Well, the results are in. I asked how far people would want to travel to a game and the majority (55%) voted for up to an hour, with 38% not wanting to go further than half an hour.
I put myself in the hour category; I would consider an hour to get to work reasonable so why not an hour to get to a game. That would, however, have to be the outside limit.
(Of course, voters might have thought that the times were overall travel, there and back, in which case the whole thing shifts meaning)
For we Brits, another consideration is cost; we currently pay $1.76 per litre for fuel and so an hour's travel is not just time spent but a lot of money too.
When I was a lad, with no responsibilities, I could walk to the venue for our games. When members of our group got married and move further away, the drive to games was a half hour or so. Now, a game session might be an hour away and in terms of both money and time, that has to be accounted for. I wouldn't want to sign up to a campaign where I couldn't guarantee, for whatever reason, that I would be available each week/fortnight/whatever.
I think that the older we get, the more it seems that our hobby is not just a hobby any more, that we can indulge on a whim because we have no other demands on our time; lucky is he who has a group on his doorstep and a partner who is also a gamer. That, for me, would have been a most excellent Christmas present.
I was one of those 1 hour voters, and I assumed that meant 1 hour there, 1 back.
ReplyDeleteThe farthest I actually have gone for a game was actually close to 2 hours there by bus, 1.5 if I spent the extra money on the train. But it was once a month and a long 7-8 hour session, so I felt the time and money were worth it. Plus it was a trip into Tokyo once a month. If the game had been more than once a month or for shorter session times, I wouldn't have traveled that far.
You assumed correctly.
ReplyDeleteIf I'd had the chance of a 7-8 hour session, even once per month, I too would consider that a 2 hour journey was worth it. In fact, I'd probably make a full day of it and maybe even stop over, depending on where it was. Considering that decent rooms are not too pricey, this would not be a hardship.
My regular (fortnightly) sessions back in the day, to which I referred above (the half-hour drive one) was on a Friday evening, turning up about seven or seven-thirty and finishing up about midnight or possibly later, depending on whether we were in the thick of the action. We knew that we could finish late as it was the weekend. My buddy Brian and I would talk about the game all the way home on the motorway, just to keep me awake (I was the driver).
I am nestled in a putrid valley in Idaho, therefore, it is easy to find players and sometimes I do travel to a delightful town outside of this bog to visit other gamer-friends, for the most part I game here, although I am mobile with OSR materials.
ReplyDeleteAh, that'll be the Valley of Expensive Stilton, if I remember correctly?
ReplyDeleteOh, I wish. I did go Stilton shopping today, however.
ReplyDeleteMmmm...enjoy!
ReplyDelete