# The 'saga' of Amy Player and the fleecing of the LOTR fandom **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 12, 2011, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029 "2011-09-12T07:48:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/41 "2011-09-18T05:29:11Z")
Wow…that whole Jenova/Hojo thing on the Sarah’s Saga link happened in my old backyard, State College! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/42 "2011-09-18T07:19:35Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > This is what geeks have instead of The Young and the Restless, right? Color me bored. Says the woman who plays WoW nearly 24/7. Face it, hon. You’re a geek, too. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/43 "2011-09-18T14:03:33Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Says the woman who plays WoW nearly 24/7. > > Face it, hon. You’re a geek, too. Speaking as a fellow geek, it doesn’t automatically mean you find the soap operas interesting. (I personally find it kind of trainwrecky-scary, in the same kind of way that I’ll watch an episode of Hoarders and go :eek: and clean my house again, but watching too much of it just makes me feel sick and shut the TV off.) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/44 "2011-09-18T14:54:47Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Says the woman who plays WoW nearly 24/7. > > Face it, hon. You’re a geek, too. Please. Playing a video game has nothing compared to the weirdness of this shit. I consider myself a hardcore geek and I never even knew any of this existed. It’s very possible to be a geek and not deal with any of this “fen” bullshit. I mean, fen, really? ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/45 "2011-09-18T15:10:00Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Wow…that whole Jenova/Hojo thing on the Sarah’s Saga link happened in my old backyard, State College! Hell, I can point out the apartment number. =P ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/46 "2011-09-18T15:45:03Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Please. Playing a video game has nothing compared to the weirdness of this shit. I consider myself a hardcore geek and I never even knew any of this existed. It’s very possible to be a geek and not deal with any of this “fen” bullshit. > > I mean, fen, really? Yeah, really. That’s why you have to be careful when self describing yourself as a geek. Identify as a Christian and some lump you into the anti-evolutionary camp. Identify as a Republican and some will lump you into the racist/homophobic camp. Identify as a Democrat and risk getting lumped into the “eat the rich” camp. Identify as a geek and someone out there will lump you in with “barely attached to reality, dysfunctional poly communes.” Fortunately, for us “mainstream geeks” the stranger side of geekdom is pretty hidden until you start going to Cons. Most people don’t know it goes farther than those weirdos who have Star Trek weddings - or maybe they say the Furries episode of CSI. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/47 "2011-09-18T15:53:49Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Yeah, really. That’s why you have to be careful when self describing yourself as a geek. Identify as a Christian and some lump you into the anti-evolutionary camp. Identify as a Republican and some will lump you into the racist/homophobic camp. Identify as a Democrat and risk getting lumped into the “eat the rich” camp. Identify as a geek and someone out there will lump you in with “barely attached to reality, dysfunctional poly communes.” Honestly, I think most “mainstream geeks” have no idea these fen losers exist. Worrying about what the real mainstream thinks of them is of even less concern. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/48 "2011-09-18T16:24:16Z")
> [@hermette](#): > > Reminds me of the [Sarah Saga](http://www.demon-sushi.com/warning/index2.html) - some poor soul living with housemates who thought they were channelling the characters from Final Fantasy 7. Wow. If this is real, it’s truly disturbing. (The sad thing is that I believe every word.) ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/49 "2011-09-18T16:52:10Z")
So, I have to ask. . .is this stuff ridiculously common? The reason I asked is that I read the Sarah’s Saga link. I ended up reading all the associated links, partially out of idle fascination, and partly because I wanted to make sure that I _didn’t_ know these people. A little background: when I was in college, I was less apathetic agnostic and more apathetic pagan. I had a few books with Wicca in the title. When two of my sophomore year roommates saw them, they asked if they could talk to me in private. Figuring that since I was at a Lutheran college, I was in for some well-meaning sales pitches, I said sure. I figured, hey, since I was going to be rooming with them, I owed them at least the courtesy of listening and the chance for them to witness. So the two of them and I go out walking one early September night, and they start talking. . . I posted a thread about it back in the day, but the gist of it was this: > [@A Much More Immature Angel of the Lord](#): > > They’re part of a huge battle between light and darkness. They have battles on the astral plane. One of them is going to rule the universe for a thousand years about two incarnations down the road. There are anime guys all around on the spiritual plane. They’re soul sisters. Their soul brother is Caine (yes, for you gamers, the same Caine from Vampire: The Masquerade). And Aleister Crowley is trapped in our residence hall’s chapel. I wondered for a while after that whether they were actually crazy, or just having a laugh at my expense (my reaction was to just sort of smile, nod, and never talk about this again). This was answered a few months later when one of their friends stayed with us for a week. Because she thought her ex-boyfriend was spying on her. Through the eyes of her _cat_. Now, these aren’t the same people; for one I was in Indiana, and for another they turned out reasonably normal, as far as I can tell on Facebook. There was also, as far as I could tell, none of the weird relationship/abusive stuff; the two of them only comprised half the quad, though, and **Shadez** , the fourth roommate, was blessedly normal and awesome. But, damn, that’s close. It makes me wonder how common this sort of thing _is_ in college students of a certain stripe, and amongst fandom in general. Anyone else run into the freaky shit? ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/50 "2011-09-18T16:59:55Z")
> [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](#): > > So, I have to ask. . .is this stuff ridiculously common? It’s more common nowadays. Even as late as the early 90s, it took a lot of luck for people with similar outlandish beliefs to find each other and start reinforcing behaviors. Now with the advent of the internet, it’s trivial to find the other 30 people globally who believe that Anime/Game characters are real and that’s enough to form a weird cult. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/51 "2011-09-18T17:13:21Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Honestly, I think most “mainstream geeks” have no idea these fen losers exist. Worrying about what the real mainstream thinks of them is of even less concern. I think you’d be surprised at how many “mainstream geeks” are aware of the geek counterculture. DragonCon just got over - 40,000 members. Its hard to spend much time around cons and not get a inkling of the “fen losers.” (Who, by the way, are certainly not all losers - there are plenty of self identified fen (I think the word is silly myself) who are not losers). And there are plenty of people who go to Cons who wouldn’t identify as fen. And Cons are just part of a large interlinking geek subculture that includes Rennies, SCAdians, Gamers, War Re-enactors, LARPers, etc. (who all look down on erotic Furries :)). Most of these people are simple a “little left of normal” - but stories like “Amy” are really not that unusual. And I’m not saying I worry about it - but over time I have learned to be careful to whom I disclose my Con running, Rennie, SCAdian past too. Its sort of like telling some one at work you play D&D. There are four outcomes - cool!, what?, geek., and Satanist! There are enough people who have an inkling that the forth reaction isn’t out of the question - and isn’t the reaction I’m looking for at work. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029/52 "2011-09-18T17:19:53Z")
> [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](#): > > Anyone else run into the freaky shit? Yeah…married him. (and in the 1980s) To give me SOME credit, he got more insane while we were together - and seem to have peaked in his “shift from consensus reality” several years after we divorced. Even in the 1980s it wasn’t hard to find these folks if you hung out in certain circles. Pagan circles (in addition to the above SCA/Rennie/LARPers/Fen) were another overlap. We didn’t have Final Fantasy though in the old days. We were restricted to believing that Tolkien was real and we were just elves left behind :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-saga-of-amy-player-and-the-fleecing-of-the-lotr-fandom/596029.md?page=2)