Would you read this book in public?
Have you heard? It’s Read an RPG Book in Public Week! Apparently this is a thrice-a-year event organized by The Escapist to promote awareness of the hobby and to get it “out of the basement.” I don’t know how widespread this event is, but I hope it catches on if it hasn’t already. I’m really tired of the stigma associated with playing tabletop RPGs. And I have to admit, it weighs over me when I wonder if I should tell a non-geek friend or a coworker that I played D&D when they ask me about my weekend. The way I see it, there are 3 levels of nerd stigma that a lot of people buy into when it comes to games. This is all gleaned from my completely subjective experiences of course.
1) Consoles: Playing XBox and PS3 is a minor blip on the nerd radar. Wii doesn’t even register. Maybe I’m too embedded in the geeky lifestyle, but it seems like consoles are pretty mainstream these days. Still, an Xbox-playing dude seems more accepted than an Xbox-playing girl.
2) MMOs: Nerd flags start waving. Telling certain people I play World of Warcraft can be harrowing. I often feel I have to preface it with an eye roll and “I know it’s really nerdy” comment. We even have a closet WoW-player reading the comic, as evidenced in the comments on a recent post.
3) Tabletop RPGs like D&D: Major Nerd Alert. And not “affectionate cute nerd.” More like “off-her-rocker loser nerd.” It would be really difficult for me to tell a non-geek outside of my close circle of friends that I play D&D.
So it’s great to see an event like Read an RPG Book in Public Week. And I’m going to try, although I don’t actually read RPG books… I’m new to D&D, and we’ve figured out everything while we’re playing. But John recently ordered the book for a really cool story-heavy sci-fi RPG called Diaspora. So I’m going to try that on the subway this week.
If you want more info about Read an RPG Book in Public, check out the info over on The Escapist. It occurs February 28 – March 6, July 25-31, and September 26 – October 2.
Ha! I do that all the time. This is a good book by the way: “Homeland” by R.A. Salvatore. It’s a Forgotten Realms book, part of a series about Night Elves. I tried reading the next couple in the series and didn’t like them much but the first one’s fun. I’m currently reading “Way of Shadows,” (the Night Angel Trilogy) by Brent Weeks, sort of an Assassin’s Creed type series.
Hey sweatyapple — Homeland isn’t an RPG book in the strictest sense. It’s just a fantasy book. “RPG book” means, y’know, RPG book — a rulebook for a game.
And they’re drow, not “Night Elves.” You’re doing it wrong!
haha yea drow/nightelves, that’s what happens when you mix all your fantasy together.
And yeah now I’m clearer on the whole RPG book. Tried to get into the whole tabletop thing, but when the dungeon master starts drawing half naked pictures of your character and starts pulling you aside to whisper in your ear about a secret that none of the other players are supposed to know about, it gets a lil skeevy.
A) Cool post.
B) I was a closeted WoW player for I think two years. I slowly eased out the truth to my friends, so I can definitely relate to the whole eye-roll thing.
C) I need to start paying attention to The Escapist.
As a girl gamer and a serious WoW player I know the feeling of keeping my MMO habits under wraps when talking with my coworkers and non-gamer peers. And having recently started playing D&D (and really, really liking it) I can completely relate to your dilemma. Every so often I try to admit to playing D&D or attending a multi-hour raid to people who don’t game. Just so I can hear myself say it and so I can explain the heavy social aspects of it (we’re not actually anti-social). I’m still a work in progress.
I like the idea of reading RPG books in public though. And who knows, it may start a cool conversation.
The Night Angel trilogy is amazing, I own all 3, And I think That Mary means a D&D game book, like the Players Handbook for D&D, I myself read several Tabletop RPGs in public. Rifts, D&D, Exlated, Dead Reign, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Etc..
Perhaps I’ve just been incredibly lucky, but more likely I believe the whole RPG stigma is very USA-centric. I live in Norway, and while I occationally DO get the odd and disaproving look when I read up on RPG-books on the subway, most people just don’t pay it any attention.
If I’m asked about hobbies and tell that I play WOW, boardgames and RPGs, I more often than not get asked genuinely interested questions about it. Some people just aren’t interrested in those topics, and that’s just fine. I just steer the conversation in another direction (“So, what do YOU like?”), and everything flows nicely from there. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve gotten hazed for being a nerd over the past 3-4 years.
Oh, and this is NOT a situation unique to me. I know many people with the same kind of experience, both RPGers and LARPers (yes, I’ve done that too, as well as making my own costumes).
Never heard of this “read and RPG book in puclic” thing before, but sounds like a good thing. Just a shame that it wouldn’t be something new for me. ^_^
By the way, never heard of Diaspora before. Looks like an interesting setting from what I read on their site. I’m a huge fan of FUDGE, so I’ll probably love the FATE system.
I never get weird glances either here in Holland. I’m pretty straightforward that I play WoW, watch anime etc. Although there are always people who like to make a funny comment about it
and if being a nerd/geek is wrong, I don’t want to be right
Ah! This is the first I’ve heard of this, though I haven’t played an honest to god tabletop in years. Despite that I read RPG source books in public on a rather regular basis as I research the backgrounds for the characters I play in MMOs online. (Where Roleplaying in MMOs falls on that scale I don’t know.)
I don’t think I’ve ever been in the closet about my gaming habits, but then I’ve never gotten anything but curiosity from folks in response either. I regularly wear my WoW themed Tshirts in public despite the fact that I haven’t played in almost two years. The only trouble that’s caused me is that I’ve had people stop me at the grocery to ask me what server I play on.
The Warhammer Fantasy RPG universe tops my list as my favorite set of source books in general. Besides, reading the Tome of Corruption on the bus usually just makes people think I’m an aspiring politician.
After that I’d have to go for Exalted. Or hey, how about the Warcraft RPG itself?
Yeah, guilty of reading up the Horde guide for the World of Warcraft MMO on the bus. Can’t get more geeky than that I guess.
I suspect roleplaying in MMOs are just the same kind of geekyness to the general public as burely being a stat-freak constantly trying to twink your toon for better PvP performance.
By the way, based on the book you mentioned there, I highly recommend a look at both “Nobilis” (diceless RPG with players as godlike beings and an infinitely large setting) and “Unknown Armies” (Contemporary magic/horror with a large focus on the characters mental states).
Oh, and where did you pick up that avatar? I looks vaguely familiar.
Thanks for the recommended reading! A diceless system intrigues me as any way to make the rules simple helps in getting folks into RPGs. I’ve had many friends show interest over the years then balk at the seeming complexity of the mechanics.
I suspect that you’re right. Most folks wouldn’t differentiate between someone that gets worked up over stats and gear and a person that gets worked up over history and lore. (And neither are mutually exclusive. Omnomnom, stats.)
And I drew it myself.
It’s also my twitter avatar @inkbard.
Nice. Checked out you comic, and I envy your style. Might have to read it through to see if I’ll be a regular. ^_^
And too true about the imersion of dicelessness (is that even a real word?).
The most entertaining and atmospheric session I ever GMed was a mini-campaign of “Call of Chutuhlu” where I had all the character sheets and handled all the mechanics. Ah, good times… ^_^
I find the whole idea of Read and RPG Book in Public Week to be more than a little stupid. It’s just an RPG book — you aren’t making some huge statement or taking a brave stand by reading it in public. People do it all the time, and nine times out of ten nobody around them notices or cares. This is more or less the reaction people would have if RPGs were totally mainstream.
For example, has anyone seen fit to start, for example, a Read Michael Crichton in Public Week?
It’s nice to try to do something for the RPG community, but IMO it all comes from a very skewed perspective. Or maybe an alternate universe where RPG gamers are some oppressed minority.
I don’t feel like an oppressed minority, and this event certainly doesn’t compare in importance to something like a gay pride parade or black history month. But in my social circles, and in many, playing tabletop RPGs is ridiculed. Maybe a “Read a Michael Crichton book in public” week would make sense in, say, the literature department of a major university, where Michael Crichton readers might be looked down upon. The event is really just a way to promote awareness of the hobby and encourage those of us who feel shy about admitting what we enjoy to come out of our shell about it a little. No doubt it seems silly to those who don’t have a problem with talking about it. Enjoy your hobby and keep talking to people about it – the greater awareness benefits everyone.
While it’s true that this sort of thing may not make a huge difference in the long run, there’s certainly no harm in it either. And it’s certainly no sillier than any host of other events. ( Talk Like a Pirate Day anyone? )
In any case, I’ve met far too many other Roleplayers or MMO players by noticing something they were reading or wearing to pass up the opportunity to connect with new people. Not to mention it’s a good excuse to dust off systems I haven’t looked at in a while. Hello there 7th Sea!
There’s a fourth level of nerdness – playing tabletop roleplaying game *in an MMO*. I run a D&D game in Second Life (with our avatars sitting around a virtual table, rolling virtual dice, and moving virtual miniatures on a virtual map.) Since I live alone and don’t drive, this has been the only way for me to get a group together.
I think the last one got eaten or something.
I wandered over here from the Read an RPG Book in Public page on Facebook. I like the blog so far! Drop over to the Citadel of Chaos, we don’t have ‘nerd stigma’, just plenty of discussions about vintage role playing games!
@Redwood: That is so awesome!
@StormBringer: Thanks! And welcome!
I think there is a fifth level of nerdiness… live action roleplaying in public. Some friends of mine used to play the LARP version of Vampire: The Masquerade at the bar. They’d be wearing special amulets that let other LARPers know they were “in character” and then they could do whatever it is that LARPers do.
As to the stigma, I believe that there is one, and I downplay / skip that hobby when discussing my activities with my employer, as I’m in a professional services consulting company.
Oh! and I ordered a copy of Diaspora, as it looks cool and I’ve been wanting to play a sci-fi game.