gamer body image/self image

[Moe Ronalds]

In my group only one of us is overweight and pale with glasses and "poor" fashion sense (though how anyone can say that my khakis and button up shirts aren't the hight of fashion is beyond my capacity to understand.) The rest are pretty average looking (well, one guy's your standard mohawk/metal shirt guy, but other than that...).

 

[hellbender]

My group is all pretty average, although one guy swears he is a 38 waist and I really have my doubts unless he has some mega-freak anatomy I don't want to know about. Then there is the little hive-inducing guy, but the others are normal to above average. I am 6'4" and in shape, people tend to get out of my way in a crowd, and not from lack of hygiene.


hellbender

 

[Ranger REG]

Sometimes we stereotype ourselves. I mean, how often does Dragon magazine depict a gaming group eating salad, or have fruit bowls? Someone once suggested that we try major sponsors like Pepsi to advertise in and support our gaming magazine.

While RPG is now dubbed a lifestyle game, I don't think that obesity or the risk of it should be part of that lifestyle.

 

[Uzumaki]

Most gamers are American. Most Americans are fat. Therefore, most gamers are fat. Most gamers enjoy computers. Most computers are in dark rooms where the sun don't shine. Thus, gamers are also pale. Case closed.

 

[Enceladus]

Do I have a gut? Sure. But I make up for it by being incredible well endowed....
















.....with 20/20 vision.

 

[talinthas]

Back at my first gen con, one of my friends (guy who used to go by the name Fagan Skullcrusher on the wotc boards; understand he's known by his real name here... ) told me that there were two types of gamers: The one who needs to wrap his belt around him four times, and the one who needs four belts to wrap around him once.

I'd say that generally holds true in my experience =)

 

[DerianCypher]

Haha! I don't fit either stereotype!

I am 5'9" ~140lbs.

so ha! I break the mold! I'm unique! Worship me!

DC

 

[Sialia]

Personally, I am a goddess with totally ripped abs and legs that are to die for.

But given how much time I spend sitting on my ever so adorable butt peering at a computer monitor (where I do my work and 90% of my socialization activities) it isn't my job or my hobbies that support that body image.

Any group of people who would rather spend a long Saturday afternoon pretending to climb mountains than actually going out and climbing them is going to have a certain percentage of people who don't see the sun much.

 

[DerianCypher]

Personally, I am a goddess with totally ripped abs and legs that are to die for.

Hmmm... what was that about self-loathing? Appears Sialia has self confidence to spare

DC

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

Hmmm.

In my gaming group, there's one guy who is "heavy" , but he's also very tall, hulking and someone I'd want on my side in a fight. He walks a lot (doesn't have a car). The rest of the guys in my group are all average sized, good looking guys (the big guys cute too...in his own way) . I'm the only female in the group and I'm average sized (about 5'5 125 lbs). Past gaming groups I've known, follow the same pattern as far as looks go. Mostly just average, normal looking people.

When my friends talk about the "gamer stereotype" , they tend to think of skinny pale, guys who wear a lot of black and rings with skulls on them.

Personally, I don't know any gamers who fit that description either.

We could all post pictures of ourselves on the boards and I'm sure we'd see a big variety in looks/body types. But I bet we'd see very few who fit the stereotype.

~S