How Do You Explain D&D To Non-Gamers?

[Deuce Traveler]

Among the military occupation, saying you play a tabletop game that simulates tactical or strategic combat usually wins you points with peers and superiors, even if some of the RPGs are fantasy.

 

[Mitchbones]

It is basicly Adult Make-Belive.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

It is basicly Adult Make-Belive.

I agree. However, I can also see how that can be misconstrued.

 

[gribble]

My wife on the other hand. I just mock her back, saying "Ha, ha, you married a nerd!"

Yeah, I've often gotten (lighthearted) ribbing from girlfriends in the past, to which my reply is: "who's worse, the nerd, or the girl who picks up nerds?"


Getting back to the topic, I've often found something like the following to be helpful:
You know in movies/tv, where the characters will often do something stupid and you find yourself thinking (or yelling): "don't go that way!" or "lookout, he's behind you!", but no matter what you think/say, the character will do it anyway because that's what the writer/director decided would happen. Well it's kind of like being one of those characters from the movie, except that *you* get to decide whether you go that way or try to look for the guy behind you, rather than the writer/director.

If they push more, I'd go on to describe how you "be a character", how you figure out whether or not you actually notice the guy behind you or not (i.e.: rolling dice). It also takes care of the "so who wins?" question, because this way people can appreciate that it's just like a TV series where the same characters do something different every week.

I dunno, I've found it a useful analogy, it might help you too.

 

[werk]

Ever play monopoly? It's kinda like that. You pretend to be someone, like in monopoly you pretend to be a real estate tycoon and you have to make decisions whether to buy a property or not or build houses or hotels or not. You roll dice to see how well you do...sometimes you pass go and get $200 sometimes your character dies. It's really very complex, but that's the short version.

 

[sniffles]

"It's a game we play with a bunch of friends, and a good excuse to get together with people and hang out on Sunday evenings... To us, it's just like the weekly poker night, or football party, or golf game, or bowling league."

That's the explanation I usually use, too. Most people don't really care to know anything more specific. If they do, then I use something similar to werk's Monopoly analogy.

Luckily, both at work and in the rest of my life I don't have to hide what I do with my free time - all of my friends are gamers, and I'm a system administrator and all of the other sys admins are geeks, too!

 

[freebfrost]

D&D is a role-playing game. Role-playeing games are games where everyone gets to be the hero that saves the day. Imagine yourself as Superman, or Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings, or John McClaine from Die Hard. If you were that person in a movie, what would *you* do in those circumstances? RPGs allow you to pretend you are that person and you choose what to do next.

As far as closeted gamers, I think that's a shame. Anytime you hide a part of yourself because you fear other's reactions is just sad. I work in a high-profile area for one of the largest banks in the US, and my coworker know I am a gamer, even if they don't totally understand what that means.

 

[Nellisir]

I'm more or less a closet gamer -- a habit ingrained from Catholic high school. My wife, on the other hand, is not at all shy about telling people I play D&D. I don't think she was exposed to it at all growing up, so there's no stigma attached to it. She has zero interest in playing, though.

I go the "it's like a story" route, usually with an example thrown in: "imagine you're in a underground tunnel, with stone walls and a damp floor. Behind you is a set of stairs leading up to the surface. Thirty feet ahead of you, the passage turns a corner; there's light coming from around the corner. You have a sword, and you know how to use it. You hear footsteps moving in your direction from around the corner -- what do you want to do?"

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

I usually dont give them an explaination. I look at them as if they are the ones out of the loop by not knowing what it is, not as if im participating in some Niche hobby for geeks and nerds.
Closet gamer. No just selective. When it comes to girls, well i let them find out on their own. As for other people, i dont really give a crap if they find out or not. Anyone who wont accpet you socially Because of RPG's is a shallow person i wouldnt want around anyway.
However, i can understand if it would effect your job. However, i would also imagine that a workplace couldnt fire you or do anything else to you for just playing a game, but maybe im wrong.

 

[fett527]

I tell them we're smoking dope and praising satan. The nervous laughter that ensues makes me feel warm and fuzzy.