Page six
-- GUILFORDIAN -- November 18, 1980
Wargaming
Alternative mirror
A column by Roy Parkhurst
Last week in PART I, I asked the question "What?" I tried
to define what wargames were and this week I would like to
explore the reasons behind the recent surge in the popularity
of wargames.
A good starting place is to give some gaming types. I am
borrowing the terms from an excellent book on the subject
called "The Complete Book of Wargames" by the editors of
Consumer Guide and Jon Freeman. I highly recommend this
book to interested readers.
The "Complete Book" categorizes gamers into seven main
groups: the historian; the military enthusiast; the assassin;
the competitor; the hobbyist; the gamer; and the specialist.
Briefly, these can be described: 1) The Historian: someone
who is a history buff, uses games to enhance and replay
actual historical situations. Role games, for example,
couldn't interest him in the least. 2) The Military Enthusiast:
someone who is fascinated by war and battle but prefers to be
completely removed from the reality of war and satisfies this
interest with games. 3) The Assassin: aggressive war
monger who wishes to destroy, to be a merciless hero, who
hates to lose and loves to be imaginatively cruel; Mr. Kurtz is
alive and well. 4) The Competitor: someone who loves the
challenge of wargames, plays lots of games as long as they
are authentic tests of skill and ability. 5) The Hobbyist:
someone addicted to games, a collector, who has everything
and spends more time acquiring and gawking over games
than playing them. 6) The Gamer: someone who loves games
in general, thinks that all good games are exciting and likes
wargames for their "game" novelty. 7)The Specialist:
someone who is a fanatic in some subject. A spy buff who
collects spy novels, subscribes to True Detective, has seen
every James Bond film 10 times over and loves games in his
field like TSR's "Top Secret" (TSR also publishes Dungeons
and Dragons.)
These are generalities or stereotypes but they point to a
certain psychology that fits the types of people who play
wargames.
Culturally, the game explosion is most significant in the
area of role-playing games. In my research, it has become
clear that "Dungeons and Dragons" is the single most
important factor in the growth of other games which in some
ways follow the pattern set by D&D. I have been told by
various toy stores that they sell as much or more piece by
piece product in Dungeons and Dragons than all other role
and strategic games combined. So what is it about D&D that
is so appealing?
Well, there are various factors. D&D has grown out of a
general popularity in fantasy fiction initiated in recent years
by the acclaimed work of J R.R. Tolkien. It can not be
overstressed that Tolkien's Middle Earth has had a
tremendous impact on young people from Junior High
through college and much beyond as well. The fascination in
Tolkien is related at the root of things in the same way as
D&D. It satisfies some inner need, call it archetypal or
whatever, of the rejuvenating power of light and fantasy and
adventure. The fascination with Voyager in the last few days
reflects this just as "Star Wars" or the currently running
PBS show "Cosmos" does.
There is something of an escapist, an incurable romantic
urge in us that wishes to burst out against the tensions of the
modern world. There is an inner need for adventure, for
fantasy, to have the idea of the hero made possible to us. I
believe D&D has succeeded so well in capturing all these
essential elements in one playable format and that this factor
has made D&D so overwhelmingly popular.
D&D makes a character that each player can "live"
through, set in an existing imaginary world which stays
relatively consistent and has certain predictable and
recurrent monsters and in some cases even geographical
locations which one can count on just as we can count on New
York being there when we arrive at the correct location. It is a
complete and generally logical system which imitates life in
incredible detail. The laws of physics hold (except when
utilizing magic of course) and other "realistic" concepts
allowing you to acquire great treasure or get yourself killed.
It is a romantic' escape into a safe yet wonderfully magical
realm.
As you might suppose, D&D is very complicated, it take
maybe 3 or 4 hours for a beginner to even get a character.
Adventures can be endless or like every day life, having
temporary conclusions, such as escape from the dragon's
lair. D&D enthusiasts spend much of their free time playing
games or designing dungeons for other players. I have seen it
become an obsession, bordering on the destructive. But, as
you know, there's a Bridge club in your neighborhood and a
chess column in the NY Times. Games are a big part of
human kind's leisure history, it allows many forms of primal
satisfactions, violence, competition, escapism and so on, and
D&D is no exception. Whether D&D will survive time is not
as significant as the fact that games of all forms and at
different levels persist. Recall Monday Night Football?
Alice in Registration land
[A tale of a Rabbit and Others, with Fond
Apologies and True Admiration for Mr. Lewis
Carroll]
By Constance Irving
Alice was beginning to get quite tired of sitting
in the library working on her paper. There was
so very much to be done, she despaired of ever
finishing all, or even most, of it.
So she was considering (as well as she could,
for she'd been up all the night before as well and
hence felt very sleepy and stupid) whether the
pleasure of eating lunch would be worth the
trouble of ploughing through, the mob at
Founders, when suddenly, a White Rabbit with
pink eyes ran by. There was nothing so terribly
odd about this, nor did Alice think it queer when
the Rabbit said to itself, "Oh dear! Oh dear! I
shall be late!" As this was Guilford College, and
everyone was always concerned about being late
with something or other. But when the Rabbit
took a small brown paper-bag from its knapsack
with a label that read:
17271
REC: 4650 Rabbit Albert W
CLS: 3MJR: Bio
ADV: Bryden
looked at it, then hurried on, Alice started to her
feet, for it occurred to her she'd never seen a
rabbit with either a paper-bag or a knapsack
before, let alone one in the library. Burning with
curiosity, she ran through the stacks after it, just
in time to see it disappear into the book elevator
in the far corner.
In another moment, down went Alice after it,
never once considering where she was going, how
she might return, or how she'd ever explain her
injuries either to Dr. Doolittle or to the insurance
company.
Down the elevator shaft she fell, much further
(she thought) than the library's three floors, and
further still.
Down, down, down. Would the fall never come
to an end? (A curious rumination, she thought,
and one she'd been considering all that season.)
"I wonder whether this is what they call a free
fall?" she said out loud. "But is it truly free? I
mean, I suppose my path downward is un
hindered by stray objects, but that doesn't mean
Vital juices flow at cocktail hour
The Cocktail Hour, a bi
weekly gathering at 4:30 p.m.
on Monday afternoons in Dana
Lounge, is a time for sharing
ideas about college life and
personal growth. It will be a
refreshing hour in which we will
share a pre-dinner appetizer
and good zesty talk on such
subjects as "The High Price of
Long Distance Love," "Thri
ving not Just Surviving: How to
Live with Stress." Some of our
talks will concern important
academic matters such as "How
to Read a Textbook You Hate"
and "How to Survive (even
Enjoy) The Process of Writing a
Paper."
These meetings will give you
a chance to speak your mind
and to learn from other people's
ideas and feelings. It can be a
way to make your Monday a real
start. Join us on your way to
dinner for a few ideas your
brain and spirit can munch on.
SCHOLARSHIPS -- Vander
bilt University invites outstand
ing seniors to compete in its
1981-82 MBA Scholarship Pro
gram. Write: Office of Admis
sion, Room 601, Owen Craduate
School of Management, Van
derbilt University, Nashville,
Tenn. 37203.
I'm free to fall whichever way I please." (For you
see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in
her lessons in the school-room, and though this
was not a very good opportunity for showing off
her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to
her nevertheless it was good practice for her oral
report to say it over.) "But I wonder whether or
not to follow the rabbit, or he to go or not to go
down the hole?"
Down, down, down. "I'll never finish my paper
at this rate," she chided herself, "but perhaps I
can triple-space and make do with what I
have . .
When suddenly, Thump! Thump! Down she
came over a heap of old newspapers, and her fall
was over.
Alice was not hurt, and she leapt to her feet in a
moment.She gazed down the dark passageway
ahead, and there was the White Rabbit. There
wasn't a moment to waste. Alice rushed after
him, hearing him chatter, "Oh my ears and
whiskers, how late it's getting!"
She ran to him, but he paid her no mind,
muttering, "Oh my Advisor, my Advisor, my
won't he be vicious if I've kept him waiting." And
he ran off into the darkness again.
"Dear, dear! How queer things are today,"
exclaimed Alice, "and how confusing. I shall try
to say 'How doth the little busy bee.' I'm sure I
can still say that." And in a voice that sounded to
her rather strange and hoarse, she began:
"How doth the Ronaldreaganite
Improve his shining land
And snatch the bucks for needy folks
From every outstretched hand.
How blithely he shouts, 'Nuke Iran,'
How gaily boosts defense,
While touting cuts in budgetland
Against all common sense."
"I'm sure those aren't the proper words!"
exclaimed Alice, "and what am I to do about the
White Rabbit and his peculiar paper bag?"
[To be continued next week: In which Alice
encounters a Most Unhelpful Senior, meets the
I.D.S. Duchess, her Cheshire Advisor, the
Imperious Red Registrar, and the White Dean,
among Others.]
THE COCKTAIL HOUR DISCUSSIONS
Sponsored by the Academic Skills Center,
the Counseling Service, and the Housing Interns
Monday Afternoons, 4:30 p.m., Dana Lounge
NOVEMBER 24 THE HIGH PRICE OF LONG DISTANCE LOVE
DECEMBER B HOW TO LIVE WITH STRESS
JANUARY 19 HOW TO LIVE IN THE SAME ROOM AND SURVIVE
26 ENHANCING ETHNIC DIFFERENCES: HOW CAN WE
LEARN FROM EACH OTHER
FEBRUARY 2 DEPRESSION: COPING WITH THE BLUES
16 HOW TO SURVIVE (EVEN ENJOY) THE PROCESS OF
WRITING A PAPER
MARCH 2 IS YOUR PERSONALITY ON ACADEMIC PROBATION?
16 SENIORITIS: WHAT IN THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO?
30 HOW TO GET HIGH WITHOUT DRUGS
APRIL 6 SEXUALITY INTIMACY CELIBACY
20 HOW CAN YOU LIVE WITH DIVORCE AND SEPARATION
IN YOUR LIFE?
Pizza Hut
College Night!
Mondays and Tuesdays sto 10PM
ANY PIZZA
WITH COLLEGE ID. 600 College Road