When I was a kid growing up in rural New Hampshire in the 1970s and the 1980s, my world was inhabited my monsters.
In particular, a monster. Or what my siblings and I called The Momster -- our mom. She was stricken by a brain aneurysm, was severely disabled, and a difficult and sometimes scary presence to a 12 year old boy.
To escape, I retreated into the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), where I found distraction, adventure and mastery of my fate in a magical world where I was the hero of my own plot line. For an insecure, introverted kid, killing goblins, wielding swords and amassing treasure was the perfect antitode to a topsy-turvy home life. I also used read J.R.R. Tolkien.
But I stopped playing D&D when I went away to college. I didn't want to be a geek any more. Since my teenage years, I had kept role-playing games and similar activities at a distance for a reason. I just didn't quite know what that reason was.
Flash-forward to me at age 40. About two years ago, I rediscovered my old D&D gear --- books, maps, dice, miniatures --- in a box in my parents' basement. And when the Lord of the Rings movies came out, I got hooked.
And I realized -- wait. Something's changed. Since I played D&D back in the Reagan Administration, fantasy and gaming has gone mainstream. Think of the popularity of online games, Harry Potter, and other role-playing hobbies. The discovery of my old D&D gear inspired me to write a book that explored and celebrated fantasy and gaming subcultures: FANTASY FREAKS AND GAMING GEEKS: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms.
But the more I reflected on my and society's interest in fantasy and gaming, the more doubts I had. Yes, D&D had helped me "escape" a difficult adolescence and my mother's medical trauma. But I wondered how healthy it was to have devoted so much mental energy to a fantasy world that didn't exist. Had me and my D&D gaming buddies checked out of real life? What were the long-term effects? Did fantasy escapism explain why the person I'd become at forty --- a person who felt unsatisfying and unsatisfied?
What about the 12 million (and counting) subscribers to World of Warcraft (WoW), and the readers of Harry Potter, and the adult men and women own Xbox and PlayStation consoles, and arrange Yoda and R2-D2 Pez dispensers on their computer monitors?
Is their "escapism" normal? Is fantasy in all its forms fundamentally a good thing? Are some subcultures more dangerous than others? What healthy role does fantasy and escape serve? Surely it's not all evil.
In Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks, and this blog Geek Pride, we'll meet game-players and fantasy fans---old, young, male, female, able-bodied and disabled— and find out what attractes them into fantasy worlds and what meaning do they find there. We'll talk about the culture's negative image of gamers and fantasy fans, and try to debunk the stereotypes. And we'll talk to other experts who'll weigh in on the topic.
I hope you'll join me on this quest. Welcome to Geek Pride.
--Ethan Gilsdorf
