Something I’ve heard a lot in my years of playing text RPGs online is the phrase “it’s just a game.” Granted, it’s usually used in an attempt to calm down an irate player on the other team, and it’s usually meant as a bit of an insult, as if to imply that the other player has nothing better to do with their life than sit down. and scream. a text game. But it’s a phrase you hear often.
It’s also a phrase, frankly, that never made much sense to me. Yes, it may be a text game, but why does that mean a person is not allowed to be emotionally invested in it? Why do people try to put others down for, well, caring?
I’m writing today to argue that developing emotional attachments to characters in a text game isn’t a bad thing (as long as it’s done in moderation, which goes for anything). In fact, it is normal and has the potential to improve the gaming experience more than any other factor.
Think about your hobby. Why do you do it? Because, hopefully, you love it. If you’re a professional soccer player and someone accuses you of loving soccer, your reaction should be, “Well, of course I do!”
Now imagine a person who hates his job. The normal reaction to this is not to be impressed with how jaded and ‘above this’ the person is. The normal reaction here is to empathize with that person for having to spend large amounts of time on something they are not invested in.
This is how we should see text games; Or any hobby, really. You should enjoy it and you should be emotionally involved, or else you shouldn’t be doing it. In the example in my first paragraph, I would feel more sorry for the accuser (who spends a great deal of time on text games and claims they don’t care at all) than the person accused of caring too much (who is at least less able to admit who cares about his hobby). And there’s no reason why taking up text games as a hobby should be any less valuable than, say, writing, drawing, or playing board games.
Since the beginning of time, people have invested in fictional stories and characters; everyone has at least one or two friends who yell at the screen when the “wrong” couple gets together on a TV show. It’s why movies, plays, and other forms of story-focused entertainment have been so popular for so long, and why people spend billions of dollars a year on entertainment. There is no shame in worrying about the fate of the imaginary character and their stories, as long as it brings you (mostly) happiness.
There’s also nothing wrong with becoming passionate about your own characters. No one has ever had a problem with someone having a ‘favorite character’ from a movie or video game, and it would be absurd for someone to tell an author that they shouldn’t be emotionally invested in their book characters. Playing a character in a text game is a hybrid of these two things, really, and to be good at role-playing in the first place requires an emotional investment in your character and the text game itself. In fact, if you value both your character and his destiny, your successes will be much more rewarding and, in the end, that’s what keeps you playing.
I know it can be “cool” to pretend to be untouchable, but don’t be fooled by this defense mechanism. It’s much more admirable to admit that you really care about the things you spend your time on, get angry about, and then get on with your life. Text games are a valid source of happiness, reward, and entertainment. Don’t let anyone put you down by saying it’s “just texting games.”