What are the gamer stereotypes?

[Satori]

Please, let us not forget:

Creepy Trenchcoat in Summer Guy
-We all know "That Guy". He probably plays Vampire the Masquerade, tries to wear a pony tail but can't quite pull it off, and never...ever...takes off his leather trenchcoat. He ALWAYS wants to play something dark and brooding, and quite often thinks that he's much deeper and artistic than he really is.

 

[caudor]

Please, let us not forget:

Creepy Trenchcoat in Summer Guy
-We all know "That Guy". He probably plays Vampire the Masquerade, tries to wear a pony tail but can't quite pull it off, and never...ever...takes off his leather trenchcoat. He ALWAYS wants to play something dark and brooding, and quite often thinks that he's much deeper and artistic than he really is.

Oh my gosh, you pegged my son (except he has no ponytail). What's with the trenchcoats anyway? I'm stunned at times when he wants to wear that trenchcoat when it is warm or even hot outside. He just *has* to take it to school. I had written it off as a teenage phase thing. Do many gamers for in this category?

 

[diaglo]

Whaddaya mean, we gotta talk to this lynx? The last monster we talked to ate half the party!

-Hyp.

"Well, either it allows a magic-user to thorw the various Bigby's hand spells, or it's a +2 backscratcher. So far we're not sure which..."

 

[Odhanan]

Oh my gosh, you pegged my son (except he has no ponytail). What's with the trenchcoats anyway? I'm stunned at times when he wants to wear that trenchcoat when it is warm or even hot outside. He just *has* to take it to school. I had written it off as a teenage phase thing. Do many gamers for in this category?

Well, I have no idea if it is that common, but I have met a few gamers who fit the description yeah. I call it the "Highlander syndrom", personally.

 

[Silver Moon]

My wife and I were working on staff at a gaming con when a middle-aged-to-elderly woman approached the registration desk. She said that she needed to get a message to her son, not an emergency, but something important. We checked and he had not pre-registered, so we had no way of knowing what game he might currently be playing.

We explained to her that we had no PA system available, so would have to go room-to-room to try to locate him. She said, "He should be easy to find. He's around 5-foot-8, heavy-set, dark hair with a receeding hairline, glasses, beard, carrying a backpack and wearing sneakers, jeans and a convention t-shirt." We then had to explain to her that the description she gave fit around 50% of the convention attendees.

 

[Nomad4life]

Creepy Trenchcoat in Summer Guy
-We all know "That Guy". He probably plays Vampire the Masquerade, tries to wear a pony tail but can't quite pull it off, and never...ever...takes off his leather trenchcoat. He ALWAYS wants to play something dark and brooding, and quite often thinks that he's much deeper and artistic than he really is.

My younger brother went through that phase back in the early 90's, though you would never know it looking at him now. (Yes. He even owned a katana.)

Don’t worry. I still relentlessly make fun of him for it, and I’m sure to show the pictures to any girl he happens to bring home to meet the folks. Hey, that’s what older siblings are for, right?

 

[two]

Stereotype but not false

Sometimes stereotypes are not, of course, false.

Of the 20 gamers I have known relatively well in the last 10 years....

All of them except 3-4 could be reliably pegged as a "gamer" after 5 min. of conversation.

Strange. Or not so strange.

But true.

 

[Shadowslayer]

The number of counting shall be three, and three shall be the number of counting. No more, no less. Thou shall not count to two unless immediately preceeding to three. Four is too much and five is outright!

Lemme fix that for you.
(Clears throat)

"First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out."

heh...rookie.

I dunno. I think you can find these stereotypes within most hobbies. I've met "fat, stinky guys that still live at home" on the paintball field, racing RC cars and slot cars too.

For me, the stereotype is more like "intelligent guys with goatees who wear t-shirts with cartoon characters on them. They like offbeat TV shows, and are willing to stand in line for 12 hours to get into the premier showing of the next superhero movie, but draw the line at getting into costume for the event"

Even in high school, most of the gamers weren't 'geeks' (Those guys were too busy farting around with their commodore 64s)

 

[ShinHakkaider]

In my group, that guy has never been black

That and a black guy as a sterotyped D&D player is an oxymoron in as of itself.

 

[MonkeyDragon]

Gamer Girl Stereotypes

Girls don't REALLY roleplay. They're just there because their boyfriends are.

Girls don't learn the rules as well/easily as guys. They're not interested in learning the rules because they're just there because their boyfriends are, or because...

Girls aren't into the structure of the game, or the fighting. They only like the story. For this reason, girls usually only play VtM, or....

Girls playing D&D always want to be characters that somehow involve: faeries, unicorns, maidens, or something otherwise sweet and pretty.

Girls that don't fall into the categories above are usually less "girly." They are tomboys or in some other way do not fit with the prescribed image of femininity. They are just one of the guys.


The odd thing is, I rarely see these stereotypes discussed outside of gamer circles. Most people express surprise that I (or anyone other than geeky adolescants) roleplay at all. I more often see the stereotypes expressed here on the boards. One or more of them is bound to pop up whenever gender is relevant to the topic. Usually the statement (or anecdote) is followed by the female contingent of posters or men that have played with women relating their own experiences to the contrary. Finally all present agree that female gamers are the same as male: each different with every different playstyle represented. Then it starts all over again next time.