So I went to Gen-Con this past weekend and had a good time. Played a few games (by games I mean: Roleplaying, collectable card games; Shadowrun and Warhammer and such), bought a few things and smelled a few smells not to be found outside of France. This made me want to get back into gaming (Not the smells, the re-introduction to games). However, when I polled the people around me I re-discovered somthing I knew in my youth. Most gamers above the age of 21 are hopeless. Of the 3 people I know who get into gaming 1 still lives with his parents (he’s 27), and has a room full of swords and posters of women that could not exsist in the physical world, lest they topple over. The second is a drunken, pot smoking loser (so states his wife) and the last will only play if I come dressed in character. A trip to my local gathering ground for gamers, Napoleon’s (Milwaukee), yielded similar results (apparently you have to enjoy pot and ingore hygene to roleplay).
So my question is this: Are there any normal people out there who are also closet gamers? People who bathe regularly, have interests outside of games and manage to hold down a good job, but still want to indulge in a fantasyland now and again? I’m interested to know because I want to start playing again but don’t want to leave my IQ at the door in order to do it.
I’m a little over 21 and would consider myself a normal gamer if I still actually gamed. The only available DM eventually slid too far into her downward spiral of psychopathic megalomania (she started threatening to kill me. I don’t mean my character, I mean me), so I stopped. The rest of our group didn’t last much longer. But many were nice, decent, clean people, so I’d say there’s hope for you.
I consider myself a gamer even though I don’t game that much anymore. I do reasonably well in social situations, have a fairly broad range of interests and don’t look TOO much like a freak. I know a few others who can pass for normal as well.
If you keep looking, I’m sure you can find people who fit your description. Just don’t look in comic book shops or gaming stores. Those places scare the willies out of me.
I’ll admit, I’m a Counter-Strike addict. And since I got my new computer, I’ve been playing non-stop. But as far as I know, I’m quite normal. I have a job, have car, have friends, had a girlfriend. You’re not the only one in the boat man. Now, some of my friends…
29 years old, married, bathes reguarily, works a regular job as an Electrical Engineer, gamer here. I play Champions RPG reguarily - I run a compaign which meets weekly and play in someone else’s game that meets every other week.
Although I’ve met my share of gamers who meet the description in the OP (no hygine or job and living with their parents), the bunch I’m gaming with now all seem to be reasonably normal people. It’s just a matter of meeting the right crowd. I was introduced to the local gamer groups by my wife, as unusual as that may seem.
Normal gamer checking in here. 29, living by myself, working as an environmental engineer, bathe regularly, manage to get dates, and am definitely not socially inept. I game once or twice a week.
That being said, you sure get the impression from Gen Con that all gamers are pasty-looking, mullet-wearing, scruffy-facial-hair, mustard-stained-T-shirt-wearing, smelly, insecure closet cases, dont’cha? I attended Gen Con on Saturday for two reasons: to pick up new gaming materials (of which there was a distinct dearth) and to observe the freak show. I wasn’t disappointed on the second count.
There are relatively normal gamers out there, though. They’re few and far between. I got lucky; the gaming group I ended up joining is fantastic. A bunch of smarter, funnier people I’ve never met and I greatly enjoy our gaming time. (And not a munchkin or rules lawyer in the bunch, either.)
They’re out there. Just keep your eyes open – if you go to the local gaming shop, there’s usually a message board up for ‘gamers seeking gamers’. Put a sign up indicating your willingness to game, the fact that you’re looking for relatively normal people to game with, and what games you’re interested in playing, and see what kind of responses you get.
It feels odd to refer to myself as “normal”, but I suppose in this context it is true. (Frustratingly single, but odorless, sociable and well employed.)
My experience is that finding gamers with those qualities is not too hard. The hard part is finding one with sufficient energy and time to be a good GM.
I’m kind-of a gamer. I’ve just started in a LARP. I’m 19, I’m attending a good university, and I have interests outside of the internet and gaming realms. I’m in the honors college, I don’t do drugs, I’m not sociopathic, I groom, and I realize that it’s only a freakin’ game. So I guess I would be considered normal, or at least normal for my age.
Incidentally, I also have an SO. And, if you were at Gen-Con, you might have seen him. He gave me the free Buffy cards he got :D. He also falls into the realm of having other interests, not being a psychopath, having personal hygene, and not doing drugs. He’s one of the LARP’s STs.
Go to http://www.sjgames.com/gamerfinder in order to find sensible and not-so-sensible roleplayers. Keep in mind that some people are foolish enough to list a local suburb as their home, instead of the closest metropolis, so you may be better off searching by state.
You will be a much happier man because of it.
Damn that OP is funny! I played alot of games in college and you pretty much hit the stereotype on the head! I met the strangest group of people playing. Did mostly Avalon Hill wargames. This one guy couldn’t play unless dressed in uniform! Most all the others were mid-twentys and living with Mom. A couple had part-time jobs, but that was the exception, not the rule (and, boy, could they quote rules!) I don’t play anymore, cause I live in the boonies and frankly, don’t have any friends. But I was by far the most “normal” one of the group.
20 years old, so I slide in under your bar . . . but I’ve not lived with my parents for two and a half years now and have a fulltime job as computer tech . . . Avid gamer. Love me!
Anyway, my entire group is composed of business professionals with good social skills and excellent grooming habits. One is a rather high-ranking manager in my company and one is a doctor. Most of us are rather low-ranking peons in corporate America, but no one lives with parents.
We usually only play about once a month or so, but lately I’ve been trying to learn 3E rules as a DM, so I’ve been running my husband on a campaign and we’ve been able to play more often, it being just the two of us.
28-year-old gamer over here who works as a grantwriter/computer schlub for a humane society, who enjoys camping and mushroom hunting, whose only drugs are caffeine and alcohol, who plays once a week with friends.
Although none of my friends are professionals, we all hold jobs, bathe, have outisde interests. And if someone occasionally shows up to a game dressed as their character, it’s as a joke.
22 years old. Steady job, varried interests and hobbies. I don’t play much because I’ve got a lot of other priorities right now, but I do play a bit of D&D every once in a while (I’ve got a friend who runs a game Saturday nights… I don’t go much 'cause I’ve got a life on Saturday nights!!! [sub]sorry, had to say it![/sub]) I also used to play a bit of warhammer and various card games, but again, the number of people I know who play has dwindled, and the amount of time I have to dedicate to gaming has been taken up by other things.
29 - Going on 30 soon (aayyyeee!!). Married to a hot woman for 2 years. Good job. Own a nice house. Bathe daily. Brush my teeth at least twice a day. Drive a nice vehicle. Shave. No narcotics, but I indulge my caffeine habit almost daily and enjoy a beer or two on the weekends and wine with my meals.
I don’t play RPGs however. I am mostly into Flight Sims and Tactical shooters like Rouge Spear, Swat 3 and Operation: Flashpoint.