Well, I'm only 23 nowadays so I wasn't around for the worst of the ant D&D mania. In 92 or so I was reading every book I could get my hands on and came across the Forgotten Realms section in the local bookstore. I looked around and found honest to goodness DnD Forgotten Realms stuff and got interested in it. I bought some stuff one day, and brought it home. My Dad, who is generally the most open minded and tolerant person in the world, made me throw it away because he had heard that people commited suicide and worshipped the devil after playing it. I was shocked, but since he hadn't ever really told me "No" regarding a pasttime before I just gave in and went back to reading the books. (And playing Heroquest, funny that it wasn't a problem)
When I turned 16 I was out driving and saw the local gaming store. I decided to stop in and see if they had DnD games there, so that I could learn the rules and get in on a game or two. When I opened the door a Purple cloud rolled out onto the street, and I was face to face with some of the most motley looking people I had ever seen.
Turns out they were nice enough, but not the kind of people I wanted to be assosciated with, not due to the DnD, but other, more questionable, hobbies. I enjoyed the game though, and when 3rd Edition came out my brother and I bought up all of the books and started our own campaigns, with me DMing in the FR and him in Greyhawk. We hid it from Mom and Dad until recently. Seems that now, they don't care what we do since were both out of High School and Im out of college and in Grad school. Ahh parents.
Kradge