[BRIEF NOTE] Gaming

[rfmcdonald]

Friday, I mentioned to a coworker that I was going for my second session of roleplaying. (Which went quite nicely, in case you're wondering. Early 14th century Paris has a certain sort of environment to it.) He responded with a chuckle, saying that roleplaying was completely incomprehensible to him, that he couldn't reconcile this with my personality. He said good-naturedly that, despite my explanations, it was as difficult to understand me taking part in roleplaying games as it was for a younger him to understand why Proust's Charlus was interested in playing sadomasochistic games with male prostitutes. That's when I reminded him that I wasn't going to a gay S&M orgy.

This episodes. What is participating in a roleplaying game like, and how is it different from his example? Discuss.