Most people seem to be saying: "Hey, the game only stigmatizes you if you let it." Which is great, I think. A very healthy approach.
The reality of it is that I think that the game does carry some amount of stigma with it, depending on whom you associate with. Some people think it's weird. Some people could care less.
In my line of work, I know that I wouldn't have gotten hired if my bosses knew I played D&D. Yes, I'm being serious. And by the way, I love my job and I love my bosses. No, I don't think they're shallow people.
But what I want to add to this conversation is something entirely different. Sniffing out someone who's an in-the-closet gamer. Amusingly enough, it's almost like trying to figure out if someone's gay.
Here's a key example:
Two years ago, I had just moved into a new town, and I didn't know a soul. So, I was looking for gaming buddies. I was at a conference for my new job, and I was talking to this guy next to me. The speaker started to wander -far- off topic, so the guy jokingly said: "Stay on target...stay on target..." Totally quoting Star Wars: A New Hope.
Right away, we make that "sci-fi" connection. We start trading Star Wars quips back and forth. Eventually, he makes a crack about Conan. I laugh and he makes another crack about needing a bastard sword.
A light pops over my head. "Bastard sword." He didn't call it a hand-and-a-half sword. He didn't call it a claymore. Hrm. So I mention that I could get him one if he could prove that he could use it one handed.
He said, "Oh, I'd need to be really proficient with a bastard sword to do that."
Next thing you know, we're trading the D&D stories.
Call me crazy, but scenarios like this have happened to me constantly - where I figure out someone's a gamer or not. Sometimes, you can even spot a gamer across the room. They just set off that "game-radar."