Bigfootin': Role-Playing, Playground Pretend, or Worse?

[Resume]

Thought I'd start this out to avoid derailing other threads.

So, what do youse people think?

I guess I'll add that role-playing is NAWAC-ing off while playground-pretend is having all them happy footies dancin' on the lawn.

 

[dmaker]

Interesting thread. I hope it gets some legs.

I think that people involved bigfootin' fall into all three of your stated categories: role-playing, pretend and worse.

I believe the bulk of them are just role-playing or playing pretend. The role players I would view as those that claim contact but then go a bit deeper and deck out in camos and head to the woods to bang sticks and feed peanut butter to bears. Sometimes they even start their own organizations to encourage others to join them in their play time. The motivation for this type of behavior has been mentioned here by others. The desire to be viewed as researchers or scientists without having to actually obtain degrees or training that would help them in that type of activity. A shortcut to accomplishment if you will. For others it may just be the desire to belong to something even if it is just a loose collection of online posters on a forum where their claims are not really challenged and are, instead, immediately accepted as bona fide research accomplishments.

The worse category I think would include those that are probably suffering from some sort of schizophrenia. The ones who, if we are to believe that they believe their claims, insist that they communicate with bigfoots or regularly see them up close and often attribute paranormal behavior to bigfoots. Things like cloaking and telepathy and the other more fringe claims made by these people. They are either taking the pretend to a next level, or they are indeed suffering some sort of mental illness.

There are also those that do it simply for profit. They do the role-playing and the pretend because it props up their business. Whether that is selling books, weekend expeditions or bigfoot garden statues. They have a financial motivation, not just a fun past time or something to talk about online.

 

[William Parcher]

I don't yet see an important distinction between role playing and playground pretend. The role players are pretending and the forest or backyard is the playground.

 

[Resume]

I don't yet see an important distinction between role playing and playground pretend. The role players are pretending and the forest or backyard is the playground.

Let me add some seasoning.

Role-players kick thing up a notch when they invest money, or time beyond what's necessary to post something up on the interwebs, or watch an episode of Not Finding Bigfoot. It's sort of like a paranormal enthusiast getting all jumped up watching Buff McSpikey taunting non-existing ghosts, but never going out and buying an EMF meter or on an investigation.

I think it's the extra applied effort.

 

[dmaker]

I tend to agree WP. When responding to the OP I found it hard to distinguish. Is there any value in identifying those that dress up and purchase equipment for their pretend ventures vs those that simply like to talk about bigfoot ( usually with empty claims) online or maybe attend occasional conventions?


ETA: Resumes post came in while I was typing my response.

 

[Resume]

I tend to agree WP. When responding to the OP I found it hard to distinguish. Is there any value in identifying those that dress up and purchase equipment for their pretend ventures vs those that simply like to talk about bigfoot ( usually with empty claims) online or maybe attend occasional conventions?


ETA: Resumes post came in while I was typing my response.

I think a person sitting and smoking on the porch while howling at the full moon in an attempt to communicate with footie is measurably less invested than the guy who sets up camp (even if in a driveway) and buys a FLIR device with which to fool himself, or others.
Just looking to flesh this out.

 

[dmaker]

I completely agree that they appear more invested, no doubt. Perhaps, some of them simply lack the financial means to purchase gear to support their fantasy? Hard to say. But I do think there is a subset that even if they had money to burn would never don the camos, fire up the infrared camera ( forgetting of course to connect the cable to record anything), and venture to their nearest picnic grounds. So perhaps there is value in separating those that engage the hobby with time and money vs those that just like talking about bigfoot?

 

[William Parcher]

Maybe it would help if you explain the purpose of creating a pretend category in addition to a role playing one.

 

[Resume]

I completely agree that they appear more invested, no doubt. Perhaps, some of them simply lack the financial means to purchase gear to support their fantasy? Hard to say. But I do think there is a subset that even if they had money to burn would never don the camos, fire up the infrared camera ( forgetting of course to connect the cable to record anything), and venture to their nearest picnic grounds. So perhaps there is value in separating those that engage the hobby with time and money vs those that just like talking about bigfoot?

I wanted to start a thread dedicated to the idea --scientifically and skeptically incorrect perhaps-- that since this is all make-believe, and there is no bigfoot, why keep up the pretense in face of the giant lack of evidence? The 9-foot monkey isn't, and has never been, in the room, which seems like a problem, logically,

I'm not all that invested in my categories specifically, buy interested in the categories as others see them.

 

[Resume]

Maybe it would help if you explain the purpose of creating a pretend category in addition to a role playing one.

As I said, we can tweak these. I see a pretender as someone who says "yeah, I believe in bigfoot" for the attention, maybe talks about the one in his or her backyard, while a role player assumes a bit more ownership in the game for whatever reason, which I think includes attention, but might include other motivating factors that require a deeper commitment to the game.

 

[dmaker]

I think there may be nuances within a general category of role-player/pretend but not enough to warrant separate categories.


ETA: it could be analogous to classic fantasy RPGs. Many may engage in the tabletop version of the game, but fewer are willing to buy costumes and go LARPing in the woods for a weekend. But both groups are role-playing.

 

[William Parcher]

The backyard pretender assumes the role of a habituator no matter what they purchase or do not purchase. They are a role player.

 

[Resume]

I think there may be nuances within a general category of role-player/pretend but not enough to warrant separate categories.

Hmm, let's try this. A pretender can come and go depending on mood; a role-player needs a more frequent fix.

I dunno, that's sort of the point here.

 

[Resume]

The backyard pretender assumes the role of a habituator no matter what they purchase or do not purchase. They are a role player.

I see a habituation claim to be a bit more informal requiring no more effort than it takes to type out a paragraph or two.

The guy who's camping out and setting up hair traps in an effort to validate his alleged glimpse of footie is seemingly more serious, though both are playing pretend.

Maybe casual role-playing versus dedicated?

 

[William Parcher]

Maybe Bigfoot skepticism has jumped the shark and is chasing its own tail.

 

[dmaker]

^^ I think we've worn a circle in the carpet.


ETA: I still find exercises like this interesting. Trying to define why some footers do what they do is beyond skepticism and ventures more into behavioral analysis.

 

[William Parcher]

People will do what feels good to them. There's your behavior analysis. LOL

 

[The Shrike]

Skeptics are often perplexed at the number of bigfoot threads and how so many of us can keep on writing about this silliness in a way we don't with lake monsters, unicorns, fairies, etc. When it comes to crypto-creatures, there really is something different about the level of interest in bigfoot. Maybe the key to that lies in the bald-faced assertions of these people who are only pretending to believe in the thing that their spouting?

 

[LTC8K6]

People will do what feels good to them. There's your behavior analysis. LOL

Hey, you can charge people real money to camp in the woods and have pine cones tossed at them...they will even bring their own food and gear...

All you have to do is invite them, and then bang on a tree now and then, and maybe throw a small rock or two.

They pay you for this...

With little effort, you get repeat customers...who will never try to find out what's actually going on...

It's amazing.

 

[s4zando]

This thread, and the original tangent it spun from, got me thinking about character alignment, such as this:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alignment_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)

The nine alignments can be represented in a grid, as follows:

Lawful Good / Neutral Good / Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral / Neutral / Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil / Neutral Evil / Chaotic Evil

And I came across this little gem while googling the above. See what your (or your favorite BF cleleb's) alignment would be with this handy test:

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20001222b