A Gamer in Uniform Part 2
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The Dice Pirate Monkey?
In my last blog about the subject, I told you about the inherent problems in being both a gamer and a member of the armed forces.
This time, I’d like to talk about some aspects of gaming that I’ve enjoyed as a Sailor.
In 2007, my ship went for a 6 month deployment to the Middle East. When you’re out there, you need to keep your mind occupied to ignore the sheer boredom you face from just sitting out at sea for 50 days without seeing a port.
So every Saturday night, me and some of the guys I knew would get together on the mess decks or one of the shops and we’d play Star Wars. We would lose ourselves in the game, ignoring everything else. For those 4 hours, the universe was ours. It was some of the deepest RPG experiences I’ve ever had. We’d spend whole sessions without rolling dice. The heroes wandered the Outer Rim, on the run from the Empire, fighting anyone who stood in their way. And in the end, they were taken down by Darth Vader himself.
We’re due out to sea again before too terribly long. This time, now having a wife and child, I intend to spend every night possible gaming to block out the anxiousness of not being home. I hope to spend quite a bit of time with my friends exploring Faerun, the Core Worlds, the World’s Largest Dungeon, perhaps a visit to Innsmouth or Arkham, and even venture into the Grim Darkness of the Far Future, where there is only war…
How about you? Do you use gaming as an escape?
Your post reminds me of when I was in the Navy myself. I was surprised at the number of gamers I meet in the service. With a crew of 400, I think I knew at least 10 gamers. Which I believe is likely higher than general population. We didn’t get to play as much as you did. Most of us had high operational tempo jobs. I pretty much slept only 4 or 5 hours a day. We mostly played when we had duty when the ship was in port somewhere.
Some of my favorite gaming memories come from my time in the Army. The best thing was when moving to a new post, I could always find at least one group of people to hang out with.
I do use gaming as an escape sometimes– a few members of the group are undergoing hard times and I’m eager to help distract them.