One friend sort of explained it to me. It’s anxiety. They were afraid they weren’t learning fast enough, or were playing badly, or other people were judging them. Fear shuts down the brain. You’re explaining to them, “You can take three actions on your turn” but they’re not hearing you - they only hear anxiety-fear-screams
Every time this happens, it’s worse the next time. It’s one more example of “humiliation” on the stack. Even if no one else thought there was anything amiss.
I often think about one time a friend invited me to play “DND”. I get there and it’s revealed it’s not DND, but a different RPG. I was like “ok hold on…” and spent like 20 minutes skimming the book while we all ate pizza and settled down.
By the time we started I knew the rules as well as everyone else, which was admittedly a low bar.
The authors are (typically) trying to write the rules in a way for you to understand. It’s not a puzzle.
Of course, being familiar with the genre helps immensely.
One friend sort of explained it to me. It’s anxiety. They were afraid they weren’t learning fast enough, or were playing badly, or other people were judging them. Fear shuts down the brain. You’re explaining to them, “You can take three actions on your turn” but they’re not hearing you - they only hear anxiety-fear-screams
Every time this happens, it’s worse the next time. It’s one more example of “humiliation” on the stack. Even if no one else thought there was anything amiss.
I prefer to read the rules in my own time. Link me the PDF in advance and we are golden.
I’m mostly the same.
I often think about one time a friend invited me to play “DND”. I get there and it’s revealed it’s not DND, but a different RPG. I was like “ok hold on…” and spent like 20 minutes skimming the book while we all ate pizza and settled down.
By the time we started I knew the rules as well as everyone else, which was admittedly a low bar.
The authors are (typically) trying to write the rules in a way for you to understand. It’s not a puzzle.
Of course, being familiar with the genre helps immensely.