Game Shame

[beholdmycape]

I'm not the biggest nerd. I dont like Star Trek, I have never used a pencil, paper and dice to see if my half elven ******-healer makes a critical hit and I've never shit in mine or anybody elses socks. Infact I think the only nerdy thing I have always enjoyed to any extent is playing video games.
Unfortunately the ones I like the most have always had, barring MMOs, the highest nerd factor; RPGs. From Baldurs gate to breakfast I fucking love em, If the games got sub-par, bloated dialogue trees, bullshit good/evil choices and a party of companions so badly characterised they make a puddle look deep I'm sold. The more pointless min/maxing with stats and items and spells and abilities the happier I am.
And it's fucking embarassing.
I picked up Dragon Age Origins on release day and I thought it might be an idea if I could get my girlfriend involved it so that as I compulsively pissed all of my spare time away on this game for the next few weeks she might be able o share some of the fun.
It didn't really work out. 'I' was embarassed to be enjoying this. We've got stock races of elves, dwarves and humans running around in Generica and what must seem like unfathomable, endless menus and screens and all sorts of shit flying around in the actual game.
So she didn't like it, but that's ok, actually I prefer it because when she was playing it she was cack-handed as all hell and I surprised myself at how urgently I felt the desire to grab the controller and tell her she was fucking it all up.
So, I get into it like I knew I would ; digginfg all this crazy armour and weapons and shit like that even when I'm not playing the game and she's talking about something serious I'm nodding and making uh-huh noises and thinking to myself '***** I wonder if an arcane warrior/blood mage spec would regulate harder than an assasin/duellist with cunning and strategic use of traps and poison bombs'.
It's shameless.

 

[Dradiin]

Cool story, nerd.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Congratulations.

You will soon be doing live acting recreations of Bioware's Sonic the Hedgehog RPG and enjoying every minute of it.

 

[wooty]

Sorry to say this, but what a waste of a girfriend
Buy a Wii, girls love the Wii

 

[Cherry Cola]

Congratulations.

You will soon be doing live acting recreations of Bioware's Sonic the Hedgehog RPG and enjoying every minute of it.

How dare those fans think they are better than me? At least I have an ambition except being short-minded and claiming something is divine just because it's kinda good.

When I get a published sci-fi book I will laugh at those stupid fans!

 

[sirdanrhodes]

-Long picture snip-

Lucky me, I am only at video games.

 

[CLEVERSLEAZOID]

Get yoself a Wii, bitches love dat Wii

Gangsterized for your amusement.

lol and my amusement was satisfied.

OP: It's entirely possible to disguise your stat fixation with a magical application of camouflage. I was addicted to Warcraft for 5 years, and Lord of Destruction before that, merely because I LOVED getting new shiny weapons and armour, and had no qualms with grinding for hours to do so. Yet at first glance you'd never guess I was the secret geek I am. It's perfect for capturing women. I mean meeting women.

Okay, you already have a lady whom seems to be resistant to RPG's [damn her!], but I suppose that info is for those who don't and share the geek affliction.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

*snip*

Just out of curiosity... Where do "Roleplaying gamers who spend their every living moment designing intricate adventures, campaigns and settings, but almost never get to actually play because most of their acquaintances consider them total nerds and prefer to go party" fit on this graph?

You know, I'm just curious... I mean, my friend knows a guy who... JUST ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!!!

OT: Yes, DA:O is a horribly cliche-ridden nerd vehicle, but isn't that the exact reason we love it so much?

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

*ultra snip*

Don't worry, you're not a nerd... you have a girlfriend (who i assume is not a desperate nerd), this in itself puts you in a different category, you're a minorly geeky normie... you just have a little distraction... not as bad as most of the rest of us...

and yes I referred to you as a "normie" a term i rarely employ when referring to someone posting on a forum online.
so take it as a compliment. when i call someone a normie to their face it's an insult and usually is followed by me completely erasing their name or face from my mind and my people who are interesting or worth conversing with list...

used in the context directed at you it is meant as a reassuring comment on how you haven't strayed into the realm in which i exist, as it is a place where you begin to realize the true depths of the ignorance of this world's inhabitants. It gets worse the farther you go till normal people look at you as a threat or an enemy and it becomes impossible to live a normal existence... you have hope... this is good for you.

also don't ever call yourself a nerd if all you do is play role playing video games. you are a gamer, no more, no less...

 

[Jandau]

Ok, the "Girlfriend-Gaming Law" clearly states that the odds of your GF being interested in a game is reversely proportional to the amount of metagame elements visible (numbers, stats, menus). Seriously, if you want to scare them away, just start explaining how your attack bonuses are affected by your stats, gear and abilities. Other no-no elements include excessive blood and gore, extensive female nudity (unless she's bi, in which case you are a lucky man), overly convulted backstories that serve no purpose, walls of text, etc.

Your best shot (aside from getting them hooked on casual games) is to show them the meat of the game. In the above mentioned Dragon Age example, focus on the story, on the characters, make the whole thing seem like a big movie and the metagame elements are just means to an end. Also, you might have wanted to start her off with something a little less involved than old-school western RPGs. My GF isn't a gamer, but she found Overlord 2 to be utterly charming and kept repeating "Me riding wolfie!", "Treasure!" and "For the Overlord!" for several weeks after seeing me play.

And all this rests on the assumption that she has at least some liking in the setting presented. If she's allergic to elves and dwarves, you're wasting your time by default...

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Just out of curiosity... Where do "Roleplaying gamers who spend their every living moment designing intricate adventures, campaigns and settings, but almost never get to actually play because most of their acquaintances consider them total nerds and prefer to go party" fit on this graph?

Writing would go on the right hand path, I guess. If you wrote an original setting and characters then it might be equivalent to video games. If you use an existing campaign setting and characters then it is just as geeky as role playing. If you put yourself in as a powerful NPC or have erotic elements then, oh dear, might as well be LARPing. (and are basically a Lord British in the making)

When I get a published sci-fi book I will laugh at those stupid fans!

That's the spirit! You should write a short story where the stupid fans are lizard men from the planet Slitheris and they all get their stupid faces melted off their heads by a laser sabre after mocking the great space hero.

 

[eatenbyagrue]

I don't get it, your a nerd.

Welcome, we are your brethren.

Not quite yet. We haven't given him....

*light dims, temperature drops a good 15 degrees, dramatic breeze starts blowing*

...the TEST.

 

[Richard Hannay]

and I've never shit in mine or anybody elses socks.

Is this actually a thing?

I surprised myself at how urgently I felt the desire to grab the controller and tell her she was fucking it all up.

Yeah, you're gonna get that. Don't do it. Ever. If you do, she may very well forever think of the games you play as things that turn you into a dick, and will treat them accordingly.

 

[Lullabye]

I'm not the biggest nerd. I dont like Star Trek, I have never used a pencil, paper and dice to see if my half elven ******-healer makes a critical hit and I've never shit in mine or anybody elses socks. Infact I think the only nerdy thing I have always enjoyed to any extent is playing video games.
Unfortunately the ones I like the most have always had, barring MMOs, the highest nerd factor; RPGs. From Baldurs gate to breakfast I fucking love em, If the games got sub-par, bloated dialogue trees, bullshit good/evil choices and a party of companions so badly characterised they make a puddle look deep I'm sold. The more pointless min/maxing with stats and items and spells and abilities the happier I am.
And it's fucking embarassing.
I picked up Dragon Age Origins on release day and I thought it might be an idea if I could get my girlfriend involved it so that as I compulsively pissed all of my spare time away on this game for the next few weeks she might be able o share some of the fun.
It didn't really work out. 'I' was embarassed to be enjoying this. We've got stock races of elves, dwarves and humans running around in Generica and what must seem like unfathomable, endless menus and screens and all sorts of shit flying around in the actual game.
So she didn't like it, but that's ok, actually I prefer it because when she was playing it she was cack-handed as all hell and I surprised myself at how urgently I felt the desire to grab the controller and tell her she was fucking it all up.
So, I get into it like I knew I would ; digginfg all this crazy armour and weapons and shit like that even when I'm not playing the game and she's talking about something serious I'm nodding and making uh-huh noises and thinking to myself '***** I wonder if an arcane warrior/blood mage spec would regulate harder than an assasin/duellist with cunning and strategic use of traps and poison bombs'.
It's shameless.

....classy, can soemone get this guy a cookie?

hmmm, i don't quite get teh point in this? Are you saying that videogames having more importance than listening to your chik's problems is shameful?.....How?

 

[fantasyland]

beholdmycape bro! - i feel your pain.

thing is if you are playing dragon age and think your partner is a fuck up she probably thinks the same thing and cant wait to get rid of you - in fact she probably hates you so much she would like to send you to an isolated island to play your game and die of starvation but hey who cares shes just a dumb ass ***** anyway right???? dumb ho! any woman who interups your gaming has no right to do so. She should worship her man. a woman should know her place and thats in the kitchen right bro? or in bed alone of course crying. Thats her place - damn right!

and important things - who the fuck wants to talk about those? real life sucks I would rather be on here man!

Geez why didnt you just stay single. oh of course you needed someone to do the cleaning that it... who the hell is gonna cook and clean whilst you play dragon age?