It's official! LARPers are nuts!

[Vault Dweller]

<a href=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles//0,7340,L-3052074,00.html>Apparently</a>, IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) thinks that LARPers are bad for army business because "they're detached from reality and suscepitble to influence".

<blockquote>"One of the tests we do, either by asking soldiers directly or through information provided us, is to ask whether they take part in the game," he says. "If a soldier answers in the affirmative, he is sent to a professional for an evaluation, usually a psychologist."

"These people have a tendency to be influenced by external factors which could cloud their judgment, a military official says. "They may be detached from reality or have a weak personality – elements which lower a person's security clearance, allowing them to serve in the army, but not in sensitive positions."</blockquote>
That's understandable. Army can not trust a LARPer. You never know whether he will shoot at enemy and start screaming: LIGHTNING BOLT! LIGHTNING BOLT! LIGHTNING BOLT!


Thanks, <b>jeansberg</b>

 

[Country_Gravy]

That, and LARPers are gay.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Well, that article implies that so is everyone who indulges in fantasy gaming, or even reading. You have to be nuts to enjoy yourself. Life is only about struggle and getting your face shot off with an AK47. How can you play Fallout when you know that at any moment, you could die a horrible, painful death?

 

[Surlent]

People have lives you know. :D 'Sides wouldn't we all play Fallout even if our lives would be thretened every minute ?

Seriously though even there everyday life goes on, just random suicide bomb xplosion, cleanup and back to the same ol same ol routine except for the people who got capped and their relatives who are left to grieve.
Amusing news still, can't wait to see Kamaz' reply.

 

[PennyAnte]

I wonder how the IDF feels about people who play with IDF dolls? How about these gamers?

 

[Kamaz]

Very interesting. Seeing LARP information covered on RPGCodex by VaultDweller means...LARP is finally admitted as an RPG

I didnt even have to push, wow.

 

[Fez]

Haha, I stayed out of this as I was waiting to see if there would be a Kamaz post.

P.S. LARP=GAY

 

[Surlent]

That cousin is black sheep of the family and his father never forgave he came out of closet.

 

[Reklar]

I don't know if I would consider LARP and regular PnP or cRPG playing in the same category, but they are all at least loosely related under the word role-playing. That being said, I think there is a world of difference between wearing a costume and acting something out and rolling dice or playing a computer game. What really surprises me though is that LARP is actually an issue the Israeli Army has to deal with when their country is getting shot up all the time.

Anyway, it's an interesting find regardless of what side of the debate you are on, Vault Dweller.

-Reklar
(a Fallout/RPG fan)

 

[LlamaGod]

It only damages idiots really, like D&D.

If you're a moron with an already weak will, you'll be getting fucked by anything, not just LARPing or PnP games or anything. People like that will read that a character can fly because they drink water and then will go drink water and jump off a house.

Normal people can usually have different 'mindsets'. Such as a business mindset at work and then maybe a mindset of a hobby of theirs when they go home, unless they need to work.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Of course it is. LARP is RP's dumb cousin. Totally gay too.

I do not have dumb and gay cousins.

 

[Walks with the Snails]

Well, this does definitively prove the LARP = GAY connection. If you tell the military interviewer you're gay, bad things happen. The same is true if you tell him you LARP. Case closed.

I'm not sure which would be more embarassing, though. Telling your friends you kissed some guy to dodge the draft or you waved a plastic sword at people and threw little pieces of paper shouting "lightning bolt, lightning bolt". Tough call.

 

[Fez]

Comparing LARP and RPing in general is like comparing rape or anime tentacle child molesting and normal sex.

Most soldiers would rather be caught fisting another soldier in the shower or eating each other's anus, than caught LARPing. You'd get less humiliation and you'd have a better chance of getting away with a claim of not being gay.

 

[bryce777]

The army of any country basically hates any sort of intellectuals. PERIOD.

 

[Vault Dweller]

You are talking crazy! We can't leave the protective glow of monitors' radiation.

 

[Sol Invictus]

The army of any country basically hates any sort of intellectuals. PERIOD.

No? Who the hell do you think become the officers?

 

[Sol Invictus]

I don't understand why regular roleplayers look down on larpers. At least larpers go outside sometimes and see the light of day. If a roleplayer did that, he would melt like the Wicked Witch of the West.

It's because dressing up like an idiot and prancing around with a foam sword is fucking retarded. It might be okay if you're 10 years old but anyone who does that beyond the age of reason is pathetic.

 

[Walks with the Snails]

No? Who the hell do you think become the officers?

The ones who don't rock the boat and know the right asses to kiss would be my best guess. I don't hang around military folks too much, but at least from people I've known, if you're bright and a badass, you become a ex-military contractor. It pays better.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Meh. You could mention the ass-kissing thing with just about any organization. Being inept doesn't help at all, though. If people see you for what you are (e.g. someone who is stupid) you're not going to get any ranks. You're just going to end up some colonel's batman or personal secretary for the rest of your life.

Being technically smart but stupid when it comes to the practical things (e.g. knowing how to delegate work) doesn't help with rank, either. Just being a hard worker and a perfectionist who does all the work on your own without giving them to your underlings to do won't get you any rank, either. The point of being an officer is to order other people around and give them the experience they require. Your subordinates aren't going to learn anything if you insist on doing all the work on your own, as is often the case with some 'bright' people who seem to be more interested in writing perfect reports rather than telling their subs to do it for them.

I don't think the military is interested in people who don't know their place in the army.

 

[Chief_Kirbydorf]

The army of any country basically hates any sort of intellectuals. PERIOD.

No? Who the hell do you think become the officers?

BWAHAHAHA! No, seriously, BWAHAHA! That's a first in my book, seeing "intellectual" being attributed to an "officer."

Being technically smart but stupid when it comes to the practical things (e.g. knowing how to delegate work) doesn't help with rank, either. Just being a hard worker and a perfectionist who does all the work on your own without giving them to your underlings to do won't get you any rank, either. The point of being an officer is to order other people around and give them the experience they require. Your subordinates aren't going to learn anything if you insist on doing all the work on your own, as is often the case with some 'bright' people who seem to be more interested in writing perfect reports rather than telling their subs to do it for them.

Maybe, I can help out in this thread by sheding some light on the millitary inside, on a need to know basis, of course.

First off, for those unaware (which seems to be everyone so far), there are two ranking structures within, for officers and enlisted. And officers are usually the ones whose daddy could afford to send them to college, therefore they are superior at low rank then an enlisted man of high rank. There are nine ranks for each, abbr. E-1 to E-9 for enlisted and O-1 to O-9 for officer. In other words, I was an E-5 yet I would still have to salute and follow any orders that some O-1 wog gave me.

Officers only work in the capacity of deparment heads or other admin duties on ship, and they were only recognized for doing good work if their respective department showed that it was capable for being efficient and autonomous.

A diplomatic way of saying, "We did all the work, they take all the credit."
To be fair, that's not it exactly how it works, but it ain't that far from the truth either. What Ex refers to above would be more applicable to a chief, or maybe a warrant.

And actually, advancement in rank for enlisted is done through testing, similar to a SATs and the like. Study for the test, get a good score, boom, you just increased your rank. Performance and evaluations only come into play, by adding a boost to your score, like a point or so.It's possible that you're a crappy soilder/sailor and still make rate if you study and do well on the annual test.

On top of that, there are PNA (pass, not advanced) points, if your score fall short of advancement the year prior,that is added to the subsequent times you take the test. So even if your just above a dumbass, with an less than great record, you will eventually move up in rank, regardless if your peers think you deserve it or not, sadly, that last happens more often than one would like.

For officers, they have a sort of tenure, time frame sort of deal. So that when the the time comes and the have a decent record and have proven to not be that much of a fuck up, they get promoted. Hardly as dramatic as civilians seem to believe.

Apologies to those not interested in reading a long, boring (pointless?) post, but I just wanted to get that straightened out, plus I really do find the first quote to be really fucking funny. Officers are far and away, not the best of the best, usually the opposite would apply. But I am biased, so.... And before any sort of arguements erupt, I meant the "bwahaha's" in the nicest way possible. Think of me laughing with, not at.

With that out of the way I can post what I originally intended.

 

[Chief_Kirbydorf]

This could be another long one, but, eh, fuck it:

So, the article is about Army, and I should say that I was Navy. If not for the Air Force, we would be seen as the swishiest branch. But we had Marines on our ship, and I knew quite a few of them. So, I feel confident that most here applies. Plus Im the drunk and bored so it's sttory shareing tyme.

I was actually surprised by the large amount of PnP/DnD gamer types we had on our ship. Most of the combat systems guys were nerds of some sort, me included. We had a rather large contingent of officially sanctioned DMs, whatever the fuck that meant.
They could orginise large promotional settings and give away prizes and the had dozens of sailors and marines flock under thier banner.

There were guys who were CIWS techs by day, to nerdlingers who had RPG Maker for the Playstation trying to convert their fantasy stories to video games at night.

Although, there was one vice that was even bigger,
One thing I remember from 2003, from the onset of the Iraqi War, is being deployed to the front, to patrol the Gulf. I usually chose to assgn myself the mid watch, because I perfer to be up at night, sleep in the day. ( Although that choice had a tendancy to fuck me 9 times out of 10)
So, I'm on watch, midnight rolls around, and I leave the CIC to the galley for mid-rats. Once I have my food I enter the messdecks only to find that over half of it has been taken over by a large group of the crew. They were there for a tournament, and not just any tourney, but a MAGIC: The Gathering Tourney. From guys younger than me to guys old enough to be my dad, America's finest defenders of freedom were amusing themselves by playing fucking Magic.
Turns out, one of our radio man/ Communcations/ Intel guys also is some sort of supposed somebody, with the power to host offical tournaments for WoTC. With offical score keeping and all that junk. I'd say that over half of the ship was infected with the game, even the big dumb engineers were in on it. It was farkin scary.

We also had LARPers on board. Not just any LARPers, but Vampire LARPers, the cream of the crop. Those guys were spread out through the ship too. Almost a dozen, I'd say, one worked under me. Most of them were the same that held Wiccan services on Sunday. They only had dark, leathery civilian clothes, only drank the red fruit juice during chow. They would refer to it, in middle of the fucking work day no less, as the
' essence of life',' Drink in the memory of Cain' and other inane crap.

Yeah, they had some sort of 24hour LARP/Masquarde thing going between them. Then on the weekends they had gothkid bi orgies at the Navy Lodge. Or if we were underway, they had impromtu cicle jerks where ever they could find alone time.

Oh, God, don't get me started on the military furries....or all the Pokemon trainers on base (as in Navy, Army, Marine, AF) who on at least one occation went to physical altercation over a Badge war (or whatever Hardcore Pokemon players call em)....or The YuGi O players that went to battle against the Magic players for the coolest card gamer crown....I also know over a dozen EverCrack gamers with Secret clearance and above.

I can say that I was fairly innocent and naive of such things and such people. The Navy helped open my eyes. In the end I could totally relate to the Vault Dweller, you can't go home again after an experience like that.

The bottom line though that everyone here should understand, is that the US military still kicks everyone's ass.

Hoo ah!!

 

[bryce777]

Vampire larpers...that is to damn funny for words.

The magic the gathering thing is crazy though. I have heard of guys getting into fistfights over it in the air force, which of course is where you expect everyone to be into that kind of thing.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

wog

Been awhile since I've seen that term being used. Yeah, most officers I had to deal with while I was in the Navy were young college pukes driving brand new BMWs that daddy bought them. Enlisted people usually know more about the true inner workings than most officers. The only decent officers I ever met were the ones who actually earned their title through experience. Not some WOTC punk who only knows how deep daddy's wallet goes and could care less about anything else.

 

[Chief_Kirbydorf]

Been awhile since I've seen that term being used. Yeah, most officers I had to deal with while I was in the Navy were young college pukes driving brand new BMWs that daddy bought them. Enlisted people usually know more about the true inner workings than most officers. The only decent officers I ever met were the ones who actually earned their title through experience. Not some WOTC punk who only knows how deep daddy's wallet goes and could care less about anything else.

Preach on, Brutha Man! Preach On!

 

[Sol Invictus]

Vampire LARPers and MMORPGers on Navy ships. Yeah, I saw an episode of that on that kick-ass show NCIS, which rips the balls off of CSI and other shows. Pretty funny shit, really. It just shows that military personnel are just as normal (or abnormal) as any plebe.

Don't buy into the hippy bullshit argument that all military personnel (officers or rank & file) are dumbfuck drones.