No. I'm 40, which means I've reached a point in my life where I don't give a hell about what my co-workers, family or acquaintances think about me. I talk about gaming just as much as I might talk about my other hobbies, like gardening or surfing.

Hmm.

Right now, I'd say I'm pretty open about it.  I run 2 live games and 1 IRc, so I agree for those that think it takes a certain amount of time on the GM side.  

Again, not evengelical, but most of my social circles have other gamers in it, some of which have gotten on the waiting list and some who have even been gotten into one of the live groups.  So over time, friends and associates who are players eventually create (in some kind of social brownian motion) the knowledge that I game.
My employees also know, and It's pretty clear on my FB profile.  

But it wasn't always this way.  I remember going from Private to public school, and very carefully selecting my group and keeping it secret from everyone.

I don't make any secret of it, and it would be readily evident to anyone who walked in my study that I'm a gamer. I post about gaming crap on Facebook fairly regularly, so no, I wouldn't say I'm closeted.

However, I tend not to mention it at all to my parents, who were part of the "D&D is Satanism panic" thing in the 80s and made my life hell for a while. I think they suspect I still game, but the time when they had any say in it is long gone.

I typically downplay it as "Game Night", and let them fill in the blanks.

And to reinforce Daedalus' point, I work in Construction, where gaming carries a dark stigma.

But basically any hobbies other than: 1) Sports, 2) Drinking, and 3) Fucking, have dark stigma's attached to them.

I've literally gotten shit from bosses, for going home to my kid's birthday party.
(And told a boss to "Go Fuck Yourself" when he made a "first" wife quip. He apologized the next day, when he sobered up. It amazes me that workers and operators need to be sober on the job, but some Project Managers don't think that applies to them.)

Is construction really full of that many closed-minded assholes?  My boss sounds exactly like you're project manager, and he's never given me shit about gaming.

Plus, when you think about it, despite the fact that a lot of "sports fans" might look down on gaming, I know of plenty of sports players and celebrity "tough guys" who get their geek on.  I guess it's cool for a man to pretend being an elf if they're a celebrity, but if you're an average joe you're not allowed?  Sounds kind of like high-school judgmental bullshit to me.  But I guess some people never grow the fuck up.

And to me, fantasy football is just as weird of an activity as me pretending to be a hobbit is for them.

I'm fine with people knowing.  Heck, my boss's best friend from high school owns the FLGS where a member of my gaming group works (and where I buy all my loot from).

(Everyone at work also knows that I'm out the door as soon as the whistle blows on Wednesdays, since that's comic book day.)

Life's way too short and busy to go to any effort to hide what you enjoy.  Well, unless it's illegal.

No secret here. Not sure why anyone would spend this kind of energy on something they were ashamed of.

Quote from: Walking Paradox;462033Are there people from whom you keep your gaming activities a secret?

No.  Not just 'no', but HELL no.  

Quote from: Walking Paradox;462033This is a hobby that demands intense dedication and time in order for one to participate in it [.]

I disagree, although I wish I had more time in which to indulge in it.

Quote from: Walking Paradox;462033Accordingly, if and when people ask "so what is it that you do?" (when not referring to professional matters), what do you tell them if you don't want them to know about your gaming?

Why wouldn't I want them to know?

Quote from: Nick Bower;462308Life's way too short and busy to go to any effort to hide what you enjoy.

YES.

Quote from: Nick Bower;462308Well, unless it's illegal.

Well, y-

-huh?!

I don't keep it secret but I have nothing to gain from telling non-roleplayers about it.

Quote from: David Johansen;462041Anyone who really knows me knows I'm a gamer but I don't put myself out there and there's no gaming posters or paraphrenalia in the living room or anything.  I wouldn't wear a gamer tee shirt or put a gamer bumper sticker on my car.

So decidely understated about it and not really friendly to inquiries by people who are just going to sneer at it.

I tell people I play it, but if they ask out of morbid curiosity I usually just explain it as, "A really complicated board game."

I think everyone has something about them that makes them weird. Like Springer used to say, "everyone has at least one story that could have put them on my stage." I think its important to hide that and act like a normal person and have normal conversations with strangers and coworkers.

I've worked with people that can't stop talking about their fucking characters or whatever with non-gamers. I've got a few friends that want to explain the plots of anime to my non-nerd friends at length. That kind of behavior can really kill a party.

The only people that know I game are my wife and the guys in my group.

I let no one else know.

I generally don't discuss it.  I might make a mention in passing to a friend, but that's about it.  And like Novastar, it's more of a vague "game night" mention.

I usually don't discuss it for the same general reason I don't like to discuss my job (computer programmer) - people either start to identify you with negative stereotypes, or else its a subject they find completely uninteresting.  Along the lines Malleus was saying, where's the benefit to discussing something you know other people won't like?

If asked about my interests, I usually deflect the question by noting the only sport I really care about is boxing (of course, in recent years I am forced to suffer through endless amounts of people trying to lump it in with MMA... sigh...).  

I used to also use "watching movies" as my hobby to mention, but as I've gotten older I find it increasingly difficult to find the time to watch a whole movie in one sitting or else I simply don't have the attention span I used to and can't seem to sit still.  Nowdays my preferred method is to get DVD sets of TV shows because its a lot easier to watch in 30 to 60 minute increments.

I don't hide the fact that I'm a gamer from anyone.  On the other hand, I don't make a point of bringing it up in social situations that are not appropriate.  I don't know which is worse for the hobby: the people who don't want anyone to know they're a gamer, or the people that need everyone to know they're a gamer.

RPGPundit

If I don't reply to this thread does that make me a "closet, closet gamer"?