Jebus! Seriously, man, cut it out! "Oh, I'd be too embarrassed to admit to doing something that dorky...!"
NO. NO, AND FUCK THAT. FUCK THAT RIGHT IN ITS FACE.
Does anyone say, "Gee, I'd be too embarrassed to admit that I like to hike"? When did you hear somebody say, "I'd never bring up my love of...fucking knitting in casual conversation!" Did anyone ever get all sheepish and apologetic about liking to cook?
NO! NO, THEY DON'T! THEY DON'T BECAUSE IT'S JUST SOMETHING THEY FUCKING DO, AND THEY LOVE TO DO IT, AND IT MAKES THEM HAPPY SO BIG DEAL!
You bet I'm pissed.
Where'd this come from? I saw a guy's blog post (not a gaming blog) where he basically gushed about how much he loved gaming as a kid, but opened it up by saying:
"Ordinarily, I'd probably be a little embarrassed to talk about playing something as profoundly geeky as a pencil-and-paper RPG. By itself, it's bad enough."
No offense to author -- it's the attitude that pisses me off. Acting like it's something nasty or dirty that we do, something barely on the fringes of acceptable behavior. Bull-shit. It's not like we're organizing dog fights, people.
Oh, but sure, lots of non-gamers look down on it, don't understand it, think it's childish at best. That's because they don't know any better. And how are they gonna know any better if they aren't exposed to it as something that's not incomprehensible and childish and dumb?
Damnit, stop hiding it. Just be you, man, life's too fucking short.
