Reality vs. Fantasy.... (or Gamers Never Really Grow Up)


About 25 years ago when this game called DUNGEONS and DRAGONS first came out and I started playing with the other fantasy-reading kids on our block, there was much concern about the fact that this would encourage kids to “escape from reality”. There were stories of kids who had gone down into New York Sewers or gotten lost in woods trying to live out the game. Depending on what your source for these stories were, some of them took on an almost Urban Legend like gruesomeness. We all had fun, laughter and a chance to stretch our imaginations. Many of us went on to have interesting and even fantasy based careers. One of my fellow players ended up being a programmer at MicroSoft and I continue to doodle dragons just like I did waiting for my turn to roll the dice.

Then, I went off to University which was not only a hall of higher learning, but a chance to meet other gamers and stay up most weekends until the wee hours of the morning on adventures as well as assignments. I even met my husband, Nick, at the very first D&D game I ever played at Mount Allison. The gang had been gaming together for a whole year before I arrived as a gangly freshette wearing my artist’s tam and trying not to look to awestruck being away at University at 17. I didn’t pick up on many of the game’s undercurrents for weeks and I wasn’t sure if Nick was a very good actor playing his paranoid fighter... or whether the man really wasn’t quite all there. (His first impression of me was equally appalling, so you never can tell what will happen sometimes!)

Even though I devour Mercedes Lackey books instead of rolling dice or doodle fantasy designs instead of character sketches... that gamer side of me is still lurking very close to the surface. A few of us have decided that we are going to make the show in Nashville next February a bit more exciting for the shops who attend... and a bit more fun for ourselves. Only other gamers or SCA people will understand when I tell them how much fun I am having planning what I will wear.... because I have found a SWORD long enough to match my 6’5” frame!! (no sharp edges... Nick teases me that ALL my dexterity is in my fingers rather than my feet!!) I’m not going to say much more for now... but I can’t wait to see the looks on some faces!!

In the midst of planning Fantasy stuff, and watching the “Big Lie” episode of Survivor last night, I got to thinking what a misnomer “REALITY TV” really is. Though I will admit, rather shamefacedly, to watching CUPID while batching orders this summer and am known to rearrange my schedule so as not to miss an episode of THE AMAZING RACE... Survivor has always fascinated and repelled me the most. As a Photography major and former copywriter/editor, I find it fascinating to think how they actually craft our entire perception of the people involved and how each episode will play out, simply by how they edit the footage and which bits they choose to keep. If that is not creating Fantasy from Reality... then I’m not sure what is.

Was I the only one who kept waiting for the host, Jeff, to announce John’s lie to the rest of the players to see their reactions? But then I remembered that the camera people all have to promise not to interfere with anything, even if there is an injury... so I guess that includes not revealing falsehoods. I just know that after watching someone play that kind of game to get ahead no matter what.... I’ll take the dragons, a paladin’s sense of honour and the escaping into a good fantasy tale over reality any day!