In one of my earlier posts I stated that, being a lifelong nerd, I had never played Dungeons & Dragons and this provoked a level of nerd rage from my stateside counterparts. For me, this raised an interesting question of how the journey into nerdage varies depending on where you are from. This entry is based on a comparison of UK vs US but if anyone from elsewhere wants to chip in, I’d love to hear how it varies in other places.
In the UK, most socially awkward teens find their way into gaming through the range of Games Workshop games. I’m sad to say that my own journey also started this way with a brief look at the original Space Hulk prior to investing my pocket money in Necromunda. For guys my age in the UK that is a fairly common story, the only real exception to that is Heroquest which was made by MB games (the miniatures however were made by GW!).
After speaking to my American counterparts, I understand that the journey for the majority there takes a different route in the form of Dungeons and Dragons. Having now played a couple of sessions I really do see the appeal of the game however, it being the first game that people play is not something that I can understand. I like to think of myself as a pretty well rounded nerd that can adapt to a number of different systems but I have to admit that the D&D character creation felt more like a maths exam than a hobby.
My journey started, like many others, with a friend and muddling through the rules as we got to them. As much depth as some miniature games have, I am yet to find one that cannot be learnt with the rule book, half an hour and a lot of guess work. As a grown adult with years of gaming experience, I muddled through the character creation at home, on my own and have never been so confused (half way through it even drove me to drink!). Thankfully I had the benefit of our experienced DM to point me in the right direction (cheers Barry!) but I really can’t see how accessible the game is to teens with no expert on hand.
Obviously things are different now than when I was a kid (I’m rapidly approaching the grand old age of 35) with video games like World of Warcraft easing that transition to a certain extent. Even taking into account the technical changes, I still feel that the majority of UK gamers have an easier transition into the hobby due to the evil empire.
Does that mean that I think UK gamers get the best deal when starting in the hobby? No.
One thing that I have rapidly begun to learn when delving into the D&D world is that there is so much more going on that just the game. Even before we had played our first session, almost all of the players had written a back story for their character and were thinking about how they would react in a given situation. D&D seems to have made me think so much about my character development and the story that is unfolding which I have not experienced to that extent with any other game.
It has been nearly 20 years since my first gaming experience and only now do I feel that I am getting the most out of my hobby.
It's funny really, my gaming memories of how I got into gaming are very different. Yes I did the whole GW thing, but my first experience was when I was 7 and my dad bought me the D&D black box edition.
ReplyDeleteI remember it was the summer and I spent days learning the rules, playing through the solo encounters to understand how THACO works etc, and then when it came to actually playing a game, no one else in my family could understand the rules, and so it remained untouched to this very day.