Nerd Worries

So one of my friends and I decided it was time, at long last, to restart my Dungeons & Dragons campaign. It was during the course of this that I discovered an unusual phenomenon.

In college, my D&D group consisted of up to eight players at a time. Shortly after college, this was whittled down to, at most, five. Five is fairly typical of a D&D group, so this wasn't a problem. However, a year after my last group ended, I am down to two players: my friend Joe and myself. This is typically insufficient.

So the call went out for new D&D players! Dwarves, take up yon Axes! Elves, prepare your bows! Wizards and warriors alike, gird thyself with spells and steel and prepare to carry the fight to Evil!

Or not. The conversation between Joe and a third person showing some mild possible interest in D&D went something like this:

"Why don't you send out a company-wide e-mail asking if anyone else wants to play?"
"Why me?"
"Well, because I don't want to seem like a nerd..."


What? Has fear of persecution really sunk into us so far that, in the midst of a company of software engineers… we are still afraid of being branded nerds?

It seems to be true. Many others, übergeeks all, refused to play. Some because they thought it was too geeky, even for them. Others because they were "afraid they would like it."

How can that be? I've talked about collecting comic books with these folks! We freely discuss the happenings on last night's Cartoon Network Toonami and Adult Swim. We photoshop for laughs. We discuss the philosophies of Star Wars. We make stupid jokes based on mathematical formulas. A lot of them program stuff... for fun. Can't we feel comfortable, even in our own social categories?!

Apparently not! It’s kind of sad really, but truth be told, you won’t catch me sending out the E-mail either! :-P

However, I would like to go on to say that I encourage everyone to play D&D or another Role-Playing Game, at least once. Find a good DM/GM (Dungeon Master, or Game Master, depending on the game ... They run the story) and sit down for a single session. I've found that the people you would think would be in D&D are not, while the people you wouldn't think would be into D&D absolutely love it.

For example, take the people I've played with. Out of the dozen or so I've DM'ed for in the twelve years I've been doing it (I've played since I was a little kid), about half were "Typical gamers." The others? Well, there was Mark, who is currently a bouncer. Then we had Jimy, an aspiring rock guitarist. There was Stan, who I believe is currently playing baseball for the minor leagues. And finally, I'll have to mention Gary, who at times looks like a stereotypical golden-haired rich surfer-boy, NOT a D&D player. These are the guys who if you were told played D&D would go, "No way! ...Really?"

(Yeah, yeah, I'm a sterotypical gamer. Bite me.)

But come to think of it, maybe I should send out that E-mail. For all I know, that hot brunette back in Support may want nothing more than to play an Elven wizardess. :)

And for the record: Vin Diesel plays D&D for Pete’s sake. If you think it’s nerdy, take it up with him!