For a college course I have to write an essay and I was allowed to make up my own subject. I chose How to be a good Dungeon Master. I really didn't think it would cause a problem, but for the next ten minutes I had to explain to the class that being a DM had absolutely nothing to do with bondage sex.
awkward moments dealing with non-gamers
- Thread starter darthotaku
- Start date
Recommended Videos
I had a Gifted Education teacher in middle school who just didn't get what was so great about Morrowind when some friends and I were discussing it in class.
There was a lot of "I don't see why you'd spend all that time on a game...."
While I respected the guy, he tended to take things really seriously, which was unfortunate when I tried to show him AxeCop, since I thought he'd be interested in a story written by a kid who's clearly very gifted.
I think his response was "I would have thought it sucked if I didn't know it was written by a six-year-old."
Edit: Oh, and there's my personal favorite, in which I discussed that my sister's roommate had a portrait of Marilyn Monroe, which looked like Metal Gear Solid box art, with my mom as a funny anecdote.
Unfortunately, my mom's brain went: Marilyn Monroe->Porn->Metal Gear Solid is a porn game.
There was a lot of "I don't see why you'd spend all that time on a game...."
While I respected the guy, he tended to take things really seriously, which was unfortunate when I tried to show him AxeCop, since I thought he'd be interested in a story written by a kid who's clearly very gifted.
I think his response was "I would have thought it sucked if I didn't know it was written by a six-year-old."
Edit: Oh, and there's my personal favorite, in which I discussed that my sister's roommate had a portrait of Marilyn Monroe, which looked like Metal Gear Solid box art, with my mom as a funny anecdote.
Unfortunately, my mom's brain went: Marilyn Monroe->Porn->Metal Gear Solid is a porn game.
That is genuinely awesome. Although... you say this is a college course? Geez... I'd expect college students to at least be familiar with the existence of nerds.darthotaku said:
OT: Back in when I was what... 12 or 13 or something (middle school), I had a fellow classmate ask me if I wanted to see his Squirtle. I then proceeded to start talking Pokemon, which confused the shit out of him. I learned what innuendo was that day.
Have you ever tried explaining why Minecraft is fun to someone who doesn't play videogames? It's hard, especially when they have pretty good points.
Mom: "You mean all you do is mine stuff so you can build stuff?"
Me: "Well..y-y-yeah-well no there's a lot more to it!"
Mom: "Like what?"
Me: "You...you have to play it to see what I mean, okay?"
Mom: "...Okay."
Yeah I'm pretty terrible at explaining stuff.
Mom: "You mean all you do is mine stuff so you can build stuff?"
Me: "Well..y-y-yeah-well no there's a lot more to it!"
Mom: "Like what?"
Me: "You...you have to play it to see what I mean, okay?"
Mom: "...Okay."
Yeah I'm pretty terrible at explaining stuff.
Shoulda just gone with history of games in general. Not just video games, but games. Games and entertainment play a large part in the human cultures and civilizations, no matter how many times rightist news organizations with shitty reporters try to paint them as "corrupting the nation's youth." My hate for Fox aside, games can be a really good way to get an A on a project at any grade level, so long as you choose your topic right.
I just realized that i don't actually know any non-gamers.
I'm not sure if that's just serendipity or accidental bigotry on my part.
To be fair, though, i can have perfectly civil and nice conversations with the few non-gamers i do meet from time to time.
I'm not sure if that's just serendipity or accidental bigotry on my part.
To be fair, though, i can have perfectly civil and nice conversations with the few non-gamers i do meet from time to time.
I just tell people it's like virtual LEGOs... with monsters.LobsterFeng said:
oh! and this one time I was eating dinner with some friends after a Pathfinder session. A couple at the table were arguing over which dessert they were going to split. They settled the matter by rolling for diplomacy and bluff checks. It wasn't really embarrassing...just awesome.
I can't think of any situations like this, mostly because I don't really get out much, but when I was younger I met someone that said they had never played video games. This was only a couple of years ago, and she was a freshman in High School. I had no idea what to say to this person.
Nothing to worry about; It's perfectly natural that you'd gravitate to people who have common interests.nothingspringstomind said:
Oh yeah, I had a similar encounter. It was especially strange because she was so nerdy in other ways.chaosyoshimage said:
For future reference, the term gamemaster tends to go over better. It always has the necessary nerdy connotation though you may occasionally have people think you're talking about your gaming skills.darthotaku said:
Anyway, one of the big awkward moments for me was having to explain the concept of a table top RPG to my family, none of whom even knew what D&D is. I could not get the point across at all. It was like trying to explain Mona Lisa to a blind man.
Fighting an airsoft battle with friends and a friend of a friend I found out he was totally oblivious to FPS conventions.
"Out of ammo."
"Too bad we can't just kill people with these things. We could pick up their guns with our feet and get all our ammo back."
...
"What?"
"Out of ammo."
"Too bad we can't just kill people with these things. We could pick up their guns with our feet and get all our ammo back."
...
"What?"
