My impression in the ’90s was that Vampire live-action roleplayers were horrible snobs. (Though I liked the tabletop game.) However, when I actually played in a Vampire LARP in the 2000’s, everyone was really nice and if anything it was quite the opposite: they were super-eager to get me into their game.

I’m sure it’s largely because each gaming group is different, but I wonder if this was also because of the timing: in the ’90s Vampire was “cool” so all the posers and mini-tyrants were trying to get in on it, but 10 years later the jerks had left and it was just another geeky subculture again, trying to convert new folks and keep the game alive. It’s similar how, in the ’80s and early ’90s, there were a fair number of D&D players who did it for PVP and obnoxious power fantasies, but eventually many of the trolls and jerks got sucked away by Internet gaming, where it was easier to be an a**hole. Maybe it was also my own biases and perceptions, since I changed in those 10 years too.

NEXT UPDATE: Wednesday!