So, lately I have met more and more people who play World of Warcraft (WoW). My office has six guys in it, counting myself. Three play WoW, two play nothing at all, only one WoW player has ever played D&D. Around my site, there are tons of guys who play WoW and discuss it openly. This seems a bit weird to me.I am not ashamed to play D&D, but I am pretty paticular about who I'll mention the fact to, and under what circumstances. I guess that is from my pre-internet-games days when D&D was not cool. I remember watching Kids Jeopardy years ago, and one of the players said how he plays D&D, then outed the other two on national television. The poor girl looked like he had kicked her dog. Do the multitudes of WoW players experience this? Because it is on the internet, and has a social networking aspect, is it cool like MySpace or FaceBook? I listen to them talk, and they are as bad as any D&D players in use of gaming jargon. They spend inordinate amounts of time (not to mention $14.95 a month) on the game. However, there seems to be no "secret society" feel to it.
Having not yet played WoW, I can't really say what I think the popularity is doing to games. Plus, just as you never insult someone's motorcycle, you don't talk smack about their RPG of choice (well, I try not too). I hope it has the same cameraderie as D&D, but I somehow doubt it. I remember at least something about most everyone I have ever played D&D with, either because I sat at a table and had a good time with them, or because I had to put up with their shit for four+ hours. Either way, I think face time beats playing "over the phone" :-)
One thing I can say for WoW; you don't have to buy a thousand miniatures!
5 comments:
Yeah, I'm thinking it may help squeegie some of the worst nerd connotations from D&D. At least I hope. I miss the days when D&D was a scary satanic suicide threat.
"I miss the days when D&D was a scary satanic suicide threat."
That is part of it I probably missed or implied in my head. I also seem to remember people thinking you had to be smart to play. A stereotype I don't mind, but know to be inaccurate in a number of cases :-D
Funny that you mention this. The other day I was speaking with a co-worker who also enjoys RPGs. He said to me that he's more hesitant to tell people he plays Dungeons & Dragons than he is telling people he's gay. Wow. That kinda of put things into perspective for me.
Boy. I bet that was an uncomfortable first Thanksgiving home from college!
"Mom. Dad. I'm gay."
"Son... Is that a twenty-sider?"
:-D
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