...and I'm just the coolest guy, period.

Fonztastic.

Navy, 6 years, Machinist Mate 2nd Class (Nuclear)


Funny thing, I lettered in Track in High School and was into drama and video production. So that makes me a mutant crossbreed jock/nerd from back then, I guess.

Quote from: Serious PaulI'm getting all of you blogs.

Can I have fries with that?

Quote from: KoltarRemember that crap in High School where the "Jocks" made fun of the guys (and girls) that played RPGs and Wargames?

My experience was everyone made fun of everyone, really.  I was a doc-martin wearing metal-head RPGer.  My childhood best friend became the Captain of the Football team RPGer at the school across town.

I think lots of people who like RPGs don't fit into the stereotyped "geek pride" package that includes star trek, star wars, comic books, anime, cosplay, firefly, stargate sg-1, poor social skills, math nerdery, etc.

Stuart,
 I was doing the most cliche example  possible - I admit that. Some cliches have an element of truth that they are based on tho.

 Because of a move across town....I wound up going to 3 different High Schools over the couse of 4 years. The last one (my senior and junior years) was at the 80% majority black High School. Not a lot of RPG type gaming there....but the Chess club was really cool. They had some really agressive players.  My nickname at that school was either Professor or Werewolf.

- Ed C.

Yeah, I really think the lines have blurred.  I played PFRPG, TMNT, and Rifts in high school, and was on the football team and heavy into theatre.  It was a smaller high school, so maybe that's why our class divisions weren't activity-based--ours were mainly smart popular kids, popular dumb kids, a small middle class, white trash, and Everybody Else.  People just were what they were, without a lot of regard for extracurriculars.

Yeah, times have changed a lot.  Kids still have clicks, but they are based more around personalities than stereotypes.  None of my teenage daughters (14&18) friends ever thought it was weird at all that I play RPGs.  Some are genuinely interested in me telling them about it, some are indifferent; some already play or have played once or twice.

The new generation certainly has its own set of "problems" but they are definitely more open minded when it comes to this type of thing.

As far as the military...I was in from 86-94 and didn't really notice any more or less gamers than I have at any time in my life.  I think it's just easier to locate them because, in a way, the military with its barracks life and such is a lot like college life (where you also have no problem finding gamers).

When I went to Desert Storm I did notice that more people were interested in playing.  IN fact, I couldn't get into the group of the only guy smart enough to bring his rule books as he already had 14 people in his group!

Needless to say I wrote up my own rules using a set of D6s and I got a group together to play with that for a few weeks before we rolled into Iraq...and then we had more important things to do with our time .

I know a lot of cops who are into playing RPGs; most of them say they picked up the hobby while in the service.

D&D is the clear favorite, but Star Frontiers was also extremely popular with the guys I know.

Quote from: StuartI think lots of people who like RPGs don't fit into the stereotyped "geek pride" package that includes star trek, star wars, comic books, anime, cosplay, firefly, stargate sg-1, poor social skills, math nerdery, etc.

This is so, so true.  I've known plenty of people who play RPGs who are only into a couple other geek things, if at all.  I wasn't even aware of the geek subculture until I was in college, to be honest, since in my highschool smart people were very respected (one of the coolest things to be in was Science Olympiad, for heaven's sake, and people bragged about being in AP classes).

We sure have a lot of prior service in here which is good if The RPGsite is ever attacked by Cobra.  I was just wondering when being in the military became equivalent to being a jock or cool?  

This thread has been commandered by the U.S. Armed Forces.  Stand back, citizen;)

Edit - plot twist, secretly they're members of COBRA.

This thread has now been commandeered by the Spelling Gestapo.

Don't cast a bad light on your armed force of choice by displaying poor spelling, soldiers.

Quote from: GunslingerWe sure have a lot of prior service in here which is good if The RPGsite is ever attacked by Cobra.  I was just wondering when being in the military became equivalent to being a jock or cool?  

Hey, I was in the USAF.  If anything, it's the opposite (except in softball, where we dominate ).

Quote from: StuartMy experience was everyone made fun of everyone, really.  I was a doc-martin wearing metal-head RPGer.  My childhood best friend became the Captain of the Football team RPGer at the school across town.

I think lots of people who like RPGs don't fit into the stereotyped "geek pride" package that includes star trek, star wars, comic books, anime, cosplay, firefly, stargate sg-1, poor social skills, math nerdery, etc.

Quite true. 90% of the gamers at my school are members or socially connected with the college boffer group - where the main focus is beating the crap outta people. Beyond that, our interests go all over the place from belly-dancing to aikido to costume design.

Some of my gamer friends in HS went into the service as well. Also, anyone here about this?

http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2006/12/israeli_army_ha.html

nice...lots of prior-service up in here.  5 and a half year 19K and Veteran.
I knew quite a few soldiers who played regularly...not sure if it's the vast amount of down-time that's conducive to rpgs or what.  For me, being single and in another country, it was a great way to spend free time...when i wasn't drinking. (the other favorite past-time of soldiers..)