Here’s a question for the role-playing game community: Do you hide your hobby from your non-gamer friends / colleagues?
Friends who play games – well, obviously they know that you play D&D or Pathfinder or whatever might be your RPG of choice since you probably play alongside them. Close family members (those who live with you) will almost certainly know as well. But what about friends or family members whom you don’t see regularly? What about colleagues at school or at work?
I work for a large financial services company, and I’m a well-respected, somewhat senior person. I manage a team of nine employees. Personally, I’ve never discussed my RPG hobby with any of my colleagues. It’s entirely possible that some of them play RPGs, though I doubt it. Would it ruin my career to talk about it? Probably not, though I’m sure it might affect some of their opinions of me. I already get gentle ribbing about the fact that I’m in a bowling league, and no non-bowler has the mistaken impression that bowling involves devil worship (well, at least I don’t think so).
I try to be a very open, honest person, which makes me feel a little bad about myself for not talking to colleagues about my gaming. I’m not that close to these people – I’m not friends with them on Facebook, for instance. But I would definitely feel weird knowing that they thought of me as a guy who plays D&D, let alone a guy who blogs about it.
What’s your experience? Do your co-workers know you enjoy role-playing games, particularly if you work in an industry that might look unfavorably on such a hobby? Is it wrong to essentially hide your hobby from casual acquaintances like these?
Online Dungeon Master 