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About the biggest discomfort that wargaming brings me is social alienation. It's kinda wierd, but since my interests are in a field that is SO niche, there is not much topically to share with the hoi paloi. All "the guys" get together for a few beers, and they talk about sports, or brewing beer, or the other things they enjoy, and while they know that I am into wargaming it's just not a topic they are interested in and I feel no need ot push it on them. My conversational participation is very limited since my pop culture participation hovers around nil. I dont buy-in to the "doing something just to have something to talk about", that idea, and I hear it a lot, just seems SO sheeple to me. Waste my time on something I have no interest in just to have a social outlet with others I really just dont share the interst with or who are doing the same thing? This is a good idea? Really? feth off.

grizgrin wrote:About the biggest discomfort that wargaming brings me is social alienation. It's kinda wierd, but since my interests are in a field that is SO niche, there is not much topically to share with the hoi paloi. All "the guys" get together for a few beers, and they talk about sports, or brewing beer, or the other things they enjoy, and while they know that I am into wargaming it's just not a topic they are interested in and I feel no need ot push it on them. My conversational participation is very limited since my pop culture participation hovers around nil. I dont buy-in to the "doing something just to have something to talk about", that idea, and I hear it a lot, just seems SO sheeple to me. Waste my time on something I have no interest in just to have a social outlet with others I really just dont share the interst with or who are doing the same thing? This is a good idea? Really? feth off.

Ugh, I know what you mean. Since I got into Warhammer, I've sort of become more isolated from the people I used to hang out with. I'm with a crowd that's more like me, but it just feels really weird to never even speak to my old crowd. I just sort of drifted. It might have had something to do with them doing pot, but it might just be me.

i played magic in highschool, didn't bother to hide it.
got into wargaming early on in college.
i've sat in the commons on campus and played warmachine, so people who see me know i play.

I have a Dark Angels symbol bumper sticker, I hope to get my Handicapped Dark Angels symbol set up as a bumper sticker, but I don't want to imply that it will get me special parking privileges and be swarmed by GW locusts....lawyers.

I also have a Dark Angels symble t-shirt as well as an Inquisition T-Shirt that has "Purge the Unclean" on the back.

I got a few of the old cloth patches GW sold back in the early 90's, I had my mother sew them onto an East German rain pattern camo jacket. I didn't think anything about it when my wife and I went to visit Jewish family services to see one of her counselors. When we got there I realized that the Imperial eagle with a skull on it on my shoulder might have been construed as a Nazi symbol (half the people think it Roman, half think it's Nazi).

I dont hide it, but I dont advertise it either. However, whilst the FLGS is great, I do like buying stuff over the net... (shhh, secret squirrel).

You've got wargaming and I've got bright colours. It's much like good and evil, they're both fine choices if you have to make one.

I was commenting in another thread a while ago either here or on Warseer about how the perception of gaming has changed over the years and it really has. I remember how much a fringe hobby things like RPG's and wargames were when I was growing up and if you were involved in those hobbies, you were just 'wierd' for the most part. Now, that was back almost twenty years.

Fast forward to today and things have changed somewhat. Folks who partake in the traditional 'geek' hobbies are still a bubble off plumb, but not to the degree of two decades ago. I can attribute it to a few things. One is the fact that by the 90's there were enough geeks out there to have enough come out well adjusted to debunk the stereotype. The other thing, I honestly attribute to the rise of console gaming. Video games were originally considered a geeky hobby and the fact that it's fun has been proven to the masses thanks to titles like Mario for the kids and Guitar Hero to cater to the masses. What that's done for the geeks of the world though is curiosity. 'Hey, if they were doing this because it was fun, what else were they right about?' We also have trends and things spreading out more and the like.

Now, of my two geek hobbies, I find wargaming easier to explain that RPG's. The idea of a collaborative story tends to throw folks off while with wargames, you can always go with 'Yeah, it's like chess, but my Orks are cooler than normal pawns, so.....'

It doesn't seem to be a problem for me. Like with any hobby you're going to bore people to death if you start talking about it and they don't know what's going on (unless they've sepcifically asked you to explain it). I don't think that has anything to do with it being a fringe hobby though. I think a football fan would get the same reaction from a non football fan, same with someone who is into a certain style of music etc etc.

Like others said, if anything wargaming is kind of easy to share because you have physical models that people will see and even to someone who isn't into them they look kind of cool.

I don't talk to random people about it, and i spend too much money on miniatures and paint to buy a shirt or something. But there's a few people who play in school and i don't even try to hide it. I even tell people if they ask, i tell them in-depth. I don't really have the problem of getting trash canned tho, cus i'm 6'1" and 239lbs, and giant ridikalus red hair.... no one messes with the big ginger.

Yeah Im a closet war gamer. Oh the greatness that is high school politics.

I'm open about it. I've been a geek for as long as I can remember. Heck, my friends hang out out at a pub and discuss army lists, tourneys, and the Lucky 13's campaign.

I do have other interests though work keeps me from them now. (Yay, overtime finally!) My gf is getting into WFB. She already left RPGs.

I don't hide it but I don't advertise it either. The only 40k thing I wear is a Tanith cap badg on the back of ballcap that I've been asked about a few times and I've had to explain it's from a book. (Based on game but I don't get that indepth)

I'm openly a massive nerd, for example my other interests are WWII aircraft, midcentury architecture (art deco & googie),1960's American cars, WWII firearms, Star Wars, Star Trek TOS, comic books and being among the biggest Daria fans still admitting to it. So 40k is sort of the least of my offenses. Plus once friends have seen the models they seem to get it- wargaming is like modeling with perks.

I don't hide my wargaming "habit", but generally it doesn't come up in conversation that much. Of course since I'm a teacher at a kindergarten it's sometimes cool to take in my nids codex and have the kids take a look at the pics. They think it's cool.

My wife on the other hand hates it. I tried to get her into it for a while (even just painting) but it was a no go. She kind of resents it in a way, but she's happy to let me out once a week with friends and get a game in.

I explain when asked about the hobby, that's pretty much it. I don't talk about it to people who aren't a part of the hobby, and I don't wear any paraphenalia which will often cause people to get the wrong impression of you. Once you establish yourself as the normal/cool/funny person you are, others tend to be a lot more accepting once they find out what you like to do in your spare time.

I'm so ashamed I tell everyone I own a homosexual pornographic website to hide my real truth.

ok, not quite Next to none of my real world friends are into wargaming, but since I have a massive display cabinet full of models and a few hundred paints next to my computer I think people might be able to assume. I dont really talk about it much as most people are simply not interested, but I'll talk about it when asked or if someone expresses interest. I've never been told they look like toys, but in a nice cabinet with down lighting they look more like the small dioramas you see in museums than action figures anyway.

I dont even feel that comfortable talking to other wargamers about wargaming in huge detail as I paint and model and rarely ever actually play so my rules knowledge is poor at best.

With the exception of the wife of course, she gets to hear all about everything. As soon as she hears 'hey look at this new tank' you can almost see her go numb inside.

Hmm this is quite an interesting topic! I find if you tell people they tend to basically take the piss! But they have no experience of the hobby so there probably just ignorant! I don’t wear any gaming T-shirts! Or parade my interests about. I think its best to keep it quiet for a while at least so you’re not viewed as a reject in society or a nerd.Even though we are not! Also none of my friends play so there is really no point in talking to them about it!?

I'm not particularly ashamed of it. For example I was reading the IG codex in the break room at work the other day and one of the guys I work with talked to me about it as he used to play years ago. It's no different from any other past time and whilst I make no attempt to hide it I certainly don't rub it in anyone's face as I realise its a niche interest and will more than likely bore most people.

I like to have other things in my life aside from gaming, in fact when I get together for drinks with my gamer friends I normally don't like to talk about games as we do enough of that at my local store and gaming club.

I like to keep up with Music, Gadgets, TV and to a lesser extent Sport so I can quite happily socialise with non gamers. I'd say about 60% of my friends are gamers.

LuciusAR wrote:I'm not particularly ashamed of it. For example I was reading the IG codex in the break room at work the other day and one of the guys I work with talked to me about it as he used to play years ago. It's no different from any other past time and whilst I make no attempt to hide it I certainly don't rub it in anyone's face as I realise its a niche interest and will more than likely bore most people.

I like to have other things in my life aside from gaming, in fact when I get together for drinks with my gamer friends I normally don't like to talk about games as we do enough of that at my local store and gaming club.

I like to keep up with Music, Gadgets, TV and to a lesser extent Sport so I can quite happily socialise with non gamers. I'd say about 60% of my friends are gamers.

On a completely off topic note, i have no idea why but i always image your posts to be said in an irish accent lucius.

MrGiggles wrote:Now, of my two geek hobbies, I find wargaming easier to explain that RPG's.

While it has become FAR more 'accepted' in the last couple of decades, RPGs are still firmly entrenched in the stigma of nerd, dork, geek, virgin, unpopular-kid-in-high-school.
As long as there are things going on like this:






RPG games and gamers will never be able to shed that stereotype.




Ghidorah
who thinks Lightning Bolts and kilts will never go away.

I have been out of the gaming closet for years. While I wear gaming shirts most are the tounge in cheek kind such as "Jesus saves....and takes 1/2 damage. I got a great response from that from from a woman who was obviously a religions nut and did not see the back. I have not really had any problems from it, but I will echo the social alienation. I know amoung my co-workers I have little to make small talk about. I do not go to bars and never drink, watch sports, or things of that nature, so I kinda just stand back and sit quietly.

I love those sorts of shirts. My FLGS used to have a shirt that said, "We put the FU in 'fun'". Funny stuff.



Ghidorah

Eh.

I don't hide it, but nor do I run around with a fake boltgun "smiting heretics"

So I'm not in the closet, but I'm standing in front of it.

I'd wear a gaming shirt outside, if I had one.

When I met my wife I was actually more worried about telling here what I did for a living (then) then the fact that I painted minis and played with toys. I was a bartender at a "Gentlemen's" Club. Once you get that out in the open, telling her you play with dolls is fairly minor... got that out in the open on the first date (which was relatively minor compared to the fact that she was married at the time (though she had been separated for almost a year and was just finishing up the divorce)).

At this point in my life I couldn't really give two *&$%'s what someone thinks about my hobby. I ride the train to work everyday, approximately 3 hours a day total. With that schedule and a home, wife and son to play with when I get home, I don't have a lot (read "any") time to paint at home. So I paint on the train. I've been doing that for almost 4 years now. Which is funny because the first 3 years I got maybe one or two comments a year from people who had no idea what I was painting, but in the last 2 months I've had 4 guys that play recognize them and we ended up spending the majority of the train ride talking about gaming and painting.

I also wear my kommando shirts and other GW related shirts to tournaments. Yeah, I'm that guy (though I have never worn a band's shirt to a concert). I also wear them to cut the grass, change the oil in my car and other such activities.

MrGiggles wrote:Wearing 40K shirts to a tourney is like going to a concert and wearing the shirt of the band you're going to go and see.

So true! I've always thought that was ridiculous. I also think those shirts with sayings like "The voices in my head say they don't like you" are completely stupid. Tip: If you aren't dating anyone and you are wearing one of those shirts, that might be one reason why.

Kinda a closet 40k fan...well not totally, but I don't really shout it out or talk about it with most of my friends. However, since I'm slowly losing interest in 40k I've kinda moved on to Troll Forged Miniatures. This is a different ballgame though since I actually have the chance to create something for myself rather than geek up on somebody else's work. So it's still dorky and not so much a "shout it out" thing, but it's no longer hidden in darkness sort of speak.

I've become the weird "toymaker" who makes weird little creatures and robots from torn up radios and vast amounts of glue! My friends must be thinking I'm constantly getting high on glue!

I guess Im one of the few people who don't flaunt the wargaming thing. To me its embrassing.

If someone asked me I'd probably lie.

Internally I dont think much of the hobby especially when you meet some of the oddballs that play it. But on the other hand Im drawn to it. Mostly just play with friends these days.

karnaeya wrote:...when you meet some of the oddballs that play it. But on the other hand Im drawn to it....

Hey! I'm one of those oddballs!

Actually, I can relate to this. When I was a teenager, my brothers, a few neighborhood kids/friends and myself played Champions, D&D and Star Fleet Battles (along with other various war and RPG games) all the time from when I was about ten to eighteen. It was a good core group with enough to still play if one or two missed. I joined the service and found another good core group of D&D and Warhammer/40K players (my intro into this). Fast Forward a few years and I began looking for games at the LGS of the area and I really didn't like many of the people I met. I know I am "geeky" and all that but I felt many of these people were just too much (too many obsessive rules lawyers making the game(s) not fun). I have made friends through the gaming community but most I meet through gaming I just don't click with.

well I'm open with my 40k hobby. I even brought in some minis to paint during my art class.
although some of the kids laugh at me for playing 40k. they say it's childish, but meanwhile those kids are in high school playing yu-gi-oh and pokemon. what a strange world we live in.

I'm NERDCORE 4 LIFE, yo. I haven't worried about what other people think about me since highschool, so it's never been a problem. Most of the time people ask me why my hands are covered with paint, I usually answer that I paint models and they usually go "Ah! That's cool!" and drop the subject. If they want to know more I'll tell em.

I tell people when they ask, and kick them in the balls if they laugh.

Awesome!

Yeah, I am a closet gamer. I love the hobby but I also love not being socially ostracized! My non-gamer friends all tease me about it, my girlfriends have all really teased me about it and once at work someone came up behind me while I was on Dakka and asked what I was looking at, I about shat myself! Haha.

I think its cool that some people are open about it. I should be more so as I love gaming, but hey, I love girls too and you sure don't get as much attention from the ladies if you have a neck beard and a t-shirt with a giant, hyper colored Dragon on it!

It has always been my opinion that people who play wargames are nerdish, friendless, virgins.

My opinion of these "people" stayed the same until a couple of months ago when i came home from years away and rediscovered my models. Standing to attention for all those years since i had abandoned them. Needless to say, from the moment i sat in that chair i was transported into a war zone, and am now hopelessly addicted. However, from the moment i get out of my room everything goes back to normal and i resume thinking that people who sit in that chair are nerdish, friendless, virgins.

There have been several occasions over the past few months however that my models have not fared so well in. These are all related to women. It starts with me running in the room ahead of them, putting on arm on one sid of the desk and briskly moving it to the other before they enter.

I never tell anyone about my private addiction and am thinking about seeing a shrink.

Im sitting in my chair right now.