An uncomfortable thought

[Dannyalcatraz]

The exact same things could occur relating to an interest in playing basket ball, no? Maybe I just live in a very modern society but I just dont see it.

Imagine the face of our HR manager when he is summoned to the CEO to explain why he is wasting his own and other peoples time harrasing hard-working and valuable employees about what they do in their spare time

Ever read or hear of the Jack Chick comics?

Because of those and similar publications, in some areas of the USA, the RPG hobby is seen as a gateway drug to satanism to this day. Still others see the hobby as exceedingly childish. Or a tool of child sexual predators.

Those people also tend to have similar views on comic books, heavy metal music, etc.

My own Mom and godmother were both in that camp. Mom wised up, though.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Mine have not, but I know people for whom it is an issue.

For example, imagine a person who has a job that requires a government security clearance. Now, imagine pictures of them in live-action RPG costumes getting put up and tagged on Facebook.

While there were plenty of reasons for Sen. David Wu to step down, and there is no hint that he ever played an RPG or LARPed in his life, none of that will stop people from making false equivalences between his actions, this photo, and our hobby.

He really didn't do us any favors.

Nor did Barbara Adams when she served as an alternate juror in the Whitewater case, wearing her Star Trek costume to court and insisting it was like wearing a uniform. She actually said "I always wear my uniform to formal occasions." in an interview shorty before getting tossed off the case by the judge.

I remember my gaming group at that time, watching the TV while we took a dinner break and seeing that story pop up, and we ALL let out a groan of misery...including the host's wife, who had her own Star Trek uni.

 

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

I always thought Adams did that in an effort to get out of jury duty and it backfired on her, even if it let her get away later.

In any case, people's personal lives cropping up at work can be difficult, even assuming it is something as simple as taking the kids to a baseball game, because it becomes something that has to be negotiated with coworkers who will pursue their interests at the expense of yours. and that is where your interests are not even "odd."

 

[Umbran]

The exact same things could occur relating to an interest in playing basket ball, no?

No. Because basketball (and sports fandom, in general) is socially acceptable.

Wandering around in a hotel as an elf scantily clad in studded leathers isn't something most folk have experience with, to have already accepted it. Not understanding, people will often jump to the wrong conclusions.

 

[DoveSinger]

I personally haven't run into that problem, but I have had friends whom did. They said their boss felt they were immature because they were interested in AD&D. That role play was for kids not adults. I am sorry but I am 68 and I still love to role play, one because real life can be exhausting and sometimes by role playing you can find yourself in a situation and when you resolve the situation in game you realize the solution might actually resolve a real life issue. Also if you create a game with kids in mind it will help them real life with problem solving

 

[fjw70]

I personally haven't run into that problem, but I have had friends whom did. They said their boss felt they were immature because they were interested in AD&D. That role play was for kids not adults. I am sorry but I am 68 and I still love to role play, one because real life can be exhausting and sometimes by role playing you can find yourself in a situation and when you resolve the situation in game you realize the solution might actually resolve a real life issue. Also if you create a game with kids in mind it will help them real life with problem solving

And I am an adult and I get to decide what that means for me.

I haven't envountered any issue ps at work because no one at work knows that I play RPGs. It's not that I am embarrassed to tell them but in my experience most people have no idea what it is (or a skewed idea of what it is) and I don't feel like explaining it whenever I switch jobs.

A while back a student from a local college wanted to write a piece about D&D for her school newspaper and was trying to find a group that would allow her attend one of their sessions and interview them. When I brought it up to my group one if the guys who is a volunteer firefighter he said he didn't want the other firefighters to know he played. He felt the macho attitudes of the firefighters would cause him issues.

 

[Anselyn]

Workplace politics can be a blood sport, and anything can and will be used against you.

You say this but I know no one who works in an environment like that. Perhaps the fault lies in your unusual work environment or your perception of it?

 

[Anselyn]

In any case, there are legal and economic ways for employers to track what you do in your off hours and everything you do can and will be considered by your employers, your religion (or lack there of), your politics and your hobby.

Some of this is just plain illegal, "as an integral part of UK labour law it is unlawful to discriminate against a person because they have one of the "protected characteristics", which are, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation."

[see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_employment_equality_law]

 

[DM Howard]

My co-workers know that I am a nerd. I don't really talk about that kind of stuff at work because I don't really socialize that much at work. The closest I have gotten is talking about the Star Wars movie.

My friend is a social worker and, judging by his facebook page, you wouldn't think he was a gamer of any stripe at all. I had tagged him in photos of us at Gen Con 2015 and he politely asked me to untag him due to work issues. That all being said, he socializes quite a bit with his co-workers, so I almost suspect that he wants to be seen as "cool" as there are a lot of comely women he works with.

 

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

Some of this is just plain illegal, "as an integral part of UK labour law it is unlawful to discriminate against a person...

For one thing, those laws (similar laws do exist in the USA, Canada and elsewhere) do not protect hobbies and people following a hobby. For another, it has to be proven that a company took formal action against an employee because of one of the things listed, when it would be easy for the company to point to something official (the got along poorly with coworkers) as the official reason for the action, even if the real reason was something else, something theoretically protected.

My friend is a social worker and, judging by his facebook page, you wouldn't think he was a gamer of any stripe at all. I had tagged him in photos of us at Gen Con 2015 and he politely asked me to untag him due to work issues.

That, I think, was the right move on his part as it lets him control the narrative of his life and work at his place of work - it makes it harder for others to use his personal life against him.