How does your family view your hobby?

[Theron]

My gf was born in '77, and I in '78.

Oh, swell. I have dice as old or older than you.

No, really, I still have my original TSR 20 siders. The pink and white ones. They're nearly worn round by years of living in my blue jeans pocket at school.

 

[garyh]

Oh, swell. I have dice as old or older than you.

No, really, I still have my original TSR 20 siders. The pink and white ones. They're nearly worn round by years of living in my blue jeans pocket at school.

Not familiar with the "pink and white ones," nor the red/green/purple/polkadotted box set of the rules from 19 ought 3.

 

[Theron]

Not familiar with the "pink and white ones," nor the red/green/purple/polkadotted box set of the rules from 19 ought 3.

If I get a chance, I'll take a picture of them and stick it on the web. They're a true piece of gaming history. Or words to that effect.

 

[garyh]

If I get a chance, I'll take a picture of them and stick it on the web. They're a true piece of gaming history. Or words to that effect.

The oldest piece of gaming history I own from my own use (as opposed to picking it up as a collectable) is the red Middle Earth Role Playing boxed set from Iron Crown Enterprise I picked up around 1990 (shortly after having read "The Hobbit" in junior high).

 

[Avatar]

My father introduced me to the game back in the mid-80s. Now he's jealous that I have a game and he doesn't.

 

[StalkingBlue]

...

Now that I'm 38 (well 38 tomorrow) my Mother doesn't seem to know I still game. My Father was a bit surprised last time I brought it up, "You still do that?" My sister has never really understood it. My girlfriend likes the fact that I'm involved in a face to face social event. She will often sit in on a game to watch.

My cats really enjoy the dice.

Well, as it's well after midnight this side of the pond- Happy birthday, Tetsubo!
I'm only a couple of months behind you, I'll be thirty-eight in November.

---

My brother (29) is one of my players.

My sister (27) sometimes wishes she could game with us the way she did before she left town for university and then got a job that meant travelling, travelling, travelling (in RL that is).

My father (65) starts snoring softly minutes after we start talking about D&D, or strolls off to play a game of computer chess.
We're working on him, though. I gave my parents The Lord of the Rings for Christmas (the novel) a couple of years ago and we started reading the book out loud to the family over the holidays. Up to page 100 or so, my father would discontently mutter, "What an odd story," every half hour or so. By page 110, he was sitting expectantly on the sofa: "Well, are we going to read some more or what?"
He's still not gamer material, but he will now allow a good fantasy story to draw him in.

My mother (also 65), on the other hand, gets shiny eyes and flushed cheeks even hearing about our games. I bet if I asked her to get a group of friends together, I'd be running a campaign for grannies in no time!
Coming to think, maybe I will.

 

[Roland Delacroix]

My Mom doesnt really care, but she wants me to do what my Dad says. My dad hates RPG's, he thinks they are a waste of time and I should be studying instead. I basically had to hide everything to do with gaming from him since I was 12, RPG's, CCG's, etc. I had to lie to go out to games or he wouldnt let me go. I only had friends over at my place to game if he was away for a few days at work. He was a little ok with mini's wargaming, but still didn't like it.

In fact, this was mainly the reason I moved out. One day in July 2001 i said I was going out, i'd be back before midnight (I was 23) and I finally decided that it was my life and I could do whatever I wanted. I told my dad the truth, when he asked, that I was going to a friends house to play D&D. We got in a fight, he said I had a week to get out of his house, and I took him up on it. Got a student loan to finish college part time while working. Moved in on campus, then with the GF in January. Its been tough but we do OK and I love being out of my parents home The upside is I found a Holy Avenger that night.

My folks and I get on great, after a few months anyway. I love them and they love me, we just have a 'dont ask dont tell' policy about gaming now.

 

[Ukyo the undead]

well...

Girlfriend: She doesnt like it. She don´t understand how someone can have fun sitting around a table and yelling strange things all night. But she loves me and try to tolerate my hobby.

Mother: She doesnt understand the game either.But she understand it´s only a game and dont have any problems with me playing. Once she talked to me about the pictures in the books, exposing that she doesnt like the apologie to violence, but that´s all.

Father: He doesnt understand, dont try to understand, think it´s a waste of time. But he doesnt try to make me stop playing, since the game never created any problem to me.


Brothers and sisters: all of them doesnt understand the game, but they know it´s inofensive. I guess they think it´s a kind of WAR(tm) game, without the game table.

And no, nobody thinks it´s a work of Satan. I live in a catolic country, where the GodXSatan strugle is much less significant than in a protestant one.

 

[orbitalfreak]

I got interested in Star Trek about 7 years back, and started reading the books as well. Then my mom met the guy that is now my step-dad. He was in to Star Trek, too, and used to be a D&D'er when he was younger. He introduced me to fantasy novels.

After digesting most of his collection (about three or four times, now), he introduced me to D&D. These days, I run a campaign for him (31), my mom (34), and my brother (14). One big happy gaming family

 

[shadow]

My dad is pretty tolerant of it since his little brother was a gamer back in high school. My mom really doesn't like me gaming at all. The funny thing is that she doesn't like it because she thinks it's satanic, but rather she sees it as geeky. She sees D&D as a "small fringe hooby" and constantly tells me that I need to get into a hobbie that is more mainstream. Now that I'm out of high school I'm constantly told I need to get a life, and get involved in a hobbie where I can "meet more people".