[Suicide Boy]

I believe there's a stigma against role-playing because it is, in a very real sense, carrying a pastime perceived by many as being childish over into adulthood. Children very often play cops 'n' robbers, Star Wars, elves and wizards, and other such games that occur in imaginary places and feature imaginary characters; but grown men and women are expected by Western society to "put away childish things" as per the King James Bible. If you still fancy yourself an elf in a magical land when you're 30-something years old, most people will look at you askew.

(Side note: Adults who engage actively in [perceived] child-like behaviors are often considered creepy. That's where the "creepy geek" thing comes from, I believe.)

Football, celebrity-watching (gag me), and other "all-American" escapist activities have their roots firmly grounded in reality and tradition. There may be an aspect of fantasy to them (sports enthusiasts playing vicariously through professional teams, or celebrity watchers feeling included in that exclusive world in some way), but they're not fully imaginary.

Role-playing is 100% imaginary. Sadly, as you can probably tell, imagination is the key ingredient people generally consider to be weird. Artists, writers, musicians and actors make great use of their imaginations. Those professions have been around for eons and they're still considered pretty weird, on the whole.

Also, role-playing is rather selfish in that it's a hobby we engage in purely for our own pleasure. Actors create shows and plays, musicians create music, artists create art, and writers write books -- all of which outsiders can experience and enjoy. Non-role-players don't get anything out of role-playing (it's a hobby, after all), so it's much harder for them to accept this very imaginative activity as normal.

Those're my two copper pieces. Myself, I keep my role-playing hobby an absolute secret from almost everyone, because I'm a "stealth geek"... I'm a gym rat, I have a good "serious" job where I would not want the people in charge to know about my hobby, etc. I don't want people to perceive me as a geek, not because of MY shame (I have none), but because of their foolish biases. I protect me from them, in other words.