Remember that crap in High School where the "Jocks" made fun of the guys (and girls) that played RPGs and Wargames?
At the store , we get a LOT of military folk shopping and buying stuff.
About 2 years ago , when I first started to notice this trend one of them admitted something.
There was a soldier on leave from a tour in Afghanistan who was shopping for D&D books. I asked him how long he'd been playing the game. He said he just learned Dungeons and Dragons within the past year while in Afghanistan. He loves it...having a good time with it. MANY of his fellow soldiers and Marines were trying RPGs for the first time while in either Afghanistan or Iraq.
Here was he admitted to : He used to make fun of the gamers in High School, now he sort of feels bad about that because he's loving the game. He was considering looking up some of same kids (now adults) and asking to join their game or start a group - when he's actually back home.
It was good to hear someone admitting that they were wrong and had changed their mind about something.
- Ed C.
That's cool. I have heard that RPGs are a popular pastime in the armed forces. I could be wrong but factors like the entertainment value verses cost and being portable could help...no special place or electricity needed along with having some disposable income (especially for the ones without families to support) could also be other reasons.
In any case, good for the guy who wants to make amends.
One of the servicemen who shops at the store told me that one time he was in battle - the only thing on him that wasn't government issue was his folded up D&D character sheet and his dice.
- Ed C.
Ziggurat Con 2007 (http://www.gamegrene.com/node/790), held in June, was the first gaming convention held in a warzone (in Camp Adder/Tallil Airbase in Iraq), and got lots of support from all sorts of publishers -- WotC, mid-tier, and indie.
Well, the military is full of nerds. Nerds with heavy weaponry who can kill you, but still nerds.
/former Army 98G
Quote from: KoltarOne of the servicemen who shops at the store told me that one time he was in battle - the only thing on him that wasn't government issue was his folded up D&D character sheet and his dice.
Years ago (mid-1980s), a high school friend joined the army and he talked about the games they played and it seemed like the focus at the time was semi-realistic military-focused games like Traveller or Twilight 2000. While it's difficult to draw any solid conclusions from a few points of anectoday evidence, I do wonder if now, that many of these soldiers are seeing real combat, that their tastes are more fantastic and less gritty.
Quote from: Abyssal MawWell, the military is full of nerds. Nerds with heavy weaponry who can kill you, but still nerds.
/former Army 98G
Yep.
Former Army 11B/97B
-Marco
I'm getting all of you blogs.
Quote from: jhkimZiggurat Con 2007 (http://www.gamegrene.com/node/790), held in June, was the first gaming convention held in a warzone (in Camp Adder/Tallil Airbase in Iraq), and got lots of support from all sorts of publishers -- WotC, mid-tier, and indie.
I sent them 60 copies of
GURPS LITE 4/e, boxes of DICE,
GURPS:TRAVELLER, a few other books...also from our store, the manager & his friends did another box or 2 full of gaming stuff.
- Ed C.
I was in the army in the 80's
besides D&D we played Recon (the original from RPG games)
traveller, twighlight 2000. Our XO was our DM most of the time. about 30% of our unit (MP Company) were gamers.
Later when I moved to Hawaii I joined a gaming club and 80% of our membership were guys from Schofield, Pearl habor, Hickam and Kaneohe MCB.
Former USAF and veteran here. My career field in the service was FULL of gamers. We had a pool of 12-15 of us in the NCO dorms when I was in Korea.
And yeah, there are a goodly amount of gamers in the armed services--at least, there were at most all of my assignments.
Quote from: KoltarRemember that crap in High School where the "Jocks" made fun of the guys (and girls) that played RPGs and Wargames?
Not my experience. The guys I learned to play from were jocks, the people I played with were jocks, and I myself was a jock.
It is awesome to hear that the military is playing on deployments. I don't get to hear a lot about that from the people I work with. They know of guys but they don't or won't admit playing themselves. I think I'd piss myself if I overheard one of the Majors, Colonels, First Sergeants, or Sergeant Majors discussing feats, crits, or attacks of opportunities. Actually, I'd probably start giggling and yell "NERDS!" in my best Ogre impersonation at them.
Quote from: Abyssal Maw/former Army 98G
Cryptologic linguist?
Quote from: GunslingerNot my experience. The guys I learned to play from were jocks, the people I played with were jocks, and I myself was a jock.
It is awesome to hear that the military is playing on deployments. I don't get to hear a lot about that from the people I work with. They know of guys but they don't or won't admit playing themselves. I think I'd piss myself if I overheard one of the Majors, Colonels, First Sergeants, or Sergeant Majors discussing feats, crits, or attacks of opportunities. Actually, I'd probably start giggling and yell "NERDS!" in my best Ogre impersonation at them.
Cryptologic linguist?
Yes. Mandarin Chinese.
When I used to be in Tenessee, the guy that ran the local game store (the War Room), while looking like a total geek/wuss getting on in age was actually a former LRSD recon guy. He also GM'd the least violent warhammer fantasy rpg game I've ever heard of (and no, we weren't investigating either... my character actually bought the bar and set up shop as a businessman... weird, but fun in it's own way).
When I was in Iraq I was playing with some guys who had gotten free books from WOTC for D&D. The GM was the only old school player, the rest were just bored. Nightly games. Suckass GM, but nightly games... haven't had that since...well... ever.
I was a jock, and a nerd, and a math geek, a 'hessian' and a boy scout. Then I went all punk (as best as I could as a poor air force brat). I was always, always, a gamer.
...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.
:p
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 :D).
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..)
When I was in High School back (graduated in 1980) the Wargamer's Club didn't get made fun of but we weren't exactly chick magnets either. In college I was the only member of my gaming group that wasn't in ROTC and there were about 10-15 of us total. We played DnD, Runequest, and Stormbringer mostly with some Arduin thrown in from time to time.
They all kept on playing when they went on active duty. Glad to hear there is a strong gaming community in the military.
I actually get made fun of now, because i played football, rugby joined a fraternity, and had a life but, DID NOT play RPGs, or read comic books. Wierd.
Quote from: MechnomancerI actually get made fun of now, because i played football, rugby joined a fraternity, and had a life but, DID NOT play RPGs, or read comic books. Wierd.
Cincinnati??
Send me a PM, The game store as it exists now , will only be that way for another week or two, then "BIG CHANGES".
- Ed C.