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I am always open about being a geek and nerd and enjoying my scifi, computer games, D&D and tiny toy soldiers. I am fairly old and belligerent and have grown so over the years, frankly I don't give two craps if 'they' think I'm a weirdo for collecting toy soldiers, I can assure you I have a dimmer view of those 'norms' than they do of me, all those bland, sad little bastards with their 'life more ordinary' existences.

Screw em, I have an amazing geek wife, good geek friends and enjoy my hobbies greatly. I don't shout about it all day, but if people ask me, I don't downplay or deny what I like to do.

But many here do not live as I do, many deny and conceal their interests in war games for fear of ridicule or optimism of getting laid...

Are you an out and proud war gamer or living a lie?

Proud! I even go so far as to post my conversions and paint jobs on....FACEBOOK!! Hell yeah, Go Go Geeks!

Definitely an out and proud wargamer.
My Facebook page links directly to my painting blog that's in my sig.
My house, first thing you see as you walk in, is my workstation which has 100something Guardsmen, 15ish Leman Russes, 6 Chimeras all there.

I won't deny it. However, I never get very many chances to talk about it, because it hardly ever pops up in conversation. That, and most people I know (who aren't wargamers/nerds) don't care enough to poke fun or anything.

I guess I'm proud. I don't go proclaiming my hobbies to the world, but if someone asks, I don't mind telling, and if someone sees my minis shelf, I won't hide it (I had it proudly on display in my room last summester in university, quite a few people were actually quite amazed by them). Hell, I did plenty of painting and converting in the public area of the common room, and no one really said anything.

As far as people thinking that it alienates women, that's not really the case. Most of the girls I've met in the past year who saw my hobby really couldn't care less, or were at the very least slightly interested by the 'artistic' aspects of it. It's simply the stigma of the people who play with the toy soldiers.
Of course, I can't say much about relationships, since I end up being every single girl's big brother/best friend (I don't know, I just give off that kind of air...), making my love-life utterly stagnant, but I'm not socially outcasted in anyway for my hobbies. If anything, I'm more out there than some of my friends.

If you're an unkept, poorly dressed slob with little in the way of social skills, you're going to be ridiculed and outcast no matter what.

Ive never been in a situation where being a geek was a bad thing, so never felt the reason to hide it.

Liking geeky nerd crud does not stop you being funny, friendly and likable, it doesn't change how your friends view you for the worse.

My Facebook is testiment to my geekitude from Gaming to Painting to TCG's, and I've been as open about it all my entire life as I have now.

I used to bring in Warhammer to art classes at my all girls secondary school and I used to have girls of all social niches coming over to try painting or ask serious questions about how to start out.

No one should ever feel that they should have to hide their hobbies, the only people who will give you flak for it are timewasters anyway, so what harm will it do?

Your not going to end up single for the rest of your life because you let slip that you like playing with toy soldiers to your friends

I don't have the Imperial aquila tattooed on my forehead, but I'm not afraid to talk about my hobby. Once you get out of highschool people really don't tend to care that much what you do for fun as long as it doesn't involve people getting hurt. To that extent though, I'm not going to give a 5 hour dissertation about the intricacies of Warhams if somebody asks. I'll just say I paint and play with toy soldiers and leave it at that.

Brother SRM wrote:Once you get out of highschool people really don't tend to care that much what you do for fun as long as it doesn't involve people getting hurt.

No one seemed to mind when I told them I worked in murders and executions...

I don't talk about it at work, but then my workplace is hyperpolitical. I don't actually talk about anything personal at all. Nothing to do with shame, I just don't give them ammo to shoot me with. Most I'll say is that I like to paint, and the conversation ends real fast (no dirt in that).

But when not at work? If I have more than a passing acquaintance? Hells yeah. If we get beyond talking about the weather and TV, then it'll come up. Not rambling of course, but its not anything I hide from people I know socially.

Living a lie, somewhat... actually ignore the somewhat.

I'm so deep in the lie I cannae escape it cap'n!

Seriously though, I envy the openness some of you seem to have with this particular hobby. Maybe I should stop befriending judgemental asshats?

As I've said in previous threads,I've never been "normal",and I didn't even discover war gaming/40k until I was 30.
I've never much given a gak what the status quo think,and tend to find the most interesting people amongst the "Freaks,Geeks,Lunatics and Outcast".
Concerning my 40k addiction,of course I don't hide it,most of my friends consider it to be one of my more "normal" pursuits.

The only people who have criticized me for my hobby turned out to be a massive man-bitch (I was good friends with his girlfriend, their breakup got really funny when she asked me to harrass him...), and the other is generally regarded as incredibly annoying by my circle of friends and aquaintances.

Being made fun of by your peers is nothing to worry about when you consider that most of the people who do care enough tend to have very little in the way of their own personal lives to keep themselves busy.

Out and proud as I said in another thread

Don't consider myself a geek, nerd, anorak, or rivet counter, but probably really am

do I care?

Pah! Fie and fiddle! I pee in the pot of contempt for all things scaled down and laugh in the face of scorn!

But I do weep sad, lonely tears into an unshared pillow each night

No shame.

Gaming has only helped me, both personally and professionally.

I don't hide it at all. If someone were to stop being my friend because of my (reasonable) hobbies then they weren't really my friend to begin with.

I gamed a lot in college. Considering the only way that I could possibly prevent people from learning about my hobbies would be to seal myself in my room and only take my bag with me in the dead of night, I was pretty public about the fact that I played. Was actually a bit of a chick magnet as well, although I'm not quite sure if that was because of me being a great painter, or just a case of "look at the creepy guy with all the tiny metal soldiers covering every horizontal surface."

Although really, if someone can't handle the fact that I paint toy soldiers, they probably can't handle my really weird hobbies.

im quite open and uncaring of what people think, if they wanna poke fun at me for being a "nerd" then i have 285 lbs of rugby player that they can also try to mess with. ive even had some girls go so far as to believe that 40k and dnd is cute =D be open and confident. besides chicks dig the greater good

Geek pride! It's nothing to be ashamed of.

^ same here rugby player who wargames

"Are you an out and proud war gamer or living a lie? "

Out and proud gamer! i even embarrass my kids with it. they are always trying to hide my little toy men fron their friends!

alarmingrick wrote:"Are you an out and proud war gamer or living a lie? "

Out and proud gamer! i even embarrass my kids with it. they are always trying to hide my little toy men fron their friends!

I'm actually looking forward to embarrassing my kids,well,my daughter,I can't wait to meet her first boyfriend...I think I'll dress up like an Ork for the occasion.

Out and proud.

I don't associate with many 'norms' anyway.

They can have their meaningless hum-drum existence and thug-ball games. I'll stick with my mandollies, thanks.

Never denied. All my friends, and many who aren't, know about it. No shame.

Normies make poor opponents!

Say it proud!

i am proud, and i proud my fiance is becoming part of the brood. She is a X-Files Fanatic, and she fit right in with me. Yet i dont know how she got into fantasy first...oh well.

I'm married. I have children. I have a mortage. I have a career. I have skills that are considered desirable to society. I also have a hobby.

At this point in my life I pretty much don't give a gak about what anybody else thinks. I am my own entity. The only ones who look down on what I do for hobbies are folks who don't have their own life together. It doesn't take more than a nudge to point that out.

High School and teenage years can be a bit tough, but once you make your own life, who cares? Everybody needs a hobby of some sort. Some folks knit and do crafts. Some build old engines. Some paint toy soldiers. There's really not all that much of a difference.

I am a flaming nerd.

I am also a metalhead so I am already out of the normal. And so fething what? I love every minute of it baby!

I don't walk around with a cosplay Imperial Space Marine costume or tattoo myself with the Imperial Eagle or anything but if the topic of hobbies comes up I'll talk about how I paint models and play wargames with the models.
(Though I did draw the Khorne symbol on top of my graduation cap! )

A lot of people think that the painting aspect is really neat and to be honest that's the part that intrigued me the most when I got into 40k and other wargames.

I'm confident enough in myself that I don't hide it, and people in the end will respect you for it.

I say Ol'bean I am a war gamer so much that I have my favorite marine legion tattooed on my skin.
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< saying it proud and loud

+1 for Captain Beefheart, Vlads... I just turned avatars back on.

That's relevant, but I wouldn't just tell anyone I think Trout Mask Replica was great. I don't mind pointing out things things I find interesting if it's relevant to the people around me, and I generally find wargaming to be pretty interesting. There are usually wargamers where one finds wargaming... etc.

Now I'm a computer enthusiast and professional... but that's part of who I am, and doesn't dictate how outward I am about it. If I don't care to tell anyone everything I do, then no one is any less the wiser, and I've saved breath.