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As you know, may it be table gamming , computer gaming or role playing or which ever , there is always some common things you ALWAYS hear.

One with the most obvious " only losers play " would be what everyone have heard atleast once in their life time?

So here is why im confused.

Are they saying only social rejects would find such games fun?
Are they saying its the only activity for them to do?
Cant athletic player find it fun to play board games?
Cant social rejects find doing sport fun as well?

Or is it based purely on how they view themselves and the people they associate with.
Sort of like a self stereotype?

I always thought it because people who say things like that lack the skill, attention span and imagination to take part in said games.

I'd rather be a loser for doing something i enjoyed

Well I think we are like Frankenstiens of our world.People misunder stand us and then proceed to chase us with torches.I have had this happen lots,I have had a hard nerd life,I have been throw down stairs in a trash can twice,been beaten and strangled behined the school bathroom.I have had the snot kicked out of me more than anyone I know,I think it is down to people not really understanding us and just thinking,well if we can't join 'em lets beat them.

hey Luna do people actually say that to you? I thought we Girlies escaped all that jazz since we have chesticles. I have witness but never faced that kind of thing and i'm pretty sure im a nurdlet

Roze wrote:I always thought it because people who say things like that lack the skill, attention span and imagination to take part in said games.

This. It's a rather human trait to pour scorn upon any activity which you lack the skill or patience to understand or participate in fully.

It's same reason kids attack other kids for being cleverer than they are or people attack skills athletes by saying things like "He's being paid a bloody fortune to Run/Row/cycle/kick a ball" when they can't even run to the end of their road without stopping for breath.

If people don't understand something or can't do it they see it as a threat to be destroyed.

On the positive, none of thats relevant past high school (college I think its called to Brits). Ok, not the chesticles part, thats eternal

Oh yeah, most of my old friends ditched me when they found out I still "played with toy soldiers" and to think, I wasn't even as obsessed as I used to act during school.

luna are you going to really try to rationalize human behavior?

It's just standard marginalization of people/things that they don't hold in high regard. It's an unfortunate facet of human life that doesn't really ever disappear.

I'm going with my normal stance, there just mad that were Epic and there full of fail....it's simples

Roze wrote:hey Luna do people actually say that to you? I thought we Girlies escaped all that jazz since we have chesticles. I have witness but never faced that kind of thing and i'm pretty sure im a nurdlet

No its just sort of unusual to hear people refer themselves as geeks and nerds for example when i was curious and decided to watch them play board games.
Like i said games arnt exactly favored only by the stereo typed geeks, everyone can be free to enjoy it right? Just find it weird why they think i wouldnt like it.

garret wrote:luna are you going to really try to rationalize human behavior?

I guess so , arnt you curious at all? I mean i still cannot understand why getting drunk / getting high and taking drugs is supposed to be fun or cool.

I have to say, the older I have got (29 on Sunday...booo!) the more accepting people have become of the Hobby.

Hard to say precisely why. After all, GW is a relatively mainstream Nerd pursuit, so perhaps this is a factor. Due to their success, finding a gamer, lapsed or practicing becomes more and more common.

Also, Sci-Fi and Fantasy is also becoming more mainstream. Look at the success of the slew of Marvel films. It wasn't just pre-existing fans who went to see them, thus you are now seen as slightly less of a Nerd for enjoying the comics.

However, it is only accepted to a degree. People seem to see the appeal of modelling and painting the miniatures, but are still fairly baffled by the passion that many gamers hold for their chosen system, much in the same way that I don't get full on Trekkies. I enjoy the show, but it's not a way of life for me.

OK then:

If I'm going to be honest, I'm rather large for a 13 year old.... 5ft 10inches and 85kg. I love painting me' models but when it comes to rugby and athletics I'm right there. I play for the A/B squad in my school team for rugby and I throw 9.98m in shot put and 24m for discus. I can also run the 100m in 14secs. That may sound like I'm boasting but I'm proving the point that some "gamers" can enjoy sport. I love sport as much as I love gaming but some people just don't understand why "I waste my time playing 40k"...

If the truth be told, people have their own hobbies and if your friends can't accept that then they're not your real friends.

So, Luna....you may play tabletop wargames but get good at sport (if you are thats even better) and nobody can complain.

Blightdron wrote:OK then:

If I'm going to be honest, I'm rather large for a 13 year old.... 5ft 10inches and 85kg. I love painting me' models but when it comes to rugby and athletics I'm right there. I play for the A/B squad in my school team for rugby and I throw 9.98m in shot put and 24m for discus. I can also run the 100m in 14secs. That may sound like I'm boasting but I'm proving the point that some "gamers" can enjoy sport. I love sport as much as I love gaming but some people just don't understand why "I waste my time playing 40k"...

If the truth be told, people have their own hobbies and if your friends can't accept that then they're not your real friends.

So, Luna....you may play tabletop wargames but get good at sport (if you are thats even better) and nobody can complain.

I'm guessing you've never been thrown down the stairs in a trashcan. I can relate. I, too was a big lad in school, but instead of organized sports I was a freelance face-puncher. Not that I had a choice, I went to a really violent school. Of course, I didn't even know about the hobby of miniature wargaming until I was in my mid-twenties. Still, I don;'t think anybody would call me out for it even now, because I radiate an aura of carefully cultivated crazy.

In all fairness, people still call me fat but not once have I been forced into doing something. Generally because I'm quite muscle bound. Not huge, but big. So people don't MAKE me do things.

But yea, i've been wargaming for something like 5years now. In some respects it has change my life:

Eg. now midway through a maths lesson I find myself muttering "that Pedro Kantor model looks pretty sweet".

LunaHound wrote:

Are they saying only social rejects would find such games fun?
Are they saying its the only activity for them to do?
Cant athletic player find it fun to play board games?
Cant social rejects find doing sport fun as well?

Those are just stereotypes: they mean nothing.

I play rugby and golf as well as enjoying 40k.

People act like that for a couple of reasons. Most people are very caught up with how other people view them. And the typical first reaction is, "You play with little toy solders?" They don't see the depth of strategy, or all the history to the game. And then there is the other problem of gaming being dismissed as a childish activity.

I personally laugh at the ridicule. People call me geek or nerd, and I thank them. I am what I am, and if you don't like it, I really don't care. But people usually leave me alone anyway because I am a big guy, 6'4", so they pick on easier targets. I thought it would end in high school, but it is surprising how many people never get out of the high school mentality. I find turning the comments back on the person the best way to deal with this. Ask them why they think "losers" play the game? Or just thank them for the comments, and walk on. Usually leaves the person stammering.

I've never had any problems. Then again, that's probably because I'm quiter muscular physically.

Nobody ever makes fun of me either.

Then again, that's probably because I'm 7'9'' and weigh 450 pounds, and I'm also an olympic level fung-fu expert.

"Only retards make broad generalizations"


LOL

Nobody ever makes fun of me either. But that's probably because I'm the last Czarnian with superhuman abilities and durability, genius level intellect and the guns to back it up, while generally being one of the baddest fraggin' bastiches in the land.

no one ever either
but then again im schizophrenic and being medicatted for murderistic tendencies

I used to get alot of abuse at high school (circa 1992) for my gaming. It would usually play out thus:

"What are you doing tonight? Playing with your toy soldiers?"

"Yes"

"That's really gay!"

"Ummm, ok" /leaves

Any threats of physical violence were met with a punch to the throat.

I think the problem was/is human nature and a fear of the unknown. Personally, i try not to be judgemental about anything i haven't tried myself but i know that this is not a common way of thinking. My Brother collects pictures of supercars and keeps giant rabbits, his girlfriend collects stuffed animals..... Yet i'm labelled as the weird one!

Dakka's a good example of how diverse the gaming community really is, although internet access and a willingness to participate in forums is a prerequisite to that.

We know that most wargamers have the advantage of a social outlet in addition to the rest of their world, but for others it might be all they do. You know, some people are just bigger nerds than others, but I'm not one to judge on that. There are a lot of people who'll judge based on sports interest and participation, but the sense of support and community around a regional representative team is just another cult thing that inspires pride and often unruliness in its spectators. If you sat around and watched sports, maybe drinking with friends, and little else, then you'd be a huge nerd.

I'd like the 'eave 'arf a brick at drunken pub crawlers singing sports chants outside at night, and sometimes I'd like to 'eave the other 'arf at poorly behaved gamers, for any number of reasons.

But in the end, some people are just shallow jerks. Ladies, I don't care what's hanging off you, just clean up your grammar.

I dont concider myself a geek for playing 40k nirther does anyone else i know
serosly look at me


Automatically Appended Next Post:
lol that not really me but DOUBLE POST OF DOOOM

LunaHound wrote:
Are they saying only social rejects would find such games fun?
Are they saying its the only activity for them to do?
Cant athletic player find it fun to play board games?
Cant social rejects find doing sport fun as well?

Or is it based purely on how they view themselves and the people they associate with.
Sort of like a self stereotype?

Yes
Yes
Yes (I do. I'm generally athletic)
Not really, as the group doesn't except them

Yes

The problem with miniature gaming is that your in the minority. People used to beat on kids that played video games. Now that it's socially acceptable it's rarer. People in any minority group don't get as many privileges or the same kind of treatment as those in the majority, I mean look at the gay community.

No respect... no respect.

The gays are copying us. They only just put their army together the other day.

True story:

I've been chased with a torch and pitchfork for gaming.

Then again, it was a friend of mine doing it on a dare on Halloween...

No one ever bothered me in high school. But then again, I live in a small, back woods town were everyone is bigoted christians. Soooo, long story short, reading the satanic bible in homeroom really gets people to leave you alone.

Btw, I was reading it because I was curious to why everyone painted it as being 'evil'.

I honestly have never given a damn what people think,I know that may sound like posturing,but even as I child I always belived that most people I encounterd were idiots and their opinions totaly worthless.
Now,I was also "blessed" to grow to 6'4" & 260 lbs,not to mention being coverd in so many tattooes I look like an east L.A. wall,have a gak load of peircings and through out high school & early "adulthood" sported a foot high mohawk and dressed like I would eat your face if you looked at me wrong (and I would have), I never got much flack for playing with "toy soilders".