Stephan Colbert this last week had actor Joe Manganiello on to talk about his upcoming projects. That never happened. The two of them instead talked about Dungeons and Dragons for most of the interview. They covered the classic 'Red Box' edition of the game, the 'Satanic Panic' era as well as various changes made through the various editions, ending with Colbert pulling out a bag of dice and talking about rolling for attributes before Manganiello rolled a natural twenty to end the interview with. Colbert explained that he was not supposed to make the roll, as it was to see if they were going to end the interview or not. Colbert had to apologize because the interview had to end, despite what the die roll said. During the interview they showed pictures of Manganiello’s gaming dungeon, which was just awesome, as he talked about all the celebrities that hung out at his place to game. The two men then set up a date for Colbert to come by and do some D&D next time he was out that way.
They did discuss how it used to be something you hid and didn’t talk about publicly.
We are at a new stage where the geeky stuff many of us at one time were mocked over has now become mainstream and popular.
In junior high I was told it was childish to collect action figures. In high school I was given odd looks while trying to explain what D&D was to one group. Many times my enjoyment of Star Wars was seen as being silly. I even had a good friend criticize how I decorated my room as being as sign of my immaturity.
I still collect action figures as my budget allows. I had a great group of friends who I did various RPGs with for over a decade. Still a huge Star Wars fan and openly show it. And my whole house is now decorated in the manner my room had been back then, if not more so. Now however, just about everyone looks at all of that and tells me how cool they find it. None of it is regarded as being childish or odd.
What had been geeky and shunned in my youth is dominating our culture now. I was neck-deep in most everything that is hugely popular now at a time when it was laughed at.
I think our society is headed in the right direction in that area at least.
