I'm pretty open about it now. I especially enjoy talking about Chainmail Bikini Games. The looks I get are priceless. But I wasn't always that way.
I first heard that D&D was evil in a private Christian school in '82. They said the same thing about rock & roll, and I knew I liked that, so as soon as I could I bought the red basic rules box.
After becoming thorughly engrossed in it and buying every product I could get my hands on, my mother burned it all a few years later, so I moved out.
So as time went on, I couldn't reveal my hobby at school or to my parents without risking problems. After joining the military, I realized that there are a lot of players out there, and I decided not to ever hide it again.
Today she knows that we play, though I'm not sure she understands that I'm running a d20 publishing company. I've explained it to her, but she changes the subject or ignores me.
So she still doesn't approve, but doesn't dare make an issue of it, and is more than happy to watch her grandchildren while we play and during our GenCon trips.
But my mom's basically very closeminded and gullible. She saw on TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network) that Harry Potter was evil, and told me so, hoping that I wouldn't let my kids get involved in it. I asked her if she had read any of the books, "no...but it was on TV.." Then I tried to patiently explain to her that it was harmless fantasy fiction, just like the romance novels she reads. I then bought all the Harry Potter books with the eager anticipation that I'll someday have my 4 and 1 year old boys enjoy them enough to ask their grandma to read it to them.
People will believe what they will, and I still love my mom even though I can't stand being around her sometimes (common relationship, you can't pick your family) and wonder if I was adopted some times.
Incidently, money seems to make anything acceptable to people, no matter what their beliefs are. Take the following quote from Thunderhead's post:
The funny thing... EVERYONE at work knows I love comic books, and I've never hid that particular hobby of mine... I take 'em to work now and then, and no one thinks anything of it... Strange...
It's not strange because everyone knows comic books appreciate in value. They've heard of people selling them for hundreds of dollars more than they were bought for, and they
understand that aspect of the hobby. Same with Magic the Gathering cards, or being a technical computer person. They still think it's geeky, but they can understand profit.
D&D is a game that never ends where nobody wins in the traditional sense, seems to cost a lot of money, and takes up a lot of time; all for no tangible profit. It bewilders anyone in a capitalist society who has no first hand experience with it.
But once I mention that I'm starting up a publishing company to produce role-playing supplements, they seem to get it, even though they really haven't. I don't play D&D because I wanted to make money, I started the company because I love to play D&D.