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Lowell Kempf
United States
Chicago
Illinois
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It was recently suggested to me that board gamers may be more involved in the social elements of gaming while role players are more involved in the escapist or immersive elements of gaming. (I think immersive sounds better than escapist, don’t you?)
Frankly, I’ve actually found that the video gamers I have known tend to be the most escapist out of the various clans of gamers. If you are doing table top role playing, you still have to be in the same room as the other guys you’re playing with  In general, when it comes to this topic, you end up dealing with such broad generalizations that you can’t help but miss all the fine points.
However, there is no denying that different forms of gaming offer different kinds of rewards and satisfy different forms of craving. People game for different reasons and are drawn to different games and styles of games for that reason.
Are there role players who would rather be their characters than themselves? Well, sure. Who doesn’t want to have what amounts to super powers, access to vast wealth and be able to control and shape the world around them? If you think that description is snide, just take a look at one of literature’s ur-examples of a role playing character, Bilbo Baggins. He can turn invisible, has a magic sword, ends up with a share in a dragon horde, and played a pivotal role in Middle Earth’s history, all while being under four feet tall.
So, yes, there is inevitably some element of wish fulfillment in role playing games. At the same time, having the power to control businesses or lead armies is also a form of wish fulfillment and those are staples of board games. Let’s be honest here. We have more control over the world of a game, any kind of game, than we have over the real world. That’s why some people will argue that game worlds are better than the real one.
And I am now teetering on the edge of a topic that could be a PhD thesis (and probably has been)
So I am going to pull back a little bit and make a smaller, more subjective observation about the differences that I have seen between the social dynamics of a board gaming group compared to a role playing group.
One thing that I have noticed is that role playing groups tend to have a tighter, more intimate bond. The standard role playing game tends to last more than one sitting (and, yes, I know there are exceptions to that rule) and really requires that all the players show up for every session. That means that the players end up making a commitment to the game and spend a fair bit of time in that specific small group.
Most board games, on the other hand, tend to be finished in one sitting. Sometimes a long sitting but board games are something you plan a day for, not a year-long schedule. The major exceptions to that rule are some of the longer and more detailed war games. I understand that those tend to be two-player games and two-player games have a whole other social dynamic compared to multi-player games.
I have found that adding new players to a role playing games tends to be a delicate and difficult thing to do. You have a group of people who border on being a surrogate family to one and another. Adding a stranger to the mix is like adding a new cat to the household. (And let me tell you, that can be a treat. When my fiancée’s cat met my two tabbies, my sweet cuddly kitties turned into a pair of psychos. They all love each other now, thank goodness)
On the other hand, adding someone to a board game table consists of “Pull up a chair and we’ll deal you in.”
So, regardless of our theories about how immersive the actual role playing game itself is, I have found that the role playing group itself tends to be more immersive than a board game group. One of my past relationship’s told me that she felt like my D&D group was like a second girl friend to me and I realized she had a point.
That might just be me but I have found that moving away from that environment and moving more towards the less committed world of board games has been a lot healthier for me, letting me focus on my commitments in the non-gaming world.
I have encountered light and casual RPG groups. I have dealt with board game groups that took regular attendance like a blood oath. However, more often than not, I have found that role playing groups tend to be more insular and committed, where heavy participation is an intrinsic part of the social contract while board game groups tend to be more casual and, well, more friendly and accepting.
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