Time To Come Out Of The Closet
April 22, 2010 
4 Comments
For the past 9 years, I’ve had a dirty little secret, which only a fair few have known about. Brace yourselves… I’m a big ‘ol role playing game nerd. Yes, that even means – GASP! – Dungeons & Dragons.
Let me make something perfectly clear, though: I’m not that D&D nerd you knew back in high school. You know the one(s) I’m talking about. The dudes who showed up at school wearing trench coats in the summertime, before the whole “goth” thing took hold, and spent their lunch hour pretending to be their D&D characters.
That’s not the kind of gamer I am.
It all started when I got a job working at Sonic.net, back in 2000. My desk was smack in front of two of my then supervisors (BurrowOwl being one of them). They invited me to their weekly game night and in all honestly, I’m pretty sure my knee-jerk reaction was, “You guys aren’t the kind of D&D players who dress up like they’re really in the game, are you?” They both responded with “Oh, f–k no!”
While I was still in denial with myself that I was going to partake in Dungeons & Dragons, I went that week. And it was a ton of fun. Those guys – and one gal at the time – helped me learn the rules, how to create a character, taught me the gameplay and so forth. Back then it was version D&D 3.0.
Since then, our game group has changed venues and participants many times. Game night, or as my wife lovingly refers to it, “Dan’s Geek Fest,” became something I looked forward to because it was a guaranteed night out for me where I didn’t have to be a dad or a husband. I could just be Dan. And since most of my friends from high school went down paths I couldn’t, I was able to get to know new friends and hang out with them every week.
Why haven’t I said anything about this secretive little hobby before? As my buddy, Matthew, over at Trollwind.com wrote,
“A strange thing I’ve noticed is that people over the age of 21-25 are generally reluctant to admit that they have (or currently) play role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. It’s as if it is a guilty secret that is just as shameful as shoplifting or beating your dog. It’s just not something you talk about.”
Some real lifers I know who may read this post will probably be a bit shocked that I’m “one of those guys” since I’m not a mouth breather, I don’t live in my mother’s basement and I don’t have a Princess Leia poster in my house.
So, why am I just now coming out of the gaming closet? Because I’m kind of tired of “keeping it” from you. As you’ll find out, as I continue to write posts about gaming, these games are a ton of fun.
It feels good to be out of that closet… it was getting far too crowded with all those games in there.
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