Poll: How Open Are You With Coworkers About Your Gaming Habits?
By maryvarn on April 20th, 2010Posted In: NPC Blog,Polls
You may have noticed that recent comics have touched on the subject of disclosing game habits to coworkers, and there were some great comments on the subject. This is prime for a poll, so have at it! The poll will close Sunday the 25th just before midnight, and I’ll write up a post about the results next week.
I actually was off of WoW for a bit, and then my office mate got me back into it, and now I raid ICC 10 with him, his wife and another coworker.
If it comes up, I’ll tell them I play WoW. (My direct co-workers learnt within the first 2 days of knowing each other.) I sometimes wear WoW t-shirts, but that’s about it… Oh, and before iPurr, my wallpaper was always WoW-themed… but no one seemed to notice.
I only talk about WoW with the co-worker that I seduced into playing with me; otherwise I don’t mention it to anyone.
Given the fact I have a plushy Richard (LFG Comic), Richard Statue, WoW Mousepad, etc I think they know lol. No one else here games but they sure know I do.
Everyone at work knows it,.. they just aren’t gamers themselves.
But, they don’t mind talking about it, and heck, I give ‘m as much crap about watching footy as they give me about swinging latex swords. (and that’s not too much crap to begin with)
I’ve never found it’s much of an issue when you work with other computer-geek types, as I do; I would probably be more careful about it if I were the lone programmer in an office full of suits, but I don’t work in those places anymore
That said, I figure the topic bores to tears anyone who doesn’t actually play the things, so I don’t talk MMOs unless the subject comes up, and even then I try to keep it brief. (My co-workers, while not hostile to MMOs, don’t seem to play them. They play FPSes now and then, but that’s about it. I have worked in places where the game culture was MUCH much higher.)
Vote other
am 21 and the rest is around the 60…. so they know it but can’t really follow it so not much to talk about 
It’s been a requirement to be a gamer for my last three jobs, but previous to that I only talked about it if it came up — and it rarely did.
Hard to hide when it’s obvious you really ARE interested in hearing about the latest games the kids in the lunch line are talking about
I’m the go-to guy if we get customers who have gaming related questions and when i’ve earned enough money i’m going to study for a bachelor’s degree in game programming, so i wouldn’t say it’s a secret.
we are all gamers (expect 1 guy but we are conferring him) working for IT has its perks.
Every one at my job are gamers, of course I am a software tester so that kinda skews things
Don’t hate me, but I actually get to game at work. My coworkers give me crap about it all the time, but I don’t care. I have a lot of downtime at work.
Jen is my boss, and if she isn’t on the mouse I run off of cliffs. I am getting better, but still get lost.
I tend to keep my gaming habits fairly quiet at work, mostly because no one else in the research lab I work in likes video games at all. I will talk about it if asked though.
I’m fairly certain I mentioned my gaming habits during my interview for this job. None of my coworkers are gamer types but that’s OK, we take turns talking about our interests.
Having played a few MMOs other than and before WoW I always find it funny that I can say, “I play an online game, like WoW.” and people will know what I’m talking about for the most part. They all seem to know someone, a kid, a friend, another coworker, that plays WoW. It’s kinda a nice change of pace from when I’d mention my EverQuest habit back in the day.
My old bosses knew I was a gamer, but it didn’t really come up much as they were not normally in the office. (It was a very small company, my only co-worker was also a gamer so that was cool.) My new job is itself game-centric in some ways: I am the on-site caretaker at a dedicated LARPing campsite.
I’ve been, amongst other things, a gamer of many sorts (board, role-play, computer) all my life (I’m 56). I’ve never made either a secret or big deal of it, but then I’ve never cared much what people thought about it either, and I’ve always had a life beyond it. I’m a software tester for a large multinational, and I know plenty of folk at work who do some or all of those.
I’m open about it but shy. When there’s nothing to do I read old copies of “Dragon” magazine at my desk and talk about rendezvous’ for a table-top game every week, but when I’m working they go face-down on the far side of the desk and it’s just “getting together with friends.”
I’m not closeted but I’m still not at the point of “pride.”
My last job was at Sony’s software QA department, so everyone there was a gamer. The environment was amazing. It’s hard to describe, but I guess it’s somewhat like the break time in Grandma’s Boy. During break, people would break out all kinds of various systems and games to play. For example, at 4:15 every day, several of my bosses, coworkers, and myself would engage in an 8 player game of Saturn Bomberman. My bosses had been doing this tradition for years, and as a result, they were scary good at Saturn Bomberman.
It was a magical place.
I have WoW backgrounds, but no one has commented on it so far. I may bring in something one day.
Regarding old bosses, a year after she left the company we both worked for (weeks after I did) I saw a former boss’ YM status as “playing WoW.”
Like our heroine, I’m fairly new here, so I have no idea how many of my co-workers also play.
I’m a middle school teacher. The other teachers don’t play, but some of my students do. I don’t talk about it – I need to maintain a level of respect and of course teachers aren’t supposed have lives outside of school you know. One day a couple of boys were giggling and whispering and looking at an atlas (never really a good sign). I came over and one of the boys asked if I could help him find Terokkar Forest (more giggling). I looked at him and said “it’s between Nagrand and Shadowmoon Valley – south of Zangarmarsh, but I really doubt you’ll find it in that book.”
Blank stares, a couple of whispered “whoa”s, and I was the coolest teacher that sememster.
Yes, I would but that’s because I am a work study student at Naropa University.