Yes, that's us apparently. This is not a review but just a shout-out to those of you who may enjoy this topic. Author Ethan Gilsdorf has written a book about gaming and fantasy culture called "Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks". I ran into it at the book store a couple of weeks ago and decided to pick it up the other day. It's a pretty easy read and I've only just started but I'm enjoying his experience and take on this sub-culture.
Many people, myself included, have returned to gaming after many years of real-life adventures. It is interesting how the fantasy game that we grew up with has never really left our consciousness and many of us are revisiting this game once again. Gilsdorf explores that as well as the fantasy loving/living culture as a whole.
If you get a chance, check it out. It's not a bad read.
Dispite the fact that he's a "local", I've no interest whatsoever in reading this book. By all accounts, it's just another "I dove into fantasy and gaming because it helped me escape into another world" sob story, which frankly just makes me roll my eyes.
ReplyDeleteLike a lot of the LARP documentaries (such as Monster Camp) and other blather I've seen, it just paints fantasy/sci-fi and gaming enthusiasts as socially inept misfits who turn to gaming and fantasy/sci-fi fiction as some means of escaping their dreary, mis-spent lives, which really pisses me off. Apparently the guys who play Modern Warfare 2 four hours a night and masturbate over Tom Clancy novels and WW2 documentaries are perfectly adjusted individuals, but if you play D&D you're some sort of social outcast trying to escape the sad truth of your life by pretending to be Hrothgar the Barbarian, saving and screwing big-breasted maidens from evil sorcerers.
The fact that this Gilsdorf is marketing himself as some "I'm just like you guys" 'geek' in order to appeal to his target audience just compounds my dislike of his bullcrap.
Annoyed much, you think?
Like I mentioned, I am still in the middle of reading this book. At this point in the reading, I (or Gilsdorf) haven't come to those conclusions or impressions. He's asking those very questions as to why some obsessions/intense interests are considered acceptable and others are not. I'll see where the book ends up. It's pretty innocent at the moment, to me anyway.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to take a look at this book. Thanks for the suggestion and let us know how you like it.
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