Is there a Difference between U.S. and U.K. Players and GMs?

[Stormcrow]

I take Robin's pronouncements of gamer stereotypes with a grain of salt. He tries to present them as all equally valid approaches, and I'm sure he believes that, but his own narrativist preferences are made fairly clear in Robin's Laws, and he tends to subtly favor them in their presentations.

Which is ironic, since I'm a big fan of his Rune RPG, which is intentionally all about the power/hack-and-slash gamer, a competitive role-playing game where concepts like narration and verisimilitude are gleefully tossed out the window, every encounter is required to have at least one combat scene, and every game ends in a clear winner.

[Majestic]

As regards the differences between D&D and The One Ring, I suppose someone could point out that the American game is the one that emphasizes the power gaming fantasy, while the one that has more of an 'enduring against evil' quality is the UK one.

I think generalities never perfectly summarize an entire group of people, but it is interesting if there are some basic cultural norms that might even be subconscious for some.

I started the same thread over on rpg.net, and one poster astutely pointed out that one UK hero from film, James Bond, is very much about 'winning', while one of the quintessential American heroes, Rocky Balboa, is all about enduring, even if he loses.

[poosticks7]

I don't like it when people try to generalise and put people into boxes.

Treat people as individuals I say. I would imagine that nationality has very little bearing on player styles and mentalities.

[Falenthal]

Lovecraft is about enduring, knowing you'll eventually fall.
Dracula is about sending the demon to the hell where he belongs.
Don Quijote is about fighting things that are not monsters at all.

[Erland Hakon]

I think the difference, if any, is not so much about the fantastic part of the game but the medieval part.

Most fantastic environments are represented in worlds with characteristics of medieval-fantasy, and in my opinion come from a country that itself has had a medieval period in its history gives a view on it that one does not have when the country does not has had that medieval period.

[Corvo]

(...)
I started the same thread over on rpg.net, and one poster astutely pointed out that one UK hero from film, James Bond, is very much about 'winning', while one of the quintessential American heroes, Rocky Balboa, is all about enduring, even if he loses.

On the other hand, "Rocky" is a boxing tale, and practically all boxing tale are about enduring.
On rpg.net they linked a lot of the idea to the 2nd world war: the British "endure" the blitz, while the Americans come to the rescue like the proverbial cavalry... I'm skeptical about this interpretation. The legend of British endurance in the face of adversity is already established in Victorian times -a time all too eager about crafting myths- when they were harping about the "thin red lines" of the brave Britons against overwhelming hordes of... Russians/Zulus/Mahdists/whatever.

[Glorelendil]

Pretty soon this is going to devolve into insinuations that a focus on enduring is the result of never winning, etc.

I would suggest (again) that this topic is really about stereotypes, and unless anybody actually has data, not anecdotes, it would be best to leave it alone. At least on this forum.

[Cawdorthane]

I agree with Glorelendil. In my view non-evidence based assertions of generalised stereo-types are pretty much intellectually worthless, but can create otherwise unnecessary contention between those who seek to defend or debunk the potentially fictitious pronouncement in question. I do not know the author or his work, and so I cannot say anything about his motivation, but I do not see much that may be worthwhile coming from pursuing this theme.

cheers
Mark

[Erland Hakon]

I totally agree that a discussion with non-evidence does not lead anywhere, but it is important to explain that the argument about stereotype Europeans have of Americans will be true if and only if Robin D. Laws comes from Europe... but not.

[Glorelendil]

I totally agree that a discussion with non-evidence does not lead anywhere, but it is important to explain that the argument about stereotype Europeans have of Americans will be true if and only if Robin D. Laws comes from Europe... but not.

Actually...no. Completely, utterly false.

1) A member of a stereotyped group can believe in the stereotype. Robin could be American.
2) A member of a "third party" group can believe in a stereotype contrasting two other groups. Robin could be Botswanan.
3) The comments in this post were trafficking in those stereotypes. Robin's nationality is irrelevant.

EDIT: Mods, can we please lock down this thread?