Bad Behavior In Game Stores

[Brass Scorpion]

I've met so many nice people since I started spending much of my hobby time at local game stores about 5 or 6 years ago, yet I don't know what it is about Warhammer that brings out so many badly behaved people too. I didn't see so many problems when I played historical simulation board games years ago and I've never seen strategy board game players behave in certain ways in game stores that are common with Warhammer. In the past week alone I've seen the following in local game stores strictly from Warhammer players:

1) One kid knee another in the butt and send him crashing into the painting/hobby table.

2) An adult with an obtrusive and obnoxiously loud ring-tone who also made babbling noises while assembling his models. The same loud voiced guy also complained that someone threw their dice at him in a game the day before. Since I've rarely ever seen him in a store where he wasn't either thoughtlessly or deliberately rude to employees, customers or both it's no surprise. Then he actually at one point made disparaging comments about the intelligence of someone else in the store. Amazing.

3) A kid who gets out of his seat dozens of times, sometimes multiple times in just a few minutes who bumps you every time he gets up and sits down. Even after moving my chair an additional foot away the problem persisted and I also had to ask him to stop kicking me, twice! Needless to say, it's fairly difficult to paint under such circumstances. Of course the parent just dropped him off and left him there with no supervision. Ugh.

4) Two, yes two different adult customers who talked continuously for several hours while in the store on two different days. Neither of these guys ever stopped talking for more than a few seconds in the space of 2 to 3 hours. Neither of these guys brought any models to work on or game with, they just talked incessantly for hours. Many people in the store, including the manager in one case were ready to pull their own heads off after a while just to end the pain.

5) A kid repeatedly cursing at and in front of other kids during a multi-player game.

I'll be glad when the new Battle Bunker opens, at least in the larger stores it's possible at times to move around to "hide" from bad behavior till it passes. There's no escape in the smaller GW stores once the dung hits the fan or worse, sits down next to you!

[Cyberscape7]

I suppose this is just how things are. Theres always gonna be some inappropriately behaved people. Just gotta try your best to ignore them I guess.

[fuzzbuket]

2 18+s getting into a fight arfter someone loaned models/borrowed and didnt give them back, swaering and fistycuffs ensured

yay for GW store managers ( and the 'kids' were a) fat b) probably bad at fighting and c) scared of the manager!

[Drew da Destroya]

Well, with my internet-granted degree in child and social psychology, I'll explain these behaviors away!


1) One kid knee another in the butt and send him crashing into the painting/hobby table.
- Simple. Kids are jackasses. I hope the other kid was ok.

2) An adult with an obtrusive and obnoxiously loud ring-tone who also made babbling noises while assembling his models. The same loud voiced guy also complained that someone threw their dice at him in a game the day before. Since I've rarely ever seen him in a store where he wasn't either thoughtlessly or deliberately rude to employees, customers or both it's no surprise. Then he actually at one point made disparaging comments about the intelligence of someone else in the store. Amazing.
- Also simple... some adults are also jackasses.


3) A kid who gets out of his seat dozens of times, sometimes multiple times in just a few minutes who bumps you every time he gets up and sits down. Even after moving my chair an additional foot away the problem persisted and I also had to ask him to stop kicking me, twice! Needless to say, it's fairly difficult to paint under such circumstances. Of course the parent just dropped him off and left him there with no supervision. Ugh.
- Not too hard... babysitting is expensive, game stores are free.


4) Two, yes two different adult customers who talked continuously for several hours while in the store on two different days. Neither of these guys ever stopped talking for more than a few seconds in the space of 2 to 3 hours. Neither of these guys brought any models to work on or game with, they just talked incessantly for hours. Many people in the store, including the manager in one case were ready to pull their own heads off after a while just to end the pain.
- Admittedly, it depends on what these people were talking about... if it was just mindless babble, then see point number 2. If they were there to talk rules, fluff, modelling, painting, or something otherwise game-related, then it's cool. It's sort of a natural gathering spot for talk of that sort, after all!


5) A kid repeatedly cursing at and in front of other kids during a multi-player game.
- See point number 1, and as an addendum, Cursing is Cool (when you're 14).

[FTE-Charge!!!]

hahaha, which store was this? In MD I presume?

The ranting is quite annoying bc it often takes the subject of some extremely odd dorky thing (even odd-er than warhammer) and takes it to an annoying "I dont care" level. My local shop has several extreme anime fans that will talk about it for hours louder than the store music. And its so obscure that I (a self admitted dork) cannot follow.

Sometimes I feel that social awkwardness is a must have on your resume when applying to play GW games (not work there, just play).

[Lerra]

Try being female. It can be so much worse.

There is one dude who is a regular at a certain FLGs in my area. He is in his 40s and wears a ratty old undershirt with holes and sweat stains. One armpit of this shirt is entirely missing, it's covered in food stains, it is so worn that it's halfway to being transparent, and his chest hair pokes through the fabric. It seems like he wears this shirt 24/7 and rarely showers. I'm pretty sure he could curdle milk with his breath alone. The guy also uses the worst one-liners I've ever heard and thinks he's God's gift to womankind. And he will talk for 4 hours solid to anyone who will listen about how good he is at playing his army (note: he is terrible). This dude actually asked my boyfriend if he could "have a go at that piece of meat."

Then there are the guys who get all offended that a female is intruding into their gaming time because it's supposed to be a place for dudes to escape their wives. Look, I'm sorry you married a terrible person, but it's really not my fault. Please don't take it out on half the human species. Also, if you refuse to play me at a tournament because I'm female, and the judge rules that you forfeit, don't tell all my friends that you only forfeited because I cheated.

Then there are all the guys who "accidently" bump into me and cop a feel while they're at it.

Thankfully 95+% of guys I've met in the hobby have been great, lots of fun to game with. It's just the few bad eggs that give the hobby a bad reputation imo =/

[Gotthammer]

My local GW has a great policy: act up and get banned for 2-4D6 minutes (re-rolling low numbers at will). They also have most of the regular kids' parent's numbers on hand.
Also it's located in a shopping centre, which seems to keep the crustyness to a minimum.

My preferred tactic for getting away from annoying people is to pull out my mobile and go "uh oh, gotta call work, 'scuse me", then go out and get a drink or something.

[Uncle Nutsy]

Well, with my internet-granted degree in child and social psychology, I'll explain these behaviors away!


1) One kid knee another in the butt and send him crashing into the painting/hobby table.
- Simple. Kids are jackasses. I hope the other kid was ok.

2) An adult with an obtrusive and obnoxiously loud ring-tone who also made babbling noises while assembling his models. The same loud voiced guy also complained that someone threw their dice at him in a game the day before. Since I've rarely ever seen him in a store where he wasn't either thoughtlessly or deliberately rude to employees, customers or both it's no surprise. Then he actually at one point made disparaging comments about the intelligence of someone else in the store. Amazing.
- Also simple... some adults are also jackasses.


3) A kid who gets out of his seat dozens of times, sometimes multiple times in just a few minutes who bumps you every time he gets up and sits down. Even after moving my chair an additional foot away the problem persisted and I also had to ask him to stop kicking me, twice! Needless to say, it's fairly difficult to paint under such circumstances. Of course the parent just dropped him off and left him there with no supervision. Ugh.
- Not too hard... babysitting is expensive, game stores are free.


4) Two, yes two different adult customers who talked continuously for several hours while in the store on two different days. Neither of these guys ever stopped talking for more than a few seconds in the space of 2 to 3 hours. Neither of these guys brought any models to work on or game with, they just talked incessantly for hours. Many people in the store, including the manager in one case were ready to pull their own heads off after a while just to end the pain.
- Admittedly, it depends on what these people were talking about... if it was just mindless babble, then see point number 2. If they were there to talk rules, fluff, modelling, painting, or something otherwise game-related, then it's cool. It's sort of a natural gathering spot for talk of that sort, after all!


5) A kid repeatedly cursing at and in front of other kids during a multi-player game.
- See point number 1, and as an addendum, Cursing is Cool (when you're 14).

1) doesn't matter if they're jackasses. they need to know that either that behaviour stops or they get kicked out. no arguments, no 'but but but', nothing. that's how it is and if they don't like it, too bad.

They're not the only one in the store, and to act the way they did shows a HUGE disrespect to others' enjoyment of the game.

2) same as 1.

3) again, same as 1.

4) yeah, it all depends on the chatter. but at least tell them to try and keep it quiet.

5) see 1.


oh and if a fight is about to break out, it's the manager's responsibility to step in and tell them if they want to fight, to do it outside. Otherwise I'll be doing that myself.

[wittdooley]

Wait Wait Wait..... Lerra is a lady? Well I'll be darned.

Anyways... I don't think social awkwardness is a requirement. Go to Adepticon and you can see there are plenty of "normal" dudes playing 40k. It just so happens that, like any vocal minority, ours happens to be an obnoxious, smelly, socially inept vocal minority.

With all of that in mind, my wife would rather be around the 40k folks than the M:tG folks 8 days a week. She refuses to go to ANY LGS on a Friday. It's pretty funny.

Thing that drives me the most nuts is the people that let their kids run around with reckless abandon at one of our local LGSs. Then again, any kind of public crappy parenting gets me up in arms.

[Lane]

We have a local that almost always insults the store manager. GW store so he "can not be banned". Fortunately he rarely shows up, mostly when they have painting competitions where he enters the category that nobody else entered. Less frequent now that they do not have prize support.

[QUOTE=Brass Scorpion;134073

2)Then he actually at one point made disparaging comments about the intelligence of someone else in the store.

I do that all the time, but they deserve it.




How about the kid that sits at the painting table and kicks it every few seconds, on purpose.

[QUOTE=Brass Scorpion;134073
4) Two, yes two different adult customers who talked continuously for several hours while in the store on two different days.

Do this as well, though generally 40k related. Sometimes I go to the store to work on minis and when I get there do not feel like working or no space at the table. Others I just went to pick something up and ended up BS'ing with someone. Occasionally the BS session will result in a cool idea for a conversion or paint scheme.


[QUOTE=Brass Scorpion;134073
5) A kid repeatedly cursing at and in front of other kids during a multi-player game. [/QUOTE]

GW store, manager squashes that.

[Grailkeeper]

Worst behaviour I've ever seen- Knackers coming in and robbing the place. Worst I've heard about- The manager a french guy called didier getting nto a fight with a redshirt and trying to strangle him with one of those old red plastic measuring stick things. Possibly this was over a woman, certainly didier ground a lot of peoples gears so it was probably bubbling up for a long time.

In any group of gamers there tends to be a much higher rate of socially awkward people; poor hygience, dress sense, and an inability to deal with other people that can come across as shyness, or arrogance (we've all probably seen someone in their thirties or older boasting about their army to someone in their early teens at some stage) I'm not saying gamers are sociall awkward, I'm a gamer myself, but there tends to be a lot of socially awkward people who game.

I would not like to be a female gamer

[Lane]

Try being female. It can be so much worse.

There is one dude who is a regular at a certain FLGs in my area. He is in his 40s and wears a ratty old undershirt with holes and sweat stains. .... This dude actually asked my boyfriend if he could "have a go at that piece of meat."

I hope your boyfriend was quick witted and replied with something like "sorry, she's not into Eunuchs"



Then there are the guys who get all offended that a female is intruding into their gaming time because it's supposed to be a place for dudes to escape their wives


This I can not understand.
Most of the female players I have met are cool to play with.

In fact I rarely see poor behavior from women gamers. About the worst I have seen is trying to gain advantage by distracting us with their "charm", in which case I'm too distracted to complain.

[Hive Mind]

LGS is local gaming store I presume? I cannot for the life of me figure out what the F before LGS is for though.

M'aidez?

[Grimfoe]

About 15 years ago, I stopped hanging around in bars. I did so, because I looked around one morning at about 4am (closing time used to be later than 2am) and realized that all the people hanging around the bar were miserable. Simply put, if you're hanging around in a bar and drinking all by yourself, night after night, you're probably not that happy.

I think I stopped hanging around in game stores about 18 years ago. I'm not saying there aren't great people in the hobby. I'm just saying the people that I have the most in common with won't "hang around" in game stores. They may join a club or pop up for prearranged painting or modelling events, but they won't hang out.

I suspect that most of you have too much going on socially or intellectually to hang around with some of these people.

(keep in mind that I say this as someone that owned a FLGS about 6 months ago)

;)

[AngelsofDeath]

I've met so many nice people since I started spending much of my hobby time at local game stores about 5 or 6 years ago, yet I don't know what it is about Warhammer that brings out so many badly behaved people too. I didn't see so many problems when I played historical simulation board games years ago and I've never seen strategy board game players behave in certain ways in game stores that are common with Warhammer. In the past week alone I've seen the following in local game stores strictly from Warhammer players:

1) One kid knee another in the butt and send him crashing into the painting/hobby table.

2) An adult with an obtrusive and obnoxiously loud ring-tone who also made babbling noises while assembling his models. The same loud voiced guy also complained that someone threw their dice at him in a game the day before. Since I've rarely ever seen him in a store where he wasn't either thoughtlessly or deliberately rude to employees, customers or both it's no surprise. Then he actually at one point made disparaging comments about the intelligence of someone else in the store. Amazing.

3) A kid who gets out of his seat dozens of times, sometimes multiple times in just a few minutes who bumps you every time he gets up and sits down. Even after moving my chair an additional foot away the problem persisted and I also had to ask him to stop kicking me, twice! Needless to say, it's fairly difficult to paint under such circumstances. Of course the parent just dropped him off and left him there with no supervision. Ugh.

4) Two, yes two different adult customers who talked continuously for several hours while in the store on two different days. Neither of these guys ever stopped talking for more than a few seconds in the space of 2 to 3 hours. Neither of these guys brought any models to work on or game with, they just talked incessantly for hours. Many people in the store, including the manager in one case were ready to pull their own heads off after a while just to end the pain.

5) A kid repeatedly cursing at and in front of other kids during a multi-player game.

I'll be glad when the new Battle Bunker opens, at least in the larger stores it's possible at times to move around to "hide" from bad behavior till it passes. There's no escape in the smaller GW stores once the dung hits the fan or worse, sits down next to you!

Sounds like you need a Man/Modeling Cave at your home. I have had some of the same issues and some even worse. I decided that I do my best painting and army building in the comfort of my garage. So I put in a work bench, lighting that I like to paint by, mounted a 32" flat screen to the wall, a docking station/ speakers for my Ipod and last but not least a refrigerator stocked with my favorite drinks. All my tools and models are right there for me, I can keep entertained and motivated to keep painting, and I enjoy beverages that just are not sold in a game store :D. No kids pushing me or cursing or just being little PITA's (Pain In The A--'s), no talkative will not shut up people, and my favorite NO GAMER FUNK!

[Mr.Pickelz]

Well i consider myself lucky every-time i hear about bad stuff goin down at stores. Here at my LFGS it's quite different. Everyone's nice and respecting, including the 2 kids who play.

Sadly though,They're ain't no wem-on around these 'ere parts. :( :( :(

[Lane]

Sounds like you need a Man/Modeling Cave at your home.

I have a painting/ modeling desk at home, plan on building a gaming table for the spare room and a garage full of tools.

I found that I am more productive at the local store, even with distractions, than at home. TV, internet and a bunch of unfinished projects ensures that I never get as much done as I would like. About 1 hour per day off is the best I get at home, three hours work at the store is average for a Saturday.

Since I tend to work 10-12 hrs per weekday I do not get much done during the week. It's also nice to see people that I do not work with. Since there is a fair sized group of mature players at the local GW store it balances out the few jerks and annoying kids.

[faolan]

Most of the guys (and gals) at our LGS aren't bad. There's a kid (well he's about 17-18) who keeps bumping the painting table, even when he's about 5 feet away from it, but other than that, not too bad.

@Lerra: We have some women around the shop, even my wife. Understand for the guys, it's not that we married horrible people, but you can't tell me you don't like some time away from your partner with "the guys" or "the girls"?

[Wildeybeast]

The biggest problem I find with my LGS is that parents just treat it like free day care. With many UK stores going for the 'one-man store' policy I would hate to run a GW store. And that is from a teacher. The kids there are generally well behaved, but that doesn't stop them from being incredibly annoying and the staff largely have to put up with it, due to whole 'customer being right' BS.
However, if you want to be really annoyed by your fellow gamers, take a trip to Warhammer World during the school holidays. People just drive up and dump their kids in what is effectively a large warehouse on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Nottingham, leaving them for the entire day. Oh, and there is a bar there. I can't think of any other situation in which parents would do that, but because its GW, its apprently fine.

[chromedog]

LGS is local gaming store I presume? I cannot for the life of me figure out what the F before LGS is for though.

M'aidez?

Yes, LGS is "local gaming store".
The 'F' is for "friendly".

As in "Friendly Local Gaming Store". All quaint American towns have "friendly local blah blah" this and that. They don't seem to attract the sterile, starved of imagination and inspiration GW "work camps" and "reNeducation centres" that the rest of the world has.

[Sister Rosette Soulknyt]

Actually i sympathise with you Lerra, i know most guys just don't understand woman players in the game. I met a nice woman today at Conquest (in Melbourne), and yes she was a SoB player. Didn't do too well against both of her battles i saw against Nidz. She dressed up and all for the day.
Great personality and it seems most of the guys liked having her there or knew her from 40k clubs/tournaments.

I've seen my fair share of bad behavior, say it today at above mentioned tournament. Another guy playing a beautifully painting/converted army of SoB (so man ideas) showed me his prize miniature, his Cannoness.
Was masterwork painted, fantastic custom base.
Then some other sap decides (another player) that its ok to pick it up, look at it without permission, and proceeds to drop it, breaking its wings, arms and weapon.
To top it off then pretended he did'nt do it, the owner was rightuously P'ed off, called him a lier and the guy didn't even apologize, just sort of retreated.

If that was my miniture i would have decked him. I felt sorry for the SoB owner.
It's a shame to see kids that haven't learnt to be respectful, and its really bad to see grown men/woman who have no idea of hygiene when in crowded spaces like tournaments.

[Grailkeeper]

Touching peoples models without permission, especially if its clearly a conversion or something more likely to fragile is a big no no for me

[Lerra]

@Lerra: We have some women around the shop, even my wife. Understand for the guys, it's not that we married horrible people, but you can't tell me you don't like some time away from your partner with "the guys" or "the girls"?

I understand it's important to have time apart from the spouse, but if you show up at a gaming store or at a tournament, you are choosing to spend time with whoever else decided to show up, even if they are strangers or people not to your liking. Imo, it's unreasonable to show up at a FLGS and expect someone to leave just because you don't want them to be there.

This particular fellow is in a really bad marriage and dislikes all women, to the point that he'll preach to the young gamers that all women are poison, they're out for your money and want to ruin your lives, etc. My FLGS has a female employee and he'll leave when she is working because he hates women that much. I feel bad for the guy but he's not a very nice person so I suppose there is a bit of karma in there =/

[faolan]

Well Lerra, fair 'nuff on that one. I don't abide by the folk who'll discriminate on who they'll play against based on silly things like gender.

I suspect at A52 we're just very well blessed in that the ladies who hang out tend to be "some of the guys" and are likely to harass us good-naturedly, so things are a very good balance in that respect.

And most of the married guys (myself included, I must admit) have been known to tell the younger guys (and gals as well) to not "waste your life gettin' married". But I think it comes down to there being a difference between some cynicism or good natured grousing and rampant vitriolic hatred.

When your winter sets in up there, it'll be summer down here in Australia, you should give yourself a vacation and drop by the shop while you're at it, you'd probably enjoy the hell out of it! Reckon if you do that, the next time I'm back home in the States I could be persuaded for the low low cost of a good beer and a burger to deck the trouble makers around your FLGS!

[eldargal]

I had one man refuse to serve me because 'girls shouldn't be encouraged to participate in a mans hobby'.Then a really filthy (literally) man threw five pounds at me and told me to come out behind the store because he wanted a f***. Then I had one guy threaten to tell everyone I was a pornstar* if I didn't agree to be his girlfriend (to put it politely). Oh and on one of the rare occassions I played a game in a store the opponent I defeated said I 'was just asking to be raped'.

Theres heaps more (not all quite so bad), I think I posted some in another thread ages ago come to think of it.


*I'm not, in case you wondered.

Truly disgusting, I hope someone hit him. Or banned him from the store at least.

This dude actually asked my boyfriend if he could "have a go at that piece of meat."

[Hive Mind]

Oh and on one of the rare occassions I played a game in a store the opponent I defeated said I 'was just asking to be raped'.


Assuming that happened in either England or Wales, do you realise that the person who said that to you committed an indictable common law offence?

That is truly disgusting. Report it next time. He may not take rape so lightly after spending a night banged up.

[Denzark]

EG where do you play?

Most of the chaps at the club where I play are the confrontation shy style, gentle goth types who don't really offend except for smell.

[Gotthammer]

Got to say most of these issues sound like a management problem rather than the players per se. Management allows them to act like that on the premesis, probably either due to fear of driving off the 'regulars' (not realising they'd get a better class of regulars sans d-bags, and it's likely costing them sales) or because they themselves are cretins.

Either way I never shed tears when stores like that close down.

[MaltonNecromancer]

Oh and on one of the rare occassions I played a game in a store the opponent I defeated said I 'was just asking to be raped'.

There's a simple cure for this guy's problem. Nine millimeters of intravenous lead to be administered post-cranially.

Behaviour like his is I why I don't go to a "F" LGS. The endless tide of cruelty that people inflict on others for the sake of propping up their flaccid little egos. I don't need it, I don't want it, and I just can't be bothered with it; I'd rather never play than have to put up with a single moment more of it. I've had too much of that growing up to want a second of it as an adult.

I will say that as someone with post-grad qualifications in various media, there's been an alarming rise in misogyny in Western culture, and it's literally just been since I was a teenager.

I don't get how anyone could allow their child to grow up thinking that sort of behaviour is remotely acceptable. If any child of mine ever spoke to a woman like that, I'd have to admit that I had failed as a father on every level, and as a human being on most others.

[DarkLink]

Baseball bats work, too. Or plain old fists, if you're a little more patient.

[Xas]

Baseball bats work, too. Or plain old fists, if you're a little more patient.

Beeing quite a peacefull person myself and prefering psychical violence over physical I doubt I'd been able to controll my hands if someone anywhere would have spoken to a GF of mine like those *looks for words* entities, barely beeing worth the word "human", that eldargal apparent had to deal with.

You can only pray that some people do not come to replicate and return their poisonous nature into the public genepool.



I personally seam to have been gifted with a comparably well mannered local GW store. The worst we have to deal in this regards are people who look slightly shabby (but even them do shower!). Apparently all parties together do something well as we even managed to teach one or two of those "annoying kids" good manners. Dont ask me how but the results stand.

People who act like jerks are usually "introduced" into propper manners by the best four players of the store on the battlefield (and usually spit out in little pieces :D). Those who can be saved are then absorbed into the playerbase with little left of their oversiced ego. Those which only game for ego do swiftly recognize that its the wrong place for them and leave for no return.

The worst we'd had happen once was a drunk homeless who wandered into the store and smelled like a whole graveyard full of freshle reanimated undead. He was dealth with by an employe who engaged him with room-refreshment spray (so we could breath again).

[novatomato]

First off, about the kiddies, most of them will be observing the behaviours of the older patrons of the store and will see them as role (or roll) models, if the kids are generally problematic then I would suggest there would be a deeper problem within the community of that particular store. If there is only one or two problem kids, then it might not be such a bad idea to try and teach them stuff about the game. Doing so will do several things; 1) it will give them a focus towards one aspect of the hobby 2) you will become a bigger role model and they will watch you and your behaviours, so hopefully that will influence them towards becoming constructive and active members of the hobby community and 3) you will get a solid idea of why the kids act out, this is important because some kids can not help it (ADD, ADHD etc).
If the kid continues to be a pest and a detriment to the game store/community after this then thats when you can ban them or whatever.

Secondly, if its the adults that are generally problematic then the community is going to continue being a bad environment down the years and you should look for alternative places/people etc.

Finally, this is aimed at Eldargal and Lerra, these creeps are the type of (insert a plethora of explitives) that make me ashamed to be male. I apologize on the behalf of all the decent men out there for the problems you have had and can only suggest that you alert the authorities about this atrocious and vile behaviour. Should I ever be in either of those stores you can be sure that these (insert a plethora of explitives) will need a proctologist to remove their heads from their backsides. It is a shameful display that needs to be ended immediately.

[eldargal]

Hive Mind, yes I am aware, but I thought I'd just hit him instead.:) I've found cultivating a reputation for violence has helped reduce the frequency of such incidents.

Denzark most of these happened at some stores in London and the North where we aren't regulars (staying with friends), even so I just limit myself to our club now.

MaltonNecromancer, there does seem to have been a disturbing rise in misogyny, I hope it reverses.


I should say these extreme examples are the minority, most gamers are percectly fine. If sometimes smelly, that does seem more common.

Oh I forgot, my brothers witnessed a young man try to steal a FW thunderhawk off an Apocalypse table and run off with it. He was caught quite quickly and proceeded to start screaming, rolling around on the ground and crying and whatnot. The store assumed he had a mental illness buthe didn't.

[Emerald Rose Widow]

So far the only LGS I have entered has nothing going on ever, the warhammer community in my area is atrocious, which is why im glad im moving to a better area.

The biggest thing I worry about is just people dealing with how I dress, I mean I already get some weird looks from the type of clothing I wear. I can almost guarentee that I will get weird looks because I will stand out like a sore thumb, not many gamers dress like I do hehe, but I was the one who got into wearing Gothic Lolita, so its my own fault.

Also I have worries because I am trans, so I have a tendency to run into some gamers who are uncomfortable around me. Though my friend out there is as well and she has no issues with it, so I guess that won't be a big deal, but hey, I worry, its what I do.

On a brighter note there are like 4 LGS's where I am moving, so if one is bad, I have 3 others to choose from.

[Lane]

I will say that as someone with post-grad qualifications in various media, there's been an alarming rise in misogyny in Western culture, and it's literally just been since I was a teenager.


Are you incapable of posting in a thread without using the word misogyny?

[scadugenga]

I guess I'm fairly lucky--there's no real asshattery going on anymore in the local battle bunker (save from occasional poor decisions by the GW employees themselves) and the one lone FLGS that's been around for almost 30 years seems to be where all the good peeps hang out. It's a definite plus.

And ERW--there's a trans there too, and she gets zero hassle, so it's a plus in my book.

As for the growing misogyny? My first guess would be because parents in general are not parenting. They're not role-modeling, nor taking much of an interest in their kids and their activities.

If your kid's learning more about what to do from TV than from an actual human being--you can expect problems.:rolleyes:

But on the flip side, society (as a whole) is actually getting more accepting of nontraditional lifestyles and different people than in the past. So that is a plus.

Now on to the gritty--repercussions for inappropriate behavior. My take on things:

1) Under almost* no circumstances is violence warranted by an adult directed against a minor. If you can't get the offending minor to stop what they're doing, then you aren't the adult for the job.

2) My personal belief is that the all-opposing crusade against fighting-as-conflict-resolution is inherently flawed. Some people react well to proactive and constructive criticism. Others believe that they have an inherent license to be as evil and cruel as they want with no repercussions--because today's society encourages this behavior. Most people can be reasoned with. Rarely, you will find someone who cannot be, or whose actions are so heinous that might warrant a "cause & effect" lesson.**

3) Ultimately (as I believe someone else mentioned earlier) kids will look to the adults within their social group for cues on how to behave. If they see an adult being a complete jackass, then they'll see that as acceptable behavior. Gamer police thyself. :)

* Unless said minor has a weapon and is intending harm. Self-defense laws are very (thankfully) clear on this.

** Remember that cause & effect works both ways: Should you choose to physically "correct" someone's behavior--be prepared to accept the potential legal consequences of your actions too.

[Lane]

.Then a really filthy (literally) man threw five pounds at me and told me to come out behind the store because he wanted a f***.

Should have taken the money and told him you just F*** him out of five pounds.



Then I had one guy threaten to tell everyone I was a pornstar* if I didn't agree to be his girlfriend (to put it politely).


In his case you had a lot in common with a porn star. He probably beats off thinking about you and he is never going to sleep with you.


.
Oh and on one of the rare occassions I played a game in a store the opponent I defeated said I 'was just asking to be raped'.


In my store that would have got his A** kicked, even if we didn't know person it was directed at.

[Astral Platypus]

I was under the impression that the gaming community as a whole was becoming a little more sophisticated than that. Lately, at the place I play at, we have had a few guys that become withdrawn and quiet when women are around but not implying rape and whatnot.

As an interesting side note the tournament I played in today had about 12 people involved and all but one maintained at least average hygiene standards. When you factor the heat (Texas) in that is pretty respectable.

Still quite a few ill mannered children, however.

[Lane]

As for the growing misogyny? My first guess would be because parents in general are not parenting. They're not role-modeling, nor taking much of an interest in their kids and their activities.

One of the advantages of military service. You see that women are capable of being equals. There are still a few women in the military that try to advance in a horizontal posture or avoid work but the vast majority are capable and willing to pull their own weight.

Unfortunately there are a lot of people I would not want in the military but need the discipline and enlightenment the most.



But on the flip side, society (as a whole) is actually getting more accepting of nontraditional lifestyles and different people than in the past. So that is a plus.

I'm not sure it's more accepting. Some groups are more vocal and open about their lifestyle.
They are also quite willing to attack anybody that that dares say anything negative about them. In efect they have become the bullies.



2) My personal belief is that the all-opposing crusade against fighting-as-conflict-resolution is inherently flawed.

I agree. When you convince someone that all conflict is bad you set them up to be dominated by others. I for one do not want to live in a society of P****** (wimps).

[eldargal]

The clothes might help, I know people started reacting far more positively when I started dressing vintage. Its like gamers find it easier to relate if they see you as a 'fringe girl' rather than a mainstream girl or something like that. I tried gothic lolita myself as it happened, it didn't work for me. I think I'm too tall.


So far the only LGS I have entered has nothing going on ever, the warhammer community in my area is atrocious, which is why im glad im moving to a better area.

The biggest thing I worry about is just people dealing with how I dress, I mean I already get some weird looks from the type of clothing I wear. I can almost guarentee that I will get weird looks because I will stand out like a sore thumb, not many gamers dress like I do hehe, but I was the one who got into wearing Gothic Lolita, so its my own fault.

Also I have worries because I am trans, so I have a tendency to run into some gamers who are uncomfortable around me. Though my friend out there is as well and she has no issues with it, so I guess that won't be a big deal, but hey, I worry, its what I do.

On a brighter note there are like 4 LGS's where I am moving, so if one is bad, I have 3 others to choose from.

[Lemt]

I hope your boyfriend was quick witted and replied with something like "sorry, she's not into Eunuchs"

Oh damn that one's good. I'll commit that one to memory.

[Emerald Rose Widow]

The clothes might help, I know people started reacting far more positively when I started dressing vintage. Its like gamers find it easier to relate if they see you as a 'fringe girl' rather than a mainstream girl or something like that. I tried gothic lolita myself as it happened, it didn't work for me. I think I'm too tall.

hehe, yeah, i love the style so i am sticking to it. I actually am looking forward to the looks of "what the heck is this girl wearing" when i play. Or the looks of surprise when they are like "what is this girl doing here" and then i whip out a mini case and start setting up, hehe. I am weird taht way though.