Came across www.ethangilsdorf.com… today (off of the Boston Gamers mailing list), and became rather annoyed at it. Why does the media continuously perpetuate the perception that gaming, larping, fantasy, etc. is only an escapist pursuit? I suppose they do so because it makes a quick buck by giving the non-gamers a justifiable rationale for not trying to understand the hobby and for thinking those who engage in it are somehow deficient. I know a -lot- of gamers, and very few of them are active in the hobby as a way of escaping from real life. They’re well adjusted, productive members of society, who have the same daily problems as anyone else and deal with them the same way as anyone else. They just happen to enjoy exploring fictional adventures that are impossible to find in the non-fictional world.
I don’t hear the media calling Romance Novels escapist. Videogames have gone mainstream and are not called escapist. Community theater and improv troupes are not called escapist. What gives?