Quote from: GeekyBugle;1109611Except when it's the SJWs openly gatekeeping, then you won't say a word to oppose them.

It is rather noticeable isn't it.

This is RPGsite. Home of those electrified by the Gate.

Quote from: tenbones;1109619It is rather noticeable isn't it.

This is RPGsite. Home of those electrified by the Gate.

Just a little bit, if I were blind I couldn't tell.

Quote from: EOTB;1109585I hate to break it to you, but in the late 70s/early 80s, before D&D seriously chased the adolescent and lifestyle-hobbyist market, lots of people who played D&D weren't nerds, geeks, or otherwise at the bottom of the social ladder.  It was an accepted pastime among popular high schoolers who were invited to the parties.

Not where I come from buddy.

We were a relatively small group, and yes occasionally the rough equivalent of an American "Jock" would join us, but he'd either immediately lose rep among his crowd, or made sure nobody knew he was playing with us.

There were even girls among us, but they were definitely not the beauty queens and "cool girls".

Your experience was different, but don't confuse it for everywhere.

P.S.: Reading over your post again, I see you were talking about the very early part of the 80s. I have to explain that here in Brasil RPGs only really started appearing in any strength in the mid to late-80s. I started playing in 89 (bit of AD&D1E and then AD&D2E), after a couple of years playing choose-your-adventure books. This means we essentially skipped the early stage of the RPG hobby, and thus didn't see this phenomenon you describe.

My apologies if I sounded like an idiot.

Quote from: EOTB;1109605But that stopped once the S&S/savage sword of conan vibe changed...

Yeah, my collection of Savage Sword of Conan comics certainly marked me as one of the cool kids.

Quote from: S'mon;1109651Yeah, my collection of Savage Sword of Conan comics certainly marked me as one of the cool kids.

Heh, I now have both the individual issues and the compilations Dark Horse put out (22 volumes of SSoC and a couple of Kull).

And yeah, I was totally "cool" for liking Conan.

Celebs have brought in a lot of new players that aren't aware of just how diverse the hobby has always been.

Quote from: S'mon;1109651Yeah, my collection of Savage Sword of Conan comics certainly marked me as one of the cool kids.

Maybe it was different in the UK.  I'm describing what was going on where I grew up with D&D.  

The point being, thinking the game somehow belongs to those at the bottom of the social pyramid may describe how some people interacted with D&D, but saying it always and only has been thus, and popular kids liking the game is somehow an incursion to where they've never been and don't belong - isn't accurate.  You can bet that WOTC/Hasbro would like to get back to a scene where it's not just people who wrap their lives around the RPG pole as an identity, who spend money on RPG products.

Quote from: EOTB;1109665Maybe it was different in the UK.  I'm describing what was going on where I grew up with D&D.  

Well we never had such rigid school hierarchies in the UK - being good at sports didn't really equate to higher social status, nor did the girls have the kind of rigid 'mean girls' social hierarchies seen in Hollywood films. At boarding school, being a prison type environment, playing D&D was pretty widespread generally.

I do remember age 12/13 a boarding school Master mocking me for having 2000AD posters  by my bed. Not sure if that was before or after he tortured me by tying a dressing gown cord round my wrist & dragging me across the floor. That school got shut down.

In high school, I was a headbanger who enjoyed fighting and as long as I brought home straight As, my dad couldn't care what I did with my free time as long as it didn't involve drugs or pregnancy. Any Exodus, Death Angel or Testament moshpit was way more brutal than any high school slap-push-posture bullshit that guys mostly got into.

I had plenty of issues at school, and some idiot violence was usually the solution, but if I was teased about gaming it wasn't on my radar much. Being teased about being poor-er than other kids, however, was another kettle of fish. I don't remember any issue with other kids in junior high regarding RPGing (though lots of Satanic Panic bullshit) and we had all sorts of kids playing with us.

Some of the kids even had vaginas!

As for the BBC, we'll it's the BBC so fuck those fucking fuck heads. Oh look, the retards are pushing another nonsense agenda! Wow.How.Surprising.

We were too poor to have in crowds.  We were all out, and walked up hill both ways in the snow without shoes to get to the games.

Quote from: TNMalt;1109655Celebs have brought in a lot of new players that aren't aware of just how diverse the hobby has always been.

Because they begin with the assumption that they are the champions of diversity and be default the hobby couldn't possibly have been diverse without their elite stamps of approval.