Many of us know people who obsessively committed to science fiction/fantasy/role-playing games. For many this is merely an ordinary hobby, but for some they take it to the absolute extreme- reading and re-reading comic books until they have them memorized, spending untold hours learning to speak ‘Klingon’, attending conventions dressed up like Vulcans, and forming groups where they can further obsess with like-minded people. They seem to be constantly attempting to place themselves in a fictitious world, to the point where the real world becomes an afterthought.
Do these people have a psychiatric disorder that is listed in the DSM-IV? What might this disorder be??
I think that when a person shows an unhealthy interest in sci fi/fantasy related gaming/hobbies, it is a sign of escapism. Of the people I’ve known that are like this, most of them weren’t really satisfied with day-to-day life, and possibly weren’t socially wired to interact with other people in a healthy way.
“Many of us know people who obsessively committed to science sports games. For many this is merely an ordinary hobby, but for some they take it to the absolute extreme- watching and re-watching games until they have the plays memorized, spending untold hours learning to understand the ‘designated hitter rule’, attending games dressed up like half-naked painted Picts, and forming groups where they can further obsess with like-minded people. They seem to be constantly attempting to place themselves in a fictitious world, to the point where the real world becomes an afterthought.”
Paraphrase brought to you by Mad-Libs, the fun word substitution game.
Several coworkers of mine run a fantasy football league. There’s definitely some kind of escapism going on there. These guys spend weeks researching every aspect of every player in the NFL before they draft their fantasy teams. They watch every football game they possibly can, and compile statistics on “their” players, so they can decide whether to trade players or not. It’s an insane amount of work for something that, presumably, is supposed to be fun.
While I’m far from an escapist fantasy geek, I completely understand it. Guess what- the real world sucks. Modern life is mundane, routine, and crushingly boring. For someone like your typical “fantasy geek” - obese, socially inept, etc. - I can understand the desire to flee like mad into whatever ficticious worlds are available.
Bah…like a level 3 *anything * is more than orc-food! When I lost Dick, my 7th level Druid I was inconsolable for days. And no, the 2-level head start afforded me by the DM for his “replacement,” a feebleminded candidate for the “Stone That Weeps In Silence” punishment spell, just didn’t cut it. I moved on to CN Fighters from then on. Less work, more fun, very VERY durable.
As long as these people don’t have trouble understanding the fact that they are not Klingons or Elves or whatever – as long as they know it’s fantasy – I don’t think there’s a mental disorder. Obsessive collecting can be somewhat borderline-mental-illness, but role-playing and even purchasing a lot of fantasy items probably isn’t unhealthy unless it detracts from one’s responsibilities or becomes a financial problem.
That being said, people with certain disorders might be predisposed to the fantasy scene. Obsessive-compulsive disorder might be one. Pervasive development disorders, especially Asperger’s Syndrome, can cause social difficulty and obsessive interest in specific topics. People with these conditions might be more likely than average to seek acceptance in the fantasy scene.
This is anecdotal, but I got taken to a psychologist for making up a fantasy world when I was 6 (the world had been created a few years before that), and it was not considered to be a symptom of a mental disorder. The same thing was said for the same world much later on. However, it might have been different if I was doing something like dressing up or talking like my characters. I may have been spared some kind of diagnosis because I was able to do ‘productive’, ‘useful’ things about this world, such as writing a book.
I was at the market one day and the local police were holding a “safety fair” for kids and parents in the parking lot. Among the attractions was a husband and wife couple dressed up as Klingons.
As I was doing my shopping, I was thinking how weird “those trekkies” were and the more I thought about, the more I wanted to talk to them to see exactly how wacky they were. When I got close up, I could see that their costumes and makeup were on a professional level. They were definitely camera ready and could have walked onto the set without question. They had spent hundreds of dollars and many hours on their costumes and developing their characters. They told me they were part of a “costumer” group, which I surmised was a subset of the trekker lifestyle.
“So why do you guys do this and how did you come to be here today?”
“Oh our group is well known to community service organizations. Almost every weekend we go to fairs like these to support the police or the Elks Club or the Rotary Club or school fairs or to hospitals to visit the kids or to retirement homes to visit the old folks.”
“Well you guys look great! Thanks for chatting with me.”
I walked away feeling very ashamed of myself. Here I was ready to look down my nose at these wierdos and yet they were out there every weekend helping others while I was busy being a snob. They simply having fun doing something they enjoy and they give to others at the same time. We should all be so wierd if you ask me.
Of course not. You don’t have a psychiatric disorder unless it’s causing some problem in your life (or the lives of those around you.) Being eccentric isn’t the same thing. Now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the people who are a little too fascinated by Star Trek also tend to have other mental disorders or psychological issues - but just having weird interests is not the same as being crazy.
Whatever makes you happy, even if it means learning Elvish and dressing up like a moron.
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Do these people have a psychiatric disorder that is listed in the DSM-IV? What might this disorder be??
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Geekism? or Nerdism maybe? Technically, it’s probably classified as obsessive-compulsive behaviour, when it gets really extreme.
As others have pointed out, SF/Fantasy fans certainly don’t have a monopoly on obsessive behaviour. Sports fans being an excellent example. To put Nerdism in context, France beat England at football on Sunday. There were 83 arrests in England on Sunday night as a result. Football fans riot. One guy was beaten up for wearing a blue T-shirt, which was mistaken for a France shirt. In comparison to such behaviour, learning Klingon is constructive. Yes, it’s only a small minority whose behaviour is this extreme (just like the truly obsessive SF fans), but to a hell of a lot of people a sports are more important than real-world events. I’ve seen people react more strongly to a sporting defeat than they have to a death in the family.
Other examples of obsessive behaviour which are rarely questioned include Careerism (workaholics), Soapism (there have been cases where actors playing “nasty” characters have been attacked by members of the public) and Discoveryism (obsessive scientists). And yes, I am inventing some crap words here. Obsessiveness isn’t exclusively negative, although I’d argue that it usually is.
Stories are absolutely integral to our culture. We really do think narratively. The news is always presented as a story, and the exposure a news item receives is directly proportional to how well it reads. It’s importance is a secondary issue. It’s not all that surprising that we place such importance on fiction, as we think about it in the same way we do real events.
Hey, speaking of copying & pasting being your wise-ass friend, did anybody else spot in the 2nd Edition Players Handbook that they did a global search-and-replace of “mage” to “wizard”, and this was noticeable because in one sentence where they were talking about weapons, they used the word “dawizard”?
Hm. Must be a different printing than either of mine, though I did notice the error you mention in the Encyclopedia Magica volumes.
And then there’s the omission of the priest spell “Regenerate” in the 1st printing of the Revised 2nd Edition player’s handbook… I attribute that to clerical error.
