Gamer Significant Others

[fusangite]

Not surprising, really; most of us are in the late twenties or older, and the majority of the population in that age range have at least an S.O., if not married. Most gamers I've met in that age range hold down stable jobs, and as my wife seems to think, most guys who were shy and geeky in high school actually turned out to be stable guys who made good husbands.

Hmmmm... I'll have to stop leaning on the crutch of being a gamer to explain my relationship situation and that of the people with whom I socialize I guess.

More seriously, I don't find your demographic explanation entirely holds water. In my experience, with a few notable exceptions, on average, people in my circle who have experienced economic, social and other forms of success have been more likely to leave the hobby than those who have consistently failed in these areas.

And after people-watching at GenCon for four days this year, I have difficulty believing that this tendency is really restricted to my circle of friends. Instead, hopefully ENWorlders will just accept my compliment that somehow this site has attracted the most socially successful of the gaming community.

Checking Census Bureau numbers just for the U.S., my back-of-the napkin numbers are about 220 million adults and 55 million married-couple households (consisting of presumably 110 million married individuals). That's about the same percentage as we're seeing in this poll. I'm presuming here that the poll responders tend to self-select for adults or near-adults.

So, basically we conclude that ENWorld is secretly the Association of Not Being Terribly Demographically Different from the General Population. At least as far as this factor goes.

Good points all! I'm certainly helped to understand the poll a little better when I realize that it is likely selecting for members of ENWorld who are proud of their social success.

Nevertheless, I'm happy to accept your assertion that ENWorlders are closer demographically to the normal population than they are to gamers as a whole.

 

[JohnSnow]

My girlfriend is not a gamer, but is reasonably supportive of my gaming. She's even expressed an interest in sitting in on a game sometime just to "see how it works."

Of course, the two of us met while we were cast members at the Southern California Renaissance Faire, so I suppose she's got a higher than typical acceptance of things like gaming. It's her opinion that "geeky teenagers" seem to grow into smart, stable, mature adults. Half of the guys in my Faire guild game, and some of their girlfriends/wives even game with them. One friend's wife refers to his D&D nights as "the boys getting together to play 'weenie games.'" The 'weenie games' thing has become something of a group joke, so it's one my girlfriend uses.

 

[Pseudonym]

Happily married to a gamer.

 

[Teflon Billy]

This is not meant to insinuate that I'm a crack addict, just that I assume that I enjoy gaming as much as the proverbial crack "ho" does his or her smack.

Smack is Heroin.

 

[Teflon Billy]

Last week, I celebrated 9 years with my gaming SO. (Can't marry him in this state, more's the pity...)

He wasn't really a gamer prior to our relationship, despite a few experiences with a LARP. I guess you could say that I've corrupted him, because now we both play in one bi-weekly game, and he plays in a weekly Eberron campaign I'm running!

Are you guys coming to Gen Con again next year?

 

[Aeson]

I find it funny how gamers talk about their hobby sometime as if it were a disease. Our SOs tolerate our participation, or potential SOs run screaming in the other direction. There is even some irony in the idea that openly gay individuals might be in the closet about their gaming, LOL.

It IS just a hobby, after all...and no stranger than half-a-dozen other hobbies I could name.

They run screaming often even before I get a chance to say I'm into D&D. They respond to the fact a John Goodman lookalike just told them he was interested in them.

 

[Rassilon]

They run screaming often even before I get a chance to say I'm into D&D. They respond to the fact a John Goodman lookalike just told them he was interested in them.

Really? John Goodman is cool. Scary. But cool.

Me, I'm (very) happily married to a non gamer. In truth, she thinks that roleplaying is kind of silly - but she doesn't think that I'm silly for roleplaying. Makes all the difference.


Rassilon.

 

[Penfencer]

I've been dating a wonderful girl for about seven and a half months now, and lately, she's begun to garner a bit of an interest in gaming. She's made a handful of characters, including a fiesty half-elven pigtailed pirate, and seems to have enjoyed our solo games, but she says she's not quite ready to try gaming in a larger group of people. Still, she comes with me to my gaming group every Thursday, and does a lot of watching.

 

[pogre]

My wife used to game, but kids make that much tougher now. She only tolerates gaming now because of the time it takes me away from home. When the kids get older I'm sure she will start playing with us again.

 

[Sejs]

Married to a gamer gal.