It doesn't get much worse than this!

[Aegeri]

I am going to get my fiancee into DnD once I make the move over to Aussie in the future. Going to be good fun!

 

[Henry]

So what are we saying here? That Moss is a positive role model for roleplaying games?

Rather, he's a perfect model for poking fun at roleplayers in general, as said by a diehard roleplayer of some 30 years. I do kinda miss the days when roleplaying was seen as Satanic -- we had a lot more players back then.

Seriously, we gamers can handle the serious representation of our hobby -- we need the media to get a presence out there by any means even remotely respectable -- and comedy's one way to do it. I'd rather have someone ask me what roleplaying is really like, rather than express no interest at all.

 

[nedjer]

even had a rather touching emotional component.

Dude! Man Up!

 

[Subtlepanic]

Oh come on, I don't think this is a stab at the RPG crowd at all, quite the opposite. The moral of the story: a bit of D&D fixes everything.

"Are dragons gay, Phil? Mighty warrior priests wielding golden staffs; I suppose they're gay too?"

 

[nerfherder]

I watched it with my girlfriend (who doesn't play, and has never seen a game being played), my best friend for 30+ years (and fellow gamer for much of that time, till he moved away) who I was visiting and his wife (not a gamer - but has seen us gaming) and we all howled with laughter!

 

[Goonalan]

The fact that the IT Crowd chose to use RPG/D&D is fantastic, to have Moss and the others behave in any other way (than their usual) would be... wrong. The use of stereotypes in all media is shorthand and simplistic, and therefore ideal for a mass audience appeal.

The fact that Graham Linehan (I think he writes it still) thinks that D&D is zeitgeisty enough is to be applauded. I teach/lecture in a UK University, nerds are very cool in my world, the jocks and meatheads are the odd ones out (even the ones that play D&D)-

Award-winning sitcom from Graham Linehan. Banished from the ivory towers of Reynholm Industries, the IT crowd lurk below ground, avoiding work and social contact in equal measure...

So an underground subculture (how cool is that- see every Hollywood Anti-Hero), avoiding work (oh how I (we all) dream about...) and social contact- well except with each other (and us the audience).

We may laugh at them but we also know that for the most part we're laughing at ourselves, or our friends, but mostly that part of ourselves.

I don't watch the IT Crowd as a rule, but strangely enough to a man (and I mean to a man- 22 males) the IT department where I work all watch it, and several of them are working towards the stereotype, they quote chunks of it to each other (cf Monty Python and gamers).

Also over in the UK (and elsewhere) we show our love for a thing by 'ripping the p***' out of it, it's almost the highest form of flattery.

To be honest it doesn't get any better than this...

Oh and read 'The Elfish Gene" by, I think, Mark Barrowcliffe, it too is wonderful.

http://www.elfishgene.com/

 

[nedjer]

The fact that Graham Linehan (I think he writes it still) thinks that D&D is zeitgeisty enough is to be applauded. I teach/lecture in a UK University, nerds are very cool in my world, the jocks and meatheads are the odd ones out (even the ones that play D&D)-

Award-winning sitcom from Graham Linehan. Banished from the ivory towers of Reynholm Industries, the IT crowd lurk below ground, avoiding work and social contact in equal measure...

So an underground subculture (how cool is that- see every Hollywood Anti-Hero), avoiding work (oh how I (we all) dream about...) and social contact- well except with each other (and us the audience).

We may laugh at them but we also know that for the most part we're laughing at ourselves, or our friends, but mostly that part of ourselves.

I don't watch the IT Crowd as a rule, but strangely enough to a man (and I mean to a man- 22 males) the IT department where I work all watch it, and several of them are working towards the stereotype, they quote chunks of it to each other (cf Monty Python and gamers).

Also over in the UK (and elsewhere) we show our love for a thing by 'ripping the p***' out of it, it's almost the highest form of flattery.

To be honest it doesn't get any better than this...

Offical Site of The Elfish Gene by Mark Barrowcliffe

Still waiting to get back into the game but the Boss' has put a temple on the map.

While I'm out . . Have to agree that taking the rip is a compliment on a few UK levels, and there's no harm in not taking ourselves too seriously.

Just not sure how helpful the 'image' is to potential tabletop RPG players. They might think twice about sampling borderline geek life for fear of going Gandalf-head?

Say you go to your VC and say 'it's time I got promoted, oops, I mean time we did more active learning'. Then say 'organic', 'differentiated' and 'joined-up' all in one go. As he turns his now puppy eyes to you, you kick in hard and say 'we could do with more non-teaching staff'. He's in the palm of your hand . . . until he says 'how are we going to do that?'

Do you now hand him a copy of the IT Room episode or WOAH! Dice time.

Yes, I'm back, almost too weak to lift a sword but alive . . . game-on

 

[MarkB]

Sadly you're right. It's a hugely negative culture. People will weep, rage and obsess about major stuff like first rights on an mobile phone.

Yeah, it was totally different in the old days. People used to obsess about proper stuff, like first rights on a portable cassette player.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Just for the record, I don't know what this means, or if it is supposed to be good or bad.

"...taking the rip out of..." As opposed to "..putting the rip into..."? So, the opposite of ripping or damaging? Like, repairing? Half an hour of repairing D&D?

You kids with your wacky lingo

It means tey slagged it off, sumt'in awful. Gaedjer poms rippin' me gaeme naow! (Somewhat badly written Edwardian Dublin slang, for the nonce. )

The Auld Grump

 

[Jools]

Man, whats wrong with (some of) you people. It was great! Lighten up. Someones being a little over-sensitive methinks.