7.16.2007

Crossing the Lines


What's with the animosity of gamer's of one type of game towards gamers of another?

I went to a party on Saturday, to see some super keen fireworks. That Saturday is also the Vampire LARP day, and was being held at the house where the game usually is.

Well, there wasn't going to be much LARPing going on, but people brought their Magic the Gathering cards and many games ensued.

Fio and I enjoy a game of MtG every once in a while. Fio has the decks I won't play against, and I have my pretty merfolk deck in purple foil card holders. But anywho, during one of the games, some one over hears my convo with Fio about raid on Sunday, and another person at the table smiles and says something about Molten Core. Ahh, another WoW person. But before I can get a few questions/jabs/air out of my mouth, another person at the table says something towards the line of, "Ug, let's just keep this WoW Free, ok?"

The look of disgust on his face is plain as day.

This isn't just gamers vs WoW though. I know many table top players who have similar feelings vs LARPers too. So... what gives?

I don't understand it. But Fio and I are pretty well rounded in our geekiness.

Any thoughts?


PS: I tried posting this yesterday, but didn't finish before passing out. And my pc restarted... so no saved draft T.T

6 comments:

Keystone said...

It's just human nature to fear or discriminate against countering views. All you have to do is look at politics, religion, & music to see some animosity amongst people.

I get harped on all the time for being a PvP player. People just don't understand why I won't 5-man or raid with them. I like to play the game my own way, which is purely PvP. If it was up to me I would make a game where you leveled by killing other players and never touched a monster.

I say to each their own and no reason let someone else's play-style ruin your day.

You should have told that guy it was an "A" & "C" conversation and he should make like a "B" and buzz off! ^^

Kirk said...

I'll disagree slightly. The person probably isn't discriminating against countering views. Just against the one in which he (or she) has neither experience nor opinion.

Nobody wants to have a conversation going on in which they're being left out. Almost everyone has experienced it, and so everyone has developed techniques to stop it. And in a group of gamers, a game for which there is much enthusiasm is going to dominate the conversation, turning the few who don't participate into scenery unless they can make a MAJOR diversion of the conversation.

Thus, "[L]et's just keep this WoW Free, ok?"

English said...

WoW is an overpowering game. So much so that its taken over the RPG gaming world almost completely, with barely anything to compete against. I'm guessing that person said that because he was afraid the entire conversation would turn to WoW, and ruin the party somehow.

I used to play MtG, and sometimes I think about venturing back. The one thing that keeps me from it is that I know I'll never have time to play. Why haul my ass somewhere to play with friends when I can just log on WoW?

Stephi said...

@Kirk - In other situations, I can understand that, though I still can't dismiss the disgust. But in this one... three out of 12 people were talking about it. The other nine were still talking/boasting about LARP characters.

@mars - I don't think it would have ruined the party, but it would have made me and Fio feel less of an outcast if we could have gotten it out of our system before getting the "No WOW Allowed" cock block.

But I guess this is one of those inevitable things. Gaming is much more popular now a days than when most started. So the opinion pool is going to be vast.

Doogie2K said...

But I guess this is one of those inevitable things. Gaming is much more popular now a days than when most started. So the opinion pool is going to be vast.

As is the personality pool. More gamers ==> more dickhead gamers.

Anonymous said...

I hate that cock-blocking of other geekiness... I was in a conversation a few weeks ago with a friend about a DnD game we had the weekend prior and the other people in the room who did not participate because that wasn't their thing, were all "oh god, give it a rest, didn't you JUST play that?"...... and I was taken aback thinking that I hadn't included them in the conversation so they should just butt the frack out! I wasn't intruding on their conversation of 'whatever I wasn't interested in either', but that's just as bad as putting down someone's lifestyle because its not their own, is it not???

Maybe there's some animosity towards other forms of 'geek' entertainment because they either 1) aren't a part of it 2) didn't like it/got in to it for whatever reason 3) feel the need to reassert that they have picked the better 'geek'.....

Don't know, don't care... needless to say I told that if they didn't like it they could leave the room... simple as that, we weren't forcing them to participate, talking overly loud to drown them out, nor were we taking away from their conversation... like omfg, stfu nub! basically. :-\