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<blockquote data-quote="Stumblewyk" data-source="post: 5950465" data-attributes="member: 67606">I think negative and false preconceptions are an enormous stumbling block.&nbsp; I've &quot;converted&quot; several gamers in the last few years, and many of them came to table with some odd preconceptions about what gaming entailed.My wife was *convinced* that gaming involved some weird ritual we all took part in.&nbsp; My friend's wife was pretty sure that we used props and spoke in accents and funny voices.&nbsp; My old bandmate thought we just made stuff up out of whole cloth with zero direction or input.Now sure, with the exception of the truly bizarre ritual my wife thought my friends and I were performing on a monthly basis, each of the above things I mentioned COULD be part of someone's game.&nbsp; But the perception was that those things WERE the game.&nbsp; That they were part-and-parcel with playing a pen and paper RPG.&nbsp; And that put them off.&nbsp; A lot.After I convinced them to sit down and *TRY* it, to see what my game was, their perceptions were changed.&nbsp; My old bandmate doesn't play regularly anymore, but my wife is a fairly active gamer, and my friend's wife is still learning (but I can see the light bulbs going off in her head as she plays - she's enjoying it).Like it or not, gaming still has (and probably always will have) a stigma to it.&nbsp; It's played by the geeks, not by the jocks (for the most part).&nbsp; It's got weird rules.&nbsp; You have to dress up.&nbsp; You have to speak in funny voices.&nbsp; Those sterotypes will probably never go away, but gamers need to be prepared and capable of fighting them if we want to bring more people into the hobby, or increase it's acceptance in popular culture, if that's what we even want.&nbsp; I'm pretty sure some people in the hobby STILL like the fact that the hobby is difficult to bring new people into.&nbsp; They can make the game remain &quot;theirs&quot; then, and not let outsiders corrupt it./end SoapBoxRant</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Stumblewyk, post: 5950465, member: 67606"] I think negative and false preconceptions are an enormous stumbling block. I've "converted" several gamers in the last few years, and many of them came to table with some odd preconceptions about what gaming entailed. My wife was *convinced* that gaming involved some weird ritual we all took part in. My friend's wife was pretty sure that we used props and spoke in accents and funny voices. My old bandmate thought we just made stuff up out of whole cloth with zero direction or input. Now sure, with the exception of the truly bizarre ritual my wife thought my friends and I were performing on a monthly basis, each of the above things I mentioned COULD be part of someone's game. But the perception was that those things WERE the game. That they were part-and-parcel with playing a pen and paper RPG. And that put them off. A lot. After I convinced them to sit down and *TRY* it, to see what my game was, their perceptions were changed. My old bandmate doesn't play regularly anymore, but my wife is a fairly active gamer, and my friend's wife is still learning (but I can see the light bulbs going off in her head as she plays - she's enjoying it). Like it or not, gaming still has (and probably always will have) a stigma to it. It's played by the geeks, not by the jocks (for the most part). It's got weird rules. You have to dress up. You have to speak in funny voices. Those sterotypes will probably never go away, but gamers need to be prepared and capable of fighting them if we want to bring more people into the hobby, or increase it's acceptance in popular culture, if that's what we even want. I'm pretty sure some people in the hobby STILL like the fact that the hobby is difficult to bring new people into. They can make the game remain "theirs" then, and not let outsiders corrupt it. /end SoapBoxRant [/QUOTE]

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