Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

All my friends know I play and honestly don't seem to care all that much. In fact I did my high school senior project on warhammer and my class loved it. they were amazed that people were this skilled at painting such intricate details

Natorum wrote:Being an individual all that matters.

That's a proposition that could be quite vigorously debated.

When I was a teenager I was "proud" of being a geek and made it well known with geeky accessories and geeky behavior. After reading a bit about developmental psychology I think it fits pretty well with the idea that young adults have a deep need to form an identity that is independent from their family, and so they form cliques and clubs and such in order to establish that separation. But now that I've been out of the house for over a decade, I just don't feel that need any more. I'm confident that I'm a unique individual- I don't need to bludgeon everyone around me with my hobbies to convince myself of that. In fact, I'd rather not be thought of as the sum of my hobbies. I like my hobbies, but they aren't the total of who I am. I have achievements and a personality that I would rather be known for than what I do for an hour after supper and a while on weekends.

How exactly can someone be "proud" of their hobby, anyway? I'm quite proud of my beastmen naturally, because they are an achievement for me. They are my first models with any significant converting, they are my first attempt at green stuffing beyond gap-fills, and the bestigors are my first attempt at NMM. I won't be winning any awards, but I'm proud of them. And to anyone who can appreciate miniature painting, I'll happily shove those models right in front of them. But to be proud because I like miniatures? What's the achievement in that?

A few years ago when I had stopped buying GW figures because they were too expensive, I often instead spent my Saturday nights at a local dance club. I was quite fond of sitting back in the posh sofa sipping a nice glass of Cuban rum on the rocks and watching the ladies "drop it like it's hot". That's a past-time that's way more popular than adults playing with army men, but I wasn't a better or worse person back then. It was just a hobby. It wasn't me.

"what are these little pieces of plastic on your desk??"

"NOTHING!!!"

"whats in that cupboard??"

"....BOOKS!!"

"can i se"

"NO, LETS GO HAVE A SNACK"

"...oookkk"

Seriously i don't mind though its just a hobby like video games or sporrts.

When I was a teenager and worried about what chicks think, I was shy about my hobby, but that was long before geek chic made it cool to be nerdy. Bad years, that early adolescent stage. Kids nowadays have it lucky. Nowadays I proudly wear my House Kurita patch on my sleeve along with my C:\DOS\RUN Tee-shirt and I just dont give a feth. I won't say I'm 'proud' exactly to be a gamer-geek, just that nowadays I am tough enough, witty enough, and smarter than anyone who wants to talk crap about it that I don't really care, they can pass judgement on my nerdiness I guess, but more often they are curious and interested in it. The duality of playing in a band and also playing with little army men may seem strange to some, but to me it is perfectly natural. WE PLAY!

dumber people can geek out on Madden football or Halo or whatever... but if they want and hold judgement over the nerds, they are just playing too, just dumber simpler games.

They just don't have the minds to comprehend such a vast and depthy hobby. Stick to your Xbox and watching your kids little league games, dumb guy. Nobody challenges me about my hobby and I wouldn't challenge them about theirs either. I haven't felt the need to conceal my passion for little army men, lists, math, painting, etc from anyone for years... pretty much since high school. If anything it makes me more confident because I know I'm a geek and I'm proud of it, and most people who see my stuff say "Wow that's cool" and then we get around to having a beer or something.

Im still at high school, all my close freinds play 40k, although 1 of my close friends has decided to stop playing cause he thinks it will reduce his chances of hooking up with a chick, thats not going to happen because he can't talk to girls.

Many people know i play 40k, many know i play DoW, I made the mistake of doing a speach on it, got baged out by all the jerks aka people who are "normal". But I just ignore these comments, it dosn't bother me.

i am quiet open about the hobby and proud of it but i don't talk about it all day.

My freinds who are girls know i play and they don't care, when i have non-40k friends over i leave my IG laying arround, im just lazy, I have a 40k poster on my wall (stompa poster from WD), i don't hide it when i have guests

I have been known to scream BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!! when i see a fight. But i had the reputation of being strange before 40k

I love being strange, Im proud of it and my geekyness, I shall always be a geek

I've put it on my CV

Ill be honest, in all my years of Junior High and High School, I denied and kept it a major secret that I played warhammer... Even when people came over to my house and saw all my models I would go as far to say that it was from elementry school and that I was selling them :( .

But as of late I have said skrew it and I dont hide anything anymore. Hellz yeah I paint expensive little toys, and hell yeah I pay 15 a month to play WoW!

Feels much better and has alot less pressure than it does to hide it all away!

most of my friends are the sort of people who poke fun at each other and even insult eachother for a joke (its all friendly stuf)
and i (somehow) never give any of them any fodder and they struggle to insult me even though they all know that i play warhammer
so personnally think it cant be that big of a thing.

This shouldn't be a 'shame' thread. It should be a 'pride' thread, and so far it pretty much has been. 'Ere we go, 'ere we go...

Tabletop Wargames
Video Games
Role Playing Games
Board Games
Card Games (collectible and traditional)
Medieval reenactment
Amateur Drama and Film
Electronics
IT Enthusiast (I've recently stopped being an 'IT professional' so I could work in the field of...)
Music Journalism
Musician (not much nerdier than being the keyboardist either)
Literature
War and Horror Films
Martial Arts
Gardening and Aquaculture
Cooking
Library Science (used to study + meticulously catergorise things... maybe I just have CDO)

That's MY shortlist... I could break it into categories but I don't have enough time, what with all this nerdy crap I need to get back to.

I've only recently discovered my inner geek.

When I first showed interest in models I kept it very very quiet, this was about 8 years ago when I started uni. I then abandoned the whole thing due to knowing nobody who was even slightly interested in it, and I never spoke to people in the shop or anything like that.

However having grown up a little I can’t say such things bother me anymore, the turning point was starting to collect amazing Spiderman comics a couple of years ago.

I got into war gaming last August when space hulk came out, I've got a thing for anything limited edition as having played this as a kid I leapt at the chance, it was also days after receiving a pay out from losing my job.

I almost never expected to even play it, just have the minis on the shelf, however I mentioned it to a couple of people and the whole thing snowballed.

Now I don’t hind it from my close friends and to be honest I don’t hide it from anyone, aren’t bothered if someone see's me in GW, however, as I used to be a music promoter in York and have DJ'd in many of the cities clubs I tend not to make much reference to it on facebook but that’s about it, I did only set up a facebook account to help with promoting my events.

Anyone who comes to my gaff will see how much I’m now into the hobby, and after a few beers a can sit and chat 40k for hours.

Basically I won’t deny it, but as I put in a another thread recently I properly would avoid advertising it on facebook due to my alter ego. Got to keep up appearances with the dubstep kids, ha-ha!

edit, sheesh, terrible spelling, all fixed now!

I'm in the camp of 'I won't bring it up' but I seem to travel in circles that bring it up. A lot. But then again I am white and nerdy. Anime, DnD, etc.

Most of my co-workers at work know if only because of "Hey, whatever gets you through the day" mentality. And it's the gun enthusiast I get along with the most.

I freely discuss the topic if it comes up. Some of my friends at work do toy trains, play FPS, or ride motorcycles. If we get on about hobbies I am quite happy to share about my toy soldiers (and my motorcycles).

I'm old and crotchety and have come to the age that I can't be bothered with what others think about me. Don't get me wrong, I don't aim to offend and bathe regularly, etc. but I don't dress, play or speak in a manner designed to elicit approval from those around me. I'm my own person and if we happen to get along, great. If not oh well... different strokes for different folks.

I like the idea of a pride thread posted up earlier...

When I was 6 I played my first game of Dungeons and Dragons. 6 year olds don't really have enough abstract thought to feel things like shame anyways. It was just those awkward adolescent years where I felt an urge to hide it because it wasn't 'cool'. I was never cool in those days whether or not I was a gamer geek... I was smaller than all the other kids, younger, weaker, easily picked on... so it was kind of an incentive to not give dumb bullies any ammunition. The less people know about me the better sort of mentality.

I grew up. I'm not really proud of that, as it sort of just happens with time. I'm still short and little, but the amount of things I know, create, and work on all kind of stem to my initial introduction to gaming. My mom hated it when me and my brother sat inside playing D&D or writing adventure games instead of playing outside with the other kids. My dad (the scientist) liked it because he saw how much math skills we got out of it.

I read Douglas Adams and Joseph Campbell for book reports when the other kids were reading Judy Bloom. I brought Time Bandits to school, ran a library of choose-your-own-adventure books that all the kids in 4th grade started to like once they became available. I have taught 3 girlfriends how to paint miniatures and they have all come out excellent.

There is a strong corellation between being an interesting person with multi-faceted tastes in entertainment... and gaming. Ask most musicians and I bet you'll find many of them were geeks as kids. I know Kirk Hammet (metallica), Kurt Cobain, Thurston Moore, Bob Mould, all had dorky childhoods. Gaming (not the console types, actual table games) is just an abstractification of mathematics with a backdrop of imagination to make it fun. The amount your mind expands by combining mathematics with probability with story telling with art is nothing to be ashamed of.

I program computers, I play several instruments, I write songs, I play on stages, I do sound engineering, I paint murals, I write stories, I geek on video games and sites like dakka... Alll of this is interrelated. As a kid I was kind of embarrassed because I didn't know how to play baseball like all the other boys, but instead knew how to roll up a D&D character or program an adventure game on an Apple II+... Who turned out cooler in the long run though?

So later in life, I can list a billion things I am proud of being/doing that all stemmed from that awkward little kid who was scared that the bigger kids would make fun of him.

I have always shared and not hidden who I am.

When i took off work for a D&D weekend thing at the gameing shop everyone at work knew why.

Everyone at work knows i play warhammer ( I paint during my breaks).

My family and friends know (the in laws dont care for it honestly)...

I once screamed "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" in the local pub while watching Rypien fight during a Canucks v Oilers game.
I often yell it out while watching UFC fights as well.

My buddies and I often comment that "Red wunz go fasta'" when talking about cars with people.

"Heresy!" is something I commonly proclaim in regards to opinions I disagree with.

When asked to do something, "For the Emperor!" or "His Will Be Done!" will sometimes be the reply.

Unlike TGG, I'm not old. Like TGG, I -am- crotchety (Giggedy). I don't really care what other folks think about myself or my interests. I make 40K Referances whenever I wish, and damn the folks that don't like it. I even put it on my Resumé when I put in for the army. Suprisingly, they were impressed and pleased by the thought of a strategic tabletop wargame. Point for this guy.

When I first met my GF it took a month or 2 for me to mention my gamery hobbies. I was scared she would think i was a nerd and run away screaming. But, when I finally told her about it she thought it was cool that I had a creative hobby and all that stuff, even though she wouldn't ever be into it too. I think she's just happy I don't throw my money away on booze & strip clubs like "normal" guys...

I think most of them just go over people's heads. proclaiming "HERESY!" or "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD" might just be construed as humorous drunkenness (which it is) but I doubt if many people will catch the reference.

Ah well I must admit I am in the minority in that what I do stays firmly with my me and my family.

I have no intention of admitting what I do, and I can't see it happening in the next few years. Almost all the people I know are extremely judgemental and being someone wo doesn't really fit in means that giving them more things to throw at me is a bad idea. Being quite insecure doesn't realy help either.

Luckily I play at a club out of town and don't ever have people visit means that it isn't very difficult to keep it a secret. All I have to do is claim to sit around and watch television and no one asks more questions.

Guitardian wrote:I think most of them just go over people's heads. proclaiming "HERESY!" or "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD" might just be construed as humorous drunkenness (which it is) but I doubt if many people will catch the reference.

That's all good and well...

If I was drunk when I said that stuff. I mean, I am sometimes. Okay... Often. Canadian and all...

The point is, I get wierd looks. I get them a lot. And my answer to said gazes is to mimic the expression, and stare back at the person (or people) until they look away. Works very, very well.

SHAME!!!

To be honest everyone who knows me knows am a Sci-fi/fantasy, Computer(well console, I don't and won't play WOW), comic book, movie, science and math geek.

But for some reason I just can't find a way to tell my mates that since Christmas just gone I have got back into and spent more then a few hundred quid on little plastic men. Admittedly the topic hasn't come up and I won't deny or hide it when it does.

So not really shame, just a reserved cautiousness

Well, wait until this Christmas coming. On christmas day, just call each of them up and say "I just want to wish you a merry Christmas, and always remember what this day means. It's important that we never forget the Emperor's terrible sacrifice for the good of humanity."

...and it's because of the Emprah's sacrifice that santa keeps the redshirts having a job... the true meaning of christmas...

metallifan wrote:

Guitardian wrote:I think most of them just go over people's heads. proclaiming "HERESY!" or "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD" might just be construed as humorous drunkenness (which it is) but I doubt if many people will catch the reference.

That's all good and well...

If I was drunk when I said that stuff. I mean, I am sometimes. Okay... Often. Canadian and all...

The point is, I get wierd looks. I get them a lot. And my answer to said gazes is to mimic the expression, and stare back at the person (or people) until they look away. Works very, very well.

This is a fare representation of Canada right

Emperors sacrifice at Xmas, that's awesome! I'm going to start writing that on my Christmas cards to my friends this Xmas...I've never sent Xmas cards before, but now I will just for that joke!

Im pretty out with my wargaming, I mean my avatar on Steam is the artwork from the DE reference sheet page in the 5th Ed. book and I explain it in a way that doesn't totally nerd it out.

Ex; "I paint plastic soldiers and play games with them"

And the best part is (maybe just from the way I present it) girls don't actually give a feth. It surprised me quite a lot.

People seem to almost forget that when you get out of high-school no one really gives a feth about how nerdy you are. Sure, you might bear the brunt of some serious ribbing through that period but after that it's smooth sailing. Considering the only people I ever see EVER are 13 nerds, 1 female and my parents, the circle of people obviously are quite accepting.
And most people really lie about their true geekiness, considering the vast hordes of people geeking out on WoW/MW2/H3/GOW2/SC2 every day. Don't be ashamed because really it's almost becoming cool to be a keyboard/paintbrush warrior.

being a geek is cool now. nothing to hide or be ashamed of.

most of my friends are geeks, and most of us are pretty f*cking cool.

we all make decent livings, we all are successful with the opposite sex, and we all are generally decent people.

my attitude is if people don't get why i play 40k or wow or like Bach, or shoot guns, or read atwood or work out, well f*ck them. people are more than one thing. but i can tell you this: nobody has called me a geek to my face for 15 years.

aint it nice growing up?

'tis indeed.

youbedead wrote:

metallifan wrote:

Guitardian wrote:I think most of them just go over people's heads. proclaiming "HERESY!" or "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD" might just be construed as humorous drunkenness (which it is) but I doubt if many people will catch the reference.

That's all good and well...

If I was drunk when I said that stuff. I mean, I am sometimes. Okay... Often. Canadian and all...

The point is, I get wierd looks. I get them a lot. And my answer to said gazes is to mimic the expression, and stare back at the person (or people) until they look away. Works very, very well.

This is a fare representation of Canada right

Broken picture is broken.

Makes me a Saaaaaad Canadian

Yeah when my Girlfriend now wife found out about it she went " Wow your a huge nerd, thats so cute"...

I didnt hide it but it never came up in conversation. She knew i was a gamer, and played lots of console and PC games. When we got engaged and moved in together it came up when i was packing up my army boxes and what not.

She likes to paint them also!!!

As Bill Gates says, "Be nice to nerds, you will probably end up working for one".