D&D and MTG: a social dilemma

[meone007]

I recently became active in Magic the Gathering and it shocked my circle of friends. I go to parties on the weekend, get the girls, and am on the football team. I got hazed for being involved in quote "one of the two nerdiest games ever" the other he was referring to is D&D. My question is this: do you personally play these games and have felt the backlash from some of your "cooler" friends because of it? and if not, do you see these as below you or socially taboo? And more importantly, why?

 

[APPCRASH]

Beats playing Pokemon, and why the fuck should I actually care about someone else's opinion?

 

[meone007]

honestly I'll continue playing either way, but it raised an interesting question about how the social opinion of someone can change simply because they dabbled in a harmless card game. It shos a severe social stigma that I honestly didn't even knew existed - except with D&D, and I admit I have felt an instant cringe when I heard to people making D&D plans - which is why I went ahead and asked somebody to let me try it. I could be missing out on something genuinely fun simply because I felt it too "nerdy"

 

[Jandau]

When getting hazed, it's important not to let them see it bothers you. It's like a pack of wild animals, you can't show weakness. If you appear hurt or offended, you'll just position yourself out of the group and become more isolated. Laugh it off, make a few offhand jokes about it yourself. Make it seem like not much of a big deal. Heck, try to get them to try it, if a few of them like it, it won't be something isolated to you, it'll be a part of the group then.

 

[Cairo]

I'm more surprised someone recently got into Magic; I thought it was just fading away. Seriously, though, there are so many tiers to nerddom. I love Star Trek/Wars, D&D, comics, LOTR, all sorts of stuff. But I've never read Lovecraft, don't LARP and will not memorize sports statistics.
What I'm saying is, all kinds of nerd look down on all sorts of nerd. I'm glad you aren't fitting into a convenient box for your schoolmates, because if there's one thing I hate, it's close-mindedness.
That said, LARPing is the devil.

 

[Calobi]

Like I have cool friends. Or friends at all. [small]I'm so lonely...[/small]

But seriously, D&D and Magic are relatively big with my friends. One of my friend's parents even played with Gygax.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Been D&Ding since grade six, gotten shit about it for the whole ride. Do I care?

Yeah, a little. I mean, how sad is it that the fools can't grasp the glory of making your own adventures, unconstrained by the laws of a developer, the game, or even logic?

One of my friend's parents even played with Gygax.

JEALOUSY

 

[meone007]

I'm more surprised someone recently got into Magic; I thought it was just fading away. Seriously, though, there are so many tiers to nerddom. I love Star Trek/Wars, D&D, comics, LOTR, all sorts of stuff. But I've never read Lovecraft, don't LARP and will not memorize sports statistics.
What I'm saying is, all kinds of nerd look down on all sorts of nerd. I'm glad you aren't fitting into a convenient box for your schoolmates, because if there's one thing I hate, it's close-mindedness.
That said, LARPing is the devil.

Sadly, you will have to explain what LARP and Lovecraft are...

 

[The Shade]

Sadly, you will have to explain what LARP and Lovecraft are...

Lovecraft: HP Lovecraft. Writer. Did mostly horror stories. Very popular among members of the gamer culture, and has been wildly influential in the development of many games stories, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Lovecraft

LARP: Live Action Role Playing: Basically, people pretending to be adventurers, ninjas, whatever. Usually involves costumes. Odd, really.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LARP

 

[lostclause]

I don't usually bother telling people. Clearing out preconceptions takes far too long and most people don't listen. If they find out I don't care but I'm not going to be the one to tell them. They can keep their ignorance.

 

[Delicious]

I'm sorry, but I find people playing fantasy card games to be hilarious.

Here's a quote from my school library during a Yugio game: "You can't use that card! Don't use that card! That's a ***** card. Only a ***** would use that card. Are you a *****? Then don't use that card!".

I was laughing so hard I was in tears.

 

[Derpus von Herpus]

See this thread and marvel at the fact that I have a pretty girlfriend, a full-time job, and friends.

 

[lostclause]

See this thread and marvel at the fact that I have a pretty girlfriend, a full-time job, and friends.

I liked that thread. Admittedly I have none of the above so...

 

[Xanadeas]

I /used/ to play MtG but had to stop because I have no one to play it with anymore. And I'd love to get into D&D but again the issue of having no one to play it with prevents it.

I have been made fun of for playin' card games though which confused and annoyed me. Frankly if your friends make fun of you for enjoyin' something they're not that great of friends. They shouldn't care what you like unless they like it too.

 

[Jirlond]

If you enjoy the game - then challenge your friend not to like it - he will see that it is not so bad, he might not play ti but he will most likely understand why you do.

I believe that everyone can enjoy what they like (as long as no one is hurt), i remember when I started playing magic - it was immense fun and my friends slagged me for it. then I got into rping and they slagged me for that too - then they just got bored of it because I was always the one having the fun and adventures.

 

[Pots]

I used to play MtG years ago with a few other friends who played but everyone just stopped playing. It was released on xbox 360 recently so I started playing again. Of course then I realized that if you play against someone online and you start winning they just quit out.

 

[Cody211282]

See this thread and marvel at the fact that I have a pretty girlfriend, a full-time job, and friends.

I liked that thread. Admittedly I have none of the above so...

lol my girlfriend made me play D&D with her and got me my first dice set, she also played magic and is quite a nerd after you get to know her, damn i love that woman

 

[SnakeF]

the other he was referring to is D&D.

Ah I've been playing D&D since I was very young and I've always felt that D&D was alot less nerdy than other things, in fact it's a hell of a lot less nerdy than playing Call of Chuthlu (sp?) and MTG is less nerdy than grown people playing Yu Gi Oh or Pokemon. alot of my freinds are like this, they play Yu Gi Oh and Warhammer (in my opinion the most nerdy thing you can do) and call me a massive nerd for playing RPGs.