(no subject)

[prog]

I am pretty sure that I'm all done with regular MLGN attendance, at least as it's currently defined. This has been building up over several months, but I've been telling myself I can tough it out, and it's just one night a month after all, right? Last night, though, I became bored and uneasy enough to just up and leave after about an hour or so. I feel lame that I did this, and apologize to anyone whose evening was lessened by my departure, but I really was too uncomfortable to stick around a moment longer.

The main reasons for this are my decreased interest in Looney games promotion, which I've already written about, and the feelings of antsyness and even resentment that arise from having to go play games because the clock says it's time to, even if I'm engrossed in work. Which has, in fact, been the case over the last few months.

Furthermore, I also find myself increasingly unimpressed with the venue. I don't trust my memory enough to confidently state that Your Move Games used to be a pleasant place to hang out, but I can say beyond a doubt that it's a miserable skankpit today. I feel less cool just by being there, sitting on broken chairs, surrounded by stain-splotched walls and torn-up carpets, and letting my hands get disturbingly tacky playing on the warped tables. All this serves to magnify the obnoxiousness quotient of all the other gamers in the room, the majority (or at least the loudest faction) of which are socially inept young men playing with miniatures or collectible card games. I definitely feel like I'm on their turf when I'm at YMG, and this is not a good feeling. (I could also speculate on "there but for the grace of gord go i"-type musings these folks summon in me, but let's not.)

Comments

Hmmm.

[kyroraz.livejournal.com]

Forgive me if I misunderstand your post from the start here, however ...

It is you who have said that "always make time for games", at least, those were the words that you have advocated to me on many occasions ... is it possible that you're having a change of heart?

I do agree about the gaming venue type things. There have been times that I have played ED in places that had more of Games Workshop type games ... and kinda became disenchanted about it simply because it felt strange running a typical RPG game in a shop that likes micromanaging measurements on scaled well detailed terrains for combat... Sigh. Maybe we're just becoming Grumpy Old Men, jmac.

Re: Hmmm.

[prog.livejournal.com]

I always make time for games with friends, but I don't like feeling obligated to drop what I'm doing to go play games with people I don't know very well in a cruddy location.

Then again, maybe it is just burnout and I need a break for a while.

Also, maybe you're becoming a grumpy old man. I hope this trend of yours towards mid-life crisisizing is an attempt to get it all out of your system early, and not the start of a long life of constantly complaining about how old you are. ;b

Re: Hmmm.

[kyroraz.livejournal.com]

Well, it's possible. I know I've been complaining about that a lot lately.

Of course, it does provide amusing commentary from Xymotik. :)

mention this to boston warren?

[cthulhia]

The idea of obligatory gaming is not significantly different from other game nights you attend, so I suspect that's not as much of an issue as you think.

I'm not adverse to a new venue, since YMG hasn't been terribly supportive. I imagine other folks might be interested in such a change as well. Summer is impending. We can consider the original plan to do this on the chess tables in harvard square. Or any indoor venue that has sufficient lighting and usually insufficient crowds on Wednesday that we wouldn't bother them too much.

Burn-out is a lot of why I think folks should make a point of not attending every month, since that makes it feel like a chore. This requires some coordination between the folks who have all the games. Too many aren't willing to commit to even once in a while.

Re: mention this to boston warren?

[zyxwvut.livejournal.com]

Hrrrm. EndGame Goes Looney! has been having attendance problems, as well, although
I doubt that MLGN has been as bad. I'm going to be looking into how I might improve
things (or I may hang it up in July, by which time it will have been two years).

I'll be opening this discussion on the Rabbits list soon, I guess.

Z

P.S.: Hey, look, I uploaded a few pix...