[Kromm]

I have a drink most nights, and I've worked as a part-time barman (translation: people buy you shots, and while you can pour light, you can't totally dodge the bullet), so my tolerance for alcohol is respectable. A drink or even two has no meaningful effect unless I haven't eaten. Most of the people I've gamed with are similar; a couple have been heavyweights (or just plain heavy), and able to have several drinks without altering how they gamed. So on the whole, I don't really care.

However, this assumes "sipping a drink in a civilized fashion," not "chucking back shots like there's no tomorrow." I don't tolerate the latter, if only because it's bad for the drinker's health and I'm an empathetic person. I had one guy who would show up, chug six cans of beer, and crush the cans on his face. He wasn't invited back . . . but then, he was also a gym rat who used steroids and ate aspirin by the handful to kill the pain of lifting too much, so he was an accident waiting to happen.

The thing that bugs me most about alcoholic beverages is the drink service. People who drink soda usually consume it from plastic bottles that can be re-capped. People who drink alcohol have wine glasses, cocktail glasses, and glass beer bottles. Gaming being what it is, people are reaching all over the place, flipping through books and throwing dice. I can cope with spills – they happen whether or not you're gaming and whether or not alcohol is present – but not with broken glassware. Around klutzy gamers, I've actually said, "Let's have a drink before we start," just to avoid the risk.