The thought of someone watching other people play tabletop roleplaying games online makes me feel nauseous, but seeing these videos recommended on my youtube feed is instructive about human nature.
Back in the day, you played stuff like D&D because you couldn't go on big adventures in real life with your friends. When I was in my teenage years, that was the main reason we played it. Can't go do cool stuff while on summer vacation? Well here's an alternative for you and your buddies. Even as we grew up and went to college or got jobs and had kids, we still made time for it because it was an easy and free way to have fun. A couple hours of imagining monsters and rolling dice is much easier than making a camping trip happen after all. But I noticed that there were people in our friend group who didn't want to do any IRL fun stuff, they just wanted the tabletop games. No hikes, no sports, no outdoorsy stuff or sparring, just playing the game. Water goes to the level and they took the path of least resistance.
When COVID happened, these same friends ended up playing tabletop games online. They'd go on zoom or skype meetings with friends and play the game for a bit. When the lockdowns were done I'd invite some of them to play, but they ended up preferring the online version. The water went to the new, lower level and the path of least resistance got greased some more.
A couple years later they had stopped playing altogether, and exclusively watched things like critical role on youtube. They haven't played the game in years, because it is easier to watch people play a game than it is to play the game online, which is easier than playing it in real life, which is easier than going out and having real adventures. At this rate, with the slide of effort going down even further I imagine they'll watch compilation clips online instead of tuning in to the livestream. But on the other hand they all complain about feeling unfulfilled.
People are like that in all sorts of ways aren't they? Us sinners can be insanely slothful, but then we all turn around and look back and complain about our quality of life. Joy belongs to the one who does stuff, it seems. God designed us for active lives, while the devil wants us melting into the floor.
SuperLutheran
npub14n…t6ep9
2026-10-28 22:57:13 UTC
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wss://nos.lolPublished at
2026-10-28 22:57:13 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "The thought of someone watching other people play tabletop roleplaying games online makes me feel nauseous, but seeing these videos recommended on my youtube feed is instructive about human nature.\n\nBack in the day, you played stuff like D\u0026D because you couldn't go on big adventures in real life with your friends. When I was in my teenage years, that was the main reason we played it. Can't go do cool stuff while on summer vacation? Well here's an alternative for you and your buddies. Even as we grew up and went to college or got jobs and had kids, we still made time for it because it was an easy and free way to have fun. A couple hours of imagining monsters and rolling dice is much easier than making a camping trip happen after all. But I noticed that there were people in our friend group who didn't want to do any IRL fun stuff, they just wanted the tabletop games. No hikes, no sports, no outdoorsy stuff or sparring, just playing the game. Water goes to the level and they took the path of least resistance.\n\nWhen COVID happened, these same friends ended up playing tabletop games online. They'd go on zoom or skype meetings with friends and play the game for a bit. When the lockdowns were done I'd invite some of them to play, but they ended up preferring the online version. The water went to the new, lower level and the path of least resistance got greased some more.\n\nA couple years later they had stopped playing altogether, and exclusively watched things like critical role on youtube. They haven't played the game in years, because it is easier to watch people play a game than it is to play the game online, which is easier than playing it in real life, which is easier than going out and having real adventures. At this rate, with the slide of effort going down even further I imagine they'll watch compilation clips online instead of tuning in to the livestream. But on the other hand they all complain about feeling unfulfilled.\n\nPeople are like that in all sorts of ways aren't they? Us sinners can be insanely slothful, but then we all turn around and look back and complain about our quality of life. Joy belongs to the one who does stuff, it seems. God designed us for active lives, while the devil wants us melting into the floor.",
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