Stereotypes and the expanding of the RPG market

[DDK]

I have recently been inspired by several threads which seem to engender the stereotype of the gamer. What sparked the initial thoughts on this matter, however, was the movie 'The Gamers' that is reviewed by Monte Cook on his site.

Basically, it comes down to the philosophical question that any student of media should instantly recognize and that is, "Do we make the media or does the media make us?" What I mean by this is that there seems to be a very strong leaning towards certain core concepts that define what a gamer is and is not.

Of course, one unavoidable defining characteristic is that we game. However does playing RP games define you as a gamer? Or, for that matter, as a geek? Do you instantly become a geek if you are a gamer or can you come from other socio-political sectors? Do jocks play RPG's?

Of course, the mere fact that I'm basing this assumption on primarily net-based information skews the entire issue because there is an obvious leaning towards geekdom in the online, RPG community.

However, certain axioms are ever present as is reinforced in the movie 'The Gamers'. Specifically, it was the line, "Called shot to the nutz!" which seeded my thoughts on this matter. I don't know about 3rd ed. newbies, and I'm not familiar with 1st ed. and whether or not it had called shots, but as a person who came into the gamer fold by way of 2nd ed., this line had me doubling over in fits of laughter. I can't think of ONE game in 2nd ed. that DIDN'T involve SOMEONE making a called shot to an enemies balls.

Comedy aside, this brought up the thought that if a group of geeks half-way around the world had similar experiences with the game that I did and can thus extrapolate a whole movie worth of one liners like that, then there must be very strong, core concepts that are similar to gamers everywhere.

And when you think about it, and look through not only the threads below, but most threads on most boards, despite a difference in the system being used, there seems to be various idioms and axioms at work within the worldwide gamer community.

Now like I said above, do we make the media or does the media make us? If all gamers have fundamental similarities, is that because only similar people are attracted to gaming or is it because, once gaming, that you begin to take on core aspects of what it means to be a 'gamer'?

It would seem to me that the former is most true and therefore I would like to propose that gamers and gaming companies and gaming stores, entice NEW types of people into gaming.

I know it's possible because I've done it. Gaming does not necessarily have to be the sole domain of the geek. If you game, that does not have to define who you are. I've gotten people who in your whole life you would never bet on ever roleplaying, sitting down for hours at a time, enraptured. If the RPG market is EVER to expand, now is the ripe time to expand it. Fantasy/sci-fi has never been so popular as it is now, time to embrace all those potential newbies and bring them into the fold.

I don't know how this would be accomplished, mind you. Aside from mugging people or selling RPG's at the local cinema where LotR or the latest comic book adaption is showing. But seriously, the RPG market, IMO, is growing stale simply because there is no real new blood. Wasn't d20 supposed to revitilize things and bring in new players?

The benefit of bringing in more people would be quite profound. Greater acceptance of the hobby, more (and better) products, more movies, more (and better) gaming stores, more players and, most importantly, MORE GM's!
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Strange gaming & Con traditions

 

[JRRNeiklot]

In my experience, gamers, like any other group, come in a variety of packages. I don't think I am or ever was a jock, but I did play college baseball. My current group consists of doctor, a teacher, 2 desk jockeys, a hardware technician (me), two guys who do factory work, and a mechanic. Three of those, including me, lol, are redneck country boys. You wouldn't think a lot of those game, but I've met several. Of course, living in the south rednecks are a bit more prevalent, heheh.

 

[LostSoul]

I think that gaming makes you a geek. You don't have to be a geek to game, but most people who game are. And those who aren't geeks probably don't talk about gaming that much with their real friends.

 

[astralpwka]

Well, as I do not argue the fact that I'm a geek, I think you could join the gaming market also as a freak. Not to pin names, but here's a look at a different genre...

Six years ago we started a LARP in my area (Twin Falls, Idaho), ranging from 20 to 60 people on a friday night. We did the Vampire: the Masquerade thing religiously for over a year, with everyone showing up in black, some makeup, and our vampire fangs. Now the sheer number of people showing up each week got us quite a mix... preppies, skaters, goths, geeks (but I don't think any jocks...hmmm)... and the theme of the game had pretty much dissolved any type of clique barriers (due to the clan cliques). From a gaming point of view, everyone would be considered geeks. From the outsider's point of view, we were seen as freaks (especially when we took over the city park every friday night... heheheh...).

On another note, we've had jocks play D&D with us on and off, but they don't hang around long. They usually bring their own beer, play drinking characters, and then choose drinking parties over gaming ones as time goes on. This is stereotyping the jocks that gamed with us of course, but that was them.

Now we're a bunch of almost 30 people sitting around once a week, drinking our mountain dews, and let our children run rampant for four to eight hours while we game. We've got a factory worker and his housewife, a restaurant manager and his housewife, a retail manager and his drama teacher wife, a pizza manager, a dietary planner in a nursing home guy, and a retail grunt. Almost all of us having been gaming together since 1st edition. The geeks remain!!!

 

[DDK]

Heh, I probably shouldn't have used the terms geek and jock since that brought in several other terms like preppies, goths, etc. which isn't what I was really on about. Breaking up society into various socio-political groups can be endless until you get down to the invidividual, so the idea here was really that gamers have certain key similarities, whether goths, preppies, jocks or other, the intent here was to aim to get people who DON'T fit the gamer mould in anyway. People who you wouldn't expect to game at all. Expand the market beyond the niche that it currently hold it so dear to their geeky/gothy/punk hearts.

I should probably mention that in 14 years of gaming, I've encountered, quite literally, HUNDREDS of gamers. Not just in the sense of meeting them, but actually gaming with them. Groups never seem to last long so I'm always getting yet another group together. In that 14 years, I've gamed for at least 7-9 months out of every year. Out of all the people I've met, only a very few didn't fit the gamer mold.