Are gamers really that pathetic?

[fanboy2000]

If for every cat-piss man we have we lose five socially adjusted people (three of them women)

This reminds me of a bit of triva: 95% of all statistics are made-up on the spot.

in our local gaming groups, clubs, FLGSs, etc., we can make a point of not just "tolerating" antisocial behaviour, and having the same standards in our gaming groups for hygene and behaviour that we would have in any other social environment

I'm curious, did you read the relevant article? The article didn't claim that gamers didn't bathe or that they exibited anti-social behavior. Indeed, one could argue that asking someone to pose for a picture is outgoing, the opposite of ant-social behavior. The article was about a website news reporter who went around E3 the last day and interviewed (very briefly) many of the booth babes. After reading the article, I got the distinct impression that their biggest gripe wasn't posing for geeks, it was standing all day constantly smiling.

In all the cons I've been too, anti-social behavior was never the norm. Real anti-social behavior, (not minor anoyances that most people have to one degree or another) is rare, even among gamers.

 

[Nisarg]

I am one of those 'undesirables' (BTW: That is what Hitlerites in Nazi Germany called certain ethnic and indeed also social groups they did not like, so you may want to watch what you say more carefully.). I am 22 and I have never had a girlfriend nor have I ever kissed or touched a girl. The question is, Nisarg (and others who advocate getting rid of us 'undesirables'), how the hell are you going to tell me apart from anyone else? It is not as if I wear a sign on my forehead saying "virgin at 22 - never been kissed" or something like that. You would have to ask me directly. I can just picture the DMs following your advice asking every potential player whether they have ever had a girlfriend before being accepted to the group. Even some kind of foolproof test, however, would not prevent us 'undesirables' from gaming, since the 'undesirables' could still game in each other's gaming groups. Sorry, there is no way to get rid of us unless you wish to resort to the methods of those who used the designation you give us before you.

If you've gotten to 22 without ever touching a girl because you've been remarkably unlucky, or because of personal ethics, or because you spent the last 21 years in a shaolin monastery that forbade females, or what have you; but you otherwise behave like a normal human being, then your virgin status is pretty much your own business.

I'm talking about people who's status as 20-something virgins is merely a symptom of severe psycho-social disorders that likewise cause them to have odious personal habits (regarding hygene and deportment) and to be disruptive to the community and the games they join.

If you are the former without being the latter then that's a matter between you, your god, and your penis. On the other hand if you are the latter,then you become a problem to me and to the gaming community.

Nisarg

 

[Nisarg]

In all the cons I've been too, anti-social behavior was never the norm. Real anti-social behavior, (not minor anoyances that most people have to one degree or another) is rare, even among gamers.

Really?

Curious then, that among the number one bits of advice I've seen for people going to Gencon was "bring soap, remember to bathe".. and one of the most frequent complaints about Gencon was the gamer-smell.

I haven't been to Gencon but I have been to many gaming/anime/comic conventions in North America, and in just about all of them you couldn't go to a table without having at least one person at that table display the traits I mentioned. Not one FLGS didn't have at least a half-dozen such people lingering around as "regulars", some even taking pride in "freaking the mundanes" (except in stores where the owners were wise enough to take a hard line on this sort of thing; and ironically those stores tended to be accused of being "exclusionist" or "anti-gamer"). Likewise, the high school gaming group I was in, way back when, had a strong share of the socially inept, and by the time I was in university, it got worse.. and by the time I was a prof, though I visited the local university club infrequently, I saw that the percentage of social rejects had only increased.

Again, interestingly enough, neither the gaming club ("Botch!") nor the local con ("Montevideo Comics") I've been to in South America suffered from this problem. Again, this may be a phenomenon culturally relegated to North America.

Nisarg

 

[vulcan_idic]

It may or may not be significat that the Con referenced in the article is E3 - which while people there are also gamers, they could be considered to be an overlapping, yet significantly different segment of the larger demographic segment "Gamers"

 

[fanboy2000]

the number one bits of advice I've seen for people going to Gencon was "bring soap, remember to bathe".. and one of the most frequent complaints about Gencon was the gamer-smell.

Odd, I haven't heard either of those from the reports I've read. And the conventions I go to, this isn't a problem.

Again, interestingly enough, neither the gaming club ("Botch!") nor the local con ("Montevideo Comics") I've been to in South America suffered from this problem. Again, this may be a phenomenon culturally relegated to North America.

Couple of things that can explain this without resorting to North American culture bashing.

1. When you get a large number of people together, your going have body oder, even if every single one of them bathed that day.

2. As someone who's traveled, a lot, I've noticed diffrent places have their own smell. Greece smells diffrent from Italy. Popular fragrances in soap, pollen, and other things can explain the smells coming from various people at a gaming table. If you're used to the smell from where you live, a diffrent smell when you move or visit a foreign country can be jarring. Particularly if you're already pre-disposed to dislike the place.

I noticed, that you didn't answer my question. Do you feel the article's contents are irrelvavent?

 

[Roman]

If you've gotten to 22 without ever touching a girl because you've been remarkably unlucky, or because of personal ethics, or because you spent the last 21 years in a shaolin monastery that forbade females, or what have you; but you otherwise behave like a normal human being, then your virgin status is pretty much your own business.

I got to 22 without ever touching a girl because I am too shy to ever ask a girl out/touch a girl/kiss a girl/etc. This obviously means that I would never 'hit' on a gaming girl or want to touch/take pictures of 'booth babes' - these things do not sound like something most shy people would do - on the contrary they seem like something outgoing/social people would do.

I'm talking about people who's status as 20-something virgins is merely a symptom of severe psycho-social disorders that likewise cause them to have odious personal habits (regarding hygene and deportment) and to be disruptive to the community and the games they join.

Well, I do not believe I am disruptive to the community and games I join, but then again, does anybody actually believe these things about himself or herself? I don't think anyone does. That can only be objectively judged by others, not by the individual concerned. As to my hygiene, I would say it is pretty ordinary (shower once a day or after sweating, brush teeth twice a day, blah, blah, blah - I am not going to describe my entire hygiene routine on the net).

 

[Incenjucar]

Sorry, but are you Asian?

I wonder how it would sound if I said look at all the cute young White women everywhere.
:\

1) I'm a hybrid/mutt/mule, whatever you wanna call me. I don't HAVE an ethnicity. However, as I do have Native American blood, and they're more related to Asians than, say, the Vikings are, it may explain my inclinations.

2) I have a special personal attraction to women of a certain variety of features and mannerisms, most of which are most easily found in Asian women. Fine bone structures, smallish chests, dark hair, pale skin, and almond-shaped eyes get me all fluttery. Their voices and accents to various degrees tend to just make me want to hug the snot out of them, ta boot. Oddly enough, Lucy Lui does nothin' for me, but numerous Goth gals do, as well as a handful of pretty much every 'ethnicity', and not every Asian girl fits my personal interests. However, they tend to hit more points with my hormones than any other groups.

3) I respect people from all cultures based on their personal merits as human beings without regard for their genetic background. Doesn't mean I have to be equally interested in rubbing them down with massage oil any more than I have to want to make someone's granny blush. May as well get mad at me for liking B cups much more than I like D cups. Gee, I'm sorry that I don't roll dice to determine who gets my blood pumping.

--

Roman, I know your pain. I didn't even admit that I liked girls until I was 18 (helps that I was in an area full of people that, due to their beliefs, or, alternatively, bad habits, I had zero desire of being emotionally attatched to). Even used to pride myself on being "Der Ubervirgin". Then age 20 hit, and a friend came over from overseas and, er, jumpstarted my hormones.

Which would have been great if she didn't have to return....

Eh heh...

 

[Style]

Awesome thread

From the preceding pages I have learned that the following may or may not be true:

1. North Americans are way smellier than South Americans.
2. Some folks would be a lot happier if we put all the wiffy wierdos on an island somewhere and forgot all about them.
3. The booth girls are better at some place called Illinois Street.
4. Roman may well know shaolin kungfu!
5. There is a fundamental connection between feline urine and gaming that I was previously quite unaware of.

I used to play in a professional doom metal band for a brief spell about 10 years ago. The average gamer is a pampered erudite next to someone with Goredeath Necrosanct written in felt-tip on their forehead. Lovely chaps, for the most part. It takes all sorts.

Other than that, I'd just like to add that the intolerant should be flayed alive and boiled in a stew of their own bile. And smelly people just need to wash more, that's all.

 

[Gunslinger]

I've never been to GenCon (hopefully next year) but the folks who attended this year's Kubla Con generally had better hygiene and were better adjusted socially than many of gamers that visit my FLGS.

[Edit] I couldn't figure out how to use th PM function (is it possible without being a community supporter?) so I'm putting it here. Roman, try reading some of guides at this site. http://sucs.org/~nicholas/djb/index.php

You will find some advice that I don't agree with (many of the members swear that you have to be a jerk to attract women) but the Weapons of Mass Seduction and Boot Camp both have good suggestions for slowly ridding yourself of social phobias and gaining confidence. Also be sure to read some of the stickied threads available lower down on the page for additional tips.

 

[Maggan]

But the question everybody is asking is...

*shrugs*

It can't be worse than the furry convention I went to; then again, people there tended to touch like a compulsion (ever seen people petting a guy in a collar in public? ever seen a girl calling out 'yerf!' to nobody in particular? I have.)

So you just happened to be there? Yeah right...

What was your costume?

M.