I've never seen so many gamers in a city as I have in Baltimore. It's a little weird how many people here are into RPGs.
It probably has something to do with all the hipsters. Anywhere there are hipsters there are gamers. And they're usually the same people.
Does anyone know? Seattle springs to mind but that may just be because of its association with Wizards and Paizo in my mind. Also, even if it isn't the largest, does your hometown have a large and thriving game community?
Tam
I'm not deeply or actively immersed in the gaming culture so my experience may not be relevant but... as a Seattle-ite, I'd have to say I don't see gamers dropping out of the trees. I recall running into a lot more gamers (on a casual) when I was in Palo Alto (Silicon Valley). YMMV
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I've never seen so many gamers in a city as I have in Baltimore. It's a little weird how many people here are into RPGs.
It probably has something to do with all the hipsters. Anywhere there are hipsters there are gamers. And they're usually the same people.
There are hipsters in Baltimore?
Seriously?
Is this like a Baltimore version of a true hipster, because of all the things I think of when I hear Baltimore (crime, desolate urban core, racial strife, the Wire), hipster is pretty far down the list.
Seattle is a hipster city. New York, Austin, San Francisco, Denver, Boulder, maybe Chicago - those are hipster cities. Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland, Green Bay, Gary - those are not hipster cities. Those are post-industrial wastelands, not the bleeding edge of cool that a hispter typically favors.
I've never seen so many gamers in a city as I have in Baltimore. It's a little weird how many people here are into RPGs.
It probably has something to do with all the hipsters. Anywhere there are hipsters there are gamers. And they're usually the same people.
Baltimore is home to Diamond Comic Distributors (Largest comic distributor in the world and Alliance Game Distributor (Largest Game / RPG distributor in the world) and Games Workshop.
Baltimore is home to Diamond Comic Distributors (Largest comic distributor in the world and Alliance Game Distributor (Largest Game / RPG distributor in the world) and Games Workshop.I've never seen so many gamers in a city as I have in Baltimore. It's a little weird how many people here are into RPGs.
It probably has something to do with all the hipsters. Anywhere there are hipsters there are gamers. And they're usually the same people.
Baltimore is also home to a couple major computer/video game companies (e.g. Firaxis), so if you expand 'gaming' beyond tabletop RPGs, you've probably got a pretty significant population of computer gamers there too. And I'd be willing to hazard a guess that those demographics overlap quite a bit, too.
Speculation aside, I have to say that I didn't see a hugely active gaming culture (or a lot of hipsters) when I lived in Baltimore, but I do game with friends who live in the 'burbs there now.
Baltimore is home to Diamond Comic Distributors (Largest comic distributor in the world and Alliance Game Distributor (Largest Game / RPG distributor in the world) and Games Workshop.I've never seen so many gamers in a city as I have in Baltimore. It's a little weird how many people here are into RPGs.
It probably has something to do with all the hipsters. Anywhere there are hipsters there are gamers. And they're usually the same people.
Baltimore is also home to a couple major computer/video game companies (e.g. Firaxis), so if you expand 'gaming' beyond tabletop RPGs, you've probably got a pretty significant population of computer gamers there too. And I'd be willing to hazard a guess that those demographics overlap quite a bit, too.
Speculation aside, I have to say that I didn't see a hugely active gaming culture (or a lot of hipsters) when I lived in Baltimore, but I do game with friends who live in the 'burbs there now.
It's also home of Otakon, perhaps the greatest convention evar(well, not really, but it's a favorite). The place is a mecca for geeks many weekends out of the year.
Washington D.C. - EVERYboby there is "role-playing" (in some way or another) ;)
My guess is Detroit. If you lived in Detroit wouldn't you retreat into a fantasy world too?
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I always thought gaming was more of a rural type activity - it's not like Lake Geneva is a big city and that's where the hobby started out, right?
I think the demographic profile that WotC assembeled (and portions of which Ryan Dancey shared) indicated that gamers tended to come from areas where there weren't many recreational activities available for young people (e.g., the country).
But I could be making that all up.
... [stuff above] ...
>He< isn't wearing overalls because they are in style -- it's a job requirement.
I got crabs in Baltimore, good times!
I always thought gaming was more of a rural type activity - it's not like Lake Geneva is a big city and that's where the hobby started out, right?
I think the demographic profile that WotC assembeled (and portions of which Ryan Dancey shared) indicated that gamers tended to come from areas where there weren't many recreational activities available for young people (e.g., the country).
But I could be making that all up.
I'd think that approach probably started to go downhill when the Dungeons&Dragons is a gateway to Satanism trope became common.
Its also probably a bit flawed in the sense that its still fundamentally a niche hobby. You can find people with these common interests if your urban centre is big enough but your likely to be out of luck if there just are not that many people.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I always thought gaming was more of a rural type activity - it's not like Lake Geneva is a big city and that's where the hobby started out, right?
I think the demographic profile that WotC assembeled (and portions of which Ryan Dancey shared) indicated that gamers tended to come from areas where there weren't many recreational activities available for young people (e.g., the country).
But I could be making that all up.
I'd think that approach probably started to go downhill when the Dungeons&Dragons is a gateway to Satanism trope became common.
Its also probably a bit flawed in the sense that its still fundamentally a niche hobby. You can find people with these common interests if your urban centre is big enough but your likely to be out of luck if there just are not that many people.
I believe the data is from the 90s, well after the satanism trope began.
The way gaming groups formed in my small town is through the comic store. We only had one, most of the geeks went to it, and we spread gaming among ourselves like a disease. It wasn't a matter of finding people interested in gaming, it was a matter of training gamers.
Significant amounts of spare time was also correlated with gaming, and kids tend to have the most spare time.