CRPGAddict

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Not the best picture of me, that one...

The idea that RPGs are a nerd hobby is pretty new. From what I've read, all kinds of people used to play them in heydays of AD&D. Only recently the genre was hijacked by nerds and the ideal RPG gamer somehow became a nerd, preferably with asperger syndrome. Personally, I was one of the "ADHD kids" hated by the Codex in the days when I liked cRPGs the most, so I can see how such attempts to hijack our hobby by a specific subculture can be annoying.

Depends on your location, I guess. In Scandinavia, and probably rest of Europe, table top RPGs are definitely pretty high level nerdism. And my impression is that it was quite nerdy in the US as well, only that the US had a higher nerd to square ratio.

@Awor Szurkrarz
I think our young portion of society is differently stratified from its counterparts in western countries and, especially, USA.

There seems to be less separation between normal people and nerds than between normal people and tards in Poland.

Looks eerily like biowarian prophecy, except for the lack of nutella.

Especially that practically no one here heard about nerds until a few years ago when some guys here who sat on western websites too much started calling themselves "nerds" similarly as manga and anime fans would call themselves "otaku".
I'd prefer if it would stay this way. I'm annoyed when otherwise ordinary people suddenly start doing stuff like "oh look we're nerds, we're so special because we read comic books!"

I've read a blog about D&D that claimed that it used to be a hobby for everyone - the "popular" types, "jocks", "normals", etc.
That it was possible to buy a starting box for D&D in any supermarket or toy store. Like a normal boardgame.

Except that now they are sold in these special stores and special stores now have nerds that don't care about hygiene and will stare at your girlfriend until she breaks down and starts crying.

Lord of the Rings had a hippie goofus brand identity in the '70s, people that weren't nerds might have come into it that way for a brief period before it was exposed as a completely nerdy thing to do.

That's very strange IMHO - activity that requires you to talk with people and spend time with frends is seen as nerdy? I thought nerd was someone who has problems with socialising and only talked to his computer? Oh well, another silly stereotype.

AFAIK, tabletop RPG's were always nerdy in the 'Kwa.

Yes?

Non-nerdy is:

work out, facebook, meet bitch, fuck bitch - that's the biological fitness imperative (or "power process" for you semantically deadbeat cromagnons)

"talk" is for nerds

Nerds nowadays watch a lot of anime and have a video blog on Youtube and a twitter account where they talk about nerdy stuff like Nintendo Wii, Twilight and iPad.

I've tried to find a RPG group here in my town without success, real nerds are a dying breed.

Isn't fagbook about "talk"?

Also, how would they meet bitch and fuck bitch without "talk"? Seriously, have you ever left your basement?

Isn't fagbook about "talk"?

no

Table top games weren't just nerdy, but viewed as evil.

At least in the South.

And they still are by many people.

That's true. Growing up in the U.S. during the 80's I remember a lot of media hyped furor over supposed satanic cultist networks conspiring to convert the youth. It was purportedly a grand underground conspiracy, but turned out to be simple fear mongering to make headlines. Similar to the baseless hype over Halloween candy being poisoned or containing razor blades which also turned out to be completely false ( in the only documented case the perpetrator was in fact a relative of the victim).

Of course the religious right jumped on the bandwagon as well, spreading rumor and lies to suit their own agenda. At some point they tried to tie D&D in with the whole whole " satanists are subverting you children!" mess. This point of view unintentionally gave pnp games an increased popularity lending the games an allure for rebellious teens who might have otherwise ignored them.

uh, well i knew alot of people who where into RPG board gaming back then, like HeroQuest, AD&D, Dragons and Demons (Drakar och Demoner, swedish only game AFAIK), we even had a couple of games available in school (namely Dragons and Demons.

back then atleast 70% of the kids dabbled in RPG board gaming, nowadays its just the nerds.

The swedish people I know that are/have been into board games weren't that nerdy, just kind of.. elitist and "alternative", like, they used to be metalheads, or goths, or some other sub culture. They would probably have been regarded as nerds if they didn't start with the music stuff (which got them laid) though. These people range from 30 to almost-40 now though.

How did it happen? How did nerds hijack our hobby?

I think it started when P&P started to get mixed up with LARPing.

So, nerd are also LARPers ? I hate LARPers .

It's true. In every comedy I've seen, where they make fun of P&P people, they're all dressed up in wizard hats and plastic elven ears around the table, faking ridiculous accents and stuff.

Wouldn't you guys say that pnp gaming is primarily a male dominated hobby? That's your first clue to the origin of the stigma.

God this is retarded. Nerds 'hijacked' the hobby when they were hex and chit war gamers and invented the fucking thing. And then 'again' when the satanic panic died down and normal people stopped giving a shit. They moved on to tamagotchis or pogs or some shit like that, as people do.
As for non-nerdy kids not playing PnP anymore, well hey they decided to become consoletards instead becuase the initial investment (for them, not their parents) is lower and the graphics are better. Look how that worked out for everyone.

Awor, all you do is talk shit about women and play wargames for god's sake, and now you're complaining about nerds? Fuck me.

Most hobbies are p. much male dominated, also the "cool" ones like sports.

What the fuck do womyn do anyway :/

Filthy nerds. Also, I bet these LARPer types are the ones that want immershun in computer games.

That's Grognards, not nerds .

No one would guess that I sometimes talk shit about women on the internets and that I play wargames when they would meet me in real life. If I would be identified with some subculture it would be metalheads, not nerds.

Also, practically everyone talks shit about women, especially those that are in relationship.

No, that would be gay. I'll just put you on my ignore list instead.