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comment by _refugee_
_refugee_  ·  3724 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: September 17, 2014

_refugee_'s totally biased completely anecdotal input here: if the RPG club is a LARPing club, turn your back and walk away now.

I would say what are your interests veen? I was in the LGBT club, Video Game club, French club (basically only when they served food), literary magazine (on and off). Definitely did the most/got the most out of the LGBT club but that is going to depend on your own mileage and preferences.

Oh also I did LARPing but seriously, don't. (The LARPers I knew were a lazy, greasy, manipulative, in-bred unhealthy clusterfuck of people sponging off the university system every way they'd figured out how during their 8-10 years of college.)





veen  ·  3724 days ago  ·  link  ·  

There are a couple of rules I employ when walking around the stands with all the clubs. One of 'em is that by definition, the people standing there are probably the best / most social of the club, so if they're weird than the rest of the club is probably even worse.

I don't think there is a LARP club, but they'd probably fail this test. The brony club sure as hell did.

As I said in my reply to 8bit (which was exactly at the same time as yours), I just want to either do something fun (sports, hobbies) or just have people to hang out with.

I might join the foodies club, as I always like good food and it's a great way to get to know people.

user-inactivated  ·  3724 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Damn, I wish my school had a foodie club...

user-inactivated  ·  3724 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Nah. Its like a dungeons and dragons type thing, as opposed to live action. They all seemed nice, but what you stated is what I'm worried about being the case, haha.

_refugee_  ·  3724 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I would judge by their ages, weights, and hygiene. AKA the group I caught up with consisted of people often 5-15 years, sometimes more, older than a "regular" college student, some of whom had been in college for 10 years and some of whom were just still hangin' around cuz their friends were. This next point is judgmental, yes, but if a large proportion of the group is significantly overweight, that's an indication of the group's habits as a whole, which means inactivity and poor eating habits. One person who's obese/overweight in their 20s in a social group isn't an indicator of the group, but 5-10 people? That's a trend outside the norm.

Hygiene. Hair, teeth, body odor. Lots of members with greasy hair? Worrisome. Lots of people with bad teeth? Worrisome. Body odor? Get da fuq out.

Age is the biggest indicator in my opinion. When you have 50 year olds hanging out at university "clubs" with lots of dudes in their late twenties and really only a handful or two of 18-21 year olds there's an indicator that something's not right.

We're all misfits but if you have been in college for 10 years and completely disregard your health you are a special kind of misfit.

When people get judged for LARPing, or D&D, or tabletops, it's not because they're LARPing, or playing D&D, or tabletops or iGames. It's because of the people who are associated with doing those things.

If these people seem like legitimate college students who are generally somewhat put together and not hideous (like, zits and glasses are okay here - what I described above is not), but maybe a little socially awkward, go for it.

I think veen makes a really good point. I was always hauled out to rep LARP at activity nights. I was young, cute, impressionable, concerned with being "nice," and insecure. I was a perfect naive person to draw into the club - because I didn't want to judge people based on their appearance! because who cares if people are a little offbeat, that's judgmental! because I was insecure and unmoored - and I also was a good "public representative" that made the club look both legit, and like it had cute girls in it. (Note: Basically all the "cute" girls had massive issues of some kind.)

I don't think you'll fall for this trap, but basically, surround yourself with the best, most intelligent, most successful, and yes, most healthy and/or attractive people you can - not the people that are "just as good as everyone else" and "can you please stop judging my friends mom, just because they look weird doesn't mean they're not nice people."