So, a few weeks ago, I was up for a bit of game shopping. Just read on, I'm going somewhere with this.
Now, normally, I do this up in the north end of the city where I live; I go to Happy Harbour comics, and went to a store called GZ games (which had a regrettably short lifespan).
But, as it happens, I was going to be on the south side of town. And so, I stopped by a store called Whyte Knight.
Now, I've been in this store plenty of times, just grabbing this and that. And I remembered that there were always two or three guys hanging around the back at the gaming tables in the late afternoon. I also remembered a few miniatures nights I'd walked in on, which sounded boisterous from where I was browsing, and certainly had a fair few people at them.
So, I arrived in the evening, and my thought was "Hey. This is the place where Pundit used to shop, I think. I should totally chat with the guys here, get a good look at them."
And, lo, I met "The Swine".
There were six of them there that night, and I gained the impression that they knew a good dozen more of similar persuasion in the city.
I just stood in the aisle, and goggled. Six malodorous, grubby men, sitting at a table covered in junk food wrappers and game books. I gained the impression that they were supposedly in the midst of a D&D game, but they were in actuality in the middle of an argument about Vampiric Disciplines, and whether or not Animalism could do this or that. They held forth as if they were great and mighty experts, in tones and phrases that indicated that they had never been socialised ever, if their opinions on a range of related and quickly-jumped issues including vampire babes (yes, babes) were any indicator. I'm not sure I can explain them. They stank. They brayed.
I froze. For a good five minutes, I pretended to be looking at some books. And then, I fled.
Now, let me put this into perspective. I know loads of gamers in my city - most of them through LARP, or ones I've found myself. Some of them are quirky, or odd, but well within regular people-type ranges. We are an extended circle of friends. We meet at the pub thursdays. Some of us go to movies, others of us go clubbing. We occasionally drink very heavily indeed, and some of our parties have been pretty stellar.
And now, I wonder at whether or not I'm the luckiest bastard in gaming, or if my city just happens to play host to one of the nastiest little clan of gamers - and by default, if Pundit has a false impression of gamerdom based on the clan of the store. Or what.