Again and again I see threads in german discussion boards which reference this theme in one way or another. Sometimes it is about a non-flattering description of an individual or the hobby in a television show, perhaps it is about if being a roleplayer helps or hamper your pick up skills for woman and once in a while it is at its core: if Roleplaying is somehow embarrassing or not. They are by far not constantly on the front pages but they pop up once in a while.
The keynote of the discussions is mixed. One side always proclaims "Be true to yourself and be proud of it!" and the other responds in a perceived abashed tone "Well true, but the society sees it different." Of course both are right.
Regarding the american side of the discussion… well I don't know but I can guess. I am not active in a lot of english discussion boards thus I can only use television and the general drift I get from there as a clue. It may not be accurate but it feels that the situation over there isn't that different after all.
A speech about the ways to change society’s view of us or whatever other "good cause" I could convince you of is pointless. I want to talk about the source of this view.
I have a uncomfortable truth (well I think it is true) for you: It is our fault.
For a lot of you this won't be a surprise and the other few will make a facepalm and berate me as whatever. For that later type: Please look back with me.
I cannot prove anything, but for whatever reason we are playing today at the beginning there was a bad word escapism. A lot of discussions with roleplayers let me to believe that most of us weren't that popular in school when they began playing. For whatever reasons, our school days haven't been easy for us and tabletop roleplay or our playing friends were one of the few silver linings out there.
This isn't true for everybody. Additionally a lot of us have left our problems long behind and are now fully integrated persons and we are still playing on. Still the image most of us have is nothing more than a slightly updated view of the awkward child from back then. Roleplayers… these were always the outsiders, the strange ones. Of course this image has survived the years if they make no new experiences with us.
I can't solve the problem, I don't even have a clue how to. This editorial can't even stop the "Why do they hate us?" questions I read again and again. The one thing this little text here can do is entirely for me.
Whenever this discussion turns up, I don't have to write the exact same thing once more. I just can link over here 🙂
So let's get this over with and look at the articles this week.
To continue our red star series Blut_und_Glas has written an article about additional infantry weapons for Monday.
And you can look forward to a new installment of our "What is…?" texts with our "What is Fibre Punk?" article on Thursday.