Thread: The RP Stigma
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Old 03-30-2011, 10:10 AM   #1
SnowTroll
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Join Date: Jan 2011
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The RP Stigma

So last night, my wife finds me upstairs playing a mud. We've been married for three years. She knows I'm into video games, especially computer games. I've never really "hid" muds or roleplaying from her. She's just not into everything I'm into, just like I'm not into everything she's into, so we've never really had a detailed discussion about any of the particular games I play, just like I have no care to discuss with her what any celebrity wore to the last gala or what happened on Jersey Shore last night. After watching me roleplay for about a minute, she makes it known that what I'm doing is "weird." Really weird and lame. She asked if I was going to dress up in medieval garb and run around in the woods on weekends. She wasn't seriously mocking me, mind you. Our marriage is great. She just thought what I was doing was funny.

That got me thinking, is it really? I'm a pretty normal guy with normal guy friends, and I have friends who can recite, from memory, the full line-up of their favorite college football team. They didn't go to this college, never played football, don't live near this collage, never did, and don't know anybody who does or ever has. But they have extremely strong feelings about this one middle linebacker -- one of those guys who never touches the football but just crashes into another guy every play -- that the team recruited out of this po-dunk high school in Mississippi and how good he is. They really wish they'd play him as a starter even though he's just a freshman becase he's so much better at crashing into people than their current starting linebacker. They spend all of their spare time using the Internet to research stats, read blogs, and stock up on various sports information. They will converse for hours about various coaches and their recruiting policies, and which teams "look good" next year, even though half of the team graduated at the end of this one, and will go on and on about what a good pair the coach and this new defensive coordinator the team hired away from some other school will make. They will watch every game, all season, even if it's not their hometown school or the school where they went or where anyone in their family went, and they will know about all of the players. Some of them will even have a fantasy team, carefully track stats, and gamble. And this is perfectly ordinary, healthy behavior. It's even considered attractive, manly behavior. After all, these guys work tough 9-5 jobs every day that they hate, so when they're home on the weekends, they like to escape into the fantasy world of athletics. Something they were never a part of and never will be, but something they like to get into.

My guy friends have wives who can tell you, from memory, which celebrities are dating who, and recite the complete list of everyone each of them used to date. They'll watch the E channel religiously, read every magazine known to man, and will have four-hour conversations on which celebrities wore what to which gathering, whose shoes didn't match what dress, and how much all of their clothes cost. They don't live in England, have never been, and will never go, but they're obsessed with the royal family. Not their political stance or their thoughts on international issues, but on who's marrying who, what they're wearing, and the menu at their next party. They have tough lives, too, just like their husbands, so they like to escape into the fantasy world of actors, actresses, and other public figures, even though they're not a part of this world. And this is normal, healthy behavior.

But what I'm into is "weird." Video games are fine. A bit nerdy, but still a normal hobby. But roleplaying games are weird. Supposedly, I should be escaping into the world of college and professional athletics, not a fantasy world where I play a character. There's always been this stigma about roleplaying, and I'm curious where it came from, and what interesting stories you mud community people can share.
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