Something that I'd really like to see (on this site or on individuals' sites) is a kind of "gamer profile" that would shed light on a person's style, turn-ons and turn-offs (hence the slightly humorous subject of this post). This is inspired by Peter Seckler's profile over at his site, The Mole.

So, what kinds of fields would such a beast have? What questions would you ask someone when talking about their likes/dislikes and preferred styles? Obviously, favorite/least favorite games would be on there...

Any ideas?

_________________
jared a. sorensen / http://www.memento-mori.com
indie game design from beyond the grave

[ This Message was edited by: Jared A. Sorensen on 2001-05-08 20:28 ]

At one point I had mocked up little icons I thought people could use in their signatures on G.O. They looked kind of like this:

gNs

Gns

gnS

Paul's suggestion traps me between laughing appreciatively and shuddering in horror at the potential miscommunications.

More seriously, it seems as if the Profile box might contain such a thing. I'm not sure that "Interests" has ever been used seriously in user profiles - there's something yearbooky about it; it strikes me as the kind of thing that a corporation requires its employees to fill in to create the illusion of a happy community. Maybe it could be renamed?

Or maybe the whole idea is flawed .... much as I like the idea of learning more about one another's role-playing preferences, I also like the idea of developing that understanding through open, ongoing dialogue. I have two reasons for that:
1) it permits a person to change and develop their point of view; typing in a profile at the outset has a tendency of concretizing one's self-definition.
2) it's much harder to dissemble one's point of view in multi-directional dialogues than in a collected paragraph.

Well, this post turned out to say exactly the opposite of what I planned when I began it.

Best
Ron

Well, maybe not fuzzy self-categorizatin...but I think that even a list of favorite RPGs would be great -- if only to see what people like and/or are currently playing.

Asking "what are your favorite RPGs" always ends up seeming like empty information to me. If I were to institute something like this, I'd want to ask:

* Last three games you played?
* Favorite three games you've actually played?
* Three games you've always wanted to play but haven't?

Clinton,

That sounds great -- can we add this to our user profile thingies?

Let's see how it looks:

* Last three games you played?
Hero Wars, Soap, Orkworld

* Favorite three games you've actually played?
Sorcerer, The Whispering Vault, Ghost Light

* Three games you've always wanted to play but haven't?
Over the Edge, Prince Valiant, Theatrix

Hmm! Not a bad profile, I think. 'Course, that "last three games" would cycle pretty frequently, but that's OK.

Best,
Ron

Gad. I'm in a drought here.

Last three games played:
Mage, DnD, Amber

Favorite three games I've actually played:
Everway, Castle Falkenstein, Wraith

Three I'd like to play but haven't (this list needs to be six, not three):
Story Engine, Sorcerer, Hero Wars

Not too bad. My local crowd is mostly WW, DnD, or GURPS players. I'm the black sheep and getting farther from the flock every day.

[ This Message was edited by: Blake Hutchins on 2001-05-09 19:38 ]

Paul's suggestion traps me between laughing appreciatively and shuddering in horror...

Well...when I realized the idea was mostly motivated by how apoplectic Nick was getting about heavy G/N/S discussions, I scrapped it. I daydream a lot about plunging a pitchfork into people's tender spots and then shrieking maniacally, but I don't often act on it.

And I actually think that self-reporting of G/N/S bias isn't all that useful.

However, I think Clinton's three profile items are perfect, although I'd reword them slightly. For me they'd be:

* Last three RPG's you've played/GM'd?
Theatrix, Everway, and if you count a combat system test, D&D3e, otherwise Vampire

* Favorite three RPG's you've actually played/GM'd?
Theatrix, Everway, and geez, 1st ed. AD&D

* Three RPG's you've always wanted to play/GM but haven't?
Prince Valiant, Extreme Vengeance, Sorcerer

Paul

Well here's my answers. The only caveat I would add is that with the favorite three field, it is games that I would play again without reservation, not that they were "perfect"
gaming experiences.

last three RPGs played - Deadlands, UA, D&D 3rd ed.

favorite three RPGs played - Feng Shui, OTE, UA

three rpgs you would like to play but haven't had the chance (yet) - Octane, Sorcerer, Story Engine ( I could go on for a very long time on this one.)

George

I'm going to code this up for the profiles--this weekend, hopefully--but until then, my answers would be:

Last three games played/GM'ed:
Fudge, Sorcerer, 7th Sea

Favorite three games played/GM'ed:
Sorcerer, Story Engine, D&D3E

Three games I've read and wished I could play:
Dying Earth, Feng Shui, Schism

Last games played
Unknown Armies, Pantheon, Underworld

Favorite games played/ran
Unknown Armies, D&D 3rd edition, Efls

Read and wanna play dese games
The Dying Earth, The Whispering Vault, Sorcerer

* Last three games you played?
Hmm, couple homebrews with a 7 & 10 year old.
Pokemon Adventure game (with same kids).
Homebrew with buncha friends.

* Favorite three games you've actually played?
Paranoia, AD&D (Planescape), Call of Cthulhu

* Three games you've always wanted to play but haven't?
Kult (I know NOTHING about this game, but I've always wanted to try it out), Feng Shui (Big Trouble in Little China the RPG!!), D&D3E (curious & nostalgia)

* Nostalgia Games
Palladium system (some of my first intros to RPing were a TERRIBLE mish-mash of Rifts and Robotech)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (I know it's Palladium, but it is so cool it deserves its own mention. I recently bought a bunch of old TMNT stuff for way cheap, all I need now is Mutants in the Yucatan)
Basic D&D (Played this LOTS. And raise your hand if you played the solo adventure with the rust monster!)

Ah, why not.

Last three games played
Call of Cthulhu, Vampire (larp), Nobilis

Favourite three
The usual answers - Unknown Armies, Blue Planet, and Nobilis.

Three I most wanna play, but haven't
Er. Dunno. I want to *read* Dying Earth and Godlike but I don't know if I want to play them. I'd like to play Inspectres quite a bit, actually.

Okay,

Last Three Played:
Inspectres(NightWatch), D&D3E, Vampire

Three (Current) Faves I've Actually Played:
Inspectres, Coc, Whispering Vault

The Three I'd Most Like To Play:
Elfs, Castle Falkenstein, Unknown Armies

ah, what the hell...

Last games played:
star wars d20, d&d 3rd ed, mage

Favorite games played/ran:
over the edge, champions using ote mechanics, mage (honorable mention goes to extreme vengeance, which i loved for the mechanics, but i'm just not really into action movies all that much)

Games I want to play but haven't yet:
sorcerer, story engine, fudge...& dying earth, elfs, whispering vault, marvel saga, prince valiant, castle falkenstein, everway, puppetland, baron munchausen, puppetland, nobilis...

Turn ons:
kittens, rainy days in front of a fire, ice cream

Turn offs:
negativity, smoking, people who are prejudiced

Last Three Games Played
Little Fears, My buddy's Transformers d6 Homebrew, and Fantasy Earth (long, long ago)

Favorite Three
Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0., Deadlands, and that Transformers Homebrew.


Games I really wanna play but haven't yet
Unknown Armies, Metabarons (I haven't even read it, I just thought it looked pretty dang sweet), UnderWorld, Puppetland, Orkworld... damn... there are a lot more.

Last Three Games Played
Alyria, Mage, Puppetland

Favorite Three
Wraith, Puppetland, Alyria (can I be a fanboy of my own game?)

Three Games I really wanna play but haven't yet
Little Fears, Multiverser, Elfs

Introducing Clay Dowling, The Forge's new "Miss" August.

Last three games played:

Deadlands, Sorcerer, Legend of the Five Rings

Favorite three games played:

Call of Cthulu, Once Upon a Story, Traveller

Three games I'd give my eye teeth to play (but I still have my eye teeth):

Outlaws of the Water Margin, Starwars D20, Two Fisted Tales (because I like the genre)

Turn Ons:

Cats who hunt, guns, *censored*, nearly anything alcoholic

Turn Offs:

Working for a living, pro-life activists, pro-choice activists

Hey folks,

Let's leave the turn-offs & turn-ons out of it, eh? The Forge is about role-playing, and the categories as Clinton stated them are all we need to know.

Best,
Ron

Last Three Played:
Hero system, Feng Shui, All flesh must be eaten

Three (Current) Faves I've Actually Played:
kult, amber, hero system

The Three I'd Most Like To Play:
whispering vault, underworld, sorcerer

Oh, what the hell- even most of you don't know me...

Last Three Played:
Kult, Sorcerer(Hey Clinton! We need to finish this.), Baron Munchausen

Three (Current) Faves I've Actually Played:
Kult(homebrew rules), Wraith, Castle Falkenstien

The Three I'd Most Like To Play:
Nobilis, Maelstrom, Hong Kong Action Theater...
and honorable mention goes to Eshu... something y'all might see someday. :/

--justin

Last three games:
Generic AD&D (played)
Mage: the Ascension Revised ed. (played)
Cyberpunk-themed Homebrew (ran)

Favourite 3 - actually played/ran:
Cyberpunk 2020 (played/ran)
Mage: the Ascension Revised ed. (played)
Call of Cthulhu (played)

3 games I would like to try:
Schism
Pumpkin Town
Pulp Era

I am a gamer from Istanbul (now in exile in Germany).
The small but growing Turkish gaming community is 10 years or so behind yours (maybe except in larp). Yet I consider myself a true punk gamer, because when I started gaming in '91 or '92 it was not possible to buy games or dice in Turkey so I had to make my own. And now, years and a few game systems later, I am still making my own games.
Finally I would like to thank you, the extra creative indie-game designers for sharing your ideas and particularly for this site. I am a big fan of memento-mori theatrics, as you can see from my choices, so special thanks to Jared Sorensen.

Gizem Forta
- gomi no sensei

PS: The design of the site is attractive, but I hate the forum font.

Last 3 I've played:
Basic D&D variant, Deadlands, "Unodiablo 2 Page Action Movie RPG".

Favorite 3 Games I've played:
D&D, Gamma World, and probably BRAINS: Hardcore Punks Against Dead Guys.

3 Games I would like to play so much I would give up beer-drinking and movie-watching time!:

EXTREME VENGEANCE!!!!!!!
SORCERER!!!!!!!!
Prince Valiant or Octane or Unknown Armies

Last Three Games played:
Fuzion-related homebrew, Underground, Feng Shui

Favorite three games actually played:
They mostly were lame (the rules, not necessarily the games that resulted). Feng shui, for its genre.

Three I'd most like to play:
Sorceror (or at least the plot and theme design concepts from it), Elfs (maybe a zombie variant), Hero Wars (maybe a modern variant)

OK, these last are also the three I've had recommended to me in the past week by all and sundry (Theatrix was also recommended, but I just couldn't find it), and I liked them better in terms of rules or concept than any other game I can recall reading. Really. I'm not just trying to flatter.

Last Three Games Played/GMed:
Amber, Everway, Pantheon

Favorite Three Games Played/GMed:
Amber, Everway, DC Heroes (original)

Games I'd Love to Play:
Nobilis, Over the Edge, Epiphany

* Last three games you played?

Call of Cthulhu
AD&D 2nd Edition
Deadlands

* Favorite three games you've actually played?

Call of Cthulhu
Paranoia
Deadlands

* Three games you've always wanted to play but haven't?

Underground
All Flesh must be Eaten
Ghostbusters

Hey Ferry,

* Last three games you played?

Call of Cthulhu
AD&D 2nd Edition
Deadlands

There's an interesting contrast between some of the rich setting games with GM-driven plots that you've been playing and Soap, where players have a lot of power to create elements of the setting and drive the plot of the game session. Soap is pretty damn cool, and I'm trying to wrangle my group into playing it this weekend. Have you noticed that playing Soap changes the techniques a player uses in the more traditional games you've been playing recently? How about a post in the Actual Play forum about one of your recent game sessions? I don't think that forum is just for indie games...especially if your indie game is affecting the way people play their other games. Whaddya think?

Paul

On 2001-05-09 01:01, Paul Czege wrote:
At one point I had mocked up little icons I thought people could use in their signatures on G.O. They looked kind of like this:

gNs

Gns

gnS

Hey John, how's Cat going? I'm interested in the game that nearly killed me at Leprecon...

On 2001-05-31 18:38, Mytholder wrote:
Hey John, how's Cat going? I'm interested in the game that nearly killed me at Leprecon...

* Last three games you played?
- Children of Fire
- D&D 3E
- Providence

* Favorite three games you've actually played?
- D&D 3E
- Story Engine
- Sorcerer

* Three games you've always wanted to play but haven't?
- Tribe 8
- Feng Shui
- Castle Falkenstein

* Last three games you played?
- D&D 3E
- Mekton
- Talislanta

* Favorite three games you've actually played?
- Talislanta
- OD&D homebrew with many elements from Greg Costikiyan's "Swords and Sorcery" SPI boardgame (don't know that I could enjoy it nowadays, though)
- Bar Room Brawl (continuing the 'oddities' trend in my favorites, this was a little thing in White Dwarf designed to be played with D&D. You got a character, a motivation, and the props of the bar . . we must've played 5-6 times, burning down the bar all but once, and having an absolute blast every time. Probably could still enjoy this one - love to see it adapted to DD3E)

* Three games you've always wanted to play but haven't?
- Tribe 8
- Orkworld
- Earthdawn

I'm new to the forum so I will save any opinions I might have until I get the gist of things. For now I will leave you with this:

Last three games played/GM'ed:
Nightwatch, Aberrant, D&D 3rd edition

Favorite three games played/GM'ed:
Mage, Call of Cthuluh, Deadlands

Three games I've heard of and wished I could play:
Wyrd, Evil Rules, Theatrix

,Matt

[ This Message was edited by: Eloran on 2001-06-02 03:22 ]

Last Three Games Played:
Paranoia, Call of Cthulhu, Deadlands

Three Favorite Games Played:
Call of Cthulhu, Vampire, Warhammer FRP

Three Games I Want to Play But Haven't:'
Tekumel, Tribe 8, Fading Suns

Bias: Narrativist with dark, Simulationist urges.

Howdy:

Last Three Games Played:
Over the Edge, Feng Shui, D&D 3E

Three Favorite Games Played:
Over the Edge, Feng Shui, Star Wars D20

Three Games I Want to Play:
Call of Cthulhu, Hubris's StoryBones, Talislanta

Thanx,
Nathan

I break down...

Three last games I played:
Sorcerer, Orkworld, Obsidian

Three Favorite Games I've Played:
Oh, to rank them... it changes, no dice, but Kult definitely makes the list.

Three Games I want to play but haven't:
Unknown Armies, InSpectres, Children of the Sun

Dav

(It is surprisingly hard to keep it to three in each category)

[ This Message was edited by: Dav on 2001-06-06 16:39 ]

*Last Three played
Feng Shui, Heavy Gear, Over The Edge

*Favourite Three
OTE, Feng Shui, Amber

*Want to play
Blue Planet, Unknown Armies, Tribe 8(own it, but no one want to play...)

Last three games played/GM'ed:
Amber, Gurps, D&D 2nd Ed

Favorite three games played/GM'ed:
Rifts, D&D 3E, the Window

Three games I've heard of and wished I could play:
Wyrd, Alyria, Little Fears

Daniel Worthington

Lemme see...

Last Three Games Played?
Mage, D&D3E, Gaslight Heroes

Favourite Three Played RPGs?
D20, Werewolf, Octane (the playtest was *hilarious*!)

RPGs Not Yet Played, But Want To?
Oooh, difficult!!! um...

Hunter
CyberGeneration (the setting just *kicked* *a$$*!!!)
Eight (although I personally think, Jared, it still needs some ironing out... :sad: )