have anyone making the decisions on the door. Certainly RP is heading more and more towards improv and inclusivity - at least the cutting edge of it.

The drugs trade does have those links, but drug culture (particularly in terms of club drug culture) doesn't, at least not directly and visibly

Rather like saying that someone pulled in a club doesn't have any visible links to the guy with herpes they were with last night.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

And there are far more deaths, diseases and murders from alcohol - the key difference is that your chum Gordon Brown gets a cut of the take with alcohol.


My chum? Can't stand 'im, meself.
But his take contributes, at least in some part, to covering the cost of the negative social aspect - through the regulation and taxation I was referring to earlier. Drug culture doesn't contribute, it just takes.

When shopping, it's kinda possible to try to be an ethical consumer of goods; ones that are legally produced, anyway.
Legal consuption of produce, whilst not perfect, is better as it allows for pressure to be placed upon producers to change their production policies. I'm not sure that organised crime really cares about it's stock prices that much.

[taimatsu]

There are types of RP which avoid the dice, hierarchies and huge rulesets. The Cam is quite subject to them (well, replace 'dice' with 'rock-paper-scissors') but something like Shards, which is a rubber-sword live-action fantasy RP campaign, has no dice, no RPS, very few rules (mostly 'Is it cool? It'll probably work, then.') and not a lot in the way of hierarchies. It has more costuming than the Camarilla-type stand-about-in-a-pub LARP, and I guess the latex weaponry adds geek points. But there are big differences.

I have done improv (while at school) without an audience - the point was for our own enjoyment, learning, and story-telling, not for an audience. Which is very much like roleplay.

[blue-cat.livejournal.com]

I refuse to have RP as a dirty dark secret. People at work who as what I did get told. I may have to explain it but no-one looks at me funny about it now. Hell, I even confess to my current SWG adiction!!

I discuss how it is escapism, social, cathatic and even educational (the 4 main reasons to RP) - discuss the concept of trying to be a leader in a feudal society and how this relates to management styles as well as team spirit, not to mention real down time away from work yeadda yadda.

I occassionally indulge in a little of the green growing stuff - but really infrequently. Any pills / injections I have had have been prescription only.

[ex-boog351.livejournal.com]

I think the issue is that the lads and ladettes who boast about their intake of drugs at the weekend give very little thought to the wider social implications and just take the view 'its my body and its my choice'.

Given we live in a drug-based culture where medicinal and recreational drugs are legal, whilst others aren't, it is hardly surprising that people find new and harder ways to escape reality. I think there is a certain amount of machismo in bragging about what is taken, and the illicit nature of most clubbing drugs adds to their appeal.

So, if the principal negative issue really is the criminal links to the supply, why not legalise all narcotics?

Or even criminalise the Cam, that way you can have something to brag about too :)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Gosh, drive gaming underground. What a great idea!

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

If you made it illegal it might actu

[hiromasaki.livejournal.com]

Three deaths?

http://members.aol.com/waltonwj/faq_encyclopedia.htm

If that list is correct, looks to be about 9.... Though still a paltry sum.

[christ1974.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to get into a Discussion with anyone about sex, drugs or Role-playing except to say everyone has a choice about what they want to do with their lives.
Personally I enjoy all three of the above and know that abstaining from any of them isn't going to stop it happening.