Are you a "closet gamer?"

[nedjer]

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.

I'm more cynical there. Day 1, tutorial 1 - co-design the tutorial. Followed fairly shortly by the nuclear facility you're standing in has been hit by an earthquake. How many lives can you save on three sides for Monday? (Almost everyone's populations and PC die horribly - or whatever the situation is - at the start of the course, but they redeem themselves in a comparable exercise near the end of the course).

They rave about this in the online performance feedback giving me buckets of brownie points, which the system automatically turns into comparative graphs for staff evaluations.

 

[Iron Sky]

I don't talk about it unless someone else broaches it first. I'm not ashamed of it (anymore) but there are people out there who don't get it and are vehemently against it. The school I work for is struggling as it is - losing the tuition of a student or three because their parents are super-religious and find out I've been playing D&D for 17 years wouldn't help anyone.

 

[Ulrick]

I brag about playing D&D and other RPGs all the time.

And then I tell them awesome my characters are, and what they would do in real-world dangerous situations, and how I have a talent to rolling natural 18s for their ability score. I actively recruit people at my job or on the street. I carry a bag containing my D&D books and a case of miniatures just in case somebody wants to play a drop of a hat. The case also has brushes and a paint set, so I can do "on the spot" miniature painting for people to show them how cool painting miniatures is and what an awesome paint job I do. I wear shirts with the d20 logo on them wherever I go and use that to start conversations for potential recruits for my games.

Some people get offended or they think I'm weird because of these actions. If so, then I tell these people they are "unenlightened untermenschen" who need to get a life....







...just kidding.

No, I fall some place in between. I don't actively bring up RPGs in conversations, nor do I deny that I play if the subject gets brought up. I do think, however, that gaming has become more accepted since I first started playing around 1990. Maybe that perception just comes with age or maybe opponents of D&D have found other things to blame the corruption of the youth on. Still, I think this country (US) has a long way to go for full mainstream acceptance.

 

[Gilladian]

In my job as a teen librarian, the fact that I play RPGs is widely known and accepted. The kids think it is weird but they do seem to like the idea that I'm not "normal". They're more disappointed that I don't read more manga!

My boss has actually brought library patrons to me to discuss the local dnd community and how to get hooked up with local games! I even ran a game all one summer at work. THAT was fun, though I had pretty low turnout.

I have never had anyone tell me it was EVIL, though lots just don't "get" what it is or why I enjoy it. I've had more people grab my hand and pray over me when I tell them I'm not a Christian than I've had tell me DnD would send me to hell...

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

I get paid to be loud and proud...

So maybe I'm not the right person to ask.

 

[DragonLancer]

Gamer and proud!

I've never hidden it from either friends, family, or work colleagues. In fact putting roleplaying and hobby gaming down on CV has done me well in job interviews before.

 

[OnlineDM]

I'm the one who started the "Are you in the RPG closet?" thread from last year that was linked to above, and my status has changed somewhat since my original post. I'm a lot like many other replies above - I don't actively proselytize for RPGs among co-workers, but if asked about my hobbies I'm starting to get more comfortable with talking about D&D.

I'm going to Gen Con this year for the first time, and when I talked to the guy who coordinates events in Indianapolis for my company about possibly setting up some work events just before Gen Con so that my company would pay for my plane ticket, he asked what I was in town for. I told him, and it turns out that he's a gamer, too!

More recently I was mentioning my trip to Indianapolis to one of my co-workers who asked about my upcoming travel schedule, and when asked about the personal side of the trip I told him about it. He didn't really get it (he thought I was talking about a computer game convention like E3 at first), but I explained it enough so that he understood.

So, I'm coming out a bit more, and I at least no longer actively hide my hobby at work.