RANT: My sister thinks you're all losers

[Zander]

I made some reference to EN World, and my sister started in on this tirade about how people who post online about a fantasy game are no-doubt wierdoes: fat (or scrawny), unwashed men with bad hygiene, tattoos, piercings (my wife's ears perked at this point, as she has both piercings and tattoos.)

It's true that I'm technically overweight but I used to be obese and if I keep going on the diet I'm on, I should be in the normal weight range in a month or two. For the record, I wash & shave regularly and I don't have any tattoos or piercings.

These men (sorry female ENWorlders, my sister assures me that you are men claiming to be women) have no female friends or romantic interests, unless they're wierdoes, too.

I have a girlfriend. We've been together for 7+ years. She's neither weird nor a gamer. In fact, we're both quite conservative (small "c").

According to her, people who post on a board like EN World frequently do so because they are unable to interact with the real world in a meaningful way - in short, there is something wrong with them.

I have no problem interacting with people either online or off. I do like being on my own but not in a deviant or pathological way.

..all EN Worlders are uneducated losers with serious psychological deficiencies and a cornocopia of aberant behaviors, but no education, no jobs, and no real, substantiative value as people.

I have a BA from Johns Hopkins, a master's from the London School of Economics, a doctorate from Oxford University and I've been a visiting grad student at Jochi University in Tokyo. I work as a management consultant. I'm not psychologically deficient: my tutors at Oxford regarded me as exceptionally intelligent even by my college's high standards. It's true that I'm not terribly charismatic but people who get to know me soon realise that I'm kind and have a great sense of humour.

People value each other using different standards so what might be "real" and "substantive" to your sister may not be to someone else. In other words, it's subjective.

 

[Dougal DeKree]

Mine! I want!

Arbiter, sisters just get jealous about anything their brother has fun with that they can't/won't have. So since they can't have it, they try to lessen your fun. And in my experience that's true even for adult females.

Example: My sister thinks that roleplaying is only done by male singles with a contact problem. When she first met my wife (we weren't married then and my sister was a single (30) at the same time) she decided to spit some acid, just to do some damage. "Do you know that my brother has that bad habit? He plays D&D!" My wife answered "Sure. I first met him when we joined the same gaming group. Do you play, too?"

Lucky me Needless to say that my sister and my wife don't get along too well...

Dougal

 

[Belen]

I post from work. It aleviates the boredom. I also have a wonderfully beautiful wife. Maybe you should talk with her about stereotypes.

 

[glass]

These are things of substantiative value.

I thought that!


glass.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

What gets me though, is that she was talking specifically about those who post here. Joshua, you're a freak. Crothian's a freak. Morrus and Eric Noah and Queen Dopplepopolis (sorry about the spelling, DP) and Piratecat and Darkness and Reveal and Diaglo are all freaks.

*rolls her eyes* I may be a little nutty, but I don't think I'm freaky in the slightest. Okay... maybe I like Law and Order a little too much, but aside from that - I'm a pretty normal gal. I'm in the process of being well educated. I'm thin, tall, and blonde. I have two pets. I have a loving marriage. I am a Christian. I attend Mary Kay and Pampered Chef parties. I hope to have 3 children. I read. I listen to a lot of classic rock. I once learned to knit, but have already forgotten. I play the bongos. I love to buy shoes.

On second thought. Yep - I'm a total freak. I don't sound like any other 20-something girl you've ever met, I'm sure.

Why is it that a single one of my hobbies makes me a freak? Why does gaming and posting on a gaming related message board outweigh all of the other things I love?

But seriously - there are people all over this world that would rather close their minds to things than try to understand them. They're jerks and they suck, but each and every one of them is someone's mom, sister, brother, dad, cousin, etc, etc. I butt heads with some of my family members over a lot of stuff that they refuse to understand (but, I've got a lot of closed-minded back-woods relations from South Dakota).

I've really come to understand that - for whatever reason - my hobbies are viewed as "weird" or "freaky" by some people. I've tried and tried to explain it to any number of those people, but most of them flat out refuse to listen... They're my classmates and co-workers, some of them I even consider my friends. We just can't share in the same discussions as those that actually know me best.

So yes - as I said earlier - some people suck.

(and - you totally spelled it right!! GOOD JOB!)

 

[diaglo]

i have 3 sisters.

no skin off my back what your sister thinks of me. i'm a happily married man with a good paying job working to help improve the quality of health and life for my fellow man.

i hope to work myself out of a job or at least work until they force me to retire.

i post in between timed experiments in the lab.

diaglo "a federal employee working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" Ooi