Sarcasm detector fail.
I think it is especially cool because of the 70s D&D flavor. And its wrestling style short: WWC

_________________

Haha ! :-D

Fair enough! I always prefer the acronym WaW - pronounced in over the top GW redshirt stylie : WWAAAAARRRRRRRRR! But it hasn't caught on... :-)

D&D definitely ranks worse in the "embarrassment of one's hobby" stakes... Sad that that's even a thing but for some reason I still don't talk about my epic crutch with many people :/

_________________
Kyrt's Battle Result Tracker (forum post is here)
Kyrt's trade list

I think D&D still holds that "scary satanic rituals" vibe for a surprising lot of people - taken with an over serious prog-rock edge. :-)

Nobody knows about my wargaming except family.

_________________

But it sounds so reasonable:
What are you doing this weekend?
Me? Oh i'm going to go to an event with a load of guys i know on online, we all escape from our wives for the weekend and share rooms with strangers we met on an internet forum about painting different coloured clothing outfits onto tiny men, doing er … manly stuff … like … WAR-ING.

Where's the embarrassment there

_________________
AFK with real life, still checking PMs

Really? You guys are embarrassed about our hobby?
And you even keep it a secret?!

That is... sad.

_________________

i'm only embarrassed about the link to GW. I tell people i do mini painting, sculpting, and gaming, but would not mention any connection to a GW setting. This will only increase when 40k gets Age of Sigmar'd.

_________________
AFK with real life, still checking PMs

I find that virtually everyone I talk to about it has zero concept of what wargaming is... they know monopoly but that's about it as far as gaming goes....

I don't advertise my hobby, but I don't hide it either, if someone asks what I'm doing at the weekend, if I'm gaming I will say 'wargaming' and leave it at that, if said person then wants to have a good-natured jibe at my geeky side then that's fine, if they think there's something wrong with me or would have any kind of serious problem with it, then they aren't the type of person I want to be associating with anyway, I find it's quite a good way of flushing out judgemental arseholes from the social circle

I mean people who do fantasy football are no different to D&D players, they just find statistics like transfer windows and possession percentage more interesting than +2 swords of thigh snapping or THAC0 modifiers for shiny codpieces

_________________
Just some guy

My hobby/painting threads

Army Forge List Co-ordinator

I've only just 'come out' to selective friends. They've been very understanding. Should've done so sooner. ;—)

_________________

I've found that (as an epic fan) "coming out" to friends can be a double win : often they say - "I used to do that" and get back into gaming, or, "I used to do that, do you want all my old junk stuff"? :-)

Yes I don't actually find that there is any judgment, just that I still somehow can't let go of the perception that there will be. This just goes back to teenage years. That said, I basically take the same approach as kyussinchains, I tell people what I'm doing if they ask and am happy to explain it when they look confused, but I tend not to volunteer it to people I don't already know.

Also like Apoc I find myself explaining it without ever using the words "Warhammer" and "Games Workshop". And with the people who know what I mean by wargaming, for some reason I feel the need to add "not 40K though, Epic".

I remember reading this article a couple of years back and it triggered a big discussion in my group of friends about the whole thing:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17274186
My view is, wargaming is actually one of the best things you could be doing with your time as a teenager. It's creative, good for dexterity, teaches a skill (painting), is good for maths skills, and is even.... SOCIAL! Compare that to video games for example. Likewise for the cost, everybody likes to talk about how expensive GW is, but when you think about how much you get out of it and compare it to going to the theatre... About it's only downsides are that you don't play it outside, and it's a bit... mysogynistic and violet.

_________________
Kyrt's Battle Result Tracker (forum post is here)
Kyrt's trade list

funny thing is, i find it is the gaming part people find odd. I play epic very little (hadn't been to an event before a couple of years ago), but i paint epic quite a bit – people think the painting and sculpting sounds really interesting, however, i've had: 'but you don't play those games with them, do you?' or comments to that effect a few times.

sculpting – very interesting, got pictures? how the hell do you do that?
painting – interesting
gaming – you are now a bit odd
40k setting – instant manchild

_________________
AFK with real life, still checking PMs

I had exactly this discussion with an uncle who one Christmas said "remember that geeky hobby you used to had." I pointed out his girls were playing with prepackaged barbie and leaning about how to become a good little consumer... Didn't go well. :-) But probably inadvertently lead me back into gaming...

I'm quite surprised at this. I thought the prevalence of console gaming nowadays made board gaming pretty acceptable to similar aged people. But the war-dolly aspect is the side which raises eyebrows amongst even some of my boardgamer friends. Luckily I've found two great clubs where board, mini, rpg and (whisper it) card gamers live in mostly mutual harmony. :-)