When does a game become a chore?
One day in early 2002, one of my very cool friends in Cory Gray and one of my best friends in Chris Gillows caught me while I was shopping in "Rock Bottom" (a comic/RPG/used novel store in Fayetteville AR) and asked me what was up which I told them that the sabbatical that I took from the cam the year before in 2000 (I left in 2000, gotten married in 2001, and divorced in early 2002) and they talked me into coming back into the Camarilla which was something I needed because all of my friends where in the Cam at that time.
In 2002, I met a whole hella lot of very cool people like The Williams Clan, Brian Ward (I swear that boy needs to email me more!) and various other people and every year since I meet and become friends with a wide selection of people that I have come to consider as close friends and family. People like Jamie (Kat and Mike King's roomie) and the Kings themselves as good friends that I wish I could stay in touch more regularlly with for instance.
But the highly cool people aside, my heart just isn't in the game anymore. I honestly tried to let my membership laspe-but someone in my domain decided that they needed members more than anything and I got my membership renewed without me knowing until the last moment a couple of months back. I tried to get behind the new venues but the more I do, the more I want to go screaming into the night...which I basically did during a vampire game recently because of the boredom!
I take a look at Forsaken and see myself playing the Black Spiral Dancers from the Garou Chronicle that I fought so hard against, I want to scream everytime someone has me pull a card and the constant changes in the rules on things like the different types of Status, the arguements between players and STs over stuff that would've been considered fine and dandy in the old chronicle stuff like Cam/Anarch, Sabbat, Changeling, Mage, Mortals and so forth is considered to be childish in Requiem, Promethean, Lost and Awakening.
The point is simple-when should gaming be a chore for me? A month ago, I was given the choice between playing in a second ed AD&D game or continue playing in the Camarilla. The choice wasn't to try and make me chose but the fact that the DM for the AD&D game was starting everyone off at first level and wanted all of his players to make it to all of the Saturday Night games in order to have that old school party cohesion you know? In order to support my friends, I stuck with the Cam.
Since then I've regretted my choice on so many levels, I have people demanding that I follow the rules when they themselves do not and I see past grudges being kept up when the domain as a whole said "Oh, we're past that." and the game is slowly becoming more of a chore than enjoyment for me. I mean hell, I haven't voted in the last two domain level elections because I just don't care anymore and then I get yelled at for not voting by the very members of my domain!!
In games where I should be allowed to enjoy myself has become games where I'm forced to sit around and be bored out of my blumin skull and I don't know if I want to stick it out the rest of the year or just say "Fuck It" and quit again.
The friends that I've made while being a member of the club I wouldn't trade for anything-not even for all the gold in Fort Knox or all the Tea in China...
...but the new game, I could live and die without.
In 2002, I met a whole hella lot of very cool people like The Williams Clan, Brian Ward (I swear that boy needs to email me more!) and various other people and every year since I meet and become friends with a wide selection of people that I have come to consider as close friends and family. People like Jamie (Kat and Mike King's roomie) and the Kings themselves as good friends that I wish I could stay in touch more regularlly with for instance.
But the highly cool people aside, my heart just isn't in the game anymore. I honestly tried to let my membership laspe-but someone in my domain decided that they needed members more than anything and I got my membership renewed without me knowing until the last moment a couple of months back. I tried to get behind the new venues but the more I do, the more I want to go screaming into the night...which I basically did during a vampire game recently because of the boredom!
I take a look at Forsaken and see myself playing the Black Spiral Dancers from the Garou Chronicle that I fought so hard against, I want to scream everytime someone has me pull a card and the constant changes in the rules on things like the different types of Status, the arguements between players and STs over stuff that would've been considered fine and dandy in the old chronicle stuff like Cam/Anarch, Sabbat, Changeling, Mage, Mortals and so forth is considered to be childish in Requiem, Promethean, Lost and Awakening.
The point is simple-when should gaming be a chore for me? A month ago, I was given the choice between playing in a second ed AD&D game or continue playing in the Camarilla. The choice wasn't to try and make me chose but the fact that the DM for the AD&D game was starting everyone off at first level and wanted all of his players to make it to all of the Saturday Night games in order to have that old school party cohesion you know? In order to support my friends, I stuck with the Cam.
Since then I've regretted my choice on so many levels, I have people demanding that I follow the rules when they themselves do not and I see past grudges being kept up when the domain as a whole said "Oh, we're past that." and the game is slowly becoming more of a chore than enjoyment for me. I mean hell, I haven't voted in the last two domain level elections because I just don't care anymore and then I get yelled at for not voting by the very members of my domain!!
In games where I should be allowed to enjoy myself has become games where I'm forced to sit around and be bored out of my blumin skull and I don't know if I want to stick it out the rest of the year or just say "Fuck It" and quit again.
The friends that I've made while being a member of the club I wouldn't trade for anything-not even for all the gold in Fort Knox or all the Tea in China...
...but the new game, I could live and die without.