What are you doing to keep the hobby alive?

[TarionzCousin]

Does riding herd on you lot count?

Yes. I'm very grateful for all the work the mods do here. You guys deserve a big raise!

 

[Piratecat]

I firmly believe that anything I enjoy so much should be fun for other people as well. I introduce gaming to new players, particularly women and kids who might not otherwise have an opportunity to play; I try to run fun demo games at cons and game stores; I try to make this place fun and inviting for as many people as possible.

Also, I GM with no pants on.

 

[scourger]

Does riding herd on you lot count?

Heck, yes!

As for me, I support my FLGS(s) as much as possible. I was at WWGWD today and bought the boosters (and a couple of drinks).

 

[DM_Jeff]

I run a Wednesday night Pathfinder game for my 17 and 13 year old daughters, and their 13 and 14 year old female friends, along with one's dad new to gaming. Helping me herd this bunch is my wife who relishes each time she sees another player really 'get it' and become...one of us.

The fact that the one girl proudly and loudly brags about the game to her shool friends is really refreshing. It IS 2010, look at that.

-DM Jeff

 

[Stormonu]

I run a Sunday game for my crowd and am always happy (and eager) to have new players (I've just actually had two new players in my game for the past month).

When I have time on Saturdays, I play RPGs with my two children and wife (and sometimes my sister-in-law).

After our Wednesday night baseball season is over, I'll be resuscitating my Tuesday night game group, hopefully drawing my brother away from the demonic and corrupting influence of M:tG and back towards RPGs.

I also have a subscription to the Pathfinder Adventure Path and buy a good amount of RPG material (that I'll probably never get to play, but its fun reading & dreaming), such as the new Gamma World game (and the Red Box, damn nostalgia).

Just call me Sergeant Zim.

Gamer: "Why am I writing in pencil? I'll just boot up my VTT and play via maptools..."
THWACK
Me: "Listen up. You guys won't be playing those VTT's with a pencil stuck THROUGH your hand."

 

[Jdvn1]

Most importantly: what are you doing to keep the hobby alive?

I'm another GM for D&D Encounters. I encourage new players to the game, and periodically seek out new players. Back in the day, I helped organize a gaming club at my university.

I think it's good to do similar sorts of things for any hobby you like.

 

[Argyle King]

I do a lot of things to keep the hobby alive, but the one I feel is most important is teaching the games I play to other people. In regards to one of the rpg systems I play, I used to be the only person in this area (that I knew of) who played. As of yesterday, I am now involved in three seperate face-to-face games; two of them GMed by people who I taught the game to.


I also do my best to highlight the positive aspects of gaming. I do not get on a high horse or act uppity or anything like that when someone tries to bash gaming and start spouting all manner of rpg-lated urban myths (...it's the devil's game!) However, I do stand up for the hobby and present my case. I inform people that I have been greatly helped by the games I play. During my time in the military, I suffered severe head trauma which caused some of my mental skills to deteriorate; playing rpgs has helped excercise my mind and refresh many of those skills back to levels which are close to what they were prior to the incident. During a recent doctor's appointment, my doctor remarked that I've improved greatly when it comes to memory and various other things. Likewise, many of the younger kids I play with perform very highly in areas of math, reading comprehension, and problem solving.


Another of the things I do is do by best to support the local gaming store. While it is true that the local Barnes & Noble sometimes will have a product a few days before the local store, I usually wait the few extra days and buy the product from Gatehouse Games (the local gaming store.) Typically there's not that much of a wait, so it's no big deal. If I want something other than D&D, I'm usually better off going to Gatehouse anyway.


There are plenty of things I do, but those are a few of them.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

I don't do anything for the sake of "the hobby" (or even worse, for "the industry"). I just like to play games and have fun with friends (and family). As far as that goes, though, I:

• Play the games
• Invite other people to play the games
• Talk about playing the games
• Write about the games
• Purchase products related to the games

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Something else I do: I donate gaming supplies- new & used books & dice, mainly- to charities. That way, those who, for whatever reason, don't have gaming supplies have other options available to them. My usual charity of choice is actually servicemen in war zones via the USO or other organizations. Because they have weight restrictions, they can't tote the stuff overseas. Because of where they are, they can't buy the stuff. And familiar entertainment of any kind has a tendency to be in short supply. One gamer with some spare time and the right equipment can not only entertain his other gamer buddies, he may even bring new people into the hobby.

There are other charities out there looking for this stuff, too. I believe I saw a thread about "Gamers without borders" here...

 

[delericho]

I've been the organiser of a Meetup group in Falkirk for a year now. We're now at 30 members, although the core is closer to a dozen. Of those, it's about an even split between old hands and people completely new to the game.

I also run a game in Glasgow on Saturdays, although this is painfully irregular due to low numbers. Ideally, we'd like to recruit a couple more people, but our contacts are few.