Gaming and the workplace

[Oz]

For ageing gamers that have jobs unrelated to video games, do you ever find it awkward to tell people at work about your hobby? As I grow older and progress in my career I feel each year it gets more stupid and I feel more pressure at the workplace to either lie about it or play it down. In 11 years working in London I have only met two other people who were into games like I am. This is why learning about RLLMUK last year was a fucking revelation!

Recently my department updated a people book where everyone wrote about their hobbies proudly stating "Fishing" or "Tailgating" (some US bollocks they do somehow related to American football). Why do I have to feel embarrassed? I should have said "Fucking Destiny or Dark Souls!". Instead, I said I enjoy spending time with my family and technology. What the fuck does enjoying technology mean? Someone asked. I joked saying that I enjoy having electricity and hot water, and left it at that.

Why is it acceptable for example being into football? Isn't watching grown man chasing a ball around and crying over some blokes from Argentina winning a game in the name of their hometown even more childish? What do you guys think? Anyone else feel that way?

[Uncle Mike]

I don't work in games, but much of my team are essentially professional nerds. So being into gaming isn't weird for me.

[Oz]

I don't work in games, but much of my team are essentially professional nerds. So being into gaming isn't weird for me.

I would love that. Don't get me wrong, these chaps are nerds but like corporate finance nerds who are socially awkward. If anything they deem me more of a people person compared with my peers. How is there no gaming overlap? I wish I could arrive on Monday and answer the "whatcha do on the weekend" question with: we fucking nailed Skolas to a wall. Instead I go, relaxing and spending time with my daughter. Then they start talking about man u vs. man city or whatever.

[Mentazm]

My workplace has a fairly young demographic so there's a lot of gamers here. I find it more embarrassing when I'm in a group of guys and they start talking about football and I can't make a single comment other than "go local sports team!".

[T Pot]

I'm the company "nerd". The warehouse side is filled with mostly 18-22 year olds that are into football and some gaming. I'm over in the office and I'm the third youngest at 28. They all know I play games as my main hobby, and for all it isn't mocked, most of the staff think it's just "sad". The question that usually pops up is "What is the point?".

Hmm, I think I could ask the exact same question about you playing golf, or football, or anything else.

My workplace has a fairly young demographic so there's a lot of gamers here. I find it more embarrassing when I'm in a group of guys and they start talking about football and I can't make a single comment other than "go local sports team!".

Our company takes part in the sun fantasy football league. I joined in this year. I googled a list of reccomended players, I have no idea who they are or what teams they play for.

[lordscotland]

Everyone I work with (thankfully i work from home mainly) is at least 10 years older than me, and all have some combination of these interests: 1) golf, 2) caravanning, 3) holiday home abroad, 4) restoring their classic cars, 5) music taste that would be too pedestrian for daytime radio 2.

Nice people, but I can't say our interests overlap much...

[peeveen]

I hear guys across the way talking about games all the time. I have no idea what games they're talking about, I think they're PC gamers, probably Elite Dangerous or DOTA or something.

I personally don't have any qualms about stating "videogames" as a hobby, even if it paints me as a nerd. Most people will assume I just mean COD and FIFA anyway, which I think most guys have at least "dabbled in" at some point.

But every hobby is nerdy if you take it far enough. I run pub quizzes, and a common phenomenon is a team getting heckled as "sad bastards" if they know the answer to any (not particularly niche) questions about Star Wars or Star Trek or something, but ask a question like "who was the reserve left back for Reading FC during the 96/97 season" and it's a whole other story ...

[berties paw]

I work in a Biochemistry Laboratory with folk that are even bigger weirdos nerds than me, so being into video games isn't really a big deal. Or maybe it is, but it's full of socially awkward, mad scientist types in here, so even getting a "good morning" out of some of them is hard enough without trying to have a conversation about hobbies out of work.

There is one other big gamer in here and we had a discussion in the middle of the staff room about Destiny one day, comparing loadouts and weapon perks. We started drawing some funny looks when he decided to let everyone know at the top of his voice, "Yeah, we're in our forties* and we play video games, get over it." That led to a couple of the younger guys "coming out" as gamers too, so we can have a chat about games occasionally at work without feeling too self conscious. None of them have ever raided in Destiny, and I was getting a daily "You done it yet?" when Kings Fall came out and we were trying to crack it, a little cheer going up when I finally managed it. Meanwhile, those strange look giving "non gamers" go back to their candy crush/angry birds level without a hint of irony.

I like football as well. There's less football fans in here than gamers though, so I can forget about any football chat at work.

* I'm not 40 til April next year, just thought I'd point his error out

[Fry Crayola]

I work in software so there's already enough of a geek overlap. Even so, I thought things had generally progressed beyond the idea that playing games is something to mutter under your breath rather than acknowledge with a shrug of "yeah, so?"

[Timmo]

My situation is kind of the opposite to this. My office is full of men in gaming but I avoid talking about it at all costs really. One because they say things which are completely incorrect which annoy me and two because I feel like such a nerd from it. Most of my friends know I'm into gaming but rarely ask me about it and if they do I give really vague answers. "It's good but a bit long winded, just went back to FIFA." Awkward conversation over. I like to read and share in online discussion but don't like talking about games.

[John0]

Yeah I think many people where I work would think it's a bit weird, or a bit of a waste of time, or look down on it to an extent. Though it's reasonably diverse in terms of age, so that may just be my insecurities.

In fact just yesterday the subject of watching people playing games came up and a "that sounds really boring, why would you not just want to play the game? Also they can't be the most charismatic bunch can they!" got wielded out. I just left it, despite the fact that I took umbrage of near racism-level proportions to "they" .

[Qazimod]

I overhear other people talk about games on occasion but unfortunately they're not the people near my desk I think the main passion of mine that people are aware of is music because I always come in with some garbage blasting through my earphones

I remember wanting a day at home to prepare bags and tickets for Eurogamer Expo so I asked the boss if I could have a day off. Obviously he asked if I had plans and I started blurting out "oh I'm going to Earl's Court in London for..." and then I stopped myself and made up something "uhh a music event."

[MagicalDrop]

A new, fairly senior manager started working alongside me at our place nearly 2 years ago and I was asked to cover off his induction. I figured he had already had a tough week so asked what he liked to do outside of work. He mumbled a bit and then mentioned XBox, which got us up and running on a half hour conversation about games. Since then he's become a good mate, we've played a lot of games online together and filled in plenty of meetings with more gaming chat. Of the 6 other people in my team, one has a PS4, one has an XBox One and one is a PC and board gamer so we have some occasional gaming chats, plus there's 5 of us in the wider company on regular messenger chat outside of work about Fallout, plus some overspill to other games. We're a fairly small marketing company so not particularly tech biased.

We also have quite a few football fans and there's a bit of Lego chat too. Big bunch of kids really, average age 30+ (i'm over 50).

[Pavey]

You think you've got it bad HS!

I'm a tee total vegetarian into video games and work in the building industry! They look at me like some strange alien race I like girls though and can whistle so try to fit in.

(i'm 41 so say the Xbox/PS4/WiiU etc belong to my 8yr old boy )

[Wiper]

I'm 31, in a data analysis team, and most of the people I work with are around the same age, so naturally we're nearly all gamers. Three of us even go to a monthly video games quiz at the local cinema (and win maybe a quarter of the time).

Life is a good.

[Oz]

I overhear other people talk about games on occasion but unfortunately they're not the people near my desk I think the main passion of mine that people are aware of is music because I always come in with some garbage blasting through my earphones

I remember wanting a day at home to prepare bags and tickets for Eurogamer Expo so I asked the boss if I could have a day off. Obviously he asked if I had plans and I started blurting out "oh I'm going to Earl's Court in London for..." and then I stopped myself and made up something "uhh a music event."

don't get me started on the taking a day off for game related stuff. Like waiting for the PS4 to come out in the central London launch. They began selling it at 12am so I thought I'd be fine. I got home at 4am having to get up in 2 hours to go into the office. "You look tired Oz" "Yeah not sure why I better go home early as I must be coming down with something". "AC4 here I come!" But really why is this something to hide vs. days away for golf or staying up to watch the world cup. Why is that more mature than staying up to try and clock yoshi's island DS?

[T Pot]

Going to Germany to go to GamesCom. I got some raised eyebrows and a "Why would you waste a good trip to play video games?"

[ScouserInExile]

I think gaming is much more acceptable than it used to be. There are a few gamers in my office, despite it being quite female-dominated. My boss used to collect Neo Geo games and there's two quite hardcore gamers who openly talk about their mmo exploits. They really don't fit the gamer stereotype either - one is a hipster gym bunny who plays rugby league and the other is an ex-squadie type.

[Pavey]

ys?

[SeanR]

So, I'm surrounded by 360 owners, no bad thing.

Hell, I've even told them to get a bone before they drop dollar on a ps4.

[Herbalizer]

Got four other blokes in my office. All four of them have PS4s, one has a PS4, Wiiu and built his own gaming PC. We have some good gaming chats during the week, they've all got pretty good taste in games too. We were going to form an office Rocket League team but just never got round to it.

[JohnnyNolan]

I work in software development, so the majority of staff are into gaming. I'm at the more casual end of the gaming spectrum in my workplace.

[Lorfarius]

It's a bit like porn. Just say you enjoy professional photography, works for me.

[Nick R]

My situation is kind of the opposite to this. My office is full of men in gaming but I avoid talking about it at all costs really. One because they say things which are completely incorrect which annoy me and two because I feel like such a nerd from it. Most of my friends know I'm into gaming but rarely ask me about it and if they do I give really vague answers. "It's good but a bit long winded, just went back to FIFA." Awkward conversation over. I like to read and share in online discussion but don't like talking about games.

Yeah, talking about games with people In Real Life can sometimes backfire, because you can encounter opinions that are simply never said on the internet.

Such as the other day, when I was talking to someone at work about the N64 and we agreed how great it was. Then he comes out with:

"Then after that the next one we got was a Dreamcast. It was a shit console."

[dr_manhattan^]

"who was the reserve left back for Reading FC during the 96/97 season"

Michael Gilkes?

[morcs]

I think listing "football fan" as a hobby on a CV would be just as bad as "gaming". I guess this work book is a bit less formal than a CV though.

[Jolly]

This is going to make me sound terribly conceited but I just don't enjoy talking to people about it when they don't have a clue. Embarrassment has nothing to do with it, I just find it boring.

I do have a couple of gaming related work stories though. Once I had to go to a big conference once with three members of senior management and there was a competition in a huge rally car plugged into some driving game. Naturally, because I play video games they all assumed I'd be an absolute master at this despite the fact that I hate racing simulations, I find car chat unbearably tedious and I can't actually drive. I managed to avoid their goading to get behind the wheel for hours then fatally had a couple of drinks, developed Drunken Show-Off Syndrome and got behind the wheel. So convinced where they of my inevitable victory that one of them ran round to gather a crowd. I flew off the mountain on the first corner and eventually stumbled in with a time that put me in 35th position. Don't drink and drive kids.

Another time our boss took us all bowling as a thank you for helping move our offices and I bizarrely thought this was a good time to bust out my not inconsiderable Dance Dance Revolution skills. I'd only been with the company for a couple of months and for some reason performing that weird, staggered interpretation of dancing along to Japanese techno seemed like a suitable ice breaker. I work in a fairly manly industry where every fucker plays golf so as you can imagine this has established me firmly as the alpha male of the office.

[The-Plethora]

I work in an IT office so it's cool. My personal netbook is next to me downloading steam games at the moment. The guy next to me has a Wii and likes his gaming old school and has a hacked PSP, playing chrono trigger or some other RPG at the moment. Anther guy in the office is big on PC gaming and we chat about the latest humble bundle or bargains.to be had, we both bought oculus rifts.

Other guy has a PS4 and was looking forward to the weekend a while ago when his girlfriend was out so he could stay in and play metal gear. Our resident polish guy also has a hacked PSP he plays on, mostly FIFA street for some reason but we persuaded him to try Final Fantasy 7 which he seems to like, he is at the train graveyard at the moment.

I personally get loads of shit delivered to work, PC parts, master system, wii, sega saturn games and such but mainly game on PC.

[Oz]

It's funny, in the Witcher 3 thread I got a bit of stick from some rllmukers for a taking a week off for that game.

If it weren't for my wife and daughter I would probably use 90% of my yearly holidays on new game releases. A week playing witcher 3 and eating pizza 3 times a day sounds like my dream holiday. I hate travelling. Issue is I travel for work so hotels and planes do my fucking head in.

[Oz]

I think listing "football fan" as a hobby on a CV would be just as bad as "gaming". I guess this work book is a bit less formal than a CV though.

How come? I have seen people safe meetings which were going terribly by bringing up some football banter. I can't say I have done the same bringing up how I pulled Liara.