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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.war-historical (More info?)
Sometime ago I moved the computer from the study to a corner of the
living room. As there's always some wargame or other activated when a
neighbour/friend/family enters a lot more people have been exposed to
this weird hobby of mine. First it's a glance at the computer screen.
"Ah, playing a game ? - what is it ?" When I tell them it's a "wargame"
I can usually see them picturing me moving little tin soldiers across
the screen and thinking "when will he grow up". And that's the best
reaction I get. The worst being a look saying "I didn't know you were a
war-mongering ultra-fascist".
So after trial and error of trying to explain what it's all about I've
settled for calling it "historical simulations" which triggers a
completely different respons like "ah, you're into history - never
cared for that myself - too many dates to remember" and you move on.
Ok - I realize I'm chickening out - no need to point that out - but is
this reaction/behaviour when you say "wargame" common ? or is it just
some typical Euro-weenie stuff.
And it's not just civilians that act this way : some time ago Patrick
Proctor of ProSimCo complained that he was getting " ... inundated with
a ton of angry letters from a British Falkland Island War veterans
group" and " ... charges that we at ProSIM are somehow "exploiting the
war" or "profiteering" from human suffering".
I'm not getting this - a hyper-realistic simulation of the Falkland war
triggers *that* kind of reaction while I've read tons of times about US
veterans endorsing one (board)game or another "because it manages to
capture the thing we went through and preserves the memory of those
fallen" - or words to that effect.
Maybe I should change the Freaks-R-Us in the subject to
Euro-Freaks-R-Us - you tell me.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx
Sometime ago I moved the computer from the study to a corner of the
living room. As there's always some wargame or other activated when a
neighbour/friend/family enters a lot more people have been exposed to
this weird hobby of mine. First it's a glance at the computer screen.
"Ah, playing a game ? - what is it ?" When I tell them it's a "wargame"
I can usually see them picturing me moving little tin soldiers across
the screen and thinking "when will he grow up". And that's the best
reaction I get. The worst being a look saying "I didn't know you were a
war-mongering ultra-fascist".
So after trial and error of trying to explain what it's all about I've
settled for calling it "historical simulations" which triggers a
completely different respons like "ah, you're into history - never
cared for that myself - too many dates to remember" and you move on.
Ok - I realize I'm chickening out - no need to point that out - but is
this reaction/behaviour when you say "wargame" common ? or is it just
some typical Euro-weenie stuff.
And it's not just civilians that act this way : some time ago Patrick
Proctor of ProSimCo complained that he was getting " ... inundated with
a ton of angry letters from a British Falkland Island War veterans
group" and " ... charges that we at ProSIM are somehow "exploiting the
war" or "profiteering" from human suffering".
I'm not getting this - a hyper-realistic simulation of the Falkland war
triggers *that* kind of reaction while I've read tons of times about US
veterans endorsing one (board)game or another "because it manages to
capture the thing we went through and preserves the memory of those
fallen" - or words to that effect.
Maybe I should change the Freaks-R-Us in the subject to
Euro-Freaks-R-Us - you tell me.
Greetz,
Eddy Sterckx