Thanks for the Mary-Sue links, and Tim, thanks for your comment-
Seriously. Role-playing is the ultimate in collaborative self-insertion
This was quite an eye-opener for me. My husband was a semi-professional games master for a while, and played many different parties in the same "world". Some of them inevitably ran into each other. We were always amazed at the way people would cheerfully fly interstate for the privilege of hiding in the next room to other people they'd never met, so they could be present at the launch of some particularly devious double-cross (some even insisting that the "event" be taped), and the way real-world relationships could be strained by an in-game betrayal. I think you've helped me understand this a little better.
And speaking as a techie, I don't think I ever want to play a magic-user again...
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