Narrative Warfare: The Other Fake Gamer Tell

Jeffro Johnson dialed in on a point that The Alt-Right GM made recently. He then points to this comment that Lewis Pulsipher left on a post recently: I’m afraid you’re left behind in the last century, Jeffro. Contemporary gamers *don’t* like constraints (which is kind of funny, since a game is merely an agreed-upon set of constraints).

Which lead to Jeffro making this comment:

Yeah, my first instinct here is to tell a person with credits in the original Fiend Folio to get off my lawn… but notice what this guy that spends a great deal of time designing games has to say about the marketplace of today’s gamers. They don’t actually like the thing that games are on an intrinsic level. That’s far more damning than any of the more outrageous things that I’ve ever said on this blog!

Now, I can see that if you were in the business of selling boxes of cardboard and plastic bits to people why you might want to pay attention to that. Speaking as a guy that likes just playing games a great deal, I have to wonder if it might just be easier to just say that large swaths of these “contemporary gamers” aren’t really gamers at all!

That second italicized bit? That's the other tell.

And yes, they are related. We have a term for people who want the glory and social status that being a combat veteran imparts without actually risking one's life in combat: Stolen Valor. It's taken seriously by veterans and their families, with consequences that start at a ruined reputation and go all the way to "found dead of suicide by being beaten to death".

Fake Gamers are cowardly at heart, and avoid confrontation because they avoid challenges. That's why they neuter competitive gaming in all niches. That's why they claim that being a Let's Play watcher makes you a gamer (Stolen Gaming) and counts as playing yourself. That's why refuse constraints, cheat readily, prefer Storygame bullshit over real gaming, and otherwise shuck and jive their way out of playing the fucking game.

Kick these punters to the curb. They're fake and lame, unworthy of your time and attention, and should be outed accordingly. Stolen gaming has to stop if gaming is to survive and thrive, at all levels; the least you can do is expose the fake gamers and close your table to them henceforth. It doesn't help that most are also SJWs. Cultures don't cure themselves, folks. Find the fakes and bring the pain until they either flee or flip: Git Gud or Get The Fuck Out!