A jesus fish for role players

[CountPopeula]

Just another example of the fact this kind of weirdness is still out there. When I was in highschool in the 90's I live in Alexandria, VA which is just outside Washington DC, so not exactly the bible belt. Anyway I had a friend who played Magic: the Gathering who ended up trading me his entire magic card collection because the pastor at his mother's church had convinced her that they were a form of devil worship and she made him get rid of them. Of course I traded him my genesis and some games like Mortal Kombat for them, though that never seemed to bother her.

I seem to remember that, maybe about '95? Thought the whole thing was silly.

I dunno, the whole topic seems to be... if I can tell people I'm a bisexual Buddhist, playing 40K seems... trivial. Especially if you're a grown-up. Catholics in ancient Rome would be fed to the lions if they were discovered. The government isn't going to send stormtroopers to your house and drag you to guantanimo bay because you play D&D.

And if people have a problem with your hobby/lifestyle because of something their preacher told them, well... that's why god gave us the f-word, and the words "off", "you" and "and the horse you rode in on."

 

[Nifft]

Y'see, it's this example, and the earlier story about the parents being fine with Vampire and Werewolf, but not D&D, that absolutely astound me, and I fight really hard NOT to start a rant about terrible parenting skills and a lack of attention to their children's lives.

I've had someone tell me they player Rolemaster back in the 1980's because the parents of one of their friends could not abide by D&D, but had no problem with Rolemaster, which is the same darned thing, just with different rules.

PR: it really matters.

If I had hair, I'd tear it out.

I no longer wonder why you're bald.

Cheers, -- N

 

[WayneLigon]

I've had someone tell me they player Rolemaster back in the 1980's because the parents of one of their friends could not abide by D&D, but had no problem with Rolemaster, which is the same darned thing, just with different rules. If I had hair, I'd tear it out.

Some friends of mine have teenaged kids. They, their kids and their kid's friends all game. A couple of years ago, one of the friends parents got a hair up their nose about 'D&D', source of this hair unknown to me. The kid could play any other game other than specifcally D&D because it was 'bad'. They chose not to enlighten her as to the fact of how silly that was and just switched to GURPS so said kid could continue to play with them.

 

[jmucchiello]

http://go-play.org/

A link, a very palpable link.

(green means go plus the universal "play" symbol from consumer electronics= go play)

Just need to add a 1 2 and 3 in the corners to RPG-ize the symbol.

 

[Dykstrav]

My father is an ultra-conservative type who arranged for our minister to counsel me for my D&D hobby back when I was in high school (and at family events, he likes to claim that my D&D hobby is why he was refused a deaconship at that church). But since the ENWorld rules specifically forbid discussion of politics and religion, I'll stop that tale right there... Suffice to say that it's something that we're never going to see eye-to-eye on.

I actually had an employer hold a meeting specifically about my vampire LARP hobby, because they were concerned about the liability and press response if I suddenly started drinking blood in front of clients or decided to kill my co-workers. That'll show me to invite co-workers to meet some of my outside-of-work friends. This vampire debacle occured in California, by the way, where the same progressive company hired open Satanists and trans-gendered people. But my hobby was still somehow scary and frightening because I dressed in a black three-piece suit and hung out with women in corsets and black lipstick on the weekends.

So yes, I've faced some difficulties because of my choice of leisure activities. I would consider these challenges rather than "persecution." Unfortunately, there are always going to be ignorant jerks out there in the world who want to single out the weird, undesirable people who aren't like themselves.

I doubt that I'd be willing to endure real persecution like torture over D&D or RPGS. But damned if I'm going to let dull, unimaginitive, ignorant goobers drive me into the closet with it. As gamers, we don't need a secret sign to distinguish those of us in the club--I'm not doing anything around the gaming table that I wouldn't do in full view of the public and I'm not ashamed of being a gamer.

If you're comfortable with your identity as a gamer and just want this sign to distinguish gamers as a secret code, then that smacks of elitism and a generally poor attitude. When I find a great new restaurant or see a great movie, I don't want to keep others from finding out about it. Why would I want to keep outsiders from learning about my great hobby that's so much fun?

No, I can't think of any reason to employ a "secret" code for gamers. It's a lame idea. We won't be executed for gaming and there's nothing wrong with our hobby (acting like there is by being secretive about it only reinforces the idea that we're up to something). I haven't seen people forming "clubs" since about the fourth grade. I don't dig it.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

I tend to wear clothing that outs me.

Either a Horde Hat or T-shirt (WoW), a Link t-shirt, my "Dm's don't kill PC's" t-shirt, my "Rules Lawyer" t-shirt, etc.

I'm an open book. Besides, I get more smiles or "zug-zugs" then I do evil eyes. There's no shame in this hobby, I can think of worse things to engage in.

 

[Rogue765]

Some friends of mine have teenaged kids. They, their kids and their kid's friends all game. A couple of years ago, one of the friends parents got a hair up their nose about 'D&D', source of this hair unknown to me. The kid could play any other game other than specifcally D&D because it was 'bad'. They chose not to enlighten her as to the fact of how silly that was and just switched to GURPS so said kid could continue to play with them.

If it was only a couple of years ago they should have just switched to Hackmaster.

Completely different game.

 

[Dragon Snack]

Maybe others who live in game-rich areas have the luxury of losing potential players, but many of us live in socially desolate areas and don't have that luxury if we want to play.

Where do you live? I seem to remember it's somewhere in NY. NY isn't very 'socially desolate'...

I've had to deal with the BS myself, but you get over it (in HS, I broke my ankle and my wrist, both while playing football and certain school 'officials' spread rumors that I broke them 'acting out D&D'). If it was going to have an effect on my job, I probably have the wrong job (but then I have a 'thing' about 'real jobs' anyway). The Program Director at my radio station teases me about playing D&D, but it's all in good fun...