I am thinking about how gaming relates with an individual and the way people percieve you.

There have been many experieinces in my life where I have found the image of a gamer to be quite... unhelpful. For example, I have - had - a certain friend who I dub "Lego" because he is quite the block. This involves him for whatever reason suddenly spewing out a whole bunch of stuff about gaming when I am in the prescence of a 7+ and attempting to establish relations.

A 7+.

This is how I look at it:

Any friend other then best friend < a 7.

Not cool.

I think many of us do not like being associated with gaming in the public places. It seems like by virtue of being a gamer, all my other merits are immediately murdered and ignored. People always act really condescending about it. "Oh, I used to play Magic in 4th grade." is the best one. Wow, man, do I look like a 4th grader to you? It just seems very socially uncool to be a gamer and thus, I suppose I try to hide it. While I do love this game, I do not in any way wear my hobby on my sleeve.

So my question to you peeps is: Do you wear this hobby on your sleeve? Are you the type of person who is cool wearing a VS shirt in public? What are your experieinces with this type of stuff? Has anyone experieced the gaming #### block?

I'd have to agree with you on that one. Games have a bad rep period. Most of us are easy going people but people remember the stuck-ups and the stuck-up-geeky archetype portrayed in movies and such. People can't belive i'm a gamer when I tell them (I do sports 4 nights a week so I fit more in the sports-guy archetype)

I get a little more sympathy when I say that I play D&D and cards basicaly as an excuse to drink beer with friends.

Depends...do you look/smell like a nerd?

I dont look like the typical gamer...I have an easy time relating with most people...its my gift...But I can easily understand where you are comming from

I wear whatever I do on my sleeve...I am probably one of the most comfortable people in their own skin you would meet...I dont care if its considered cool to play games...or to sleep with loose women...or to gamble...or to chronically masterbate...I dont give a damn what others do...If I am doing it, then it must be cool...thats my way of thinking

I'm not saying that I don't do what I like to do, on the contrary. And I'm also not saying that I don't tell people that I game, I do. It's just that the reaction is a lot different when I say (to a girl let's say) "Yeah I've been playing in nets for a good 20 years now" from " Yeah I've picked up that nice comic book card game about a year ago".

i really dont care if people i know know that i play vs. it actually came up once and someone was giving me crap about it. i asked them how much many thousands of dollars they make a year with there hobby and that ended the conversation

I decided to conduct a very un-scientific experiment. I asked some co-workers (age 22-45) to give me a brief description when I asked them "describe to me a gamer".

The majority fell into 2 groups

1) A prebubescent male, wears the same T-Shirt all the time, slightly overweight, glasses, few social skills outside their "group", no girlfriend, very quiet.

or

2) Comic Boy Guy from the Simpsons (outgoing, overweight, considered "strange" by some, loves to talk and has an opinion about everything)

It's the persona shown in movies and on TV. The geeks and nerds who would get together and play D&D on a Friday night (because they weren't in the cool group, going to parties and dates). The obnoxious Comic Book Guy on the Simpsons. Not the most flattering images.

Of course, they're grossly exaggerated. SOME gamers fall into these categories. Most are normal (typically male) who either enjoy the genre or challenge that gaming gives. Doesn't mean that they can't participate in society and have a beer at a bar and talk about the Steelers and Seahawks.

Now, try being 40 and sitting in a room of 13-17 year olds playing Vs (or MtG, or any other game). Instant thought by "outsiders"? Pedophile.

The perception given to gamers has driven a couple people I know of from gaming (myself included), and has prevented others from getting into it. And it's stupid, really.

Actually, since I'm in my early 20s and I've never been involved with a game like VS before (no MtG for me), I don't really worry about how people percieve it. I already have a bunch of friends and they could care less that I play a game like VS. It's just another aspect of my life. I actually still think of MtG as pretty damn nerdy, just because of the type of people that play it around my area. The loners, the people who always hang out away from the rest of the people on campus here, and the people who look and talk like the quintessential nerd/geek.

Then again, I consider myself a geek; I play VS, I know a lot about computers, but like I said, it's all just a small part of my life. I still go out and party, hang out with my non-gaming friends, etc but I can always just pick up a deck and play against my best friend so it's not a big deal.

All that being said, I think it's all about how big a part of your life something like VS or Magic is. If your life revolves around VS, and you don't hang around with other non-gamers, you don't keep up your appearance like a normal person, etc then yeah I'd probably label you a nerd.

I've personally run headlong into more than my share of anti-gamer sentiment. The ironic thing is that I don't fit into the stereotype at all. I'm a 6'1", 220 lb. ex-football player who has been the president of multiple student organizations and can hold comfortable conversations in 4 languages. It may not really come across online, but I tend to be kinda Alpha in person.

When some people find out that I play Magic or D&D, they tend to react with either shock or some bizarre form of nerd admiration. Those who usually do these things don't think of me as one of them initially, and so I'm targetted from both sides by the members of either status quo.

I've always worn my gaming on my sleeve. It is one of the rare opportunities in modern society to exercise strategic decision making and intelligent reasoning skills outside ACTUAL combat situations. I take pride in the fact that I outclass almost every non-gaming civilian in the areas of resource utilization and small unit tactics. You never know when you may be facing a Zombie Apocolypse, after all. ;)

I wear my Vs shirts to school regularly. I let everyone know that I play the game. I don't really care what people think. Friends ask me if I want to hang out and I tell them straight out that I have a PCQ or some other tournament to go to. Luckily the girl that is currently the object of my attention is a gamer herself. She RPs with her whole family, her mother played MtG when it first came out. So it's not like I feel out of place at all. And yes I would consider her a 7+.

What is a 7+? A girl who on HotOrNot.com would be rated higher than a 6?

i am in the military, and we have to wear black shirts, under our BDU's, guess what shirts i wear.. Vs shirts i won at PCQ's.

and while you are not allowed to remove your BDU top, and show your black shirt, unless it is a plain black shirt, or a military logo shirt, such as your squadron or base logo. i work in an inclosed office, where i work on computers all day, and have my shirt off, displaying spider-man, or superman to any from a lowly E-1 airman basic, to the high and mighty col.

well, maybe not a col, becuase he was would kill me if he saw me wearing a non-military shirt, in fact, when he walks in i quickly low crawl back to my desk and toss my BDU top on.

like this one time, i have a glow in the dark batman shirt, it is a plain black shirt, with the glowing bat logo. one monring i had a recall at like 4 in the morning- when you get a call from one guy, then you have to call the guy on your list and then he calls the guy on his list, and you have to report to to your duty station as soon as possible.

it is a test, to gauge the reaction time in case of an emergency.

well anyway, i toss my glowing batman logo on and some sweat pants, cuz you are not soppussed to come in unifrom, or even shower or shave, that takes too much, time you just show and get ready for whatever sillyness awaits.

so i walk into the hospital, hopping this is just an exercise, cuz i really don't want to have to deal with a mass casualty accedent and get blood all over batman.

so i walk in, and all the halls have like no light whatsoever, so my black shirt, and black sweats are all but invisible, except for my glowing green bat log.

and i am walking down the halls and this one old soon to be retired civilain nurse freaks out, cuz she has no idea what the hell is going on, as she sees the bat creepily flaot down the hall.

yeah.. that was funny ####.

....??

wait...what was the topic again?

I would never tell a friend from school or something about this game, it's my guilty pleasure.

You play a card game and have friends?

I like that you can find all different types in the gaming world...I will admit that the typical gamer does fall into the "nerdy" class...its cool, but there are the few that break from the norm

While I had no problem landing chicks in school...I hated the popular kids...I ran with the stoner kids and we had the time of our lives...When the preps or jocks gave the nerds a hard time we would threaten their lives...I embrace my inner dork..as I would rather spend my time with people less superficial..gamers give you that

I don't tell too many people about it. My wife isn't totally comfortable with it and my dad took a shot at me once too, so I keep it on the down-low. My wife told me once it's for kids and for the most part I'd say that I see very few "kids." I was actually shocked when I went to my first PCQ in Indianapolis and saw a couple guys wearing Union Ironworkers shirts, and that was in addition to several other guys 5 to 10 years older than me and I was 27 at the time.