Gamer Stigma Self-Inflicted?

[Praeco]

I think for most people the stigma is a carryover from their teen years. Most people who are interested in D&D are either intelligent, literate (meaning they read a lot) individuals who would be classified as 'nerds' regardless, or they are individuals who have a great deal of personal troubles and play the game as escapism. Neither group is usually very well-loved during junior high and high school (or the British equivalents).

D&D is not so much a cause of the stigma as it is an identifying trait. In the adult world, nerdiness is not nearly as stigmatized (in fact bullying people is generally considered a sign of immaturity so the tables are often turned) so playing D&D will no longer cast a negative image.

Despite this, I feel the fear of rejection or reprisal stays long after the actual potential of it is long gone. The only way to beat this fear is often to 'test the waters' and see how people react.

Of course, this is based on personal experience. Some of you may know of, or were, perfectly popular and well-liked as teens AND still played D&D, but I have never met anyone who fit this category.

 

[Moe Ronalds]

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...

I know most places only specify that you need a shirt and shoes, but I still don't think you'll get away with no pants...

 

[I'm A Banana]

Whenever I introduce D&D to someone who is potentially against it, I do the following:

"Hello, I play Dungeons and Dragons. And here are the attractive asian women I play with."

Odly, no one has questioned why I like playing.

 

[Mallus]

I know most places only specify that you need a shirt and shoes, but I still don't think you'll get away with no pants...

A lot of strange things happen when you engage in activities while very, very drunk...

[Actually, "Velvet Pants" is a song from a few years ago by the Propellerheads... I always think of that song when I think of dancing.]

 

[Brown Jenkin]

I find myself self-stimatizing at times depending on who I am around. It is not the D&D=Devil Woshiping though that worries me (I think that has run its course and those who still think that way I likely have other larger issues with), but rather the uber-geek stigma. I do IT for a living so I already have the geek label, but the computer-geek label is widely accepted in american culture so that is not realy a problem. The problem I have is admitting my gaming to women. For some reason I have no problem saying I work with computers for a living, I play computer games, I read Sci-fi/fantasy, but when it comes to I play D&D I feel that I am crossing a line over into super-nerd=unatractive. These other things especialy the computer stuff may actually work in my favor since it may imply that I could make lots of money, but D&D seems to turn most women off rather than atracting them (no offence intended to our many female ENworlders). Maybe I am immagining this, but this is MY possibly delusional world.

 

[MaxKaladin]

Some of you may consider this to be just semantics, but I always considered the religious angle to be "Gamer Persecution".

"Gamer Stigma", to me, was and is the popular idea that anyone who games must be either a geeky, thirty-something loser who lives in his parents basement, or the comic book guy from the Simpsons. The idea being that "normal" adults spend their recreation time dating, drinking, dancing or doing/watching sports and anyone who plays RPGs over doing things like that must do so because they're a loser. It is unthinkable that someone would choose gaming over these things. I think a lot of the shock people encounter when someone finds out they're a gamer is the shattering of a stereotype. "But, I thought that was just for kids" is as much a polite way of saying "But, you're not a kid and you don't look like the comic book guy. This doesn't make sense! You're not supposed to play RPGs! I thought you were 'normal', like me!" as anything. I think this is a pretty common attitude.

Edit:

On the religion angle: I agree we're pretty much small fry to them right now. They've got much bigger targets. If someone gives them an opportunity, they'll rant and rave against us but otherwise stick to the evils of Harry Potter and whatever else they're preaching against this week.

On Stigma: It is true that we've made one advance. We use to just be losers. Now, we're just social losers but are acknowledged to be financially successful in many cases. I was watching VH1's "I love the 80s" a while back and they did a segment on D&D. Many of the people on their panel made the usual comments about gamers being at least vaguely losers. One guy admitted to being a DM and I think one or two admitted to playing. When it came to "where are they now", though, they all pretty much said that those geeky kids went on to become internet billionaires, are running the country now and other things like that. One guy said maybe he should have played. So, yes, there has been a change. The nerd's potential for financial success has become more recognized.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Thanks MaxKaladin for summing that up better than I could. I completely agree. Unfortunately while the Mazes and Monsters/satanism angle has mostly gone away if you look at most popular culture images of gaming players are either super nerds or losers. While I love comic book guy he has probably done more harm than any other character on tv towards gamers. It is exactly the oh you game you must live in your parents basement and have no life image that I fear presenting. While I will not always hide my gaming and sometimes will admit it to people to enlighten them, mostly I find it easier to leave it unmentioned. Even drug users seem to have a better reputation.