+ about this blog
Weekend Assignment #321: Where’s Your Buggy Whip?
We sometimes hear the expression, “XXX has gone the way of the buggy whip.” In other words, technology and society have moved on, and something that was once commonplace barely exists anymore because it’s no longer needed. Do you still have something in your home that has become essentially useless? If so, why do you still have it? If not, when did you get rid of it?
Extra Credit: Have you ever worked in an industry that has gone the way of the buggy whip, or is in danger of doing so?
My family and I are great lovers of technology. We have computers, PS3’s, HD TV’s and laptops. My mother-in-law,who is in her 60’s has an iPhone. So I was hard pressed to think of what we have in the house that could be considered a “buggy whip”. Then I looked over on my bookshelf,and there they were.
My buggy whips are the entire shelf of pen and paper role-playing-games in my office.Actually,it’s more like two shelves, but there they are. In an age of massive multi-player online role playing games and video game dramas that are closer to movies, is there still a place in this world for such a twentieth century product?
HELL YES! I still love these dusty tomes, and refuse to send them to the gates of Ebay. I haven’t had a regular gaming group since I moved to the Charlotte area,and brother, do I miss that. I miss sitting around a table until wee hours of the morning, crafting adventures and tales. I was a Dungeon Master before I was a writer, and don’t think the two aren’t related. Every time a writer says he can’t believe what his characters want to do, I want to say, “You should try it with people who aren’t just in your head.
But don’t think tabletop role players have disappeared into some steam tunnel somewhere. CNN.com just posted an article a few days ago about D and D Encounters, a new version designed to be played in short two hour sessions, and not requiring the time outlay that the game usually does. Some may see this as heresy, but anything that brings a busy populace back to the gaming table, I’m all for.
So yes, they’re buggy whips, and yes, they’re geeky. But anything that encourages people to gather around an area, tell stories and laugh and play together, still rocks more than anything the cyber world can come up with. And it lets you create your own hero,and play in your own sandbox, not someone else’s. Show me a computer game that does that. And I’ll show you one that doesn’t sell. Yes, don’t come after me with your tales of great raids and killing n00bs. Most computer RPGs require the creativity of a Dalek. They’re great for finding friends sometimes, and problems solving, but thinking creatively in computer RPGs is reserved for the designers. So go get some dice, dust off your old books,or get some new ones. Ask me, I can recommend several.
Bonus: I used to do phone based market research surveys. In this day of cell phones and texting, not a whole lot of people left to survey that way.
