Well, Fyron, I have no way of proving it but you seem to too "grown up" to be 19 or 20. IF you are that age, then you are much too serious.
But...
How do the games get repititious? You mean like chess? Same "ships", same "systems" same "settings"? Each game is a challenge to try to make work for you. My guess is that you like to give help and display your knowledge but are afraid to "put it on the line". That's a brash statement and I don't mean it in a bad way (there I go again...
). I can understand the RP aspect of the game some (God knows I spent too many sleepless nights conned into GM'ing yet another D&D game!) but since it is a game of testing your skill against another, I can't understand why the reluctance to "measure" it. Of course, that's just me and my outlook on gaming. And, I might say, the outlook of gamers who compete against each other the world over.
Forum Ratings? Yes, maybe meaningless. But, I think, it keeps me in "tow". Not that keeping me in tow is a big problem but maybe for others, it is. People, IMO, who allow themselves to be rated, lay their conduct, actions, assistance, (and whatever) on the line for others to comment upon. Pi$$ someone off and you're likely to get a bad "mark". Do something nice and you're likely to get a good "mark". To me, anyone who has it turned off has something to be afraid of. But, again, that's just me. It's a foreign item to me to think it doesn't matter what other people think of me in any forum I participate in. So, I'm not saying you are wrong for that choice...I just don't understand it...which is one of the reasons I said you are an enigma.
Yes, debating is fun. Actually, I find it more fun to spend time gaming but each to his own. I'm surrounded by very smart people at work and I get a good portion of my daily requirement there. And I get it at home, from my wife
. I could hop on lots of threads and spend a lot of time giving my thoughts on things but to be honest, it's pretty much like the game of SE4 except there is no clear winner...a display of ability for which no one declares a winner. (much like I am doing with you now).
I'm reminded of an Ambrose Bierce definition of
Conversation which says, "A fair for the display of the minor mental commodities, each exhibitor being too intent upon the arrangement of his own wares to observed those of his neighbor." Though you might not agree, debates in forums over "world isues" (or other important subjects) are largely adherrant to the definition I have mentioned. Now, a HS or college debating team may offer more rewards as someone is delcared a winner. But, from what I have seen, hardly anyone in a forum (this one or any other) wants to say, "You are right and I am wrong." They "get" to do that 'cause of the dis-association (if that's a word) of the Internet connection and not actually having the discussion face-to-face. Which is why I won't comment any further in this discussion.
Suffice it to say, in my first remark, you are a bit bewildering to me. I understand a lot of people here because they are like me in thought in gaming. I don't really mean that is a bad thing that I don't understand you...it's just that when I was making my initial post, I thought of your name (among all the others that came to my mind) and associtated
that thought with it. That you were a "question mark" to me.
(pardon any typos)