Are you a "closet gamer?"

[ThirdWizard]

I've heard people talking about World of Warcraft in the breakroom at work.

Two people recognized ENWorld on my computer as a D&D website.

There are LARPers in my office!

I have nothing to hide!

 

[Umbran]

Some folks seem to think there are two states, "in the closet" and "actively advertising it to everyone nearby." I take a more nuanced approach. Different people get different information about my life, as appropriate to the nature of our relationship.

My workplace is mostly for work, not socializing, so at work I don't spend a whole lot of time discussing my home life. My coworkers don't know I play RPGs. But, they also don't know that I'm a gardener, or what movies I've gone to recently. I am not "in the closet" about these things - they simply aren't relevant.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

no... there's not any room for water in the fish bowl; it's just dice.

Then you don't have them in a big enough bowl! Thats cruel. I keep mine in a 60 gallon tank with some nice rock outcroppings...

Hey, what do you feed yours? Mine primarily get Orcs.

 

[Argyle King]

Then you don't have them in a big enough bowl! Thats cruel. I keep mine in a 60 gallon tank with some nice rock outcroppings...

Hey, what do you feed yours? Mine primarily get Orcs.

Lately they've been getting some aboleth.

 

[Deset Gled]

I am a closet gamer the same way I am a closet fan-of-David-Lynch's-Dune, a closet 8-bit-NES-player, or closet prefers-regular-Cheerios-over-Honey-Nut-flavor. I put zero effort into hiding it, but it doesn't seem to come up in casual conversation very often.

This is a hobby that demands intense dedication and time in order for one to participate in

It is very possible to be a casual gamer. Even for a regular gamer, there no reason for it to "demand intense dedication", or take over the rest of your life in some all consuming Jack Chick-esque manner.

 

[Hungry Like The Wolf]

I hide it. I'm on the outside of my local gaming scene, I don't really socialise with other gamers and most people have a hard time grasping what TTRPGs are, so I just don't mention it. My girlfriend also keeps my gaming stuff in a chest but I've got a lot of Cthulhu Mythos paraphernalia on display, so I win.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

I'm open about my hobby, but have long since stopped wandering around and proselytizing people.

In my regular group four co-workers are playing, so the topic RPG comes to the surface every now and then at work as well. But we don't often talk about it at lunch break when other people are involved who aren't interested in the topic.

 

[Elf Witch]

I have been playing since the late 70s. I used to help run both Trek and literary cons. I've worn SCA garb, full face costume klingon to the grocery store when I needed something for an event. I am practicing pagan.

I don't hide anything about myself because I am not embarrassed about my hobbies or any aspect of my life. I also don't give hoot what other people think of me.

The only difficulty I ever encountered was landlord back in the 80s who called child services on me for being a satanist and tried to evict me. Child Services looked at my gaming collection, fantasy art work on the walls and my altar asked questions to clarify things. Look at my son's medical records, school records and closed the case. I won a nice settlement in court against my landlord.

It would have been easier to hide all those aspects that make me who I am but to do would be acknowledging that I was doing something wrong.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I will not advertise it, if not asked I will not tell. Call that a closet gamer all you want, I do not lie about it either.

That said, I've been "outed" in some amazingly public ways. The only people who knew I've played D&D and other RPGs were my brothers, parents, and one aunt and one uncle, and the handful of friends I played with since high school.

At my wedding reception my best man (my roommate at the time), toasting my wife and my marriage, in front of hundreds of relatives and friends of both of ours, announced to all that my wife and I met at a D&D convention.

Got a huge chuckle, but it wasn't wrong. My bride and I both looked at each other and gritted our teeth. Truth of it is that it was a sci-fi authors convention.

Six of one, half-dozen of the other, maybe. I would have happily told everyone we met at a sci-fi convention, but I had no intention of telling any of them I was a D&D gamer, especially since there were a few there who held negative views of D&D.

Ah well. We're still happily married 13 years later, now with our second child (just turned 5 months old).

 

[S'mon]

I don't hide it, but I don't go around telling students or fellow lecturers about how cool my 4th level Thief PC Larsenio Roguespierre is, either. I occasionally facebook-favourite D&D related stuff, and I'm friends with a bunch of colleagues & staff on facebook. And I'll occasionally mention it to fellow lecturers if we're discussing weekend plans. But I don't talk about D&D with my undergrad students. I need them to look up to me a wee bit.