Gamer Stigma Self-Inflicted?

[hong]

So, I take that you're trying to prove the original poster right?

Well, I dunno. I mean, just placing a bunch of minis on a table seems like a fairly pissweak mating ritual to me. Okay, maybe you can spruce it up by walking up to a random person and saying "hey, wanna check out my lead?" but it doesn't really work.

No, what you want to do is put your dice bag on the table. Now that really gets attention, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.


Hong "bay-BEE!" Ooi

 

[Buttercup]

In addition, so many of those "troubled teens" from back then have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, police, doctors of genetics (yes, one of my best friends who still games), and otherwise upstanding members of the community that the old tired argument just seems stupid now.

My group is seven librarians and a chemist. Scary people, to be sure.

And yeah, I think the stigma is largely self-inflicted. For one thing, most people are too busy with their own concerns to give a rat's behind what other folk are doing with their free time.

 

[Drawmack]

My group consists of a special education teacher, a computer securities analyst, a computer programmer, 2 college students and a high school student.

Among us the only one to experience any recent stigma is the high school student. He can't get a game together of people his own age because many of their parents won't let them play.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

Well over here in the UK I found it pretty rough in school. I mean people were pretty offensive about it. I always thought it made a good CV (resume sorry) point though - learning rules, persuasion, acting skills and of course leadership. I always thought that management courses should have a short D&D game in them somewhere .

Now at University it's much better. People seemed curious to begin with as to what it was. Accepted it was pretty hard to explain the rules, but consisted of acting and dice-rolling and then seemed to be ok with it. Yes I admit, some of the people I know that rp are a little weird, but then it's kinda nice to be on the tail of a normal curve .

Is it self inflicted? Not always. The religious thing is obsolete nowadays, in fact I find those christians I know can be quite strict and offensive in their beliefs (condemning people for lack of belief). On the other hand, like I said, I like to be a little odd, and it is something to talk about. As long as we don't have to invoke the human rights act or call amnesty international to prevent gamers being stoned (and I mean with rocks thankyou) we can get along just fine =).

 

[Moe Ronalds]

I've had a few bits of stigma from it, but nothing too spiteful. I told one guy that a lot of adults played D&D and he nearly threw up from the shock. "B-but... WHY!? If I were an adult I'd be spending my time dancing and at clubs, not playing D&D!" Yes, that is what he said. Yes, I did find it terribly funny.

I also have two friends who refuse to agknowledge that it isn't satan's game, but they still get along with me. One time I also told a teacher I played (she asked about my hobbies) and she said, paraphrasing. "Now, you know not to go off and... (trails off) alright, okay, yeah. Just checking!" I don't really blame her too much though, she was an older lady so she's bound to be a little old fashioned.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

I've never had any issues with it. Of course, I tend to only associate with people who wouldn't have a problem with it. My friends and family think it's interesting. My boyfriend plays. The other people in my life, co-workers etc, don't consider me enough to inquire, and if they did, I don't think they'd care enough to comment.

 

[Djeta Thernadier]

"B-but... WHY!? If I were an adult I'd be spending my time dancing and at clubs, not playing D&D!" Yes, that is what he said. Yes, I did find it terribly funny.

Oh my.

That poor, misguided lad.

I AM an adult and I'd honestly rather toss myself weaponless into a dark, wooded area infested with starving, pissed off trolls who've been protected with a fire resistence spell than go dancing at a club.

Egads!


Wow. I am all about the double posts today. This is like, my third one.

 

[Mystic_23]

About the only stigma that I've seen in regards to D&D has to do with a friend of mine. He took a lot of crap in high school because he was pretty weird. So, one day, he got angry, I guess, and decided to bring a gun to school. He ended up shooting blindly into the typing room, and didn't injure anyone, just kinda ran around. Finally, the police got called and he was sent away to an institution.

Some of our high school classes were at the middle school, so we had to be bussed back and forth...on the bus one day, a year later, some kids were talking about what happened. One of them said "Yeah, I heard he was a big satan worshipper. He had candles in a pentagram and a bunch of D&D books in his basement."

I just thought it was funny that people just assume things like that. As far as I know, he's never been interested in D&D. That could have changed since I stopped hanging out with him when he got into taking and selling drugs. Ah well.

 

[Mallus]

Hey, dancing at clubs can fun, especially if one is very, very drunk. And one happens to be wearing velvet pants. Heck, even without the velvet pants...

And with regards to the topic... I don't think the stigma attached to D&D is entirely self-inflicted. Its still seen by many people outside the hobby as an adolescent pursuit {as SF/F fiction is seen as a primarily adolescent literature by some snobby folks who grudgingly have something of a point}.

But I think there's a far greater acceptence of adults pursuing adolescent pursuits these days. Almost all of my post-30 friends play videogames, for instance. I believe the median age of console game buyer is now in the mid-20's. And even my more family-oriented 'mature' friends own/crave SUV's, which strike my as nothing more than $35,000 Tonka trucks that one can ride around in as opposed to just push...

And then there's the geekiness issue. However, if common English usage is any guide, the realms of geekiness now include music geeks, film geeks, many stripe of sports geek {really, how could someone who obsessively records baseball statistics not be a geek?} etc. The geek label itself is far less stigmatizing, because its {rightly} taken to mean anyone who has a passion for and extensive knowledge of a given hobby.

 

[Henry]

I used to go clubbing with my wife, and she still goes with her sister from time to time, because she loves to dance, and I couldn't dance to save my life.

I still go clubbing these days - but it involves Barbarians and Martial Weapons.

The stigma is still (vaguely) there, but most people pay it no heed. Of those who do, you get little to no flack any more, because it's not worth their personal aggravation.

What I am about to say next is not meant to be insulting, so hopefully it won't come out that way:

From the perspective of most people who are against D&D: In a world where Paganism, promiscuity, homosexuality, increasing threat of war, famine, and possibly epidemic diseases are facts of life, who's going to worry much about a bunch of people who get together to worship the Devil?

In other words, in their list of priorities, RPG'ers are small fry. It's just that so many gamers are used to the "bomb shelter" mentality, that it's hard to come out and admit that you play role playing games. "Oh, no, my boss just heard that I play RPG's! Duck and Cover!"