Why do you hide your gaming hobby from RL friends?

[Ragedaug]

I work for a server hardware support group, which means I work with a lot of nerds and there's a good percentage that are gamers, including several at any given time that will be playing WoW with me, though most of them game hop back and forth. In either event, game talk often comes up around the office, though it is mostly between people that are playing the same games concurrently, with who ever is playing other games calling them nerds while they talk - which basically means we are all calling each other nerds quite a bit.

Outside work there are very few of my RL friends that are gamers, so game talk rarely comes up, though most if not all know I game. Scheduled raiding has always sucked regarding interacting with friends & family who don't game. Any time I hesitate to respond to a "lets do this" request that falls on raid night is normally met with a sigh or the rolling of eyes. I was able to find a guild in Cata where I came in specifically as a bench player, though while I hardly miss any raids, I don't have to hesitate anymore when I'm asked to do something on raid night as my presence is not being counted on to enable raid progression. That has been a very liberating feeling.

[HyperSpeed2011]

I think of it more like, They haven't asked me.

40% of my friends know i play video games, and that 40% play with me. Were not embarrassed or ashamed by it but we dont exactly shout it off the roof tops.
If somebody were to ask me straight up "Do you play WoW?" or anything along them lines i would just reply yes.

I balance my social life and video game life and also study life (the most boring of them all) so i get the best of all 3

[Zzodiac]

My best friends and my GF knows that i am playing WOW (None of the approve this but i really dont care). Other than that i am hidding it since i have built image of the wealth tough and cold guy,and you can imagine what would be people impression if i tell them that i am playing World of Warcraft,they would crucify me.

So no thanks,i will keep my hobby for me.

[Cludo]

Im proud to be a Gamer.

[alturic]

So, here is how my gaming life started. I lived in Virginia my whole child hood in a very small town called Stuart's Draft. I lived pretty much right at the bottom of a mountain and had nothing but forest behind my house, which as a kid was a fucking gold mine of fun. Anyways, my whole child hood was t-shirt and sweatpants and running around in the woods. Eventually when I was 13, basically just starting to be concerned with "style" and "cool", I moved to New Hampshire which at the time devastated me. I had long hair, wore sweat pants and boots, and that was the norm, but in New Hampshire it was a lot less "redneck" if you will so people just looked at me like I was a retard and I didn't make many friends for a while.

So, PC games kept me entertained after school, and so was birthed the start of my gaming hobby.

Eventually I became friends with someone rather unlikely...the "popular" kid. Eventually I had to switch from wearing bummy clothes to wearing American Eagle, Structure, Abercrombie etc. -snip- So basically I went from being a bummy Virginia woodsman to a city living prep type. Years went by and I ended up making some really good friends (this was 15 years ago and I still keep in touch with many of them today). Junior High, High school, college etc etc...I maintained this group of friends...

...all while being a massive computer gamer. Starcraft, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer, Subscription to PC Gamer, EverQuest my first love, Firearms my second, WoW my third etc.

My friends did play console games, but it was just Madden and Tony Hawk, and occasionally some CoD or MoH. But none of them were PC gamers, none of them knew I was a PC gamer, and for some reason I wanted to keep it that way. I remember when WoW was gaining general popularity, especially after the south park episode, and my friends would make fun of WoW, people who played WoW, people who associated themselves with WoW in the slightest bit...and I would laugh along with them. All while being in a hardcore raiding guild, one of the best resto shaman on my server, hands down the best resto shaman in my guild etc etc.

I love my friends to death, and at this point (27 now) I could honestly just tell them about me being a gamer and they wouldn't give a fuck...but I just can't. I don't know why but I honestly just can't. I will most likely live my whole life keeping my gaming hobby a secret. They just would not understand the fun involved, the people you meet, the friends you make, the lifestyle it truly is....they just would not understand.

I know most of the replies will be "you need new friends" but cmon...don't be that stupid. My friends are honestly fucking awesome, and would get my back at the drop of a dime and would do anything for me (and they have on numerous occasions). Trust me, my friends are great...they just aren't gamers.

So, you're friends aren't gamers, and that's fine. You're ashamed, embarrassed or whatever to tell them you play games? While I don't go blurting about that I play games, I don't exactly "hide" it, as I think that's a deeper issue that just playing games. It's god damn video games it's not like you're growing weed, and cooking meth in the bathtub.

---------- Post added 2012-04-09 at 09:58 AM ----------

My best friends and my GF knows that i am playing WOW (None of the approve this but i really dont care). Other than that i am hidding it since i have built image of the wealth tough and cold guy,and you can imagine what would be people impression if i tell them that i am playing World of Warcraft,they would crucify me.

So no thanks,i will keep my hobby for me.

Man, I really feel bad for people who have to keep something as mundane as playing video games a "secret". I could only imagine if people are afraid of their family or friends disliking, crucifying, insert whatever word here over a video game what the hell would you do if you were gay?

Obviously I'm not using the gay analogy towards you Zzodiac but in general to everyone who feels the need to keep gaming a "secret".

[Deleted]

I don't hide my gaming from my friends, they all know I play. But I kind of hide it from people who I know but aren't exactly my friends, just some people I sometimes hang out with. Like some classmates. And it's not as much hiding as it is not talking about it. Playing games makes you look kinda geeky, and I don't want to look like a ''no-life'' to anyone. But if they asked me about playing games, I'd admit doing it.

But I do understand people who want to hide their gaming. Some people think that if you play, you are a huge nerd and stuff, which is silly. But that's just how it is. Most people don't want to look bad, especially not in their friends' eyes.

[alturic]

I don't hide my gaming from my friends, they all know I play. But I kind of hide it from people who I know but aren't exactly my friends, just some people I sometimes hang out with. Like some classmates. And it's not as much hiding as it is not talking about it. Playing games makes you look kinda geeky, and I don't want to look like a ''no-life'' to anyone. But if they asked me about playing games, I'd admit doing it.

But I do understand people who want to hide their gaming. Some people think that if you play, you are a huge nerd and stuff, which is silly. But that's just how it is. Most people don't want to look bad, especially not in their friends' eyes.

Seriously. I won't deny the fact that a first time encounter with someone wearing a big sign saying "I play games!" wouldn't give them a typical stereotype of what they define as gamers (if they aren't one themselves) but I can bet all of the people in this thread who try to hide their gaming told the people they have known, they played games. If those same people didn't play games I guarantee you their view on gamers would change. Someone thinks gamers are nerds. You've known this person for 6+ months and the last thing they think you are is a nerd. You tell them you play games. They are shocked considering you are not a nerd.

[aztr0]

I don't hide gaming from my friends. We are all gamers.

[Edison]

I don't hide gaming from my friends. We are all gamers.

I don't hide it and why would I? A real friend wouldnt care if you played games lol ? :P

[Caribald]

So recently to show them that they suck at games on consoles and to prove to them that I could beat them with a controller. Without telling them, I bought a XIM3 and plugged it into my xbox 360, it is a mouse and keyboard adapter for Xbox. I took it and stomped all over them to only hear them whine and cry about losing to me(I challenged them to a 1vs6 game). I still never told them, and they are clueless on how I kicked their ass.

If that's true, that's god damn hilarious.

On topic: I don't hide it, my friends are gamers themselves.

[Roose]

I know my friends do not play video games and I appreciate them for that. Sometimes I need to be called out for gaming too much. All cool if it gets me out to hang with my friends.

[Jiraden]

I don't hide it from them, I recruit them!

[Sealbinder]

If your friends will not accept you for who you are, they are not your friends. Be open and honest with them.

One of the first things my friends will see when they come to my place is my bookshelves. This fully displays my DnD books, Vampire the Masquerade (table top and larp), Werewolf the Apocalypse (table top and larp), Mage the Ascension, Changeling the Dreaming (table top and larp) and Wraith the Oblivion books, as well as many others (Shadowrun, Cybergeneration, Cyberpunk 2020, GURPS, Palladium, etc) books. If they did not know I was a gamer before they know now. If the fact that I game makes them no longer like/accept me I would no longer need them. This has yet to be a problem for me. The fact that I game does not change who I am and if they are your friends them learning you are a gamer will change nothing.

[Kegler]

I don't hide it, never have.

[Zzodiac]

So, you're friends aren't gamers, and that's fine. You're ashamed, embarrassed or whatever to tell them you play games? While I don't go blurting about that I play games, I don't exactly "hide" it, as I think that's a deeper issue that just playing games. It's god damn video games it's not like you're growing weed, and cooking meth in the bathtub.

---------- Post added 2012-04-09 at 09:58 AM ----------



Man, I really feel bad for people who have to keep something as mundane as playing video games a "secret". I could only imagine if people are afraid of their family or friends disliking, crucifying, insert whatever word here over a video game what the hell would you do if you were gay?

Obviously I'm not using the gay analogy towards you Zzodiac but in general to everyone who feels the need to keep gaming a "secret".

Well it has same weight for me as president medical file. It always needs to be hidden,since people that i love very much and that are surrounding me never asked,but they have very low oppinion about games and stuffs. In my oppinion it should be threated same as some other stuffs,only closest people to you should know what you are doing in spare time. Gaming is my biggest weaknes and thing that i am not that selfconfident and arrogant when talking with others.

I also thinks,this depends of country you are living at the moment very much.

[alturic]

Well it has same weight for me as president medical file. It always needs to be hidden,since people that i love very much and that are surrounding me never asked,but they have very low oppinion about games and stuffs. In my oppinion it should be threated same as some other stuffs,only closest people to you should know what you are doing in spare time. That is my biggest weaknes and thing that i am not selfconfident.

I also thinks,this depends of country you are living at the moment very much.

You have to realize though, if you live with that mentality I would assume almost everything you do/are involved in you worry/contemplate what others/your family will think of you for doing so?

Technically, I don't care how nice people try to spin it, there is no difference in someone playing MW3, MoH, Starcraft, WoW, Aion, Rift to someone who plays Farmville or any of the other "silly" (to typical gamers) games that Facebook offers. At the end, we are all gamers.

[Zoneseek]

When I was in school I was a total closet gamer, because it was always about who could be the coolest dude around contest with the click I hung around with and my group of friends. Now we've all grown up, and I have a wife who is also mildly a gamer, and my friends just think its funny that I play video games like crazy. So these days im a walking jinx advertisement most of the time.

[Pony Soldier]

I never really hid my gaming hobbies to anybody im straight out with them. My brother and his girlfriend even came into my room and saw all my games, figurines, other collectibles and my game posters in my room and i didn't feel embarrassed the least bit. Im the same way when im out in public. Like going to the mall i would see guys dress all nice to look good for the girls and vice versa. Me? I'll wear my game shirts along with my WoW hat. I like to think of it as a real life filter. If you're just yourself and wear what you think is cool you're bound to run into people that will think its cool and they could become real good friends or maybe even girlfriend/boyfriend since you would have a lot in common.

Plus it's never cool to act like someone you're not and be a poser so that's why i never hide that im a person that plays lots and lots of video games.

[Debased]

I didn't and still don't, and I've never been more than occasionally playfully mocked. My friends aren't gamers either.

[Deleted]

I don't. Gaming is a part of my life and if they don't like it, they can't be my friends. Take me how I am or they aren't worth calling friends.