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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Heap Thaumaturgist" data-source="post: 270166" data-attributes="member: 4516">I agree with Doc.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />-I- make fun of D&D players on a semi-regular basis.  And I have to sigh internally every time one of my friends brings up my hobby.  Usually after they realize I game and I haven't gotten around to turning them to the dark side myself.Being able to take the game with a grain of humor is actually helpful in overcoming the "That's for geeks, man." reaction ... because lets be honest people ... it is.  Big time.  Half the time my visits to the comic book store feel a little like I'm visiting a porno store or something:  "Oi.  I hope nobody that doesn't understand sees me in here."  It's the nature of human interaction to give identity through difference ... "I'm not like that, that solidifies what I AM."  Saying the fat guy with the headband, patchy beard, and pink kid's backpack is NOT like you is solidifying your identity.  Some of these people are way outside the limits of normalcy, and at 25 they're not going to have an epiphany. ... I don't want to be average, but I do sort of enjoy my position within normal limits and the ability to walk up to women and start a functioning conversation.So if you can laugh at those people, and yourself, and accept that the stigma is there ... and that it is there for a reason ... you can get it out of the way right away.  If you laugh at something, you defuse it on your own terms.   At its crudest, it is the defense mechanism of the fat funny kid in middle school.  (Being that kid, I've had alot of time to refine my technique.)  So go ahead and laugh at the gamer geeks a little bit.  Laugh at yourself for being one.  Come on, admit it ... you've probably got a few of those traits, right?   If you're on here, you have to, even if it's just the tendency to sit around for hours a day talking about stuff that doesn't exist.  Once you've got that out of the way you're free to repaint the hobby ... place yourself in a position of respect and relative normalcy and then begin to integrate the idea of the hobby with you on YOUR terms.  I'm sure Mike can sit down at the game table and say:  "Pshhh, Gamers ... what kind of freaks are they ... pass the d20."--HT</blockquote>

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