Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Taking the game out of the closet
One of my favorite game bloggers, Dr. Rotwang! of I Waste The Buddha With My Crossbow has a great post about being “out” as a gamer, at work, at home, anywhere really.
I have to be honest, I'm not that out as a gamer.
Oh, my wife gets it. My daughter, 4, likes “Daddy’s books” and wants a PC, WFRP career: Servant.
Yet aside from an Onion day-by-day calendar tear away: Decision To Ask Out Girl Made Using 10-Sided Die, not much in the way of WFRP and my gaming makes it out at work.
My coworker is more open about this to be sure, sometimes to my embarrassment, but he is one of the stereotypes you might think of when you think of “gamer.” Why I cringe or avoid conversation is beyond me, though I find some of it inward, rooted in the “80s witch-hunts” and the classic stories of friends over the deep end: one turned meth-maker, one turn child-porn freak, one 3x divorced, one impossible to talk to without translating to “mundane-speak,” and others, most just not socially capable in dead-end jobs; happy maybe, but damn sad. These are, and mostly were, my real close friends from my heyday as an Assistant Manager of the FLGS.
Add that I am not as quick witted as Dr. Rotwang! and that may also, in some part, account for my closeted nature. But the Dr. is inspiring and prescriptive. I'm an adult with a hobby, not an obsession, working with successful geeks just like me. Many of whom have been exposed to gaming without doubt in college.
I should open the closet door and take a peek.
[Trackback URL for this entry]
I was in the closet for a while myself. But one day i just figured what the hell.
Our hobby is a tough one at times. lots of bad press in the past.
If you're like me and work with a bunch of programmers, you're probably surrounded by gamers. Unfortunately, all of the guys I work with are mainly WoW players. I have gamed with guys at other companies before though.