Who do you game with?

[John Morrow]

Do you game with friends, coworkers, random people?

My primary group is long-time friends (we socialize outside of gaming) that (mostly) went to the same college and met through hanging out in a particular computer lab or knowing people who hung out in that computer lab starting about two decades ago. I was introduced to another group that I'm playing with through one of those friends and he met that group through a co-worker. I haven't played with that new group very long but I could easily socialize with them outside of gaming, too, and we've talked about doing so.

In the past, I've role-played with other co-workers of the same person from my group (we used to work at the same place so there is some connection there), people I've met over the Internet (including a college group in Tokyo and a Runequest group in Princeton, both of which I enjoyed gaming with), and a few games at conventions and game clubs, though those last styles of gaming is not really my preference. The friend who role-plays with co-workers has also been turning non-gaming co-workers into gamers for years by running games for people who are interested in his hobby.

 

[Kanegrundar]

My group (which is likely defunct now that I've moved an hour away) is made up of friends that I knew before gaming. My next group (should I find one) will likely be strangers to me.

Kane

 

[Brain]

A mix of everything, except the co-worker one, although I've gamed with co-workers in the past (but we worked at a gaming website together)

I'd say I meet a majority of the people who go on to become my friends through gaming.

 

[Pinotage]

People met online whom I still game with online in PbP games. I suppose you could call them friends, but we don't really know each other that well. I did meet a bunch of them in real-life as well, and we spent some time going out together one in a while. I've known some of the people I game with online for 3.5 years or more, yet I've never met them.

Pinotage

 

[MonsterMash]

I voted for a mix, though it doesn't include coworkers. One of the groups I have known for a long time and mix with outside gaming, the other group I met online specifically for gaming and haven't really known for more than a couple of months (approx 4 gaming sessions) so think it'd be early to really say friends (allowing for British reserve too).

 

[Kirin'Tor]

Most of my current group falls into "friends (strangers who became friends through gaming)", so that's what I voted... Most weren't really 'strangers', tho ... most were friends of the original guys I gamed with (who were already my firends)

 

[Insight]

I have a group I met entirely through the power of advertising. I moved to my current town a few years back, and didn't have anyone with which to game. I managed to find a few gaming stores, and decided after a while to put up a flier to attract some players. I got four takers and off we went.

After some time, one of the players had to leave due to family schedule conflicts, and we went thru a parade of one-shot players until I advertised again and added four more players, which soon became three more players.

We now have seven players altogether in our main group, and another set of seven players in an alternate group (which is composed of mostly the same people with a few significant others thrown in to replace those who can't play that night).

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Mostly friends. I've played with strangers before, but rarely-- and I try to sniff people out pretty good before I invite them into my home.

I've got a cousin who doesn't understand this and who drags all manner of human detritus through my front door.

 

[Samothdm]

It's a mix.

I'm in 3 groups (soon to be four).

Group 1 I DM. It's a mix of a co-worker turned friend turned gamer, her husband, a friend of hers who is now a good friend of mine, his brother, an old friend of mine from high-school (pre-gaming), my wife (her first game ever), an old friend from the past (her first game ever, too), and a newer friend who I met through an old co-worker at my last job (and who also happens to be the DM of two other games I play in).

Group 2 consists of a bunch of people who were all friends in High School, and a couple of them also have significant others who game with us. They accepted me into their group a few years ago even though I didn't really go to High School with them. I'm like an honorary member. The DM of this game is a player in my Group 1 (above). I consider all of them friends now but I met them through gaming (board/strategy gaming, originally).

Group 3 is kind of like a mix of the two groups above. It includes four us of from Group 2, plus the DM from Group 2 (who also DMs this one), one of my players from Group 1, and another guy who actually was part of the high school group from Group 2 but he doesn't game in that group due to time constraints.

At this point, I consider all of these people my friends. We have holiday parties, birthday parties, have people over for dinners, go to weddings and baby showers and all that kinda stuff. It's a big love fest. And, I think that's cool.

 

[Crothian]

Of the three groups I'm in 2 consist of people I have meet on line, and the third are friends of people I have met on line. Of the three groups only one person is someone I did not meet on line of through people I met on line.