So Innmates, have any of you felt the sting of prejudice just because of our chosen past times? I know I have, and for some of the most idiotic things you can think of.

In high school I used to spend a lot of time in the library, this was even before I had started playing DnD or I probably would have tried to play in there. Anyway, the librarian was some sort of extremist catholic (no offense to any of our catholic members) who used to throw a fit over me visiting any sites related to Final Fantasy. The reason for this is just so absurd I still laugh about it to this day. The crazy old bat thought Final Fantasy was satanic, that by playing those games I was allowing the devil into my life. Can you believe that!?

More recently my wife's grandmother found out I play DnD, and upon finding out asked my wife (not me!) if I was one of those crazy nut-jobs who runs around in the woods swinging a sword at other people (no offense to any LARPers). I found this ridiculous as well when my wife told me, but such is the label we have to deal with. Some crazy LARPers take things too far and someone gets hurt and suddenly we're all lumped into the same classification.

Maybe it's just me and small-town middle-of-nowhere, TX. Maybe this prejudice is more common here than anywhere else, or maybe it's only truly found here. Either way I find it ridiculous and rather funny at times.

Anyone else have any stories?

I especially love it when people mock us for gaming and then run off to update farmville and mafia wars...

Or when we are mocked by those who play WoW. That's just classic. Or, for that matter, anyone who spends considerable time playing video games.

...and those that don't understand gaming usually express their fear(which is usally more an expression of limited imagination) by haranguing gamers with the standard fall backs like "Oh, that's the tool of the devil" or "You're such a geek" or any number of worn out lines that I'm sure all of us have heard at least once or twice.

Yep... I'm a satanic geek who's never had a girlfriend... m'kay... and you're what? Another mindless drone who has nothing to entertain your narrow little mind aside from reality TV, tabloid magazines, and welbutrin? *shrugs*


Let 'em squawk!

I used to hear so much crap from PVPers who would just join an RP server to bad mouth those of us that actually RPed. Last I checked they had servers for the PVP crowd, and servers for the rest of us who had brains to avoid them (the pvp crowd).

I gladly accept the title and will stare down a nay-sayer when faced with one with my lovely set of comebacks.

"It's a pity you do not have Intelligence to understand RPG or the Imagination to play it."

"RPG Real People are Gamers."

"At least I have the mental stability to handle multiple personalities."

"I bet you love Soap Operas."

I lived in Utah for a while and brought gaming to my neighborhood, the majority of them still won't talk to me.

This has nothing to do with anything at all, but I put my books on their shelf in alphabetical order today, from Arms and Equipment Guide all the way to my World of Warcraft d20 material. Obviously the collection includes a couple non-WotC supplements, and I believe the count on books, including some minor paperbacks, was 56 books.

56 books? Thats quite impressive, and here I was proud with my twelve...

I find it amusing wondering why roleplaying games are so unpopular. Is it so much worse than people who spend all of their time obsessing over sports? At least roleplaying games involve creativity and imagination, although in general society imagination doesn't seem to register as a good quality.

Personally though I've never had trouble telling people I play D&D. Sure they'll bug me about it, but I have just as many things to use against them in rebutall. In my experiences if I don't make a deal about it then no one really cares what I do. However I've always wanted someone to make fun of me for it so that I could laugh at them.

56 RPG books? Not bad, not bad. I'd better not count my own. Would only end up calculating how much money I've spent on them and that would not be nice. And I'd have to bring two boxes back inside from the storage shed.

But then again, I'm old...

I started gaming in the early 80's and the stigma of the game was strong then. My friends and I couldn't play at certain of our homes because the parents objected to the game. At high school we used to hide out after class in the "computer room" (a hugh clunky drum memory, punch card reading machine that used BASIC and FORTRAN) because no one would bother us there. We even went as far as going to a friend's cottage up north in the winter to game, even though the cottage wasn't winterized.

I still remember being called a satan worshipper by my step-mother. I remember an organization called "BADD - bothered about D&D" trying to organize a book burning.

Now things have changed, and WoW and video have made gaming a bit more mainstream. But I get "Do you still play THAT game" from relatives and in-laws that bring up my gaming as if it were a disease.

I seem to find that people that play WoW are quite interested in the concept of D&D games but i had a few 'Friends' that moced me for years about being inteested in Role playing games and so i keep my distance... just ignoring them seems the best option.

The count of 56 does not include my v3.0 core books since I counted my v3.5 core books, for that matter I didn't count my very old red books from one of the old box sets that I picked up cheap when I was first looking into the game, nor did it include my WoD books, Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, and Changeling since at the time of counting I was checking d20 books not WoD as well. So technically the count is a bit higher, more like 66 I think. And of course I'm not going to get into the PDFs, no point to.

This is why I'm glad I go to college and the gaming stigma is nill. I openly DM games and play MTG and WoW and all of these awesome things and people might look as " what is that?" But I proudly keep on doing what I do and don't let anyone get me down. If they have a problem with it I happily tell them they don't need to stick around. Just keep your chin up and be proud of who you are. =]

Hey, bully for you!! Bringing the Light of Heironeous and the even-handed Wisdom of Torm to the masses! If your RL neighbors won't talk to you at least you have over 1600 virtual ones who've got your back.

Yeah, I caught some flack for RP'ing but mind you that's when that college student in TX went loopy and disappeared for a few, conveniently blaming our hobby in the process once he deigned to show up again. More recently, my older sister looked askance at me for starting up my own game to which I replied that the fault for misbehaving RP'ers lies squarely with the participants, not the hobby itself. Crazy is as crazy does no matter what pursuits they may have.

So hey, mucho kudos!