WoW And Real Life People

It's just a hobby. The people I hang out with do not frown upon playing WoW. I'm still a witty blonde that wears high heels first and someone that has WoW and d&d for a hobby later. Like Zalissa said, tits may be an important factor also, I am not sure how it is precieved for guys. I just cannot see that much of a social stigma anymore around having a geeky hobby or two. Geeks and nerds have even become quite popular in pop culture.

One of the few joking remarks I ever recieved was:
Friends: "How did you meet your new boyfriend?"
Me: "Feels a little odd to say this, but through WoW."
One of my friends: "Haha, and they say guys playing WoW can't score!"

The usual reaction when I tell people I play wow is a bit of a frown. Playing wow is outdated, man, who does that anymore. And the non-gamers go to the no-life aspect of things. But I find when I explain to them I roleplay, their perspective switches. I've gotten very good at explaining roleplaying in lamens terms, I usually compare it to an online lord of the rings improv theatre. Once I start explaining that, people actually listen with interest. They may still discard me as a geek, but whatever. I'm cool.

I find the escape of roleplay to have a general relaxing effect on the rest of my life.

As for the "cool" part, I study game art, I'm surrounded by geeks and nerds most of the time. On the side I play DJ-gigs, and I have found most DJ-dudes are just as nerdy as gamers. In fact, maybe even more so! I know more girls that play wow then girls that DJ. Everyone's a geek these days. Geeks are cool. Wear that "epic shirt" with pride!

Not fussed I let people know. It my choice. I still go out and party and so forth. Also 3D computer animation is what I do, so games cartoons and films is part of me so blarg to those those who go. amg nerd. Problem?

Eh well close friends joke around about me playing wow and role playing, No life, will start attacking people irl, etc.... But others don't know, but fuck that, most people that see me on the street or i go to school with already think i am a satanist whore, that drinks the blood of small animals and takes part in satanist orgies, but *shrug* most people are idiots *shrug*

I'm a nerd-girl through and through, and most of my friends are nerds as well. I go to Larps, I play DnD, Vampire the masquerade and other Pen and Paper RPG's.. I play Magic the Gathering, and I greet people with a "Live long and Prosper".

Granted, I get a few laughs and comments about my geekiness from other friends of mine, but I really couldn't care less about what other people think of me.

In my opinion, it is much more healthy to sit in a group and roll a dice, and go on epic adventures than it is to empty a bottle of booze and wake up with the hangover of the history, and not remember a thing about last night.

Of course I do other stuff than play wow or other geeky stuff, but seeing as most of my friends are like-minded, we usually end up either talking about nerdy stuff, or doing nerdy stuff.

Nothing annoys me more than a hypocrite, who is so worried about what other people might think, that they hide their interests and passions.
To those cowards who do that... Grow a pair. There is no bigger turn-off than a guy who pretends to be something he's not.

Shandrea/Nar'Gaya wrote:Nothing annoys me more than a hypocrite, who is so worried about what other people might think, that they hide their interests and passions.
To those cowards who do that... Grow a pair. There is no bigger turn-off than a guy who pretends to be something he's not.

Some interests are best kept hidden, trust me. But I've stated many times, it is not about hiding 'who I am' (like that can reduced down to playing WoW anyway ), thats such a fucking knee-jerk reaction. It's about wishing to keep secret something that would have me associated with something I am not.

You've yourself said you're a 'nerd' and that your friends are 'nerds', admitting your roleplay every evening to them is obviously much different to telling that to your friends if they are not nerdy. You're social clique has a large part to play in determining this shit.

Shandrea/Nar'Gaya wrote:In my opinion, it is much more healthy to sit in a group and roll a dice, and go on epic adventures than it is to empty a bottle of booze and wake up with the hangover of the history, and not remember a thing about last night.

What if you do both?

My work field allows a bit of leeway and those that I know more than professionaly als know that I do the whole gaming thing.

My parents (and the granparent that knows) also turned out to be more positive than negative towards the whole larp thing.

I love how apparently being a gamer (or RPer or whatever) is the equivalent of coming out the closet...

I think you guys are attributing a much greater stigma to it than what everybody else in the world think there is.

I don't talk to people for more reasons than because I'm a huge nerd. More because they're clique-obsessed asshats who wouldn't let me in unless I was a clone of every one of them.

Some interests are best kept hidden, trust me. But I've stated many times, it is not about hiding 'who I am' (like that can reduced down to playing WoW anyway ), thats such a fucking knee-jerk reaction. It's about wishing to keep secret something that would have me associated with something I am not.

You've yourself said you're a 'nerd' and that your friends are 'nerds', admitting your roleplay every evening to them is obviously much different to telling that to your friends if they are not nerdy. You're social clique has a large part to play in determining this shit.

And I've said before, if you're having to hide mundane shit like "oh yeah I play WoW" because your friends would disown you, then you have some serious problems with choosing who to hang out with.

Lyniath wrote:And I've said before, if you're having to hide mundane shit like "oh yeah I play WoW" because your friends would disown you, then you have some serious problems with choosing who to hang out with.

I don't have to hide it, nor would my friends disown me if I didn't, I just don't tell them out of personal preference. It isn't some big thing if someone wants to keep a minor hobby in their life private.

And don't tell me there isn't a stigma attached to rping lol. RP'ers are looked down upon in WoW itself, let alone by non-gamers.

There is definitely a stigma about it. My circle of friends is filled with people that play WoW, RP, those that don't do either, and a few OMG FIFA IS THE BESTEST types.

I can't say any of them have given any sort of bad reaction in person when discussing what I get up to. Hell, I'm on this forum in my college time as it is. Frankly, I think the reaction will differ from person to person. But it isn't because they think you're "gay" or "have no life" for playing WoW/RP'ing. It's just a lack of understanding.

My ex-girlfriend hated WoW with a passion because I RP'd. Because Ledgic got married. "Y U SO U LOVE HER?"

If people had slightly more brain, the world would be fine.

Having said all that, like many others, I don't walk up to people and openly discuss it. I don't leave out the fact I play WoW, but RP isn't mentioned unless it comes up. I do a lot of writing though, so, when I do discuss RP'ing with WoW, I'm always certain to connect the use of RP for that writing.

Ledgic Caan wrote:There is definitely a stigma about it. My circle of friends is filled with people that play WoW, RP, those that don't do either, and a few OMG FIFA IS THE BESTEST types.

I can't say any of them have given any sort of bad reaction in person when discussing what I get up to. Hell, I'm on this forum in my college time as it is. Frankly, I think the reaction will differ from person to person. But it isn't because they think you're "gay" or "have no life" for playing WoW/RP'ing. It's just a lack of understanding.

My ex-girlfriend hated WoW with a passion because I RP'd. Because Ledgic got married. "Y U SO U LOVE HER?"

If people had slightly more brain, the world would be fine.

Having said all that, like many others, I don't walk up to people and openly discuss it. I don't leave out the fact I play WoW, but RP isn't mentioned unless it comes up. I do a lot of writing though, so, when I do discuss RP'ing with WoW, I'm always certain to connect the use of RP for that writing.

Oh dear god I remember that, back when I was 15 and still on Horde, rather new to WoW itself. My then girlfriend got so fucking jealous that my character got married. And the fury in her eyes when it turned out there was a child involved.. I explained so many times what roleplay was.. But to no use.

Then again she had a hatred for WoW overall cause her ex in turn had choosen WoW over her so many times that she eventually had to break up, so she was already biased to the game.

I knew a lad who started dating this girl, and she came in to his roleplay forum (not wow, some random fantasy thingy) and forced him to break his character up with his IC love interest and get with her character instead.

I understand women (or men, for that matter) not liking WoW because their significant other spends too much time playing it, but the being jealous of RP I will never get.

Gogol once suggested to another dwarf they would get married, for mutual political benefits. This caused another guild member getting very angry at me because the person playing that dwarf that was suggested the marriage was a girl that was in a rl-relationship with a fellow also playing a dwarf.
I apparently had "crossed a fucking line of what you can do".

Most entertaining.
The marriage never happened though, but that is another story.

Annie wrote:I knew a lad who started dating this girl, and she came in to his roleplay forum (not wow, some random fantasy thingy) and forced him to break his character up with his IC love interest and get with her character instead.

Crazy bitches gonna craze. One of my exes, an english speaking one, used to go to the dutch music forum i frequented and confront me with poorly translated random quotes, taken entirely out of context. That happening in wow is not necessarily wow or roleplaying; that's just crazy bitches.

But I have a strict "Girlfriend? no wow" policy. If I get serious with a girl again, I'll stop playing world of warcraft. To my experience the two don't blend very well, unless the person you are with understands what you are doing and/or is able to participate in it. Fighting over a silly game is simply not worth it.
Your girlfriend > your characters girlfriend.

Most of my friends know that I love video games, a few of them know that I play wow and only my baby brother has walked in to found me roleplaying and has given me odd looks.

I know its odd but I hate talking about wow or vidya games on the bus or at the bar (Its always about cod or their level 21 hunter anyway, get on my level nignogs) when people joke about it or mention it I just snap back or laugh along (though on the inside I cringe a little)

I wish I had more "nerdy" friends

Cool topic.

I keep my WoW game playing a secret, mainly because people tend to see me as "outside the typical vision of a gamer" Yes I am female and yes I am in my mid 30s, no I do not socialise in clubs but that is because I do not drink, smoke or do any other awesome things in life lol

I also play a huge variety of games so I am not just a WoW'er.
GW - Current
D3 - Current
B3 - On Hold
Dawn of War (warhammer online vs not tabletop) - Oh hold.
Minecraft - Private server of my own, and on some of my friends servers.
Terraria - Private servers of my own.
LOL - On a break.
Bastion - Now and again.
Trine - Now and again.
Dungeon Defenders - When my mates play
Fallen Earth - On Hold while they thin out the player base.
Sims - When I feel in the mood to feed them lol

I also have a tablet which has a myriad of games on it and I play these on the train to and from work since its a total of three hours travel each day.

I consider myself a hard core gamer, not because I am a leet raider but because I simply play games every spare moment I get. My family do not know I game, I live on my own in a flat in London and they don't live in the same country so they would never know. Also my boss knows, but he is a gamer too so I feel fine with a fellow gamer knowing my main life's purpose other than my career is spent in a pixel environment.

As to why I do not like people knowing about my game habits, well there seems to be a general view with those who know me that I am getting older and I need to consider having babies soon...

Yes my non gamer friends all think I should get married and breed, neither of which I have a desire to do, to be honest. I find it easier to say I went to the park on Saturday when I actually went to Outland and soloed a few dungeons for RP gear while I enjoyed the company of my real ID mates and guildies. I find a rare drop is more rewarding than a pigeon dropping poop on my picnic blanket.

On the topic of IC relationships. I would not force my partner to drop an IC relationship unless it went OOC. On the net fantasy can easily be created and it can be very powerful, but sometimes people don't realise a basic thing about life. We all have human bodies, we smell, we break wind, we snore and we have emotions. IRL these are signals that we can use to understand a person, on the net we are flying blind with people and its easy to get caught up in the "perfect" view of someone because we cannot see them sitting nude behind their keyboard, scratching their rump and picking their nose while they play the part of the perfect person online. (I don't mean this in a negative way btw, it is simply a fact of life.)

I have tried very hard to adapt to this, it is by no means perfect but options are limited on the net. When my chars get into something ingame, I make sure the person on the other side knows before anything happens, that I RP with a number of people not just one. I try to explain as fully as I can so the other person is not sucked into the online romance thing that sometimes happens, and I try to keep the comms open so we can keep IC and OOC separate. I have been burnt too many times in the past, now I would rather step back and give the situation a break, maybe speak to them and arrange an IC separation as well for the sake of RP history lines etc.

Because we all need time and space to heal when we get swept off the ground online. If I ever date again it has to be a gamer, I will not give up my online activity for a man or woman who has no concept of pixel funz.

Gels

You're absolutely right, Ixirar.

Coming out of the closet is easier than saying your play World of Warcraft.

Gelana wrote:x

This made my day

erwtenpeller wrote:

Shandrea/Nar'Gaya wrote:In my opinion, it is much more healthy to sit in a group and roll a dice, and go on epic adventures than it is to empty a bottle of booze and wake up with the hangover of the history, and not remember a thing about last night.

What if you do both?

Fuck yeah.

However you could also drink slightly more healthy, then getting out and having a few beers really wouldn't be worse than.. well.. whatever that was. I don't do the dice pen stuff rp thingy..



But I do both, and I drink slightly responsible. I always remember the lastnight atleast.

all you alcohol drinkers will burn for all of eternity in hell come judgement day

Shaelyssa wrote:all you alcohol drinkers will burn for all of eternity in hell come judgement day

I was going to do that anyway, babe.

Faralan wrote:

Shaelyssa wrote:all you alcohol drinkers will burn for all of eternity in hell come judgement day

I was going to do that anyway, babe.

Fuck that, grab the nearest loose object and challange the biggest viking you can see.

If you are going to go, go Valhalla.

Kristeas Sunbinder wrote:

Faralan wrote:

Shaelyssa wrote:all you alcohol drinkers will burn for all of eternity in hell come judgement day

I was going to do that anyway, babe.

Fuck that, grab the nearest loose object and challange the biggest viking you can see.

If you are going to go, go Valhalla.

Sshh.. Just trying to make him think he's right with his dellusional belief in a single god and bearded men with towels on their head.