How can we reduce the D&D stigma?
Yes. I play D&D. No, I’m not evil. I don’t cast spells in real life. I don’t retreat to my underground lair, don a black cloak, and chant to the god of Hades on Thursday nights.
I do that on Fridays. (<– JOKE!!)
The Chatty DM encouraged discussion regarding how friends/family react to our RPG`ish hobbies. Depending on what sort of people you surround yourself with, the answers greatly varied. Let’s briefly investigate why some people react this way and what we can possibly do to reduce or even eliminate this flawed view of our hobby.
Why do people think this way?
- Churches have been outspoken in the past, stating that D&D will cause suicide and the alienation of our friends and family. I don’t have the link on hand, perhaps someone`ll post it, of the cartoons showing the `downfall` of a female D&D player who plays with her friends but then is asked to join a real cult that casts reai spells. In the end, one of her friends kills herself because her D&D character is killed in game..Or something of that nature. If I recall, the cartoon is from the 80s.
- Some people believe that RPGers are a group of obese dudes who sit around wearing t-shirts that are too small to cover their belly buttons, don’t shower, and quote Capt. Kirk from ST:TOS. AKA, the stereotypical “dork”. (By the way, we all know ST:Voyager is the superior ST series.)
What is the REAL scoop?
- The whole cult, real spells, and suicide thing is just silly. I don’t feel a need to prove its goofiness.
- Perhaps we need to focus more on dissolving the `stereotypical dork` mentality and make D&D (and RPG gaming in general) better understood by the masses..and maybe even appealing to them.
So what can we do?!
There are two avenues we can travel down.
- Embrace our gaming lifestyle and be confident in our choice to chuck dice. Who cares what other people think?
- Gently and tactfully speak of our RPG hobby as to not freak out the muggle.
They both have their high points and downfalls. I`ll be honest and admit that when people ask questions regarding my hobbies, I mention D&D and expect a negative reaction from the inqusitor. “Eh… Well I play Dungeons and Dragons.” and crack a half-smile. <pounds the desk> I should be proud. Puff my chest out. But am I reinforcing the Dork image?
So, how can we tactfully introduce/mention our hobby? Here are some possible answers you can provide: (Yes, I’m very much in to bullets and ordered lists tonight. Sorry!)
- “Oh, I’m in to table top games.”
- “I play fantasy games.”
- “My friends and I role play.”
- “I’m in to games where I can flex my imagination.”
But are these in our best interest? I feel bad giving such answers as it may seem I’m ashamed of my hobby. However, initially starting with such a response may uncover an interest by the inquisitor, causing them to ask “Oh? Like what?” Blam. Unleash the bomb. “Dungeons and Dragons.” Weird looks? Oh well. You tried. Is there a better `2nd line response` we should use?
In closing, I feel the best way for us to obliterate the stigma is to surprise our friends, family, and acqaintences. You’ve been friends with Melvin at work for a bit? Mention D&D to him. He`ll be surprised to find that a dapper, upstanding citizen such as yourself is in to tabletop gaming, something that he thought was reserved for dorks and creepoids. You’ve just converted his way of thinking about such activities. No, we can’t change the world at once, but we can make small steps towards influencing those around us.
An alternative:
Present Dungeons and Dragons as though it’s the coolest secret on earth. Lean forward, get a half-grin on your face, lower your voice, and say with a hush of excitement in your voice, “*Dungeons and Dragons*.”
In an attempt to make my hobby more understandable to “outsiders,” I often compare it to fantasy sports. Totally different topics, similar levels of devotion by the fans… and, somehow, people find it easier to digest.
However, most people that I have encountered don’t have negative stereotypes of RPGers. Instead, they don’t know what RPGs are… which creates an entirely different dynamic as I try to explain *what* D&D is. It’s nice because I’m not confronting stereotypes, but difficult because D&D is a really difficult game to explain.
The comic you’re thinking of is “Dark Dungeons” by Jack Chick. I thought it was hilarious when I first read it many years ago, especially because most of the “D&D players” are female.
Link: http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp
For me, the way of making it more palatable is describing it as “Collaborative fiction with dice.” I had a friend my freshman year of college who’d been raised on all the “Satanic ritual” misapprehensions, but the summary I use above, and showing her just what these things that the rumors latched onto were, helped. (So did the fact that we’d met through the speculative fiction branch of the university writing club.) She was gaming with me online by the following school year.
One thing people might also want to consider, when dealing with the people who specifically have misapprehensions about D&D, is bringing them in through another system, or even a freeform. (I am likelier to tell someone “I do roleplaying games” than “I play D&D”, since D&D isn’t my primary. Also makes it harder for them to mishear it.) Then, once they’ve settled down about that, we point out the parallels between the way of playing in question and That Game.
And, of course, there’s always our own writing; I’ve had a decent number of non-gamers from the blog network I write for drop in and realize that OH, that’s how it works (and one who nearly got driven away by the comments on one thread, but that’s another story, and I’m still not sure I handled it correctly).
re: comparing it to fantasy football. when i first heard about this popular sports hobby, i could not figure it out for the life of me. but then i realized that there were not going to be elves and orcs on these teams and it clicked. Ohhhh, not FANTASY football but football fantasy leagues.