I'd agree if it wasn't always the case that there was a certain degree of 'manchildness' that has always been there.McElroy said:
Ultimately whatever 'mainstreaming' there is is precisely because the internet is showing us how you can like """geek""" things and they're not just for arseholes. Or that it's quite okay to be a woman, or LGBTQ, or not wear sandals everywhere, and still be a 'gamer' and go to tournaments, and be socially functional.
So lo and behold more people experience them, and like them, and form weekly board gaming groups. Like accountants, and shop assistants, and teachers, and uni students, and kids, and all sorts of people can somehow manage to sit at a table, game with someone, and not be manchildren.
To put it plainly, board gamers who game a lot as one of their primary social activities are essentially any person that has at least a minor speck of the control freak. Because they have activities built on rules that require participation and teamwork, and lying to the faces of your friends, family, partners, and possibly even your kids and manipulating them as part of the mechanics and do it well (Like any of the Resistance games as their near solitary mechanic). But beyond that, the average board gamer you meet and see in person or online is not the stereotypical that guy or that girl that somehow drains fun out of the room and is a comedy fascist.
They introduce people to board gaming, and they have fun and they allow others to have fun, and everybody remembers having fun. And there's nothing wrong with that going 'mainstream'.