Tales from the Table: Chapter 4: A Tale of a New Beginning

thelastone

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Nov 4, 2010
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Kian2 said:
I've gone to conventions, play with friends, and play on web forums, so I think I've seen a fairly broad cross section of the kind of people who play. And I haven't met any people like the ones depicted in the show.
dfcrackhead said:
A lot of this is really reminiscent of my group, which is kinda funny.
Plenty of people have been commenting that this show reminds them of their own groups. Perhaps there are some cons where 'stereotypical' gamers go and others where only 'real people' gamers go.
 

Tower 87

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Oct 14, 2010
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Kian2 said:
For contrast, imagine if the show was about people at a gay bar, and they were all in fetish attire, raving, and being flamboyant. It would be considered an insulting and outdated (in the sense that society has pretty much moved on from these stereotypes, not that they were ever true) view of the gay scene.
Have you ever watched Queer as folk? It is a show all about Gay people going about their lives being overly homo erotic, flamboyant, going to raving gay bars and doing recreational drugs. The way it depicted the gay scene of the time was shocking to the outside world because it confirmed everything they thought about a homosexual society, but to the people who lived that scene it was very different. It used a pre existing social trope to reflect the truth that some gay people are just like stereotypes and that some stereotypes exist for a reason. The show used this as a Vehicle to delve deeper into the personal lives of people in that 'scene' showing the pressure of society on minority groups to conform to stereotypical behaviour. It also, through a more personalised look at the specific characters, showed that some people actually had reasons to fall into stereotypical behaviour using it as an escape from facing their own personal feelings and issues.

Just take a moment and ask yourself, are there people like out there that behave like the ones in this show out there? Could there be some truth to these caricatures? Because lets face it at some stage or another you have felt like an outcast and for some of you, living outside the social norm can be just as 'safe' as trying to conform to it.
 

Kian2

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Oct 20, 2010
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Haven't watched Queer as folk. Sounds like an interesting show; from the description it looks like it's taking a deeper look at the stereotypes themselves. Imagine if instead of the show studying the intricacies of the characters and the pressures they had to deal with, it was just a straight take on gays as stereotypes. Would the show have the same impact?

I may have come a bit too strong with my comments earlier. There's a natural tendency to overstate the negative impressions when the responses are otherwise overwhelmingly positive. I did not mean to say the characters are completely alien. The interactions between the characters, and how they play the game, are very good and believable. I tried to make that clear but I may not have stressed it enough. The 'show about gamers' part is very good.

My problem is with the characters' interactions with 'normal' people. We've seen so far the girlfriend and the sister. They were both ridiculously rude, in a way that's very over the top. More the girlfriend than the sister, admittedly. And the gamers all just sat there and took it, like they could think of no way to deal with them.

If someone rebuked your attempts at being friendly and insulted your friends, would you let them steal your snacks and call you fat, then walk out the door like nothing had happened? What if they did it to a friend of yours in front of you? Even if for some unfathomable reason you did, would you just sit quietly afterwards?

That's the part that bothers me. Yes, we all have interruptions from people who don't understand the game. Yes, some people may think it's childish, and say so. But the playing field is never so skewed that a single person being rude can walk all over five others, and no one thinks to say anything. Girlfriends at the game, who aren't interested or even curious, are tolerated. Not feared.

Granted, I'm not from the UK or US, I don't exactly know what the scene is like there. But I'd be very surprised if it was anything like that.
 

BrotherRool

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Oct 31, 2008
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Love the episode, am hopeful the storyline will continue

Kian2 said:
The only thing keeping me from really enjoying the videos is that the characters embody the very worst stereotypes of gamers as people that are awkward, insecure, childish and embarrassed about enjoying 'dress up'. Like the bitchy girlfriend taking the chocolate last episode. I'd like to think we've made it past these outdated stereotypes. I have played pen and paper games in conventions and with friends, and I've never met anyone that even resembled that.

I'd enjoy it a lot more if the players were believable people, and the characters they play were as dysfunctional as any regular player group will be. You can have humor without making fun of the people playing the game.
Unfortunately this is the next post after yours (presumably posted at the same time?)

A lot of this is really reminiscent of my group, which is kinda funny. I can't tell you how many times one of my characters would just randomly rob and kill random people(sometimes even other Players... Heh... stupid elf)
Irony. :D

Also to chip in. On my part, I'm awkward and insecure and am too embarrassed to even go to fancy dress parties dressed up.

Maybe your just lucky enough to move in a better class of people than the likes of me :D
 

Kian2

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Oct 20, 2010
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I tried to make the distinction in my points more clear in my last post, seeing as a number of people have brought it up. I enjoy the interaction within the group. That's spot on. It's the reason I keep coming back.

But notice how no one has posted "I can't tell you how many times people walk in on us, abuse the people in our group, and steal our snacks"? That's the part that bothers me. You don't like fancy parties? That's fine. I prefer staying with close friends for a quiet evening to going to some loud bar or party where you can't hear yourself speak.

But as I posted above, maybe I've just had different experiences, being from a different country. And what seems as an exageration to me is normal elsewhere. If so, I apologize to anyone that felt offended by my comments.
 

soulblade06

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Mar 27, 2011
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I think that Creldor might be just about the best villain I've ever seen. Not only is he the most stereotypical fantasy villain I've ever seen, but he hams it up so much that you can't help but laugh at him. He's serious and yet satirical at the same time! Double win!
 

HMSteve

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Nov 5, 2010
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I must say.. this Drew Belsten has a fine evil laugh. The visuals are stunning and I found the 'in game' plot compelling enough to be willing to watch in and of itself. It was also nice to see a group who joined forces without the typical PC knee jerk grouping, or by being arrested. Finally I think Elisa Hullah and Martie Hunt do an astounding job.

I am not too proud to admit being mildly jealous.