The topic of “Why Do You Love RPGs? Why Do You Love GMing?” seems such a simple one, but it’s actually very challenging to articulate why you love something.

It seems to me that this is one problem that’s actually holding the hobby back from broader acceptance – it’s really hard to “sell” someone on participating when you can’t explain why you do so.

And that makes the subject far more important than the fluff that it might initially have seemed to be.

Of course, it’s always possible that people have already written on the subject and can’t think of anything to add. I have certainly answered the second question before, for example.

But for one of these reasons, or (more probably) a combination of both, there were relatively few responses to the Blog Carnival this time around.

• In For The Love Of RPGs, I list no less than seven reasons why I love the hobby and explained that I thought we fall in love with it for one of them but stay in love with it for one of the others.
• Brent Jens, The Renaissance Gamer from The Rat Hole, offered June RPG Blog Carnival in response to the first question, in which he makes some really insightful points on the differences between shared and concurrent experiences.
• Later in the month, he followed up with Why Do I Love GMing in answer to the second question, admitting that at first he didn’t love DMing, but then offering three reasons why he now not only did, but found that love growing stronger. What changed? You’ll have to read his article to find out! Since he didn’t provide a back-link to the article as part of the carnival, this roundup is your first chance to do so.
• Rodney Sloan at Rising Phoenix Games provided Busting Out Of My Shell in which he described how he used RPGs to both escape and reconnect with, the personal reality of his environment and surrounding society. It’s the sort of answer that becomes more personal and profound, the more you muse on it.
• Gonz at Codex Anathema stepped up to the plate with 13 Reasons Why which is all about why he loves Eberron as a game setting, but which also speaks to the broader question, albeit indirectly.
• When he discovered the topic of the blog carnival this month, Gonz followed up by offering Why Do I Love You? with two points. His second is the capacity for forming relationships over the gaming table, but his first discusses the far more existential proposal that he loves the hobby because of what that love reflects about who we are as people when we are at our best. It’s short but deeply meaningful, and the perfect way to round out this collection of perspectives.

There are a lot of reasons to love RPGs. There may not have been many submissions, but between them, I think we’ve covered just about everything. And that makes this month’s blog entry the place to point people who look at you quizzically when you tell them what you do with your time – and why there’s no reason to be embarrassed about it (though some people are).

I could add something more, but this post is all about the other articles to which I’ve linked – so, rather than distract from them, I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead. Read, enjoy, and maybe discover why you love RPGs, too.