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Salad_Fingers wrote:

dr vompire wrote:I feel that role playing is like masterbation, It's fine in the privacy of your own home, but when you do it wearing a costume and in public where children might see it is just creepy.

I think you pretty much summed it up for me

Masturbation is cheaper though.

Howard A Treesong wrote:

Salad_Fingers wrote:

dr vompire wrote:I feel that role playing is like masterbation, It's fine in the privacy of your own home, but when you do it wearing a costume and in public where children might see it is just creepy.

I think you pretty much summed it up for me

Masturbation is cheaper though.

And more socially acceptable.

Can I tell you about my 12th level

I put on my robe and wizard hat,

I don't even know what LARP is but it sounds horrible.

Bodichi wrote:I don't even know what LARP is but it sounds horrible.

Live Action Role Playing. Think RenFest/SCA meets D&D.

LARPing, sounds like some penicillin will clear that right up!

Seriously some of my best friends are renfair junkies, and I never miss an opportunity to go there and play 'drench the wench.' Just not into the whole dressing up thing myself, and I love to poke fun at this whole aspect of society.

stonefox wrote:

two_heads_talking wrote:

stonefox wrote:You mean you actually play warhams? lol.

I spend my evenings at the gym or fencing.

Glad to see you are keeping the homoerotic lines open.. fencing = men poking other men with their pokers. and men at the gym, yep, more homerotic overtones.. lol..

don't play warhammer anymore, but keeping the spzmarineshuur alive.. wooooot!!

I also have a framed poster-size photograph of a wet, nearly-naked, absolutely ripped bodybuilder on my wall. For inspiration.

I knew it.

Aldonis wrote:

Orkeosaurus wrote:On a side note,

Have you ever been chased by the entire JV football team, just because you chose to wear your cloak to school that day?

LOL - that was HILARIOUS! Thanks for the post!

they aren't the quarterbacks of the hocky team.. they chose to be unique.. lol oh and 2 person roleplaying is about as gay as it gets.. you've gotta get 6 or 7 poeple to gether to make it worth while.

I used to LARP. It was good fun, involved a LOT more girls than wargaming, and helped keep my now-starting-to-be-noticable little belly from growing for a while.

Mannahnin wrote:I used to LARP. It was good fun, involved a LOT more girls than wargaming, and helped keep my now-starting-to-be-noticable little belly from growing for a while.

QFT. Most people would be surprised at the, erm, "quality" and single-ness of girls that LARP, too. Guys, girls love to play dress up, and if they get to beat on you with fake swords, they love it even more.

Umm, I guess. Personally, I never saw the appeal of competing in the tiny pool of gamer chicks (you can't tell me the LARP pool is truly deep or wide). Considering the ratios involved there (and the overall quality of female), that seems like a losing strategy to me.

Why not just clean yourself up a little and get a nice, normal girl? Seriously, put in a little effort and you'll do better in the bigger pool. Although don't talk about LARPing for a while. Maybe ever. My wife doesn't have anything against my wargaming hobby, but I suspect divorce papers would served to me if I started LARPing.

The marketing professional in me also feels compelled to tell you that "LARP" just sounds dorky. Perhaps you'd find more social acceptance with a better acronym?

gorgon wrote:Umm, I guess. Personally, I never saw the appeal of competing in the tiny pool of gamer chicks (you can't tell me the LARP pool is truly deep or wide). Considering the ratios involved there (and the overall quality of female), that seems like a losing strategy to me.

Why not just clean yourself up a little and get a nice, normal girl? Seriously, put in a little effort and you'll do better in the bigger pool. Although don't talk about LARPing for a while. Maybe ever. My wife doesn't have anything against my wargaming hobby, but I suspect divorce papers would served to me if I started LARPing.

QFT. I've had two friends get seriously interested in a couple of women that they met while LARPing. One marriage ended very very badly, I suspect the other isn't going to be much better.

Honestly, I'm not impressed with the quality of the women who LARP, and if women are the reason you're getting into it, you've going to come across like 100 tons of wet cement. Heavy, awkward, and sticky in a very unpleasant way.....

gorgon wrote:Umm, I guess. Personally, I never saw the appeal of competing in the tiny pool of gamer chicks (you can't tell me the LARP pool is truly deep or wide). Considering the ratios involved there (and the overall quality of female), that seems like a losing strategy to me.

Why not just clean yourself up a little and get a nice, normal girl? Seriously, put in a little effort and you'll do better in the bigger pool. Although don't talk about LARPing for a while. Maybe ever. My wife doesn't have anything against my wargaming hobby, but I suspect divorce papers would served to me if I started LARPing.

The marketing professional in me also feels compelled to tell you that "LARP" just sounds dorky. Perhaps you'd find more social acceptance with a better acronym?

Because they're HOT (being careful to take into account the geek level of "hot") and they're GIRLS and they're probably the only people who will ever understand them.

Don't you see man? All those "normal" girls are just fake and shallow! They won't understand the grand imagination and genius minds that those of the LARPing kingdom have. Shoes? Nice clothes? Those are no match for infinitely more thoughtful things such as rubber swords or dragon-wolf shirts.

skkipper wrote:this past weekend I was in baltimore for the navy/notre dame game. there were giant herds of nerds!!!!111!!!!

I was too....I would have laughed at the nerds, but some of them were carrying guncases.

Go Irish!

gorgon wrote:Umm, I guess. Personally, I never saw the appeal of competing in the tiny pool of gamer chicks (you can't tell me the LARP pool is truly deep or wide). Considering the ratios involved there (and the overall quality of female), that seems like a losing strategy to me.

There are more than you think. The crossover with girls who have historical and costuming interests is a major factor.

gorgon wrote:Why not just clean yourself up a little and get a nice, normal girl? Seriously, put in a little effort and you'll do better in the bigger pool. Although don't talk about LARPing for a while. Maybe ever.

Do you remember in High Fidelity when Rob muses that it’s not what you’re like, but what you like that’s important? Shared interests are a big deal in a lot of people’s relationships. You don’t have to hide your hobbies from a girl who participates in them. And a gaming geek couple doesn’t generally have arguments about how much space your armies take up, or about whether a gaming room in your house is a necessity or whether the guy has to make due with part of the dank basement. You don’t have to spend as much time justifying or defending the time you spend on the things you enjoy.

That said, certainly not all the women involved in LARP are prizes, and they’re not so numerous as to outnumber the men (unlike the world as a whole), so they can get an exaggerated sense of their own appeal. Of course, if you do “clean yourself up”, have a good job and some self-confidence, it’s pretty easy to offset that factor. I wound up settling down with and marrying a non-gamer, but there are certainly some good gamer girls to be found.

gorgon wrote: My wife doesn't have anything against my wargaming hobby, but I suspect divorce papers would served to me if I started LARPing.

It's probably a little young of a crowd for you. I kid!

Mannahnin wrote:
It's probably a little young of a crowd for you. I kid!

What do you mean? Some of them seemed kind of older?

Oh, the women.

Mannahnin wrote:
Do you remember in High Fidelity when Rob muses that it’s not what you’re like, but what you like that’s important? Shared interests are a big deal in a lot of people’s relationships. You don’t have to hide your hobbies from a girl who participates in them. And a gaming geek couple doesn’t generally have arguments about how much space your armies take up, or about whether a gaming room in your house is a necessity or whether the guy has to make due with part of the dank basement. You don’t have to spend as much time justifying or defending the time you spend on the things you enjoy.

That said, certainly not all the women involved in LARP are prizes, and they’re not so numerous as to outnumber the men (unlike the world as a whole), so they can get an exaggerated sense of their own appeal. Of course, if you do “clean yourself up”, have a good job and some self-confidence, it’s pretty easy to offset that factor. I wound up settling down with and marrying a non-gamer, but there are certainly some good gamer girls to be found.

I was going to say "not everyone wants a carbon copy of themselves with a vagina" but then there was your last sentence. But yeah, I don't get why some people are so set on finding a carbon copy of themselves. I'd find that ridiculously boring.

stonefox wrote: I'd find that ridiculously boring.

Marrying a self-cloned partner is not wrong! Why must you guys be so judgmental?! It's like
someone gave you a horse that just happened to be doing drugs and you fell on it to make
your mighty proclamations.

Or something.

Mannahnin wrote:There are more than you think. The crossover with girls who have historical and costuming interests is a major factor.

But again, I'm looking at those being kind of a small group too. *shrug* I dunno.

Do you remember in High Fidelity when Rob muses that it’s not what you’re like, but what you like that’s important? Shared interests are a big deal in a lot of people’s relationships. You don’t have to hide your hobbies from a girl who participates in them. And a gaming geek couple doesn’t generally have arguments about how much space your armies take up, or about whether a gaming room in your house is a necessity or whether the guy has to make due with part of the dank basement. You don’t have to spend as much time justifying or defending the time you spend on the things you enjoy.

That said, certainly not all the women involved in LARP are prizes, and they’re not so numerous as to outnumber the men (unlike the world as a whole), so they can get an exaggerated sense of their own appeal. Of course, if you do “clean yourself up”, have a good job and some self-confidence, it’s pretty easy to offset that factor. I wound up settling down with and marrying a non-gamer, but there are certainly some good gamer girls to be found.

I guess that's why I find John Cusack to be full of $hit. (Edit: Although, his movies tend to be good first date-type material, so I guess he's a useful meatsack) Hobbies come and go...the person you are tends to stick around. If they're antagonistic to you about a decidedly unharmful hobby like wargaming (assuming you haven't taken it to harmful levels), that goes to their general personality makeup, IMO.

I was being tongue-in-cheek about cleaning up, although honestly ANY male needs to do some of that before entering the dating pool. Getting the crud out from under our fingernails and looking spiffy doesn't come naturally to most of us louts.

But I seriously do think it's a head-scratcher to see guys questing for their gaming Aphrodite when there are so many quality, available females. If you aren't finding what you're looking for, expand your horizons a little, that's all I'm saying.

It's probably a little young of a crowd for you. I kid!

Oh, and they're most *definitely* too young for me. Some people don't think I look my age, but I am almost 40, LOL.

My girlfriend describes wargames, RPGs, and similar as 'games that make her head hurt', probably because we sucka t explaining them. (Really, a lot of gamers tend to use gamer shorthand when explaining rules, and don't realize they need to take things slowly and not assume as much knowledge).

OTOH, she accepts that my bi-weekly game nights with the guys are fun, stress-relieving, and pretty 'safe' compared to what some guys do. I don't smoke, rarely drink, and come home to her. So I like to paint little plastic army men? It's something I can do when we're together but have run out of things to talk about.

stonefox wrote:MDG- that was addressed more to regwon. But yes I don't even know why I post on this board I haven't played 40k in maybe 3 years.

Platuan - you can still make fun of people without hating them. In my case it's because these people embody the whole "I'm not cool so I'll try and make up for it in this fantasy manner" rationale that geeks are ridiculed for. Sure, some of these people can actually fight and look good. The rest? Oh I'm not a buff bodybuilder and can't put forth the effort so I'll just pretend to be one. Also I can't really fence or wield a sword so I'll pretend to do that too.

It's funny because there's a divide in my school between the actual fencing team/club and the larping historical club. We actually know how to fence. After taking Kendo, Kenjutsu, Aikido, and now Fencing for years...you can't help but laugh at the gits who pretend to do it right.

Also...furries. But I won't get into them.

<--- i am the geek. chek out dis nerd rage yo. eating cheetos while i do it

At Cal Poly we have an Ampt Guard (spelling?) club as well. Every now and then, when I tell someone I'm involved with Cal Poly Fencing they say "Oh, are you the guys that I see dressed up in the park on Saturday mornings?" "NO NO NO, that is DEFINITELY NOT FENCING!"

Then I punch them in the face.

Ozymandias, King of Kings

Balance wrote:OTOH, she accepts that my bi-weekly game nights with the guys are fun, stress-relieving, and pretty 'safe' compared to what some guys do. I don't smoke, rarely drink, and come home to her. So I like to paint little plastic army men? It's something I can do when we're together but have run out of things to talk about.

BINGO! If your SO has a problem with wargaming and hasn't figured this out yet, point out your hobby is a better use of time and money than nudie bars. Wins 'em over every time.

Ozymandias wrote:

stonefox wrote:MDG- that was addressed more to regwon. But yes I don't even know why I post on this board I haven't played 40k in maybe 3 years.

Platuan - you can still make fun of people without hating them. In my case it's because these people embody the whole "I'm not cool so I'll try and make up for it in this fantasy manner" rationale that geeks are ridiculed for. Sure, some of these people can actually fight and look good. The rest? Oh I'm not a buff bodybuilder and can't put forth the effort so I'll just pretend to be one. Also I can't really fence or wield a sword so I'll pretend to do that too.

It's funny because there's a divide in my school between the actual fencing team/club and the larping historical club. We actually know how to fence. After taking Kendo, Kenjutsu, Aikido, and now Fencing for years...you can't help but laugh at the gits who pretend to do it right.

Also...furries. But I won't get into them.

<--- i am the geek. chek out dis nerd rage yo. eating cheetos while i do it

At Cal Poly we have an Ampt Guard (spelling?) club as well. Every now and then, when I tell someone I'm involved with Cal Poly Fencing they say "Oh, are you the guys that I see dressed up in the park on Saturday mornings?" "NO NO NO, that is DEFINITELY NOT FENCING!"

Then I punch them in the face.

Ozymandias, King of Kings

Awesome. High five. What do you fence? I'm a foilist.

gorgon wrote:

Mannahnin wrote:There are more than you think. The crossover with girls who have historical and costuming interests is a major factor.

But again, I'm looking at those being kind of a small group too. *shrug* I dunno.

I’ve wargamed for about nine years now, I LARPed from around 1993 until 2000 or so. I’ve done tabletop roleplaying since I was ten. IME wargaming has almost no women, tabletop roleplaying has a fair number (lots of groups have none, but others are half or more; those are small groups though); the various flavors of LARPs often run from 25% to 40% female. No kidding.

gorgon wrote:

Mannahnin wrote:Do you remember in High Fidelity when Rob muses that it’s not what you’re like, but what you like that’s important? Shared interests are a big deal in a lot of people’s relationships. You don’t have to hide your hobbies from a girl who participates in them. And a gaming geek couple doesn’t generally have arguments about how much space your armies take up, or about whether a gaming room in your house is a necessity or whether the guy has to make due with part of the dank basement. You don’t have to spend as much time justifying or defending the time you spend on the things you enjoy.

That said, certainly not all the women involved in LARP are prizes, and they’re not so numerous as to outnumber the men (unlike the world as a whole), so they can get an exaggerated sense of their own appeal. Of course, if you do “clean yourself up”, have a good job and some self-confidence, it’s pretty easy to offset that factor. I wound up settling down with and marrying a non-gamer, but there are certainly some good gamer girls to be found.

I guess that's why I find John Cusack to be full of $hit. (Edit: Although, his movies tend to be good first date-type material, so I guess he's a useful meatsack) Hobbies come and go...the person you are tends to stick around. If they're antagonistic to you about a decidedly unharmful hobby like wargaming (assuming you haven't taken it to harmful levels), that goes to their general personality makeup, IMO.

It’s not John Cusack you’re accusing of being full of excrement (I like his movies too), it’s Nick Hornby.

This is really something you have to balance. If you have no shared interests/activities, it’s hard to keep a relationship going. On the other hand you also need to have some space and some independent activities, to keep each other interesting and not co-dependent.

I found my wife outside the gaming world, but it’s incredibly common on boards like this (and in real life) to hear stories from guys who take a lot of crap from the girlfriends or wives over their hobby. I agree with you that they shouldn’t be taking that kind of attitude, but not everyone is so sensible. In some sad cases non-gamer women act tolerant and supportive until some time into the relationship and then expect guys to abandon the activities they enjoy later. At least with a gamer chick you KNOW she actually doesn’t mind your hobby.

gorgon wrote:I was being tongue-in-cheek about cleaning up, although honestly ANY male needs to do some of that before entering the dating pool. Getting the crud out from under our fingernails and looking spiffy doesn't come naturally to most of us louts.

But I seriously do think it's a head-scratcher to see guys questing for their gaming Aphrodite when there are so many quality, available females. If you aren't finding what you're looking for, expand your horizons a little, that's all I'm saying.

Oh sure. I guess to some extent I’m trying to make the same point in reverse. LARP is just another geeky hobby. For those of us tempted to sneer at it, the involvement of females and the presence of physical exercise do give it a couple of points over the hobby everyone on this board lavishes such time on.

But everyone could probably stand to be more open-minded and expand their horizons. Geeks and norms alike.

stonefox wrote:

Awesome. High five. What do you fence? I'm a foilist.

Epee and Foil (mostly epee though). I coach both at Cal Poly.

Ozymandias, King of Kings

Mannahnin wrote:

Oh sure. I guess to some extent I’m trying to make the same point in reverse. LARP is just another geeky hobby. For those of us tempted to sneer at it, the involvement of females and the presence of physical exercise do give it a couple of points over the hobby everyone on this board lavishes such time on.

But everyone could probably stand to be more open-minded and expand their horizons. Geeks and norms alike.

The basic premise is sound. Take foam weapons, get your friends, beat the sh*t out of each other. Good times

But when the roleplaying starts ("Lightning bolt, lightning bolt!") I just have to laugh.

Ozymandias, King of Kings

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:It's nothing about the realism, and all about the release!

So it is sort of like porn?