Gaming Pride / Gaming Shame

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

In 4th edition, cake attacks you!
-blarg

It wasn't my fault that I ate all the cake! It attacked me first!

 

[mlund]

Eh, I've never felt an overwhelming desire to appear to be something I'm not. At the same time, I don't feel an overwhelming need to grab every detail of my personal life and hobbies and bludgeon everyone else over the head with them until they cough up some form of validation that I can't seem to live without.

So I don't have any "gamer shame" or "gamer pride." I'm Marty. I've got a variety of hobbies and activities that I enjoy doing. I try not to waste my co-worker's time gabbing about hobbies they couldn't care less about. I try not to waste too much of my fellow player's time grousing about some code bug at my job or how I totally forgot to send a Mother's Day card back east.

People are either interested in the conversation topic or they aren't.

When it comes to my house, you can accept or decline an invitation to visit there if I extend it. I'm not going to go strip my book shelves of my D&D Books or my Bible to appease one person or the other. If you can't cope with that politely you can leave.

- Marty Lund

 

[Jonny Nexus]

Vin Diesel has his favorite DnD character tatoo'd across his stomach.

I do hope he likes 4th Edition.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

No shame whatsoever, but nonetheless, I still don't advertise the fact that I'm a roleplayer. Except, on occasion, to fellow geeks of whatever stripe(s).

This.

At, say, work, it's generally known that I'm a geek. The Star Wars, LotR, and Transformers stuff at my desk* practically guarantees that. The near co-workers have seen the D&D books out, but I don't go explaining that.

* - In no particular order:
A big Titanium Battlestar Galactica
A 12" Boba Fett
A Grimlock statue
A Sauron figure
A WoW Dwarf Warrior
And a bunch of BSG Titanium minis sitting on my monitor

I had a temp tell me that she knew which way to go to her desk when she saw the Sauron figure.

Brad

 

[Nifft]

No, the difference is I don't leave parts of myself behind. I am (in no particular order) a father, a husband, a gamer, a musician, a writer, a programming guru, and everything else. These things are all a part of me and they can be seen in every context. I might suppress one or more or them at times but even then, I'm sure an observant person would still see evidence of these things in my manner, my expression and my appearance.

correct(you) && (conversation = moreLike(*this));

Obviously you have left a large chunk of "yourself" out of this conversation right up until this very post. And good thing you did, because it's irrelevant to this context, and won't help anyone understand the topic under discussion.

Seriously, how can you think that you have brought music or parenting into this conversation?

Confused, -- N

 

[Dykstrav]

Eh, I've never felt an overwhelming desire to appear to be something I'm not. At the same time, I don't feel an overwhelming need to grab every detail of my personal life and hobbies and bludgeon everyone else over the head with them until they cough up some form of validation that I can't seem to live without.

Maybe a bit off-topic... But this is precisely why I don't dig social networking sites. I feel that if someone is interested in knowing something about me, they'll ask. I really don't like people that advertise for their own personalities or try to proselytize for their favored hobbies. Therefore, I don't really discuss D&D (or anything else that I do) unless people ask me about it.

Besides which, the fact that I play D&D is simply not relevant to every social situation.

I'm not going to go strip my book shelves of my D&D Books or my Bible to appease one person or the other. If you can't cope with that politely you can leave.

This is exactly the situation I'm in. It really frustrates me when people have preconceived notions about who I am just because of something I do. Some people assume that I love country music and vote Republican because I'm a Christian. Some people assume that I do drugs and vote Democrat because I work in the film industry from time to time. Some people assume that I love anime and comic books because I play D&D. They're all wrong, and despite all of the rhetoric about tolerance and understanding, it still seems that many people make important decisions based on first impressions or preconceived assumptions.

 

[jmucchiello]

Seriously, how can you think that you have brought music or parenting into this conversation?

Confused, -- N

This is not the only conversation I've ever had on these boards.

I didn't say I robot my life history to people at the start of every conversation. I said that there are no aspects I leave out. Still, I don't just pepper them into the conversation from left field. (Pepper and Left field are baseball terms. I'm a baseball fan too. This is an example of my speech giving away aspects of myself.)

Besides, don't I sound like I'm trying to impart a life lesson? Isn't that parenting?

 

[Nifft]

Besides, don't I sound like I'm trying to impart a life lesson? Isn't that parenting?

Are you trying to understand, or trying to manipulate?

Because I'll help you find success with one of those, but not so much the other.

Cheers, -- N

 

[The Little Raven]

I have never, in my life, hidden the fact that I was a gamer. If anyone ever asked me about my hobbies, D&D (or RPGs in general) is the first thing to be brought up. It has never negatively impacted my social standing, and if anyone had a problem with it, then they weren't somebody whose opinion mattered to me. Even in high school, I was known as D&D geek numero uno, and never had a problem getting dates or making friends in other social cliches (one girl on the school paper editorial team even did a little piece on me and my gaming friends to show that you can't judge a book by it's cover).

 

[Iron Sky]

I just spent about 40 minutes typing up a reply to this, then got a blue screen of death as I moved my mouse over the submit button...

So, instead of my heartfelt, probably long-winded reply, here's the super short version.

My friends know since I play with them or used to play with them(for some who have "grown up" and stopped playing).

My family know I have a history of playing computer and roleplaying games, but I don't really talk about it with them because they're either disinterested, don't get it, or think I should probably be doing something more productive.

My boss and his wife are in the same boat as my family.

Anyone else probably doesn't know, unless we've made small talk long enough to get to hobbies. My order of revelation, depending on how far they want to delve usually goes Computer Science degree -> Computer game designer/programmer -> Computer Gamer -> Gamer in general -> RPGer.

Needless to say, not much small talk gets below the designer/developer part. Interesting how even the potential of making money at something seems to legitimize things to the common populace. If I say "I play WoW" it's one thing, if I say "I wrote a published WoW strategy guide" it's another. If I say "I play games" it's one thing, if I say "I design/program/am trying to sell games" it's another. If I say "I read fantasy novels" it's one thing, if I say "I've tried to get my fantasy novel published" it's another.

Enough money can legitimize anything...