Sigh ... more anti-D&D nonsense

[replicant2]

From a review of "Committed," a book about fantasy football in today's Boston Globe Sunday newspaper:

"As St. Amant (the author) discovered, fantasy football is no mere pastime played by dice-rolling Dungeons & Dragons nerds in their parents' basements."

Wnen is this slagging of our hobby going to stop? Worse, the reviewer is unfavorably comparing our game to fantasy football -- a hobby that involves grown men drafting fake football teams, crunching statistics, and pondering phantom trades of players. It's no better and certainly no worse than D&D. In fact, they're both cut from the same cloth -- the creation of make-believe worlds governed by a rules structure.

I guess the difference is that one is based on America's pastime, which makes it "acceptable," while the other will always be a nerd subculture, and thus a target for easy attacks.

 

[KenM]

At one of my old jobs a guy who was into fantasy football and blasted the "DnD" dorks. There was a few other RPG players when he did it. We explained it was basically the same thing.

 

[Aaron2]

Fantasy Football always seemed more like gambling than actually playing a game.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

I think (not to be an apologist for the D&D'ers are dorks crowd) that D&D acquires its stigma because the stereotypical RPG player picked up the hobby when they were in high school, when they should have been out doing more typical teenager things like getting drunk, knocking up cheerleaders and vandalizing the school.

Most people I know who play Fantasy Football started when they were adults, when it was seen as just a variation on the office football pool.

 

[Threedub]

Fantasy football is much more akin to gambling than role-playing. FF puts you in handicapper mode, trying to figure which player will have big games versus opposing teams defense. Done as it should be, it's more of a constant math challenge than D&D.

As far as hammering the D&D hobby, this is probably a case of self-abuse. I bet the guy who wrote it played D&D, would like to again, but his job, friends, and time don't allow him too. He needed a "snappy" quote that wouldn't piss off his target audience so he drew from his own past.

The only thing that ticks me off is that all D&D players are assumed to have lived with parents who had basements. No one I knew in high school had a basement, we had to play in a friend's garage!

 

[Doc_Klueless]

The only thing that ticks me off is that all D&D players are assumed to have lived with parents who had basements. No one I knew in high school had a basement, we had to play in a friend's garage!

Darn tootin'. I'd kill (well, maybe just maim) for a basement to play in and I'm 38 yo now.

 

[replicant2]

I must be the ultimate dork because I play both, although with an entirely separate group of friends. I've seen both hobbiies from different sides of the equation and I have no problem stating that fantasy football is just as "dorky" as D&D.

During our fantasy draft, at least half the players show up with their favorite team jerseys. We use a draft board with our team names and logos at the top, and when each player is drafted we put his name from a pre-printed list of stickers on the board. There's plenty of fantasy geek-speek during the whole process (we discuss Atlanta's offensive line and Carolina's coaching staff, for example).

During the season we trash talk each other on the web site, spend hours reading "expert advice" from fantasy football columnists, comb the waiver wire for free-agent pickups, and propose trades. At the end of the year the winner gets his winnings and also his name engraved on a trophy that gets re-used each season. He also gets to hold the trophy at his home throughout the offseason.

All of which goes to say that fantasy football is just as time-consuming, immersive, and "geeky" as D&D. Praising the former while ripping the latter is either a gross misunderstanding, or hypocracy at its finest..

 

[Kuld]

Even though there are many gamers in the military, I had a tough time when my shop found out I played D&D. They joked for a few days, calling me Lord Farquad and telling me that their sword is LVL 5 (??) and is more powerful than mine. I just played along and slung more insults their way. It eventually stopped, but every now and then they joke. It often helps that I out rank them and can wup all their butts, but I think that that stigma will always be there, unfortunately, for all gamers.

 

[Oryan77]

"As St. Amant (the author) discovered, fantasy football is no mere pastime played by dice-rolling Dungeons & Dragons nerds in their parents' basements."

It's original quotes like "D&D nerds in their parents basement" that makes cool guys like St. Amant stand out from the crowd. I wonder how long this brilliant quote took him to think up. Great, now this original quote is going to spread and ALL of the cool jock types are going to start using it as ammunition. I bet he thought that quote up in the spurt of the moment! Well at least now it will take the focus away from the fact that we all wear pocket protectors.

What's really funny is that D&D is huge in prisons. Do you think fruits like St. Amant would still make comments like that about D&D players if the stereotype turned from nerds to convicts? All kinds of people play D&D, it's just such a strange hobby that they don't talk about it with just anyone because it can come across as awkward....grown men pretending to be female elven spell casters? It's not something I'm just going to tell everyone in the office during lunch.

 

[VirgilCaine]

What's really funny is that D&D is huge in prisons. Do you think fruits like St. Amant would still make comments like that about D&D players if the stereotype turned from nerds to convicts? All kinds of people play D&D, it's just such a strange hobby that they don't talk about it with just anyone because it can come across as awkward....grown men pretending to be female elven spell casters? It's not something I'm just going to tell everyone in the office during lunch.

Dude. What? Where did you find this out?


http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2005/09/top_tattoos_of_.html
Googled and found this link about Missouri prisoner tattoos. Unicorns, wizards, stars, dragons, panthers and bunnies are more popular than gunshot wound tattoos and spider tattoos.