Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms - Softcover

Gilsdorf, Ethan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0762756756 ISBN 13: 9780762756759

Publisher: Globe Pequot Press, 2009

Synopsis

Geeks. Fantasy. Sci-fi. Role-playing games. Tens of millions of people across the World now turn away from the 'real' world to inhabit others. Comic book conventions, Renaissance fairs, live-action role-playing games, and even old-school, low-tech games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Movie fan-freaks design costumes and collect "Lord of the Rings" action figures. The online game World of Warcraft has lured eleven million users worldwide. Who are these game-players and fantasy fans? What explains the irresistible appeal of these escapist adventures? And what could one man find if he embarked on a quest through fantasy world after fantasy world? In an entertaining blend of travelogues, pop culture analysis and memoir, 40-year-old former role-player (teenage D&D obsession) Ethan Gilsdorf crisscrosses the U.S., the world, and other worlds, from Boston to California, Atlanta to France, and Planet Earth to the realm of Aggramar. He asks gaming and fantasy geeks how they find balance between their escapist urges and the kingdom of adulthood. He questions Tolkien scholars and medievalists. He speaks to grown men who build hobbit holes and learn to speak Quenya and Sindarin, and to grown women who assume digital personae to explore World of Warcraft (WOW) and Second Life.

About this title

Review

"Forget Frodo; Ethan Gilsdorf guides readers through fantasy lands far more enchanting than anything you'll find in Tolkien's books. Donning his cloak of invisibility, he takes readers along on a mind-blowing tour of nerd universes--from a knighting ceremony in a Pennsylvania park to vampire slayers in a Marriot Hotel. The result is a compassionate, humorous and magical trip that makes reality seem like a poor substitute for the realms of imagination." --Pagan Kennedy, author of "New York Times" Notable Book "Black Livingstone" and "The First Man-Made Man" "Ethan Gilsdorf takes us on a vivid, funny, poignant trek through geekdom . . . and somehow, before we've caught on to his tricks, he makes a genuinely important contribution to understanding fantasy, pop culture and their roles in our emotional and cultural lives. "Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks "is entirely worthy of that fantasy Pulitzer Prize the author's been coveting." -Gerard Jones, author of "Killing Monsters: ""Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Make-Believe Violence "and "Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, ""and the Birth of the Comic Book" "This book--part memoir and part insider's guide--is both poignant and hilarious, baffling and informative, disturbing and entertaining. It is a must read for anyone whose idea of a good night involves dragons, spaceships, or one-eyed monsters dripping with slime."--Jake Halpern, NPR Commentator and author of "Fame Junkies" "With the authority of an initiate and the curiosity of the seeker Ethan Gilsdorf leads us through the world of role-playing games that -- for both better and worse -- provided the arena for his coming-of-age. Part memoir, part travelogue, part investigative report, "Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks" is a compelling exploration of a moment in our cultural history. What you learn about the games and the players is considerable, but stands as nothing compared to what you learn about the human heart." -Richard Hoffman, author of "Half the Ho

from Kirkus Reviews, Big Book Fall Preview: In the late 70s, playing fantasy role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons put [Ethan Gilsdorf] on equal social footing as the AV club. Thirty years later, though, fantasy films rule the box office, J.R.R. Tolkien is considered essential reading and games like World of Warcraft are pop-culture phenomena . But there are still pockets of fantasy culture Lord of the Rings conventions, Society for Creative Anachronism battles, LARP (Live Action Role Playing) camps that the casual fantasy nerd wouldn t even dare to tread . I wanted to know why a 40-year-old man is still so interested in this stuff that he d dress up in armor on the weekends, [Gilsdorf] says. The author traveled from the woods of South Carolina to libraries in Wisconsin, from battlefields in Pennsylvania to the mountains of New Zealand all in the quest to find some answers. His conclusion? They get to the heart of why any of us, geeks or not, become involved with any group. It s all about a sense of belonging, says Gilsdorf. And maybe a bit about killing stuff. This is a delightful book more fun than being a Dungeon Master to a group of high-level mages and thieves. A.J. Jacobs, New York Times best-selling author of The Know-It-All and The Year of Living Biblically Witty, downright funny, poignant, honest and ... well, wistful. Anyone who has ever embraced escapism will understand, and those who haven t taken that leap of imagination will want to after reading Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks . Reading Ethan Gilsdorf s tale conjured my own D&D and fantasy experiences, vividly, right down to finding some of my old character sheets in a 3-ring binder a decade and more after I had stopped using them. R.A. Salvatore, New York Times best-selling author of The Dark Elf Trilogy, and lead storyteller of 38 Studios game company

from Kirkus Reviews, "Big Book Fall Preview" "In the late '70s, playing fantasy role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons put [Ethan Gilsdorf] on equal social footing as the AV club. Thirty years later, though, fantasy films rule the box office, J.R.R. Tolkien is considered essential reading and games like World of Warcraft are pop-culture phenomena.... But there are still pockets of fantasy culture--Lord of the Rings conventions, Society for Creative Anachronism battles, LARP (Live Action Role Playing) camps--that the casual fantasy nerd wouldn't even dare to tread.... 'I wanted to know why a 40-year-old man is still so interested in this stuff that he'd dress up in armor on the weekends, ' [Gilsdorf] says. The author traveled from the woods of South Carolina to libraries in Wisconsin, from battlefields in Pennsylvania to the mountains of New Zealand--all in the quest to find some answers. His conclusion? They get to the heart of why any of us, geeks or not, become involved with any group. 'It's all about a sense of belonging, ' says Gilsdorf. And maybe a bit about killing stuff." "This is a delightful book--more fun than being a Dungeon Master to a group of high-level mages and thieves." --A.J. Jacobs, New York Times best-selling author of The Know-It-All and The Year of Living Biblically "Witty, downright funny, poignant, honest and ... well, wistful. Anyone who has ever embraced 'escapism' will understand, and those who haven't taken that leap of imagination will want to after reading Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks.... Reading Ethan Gilsdorf's tale conjured my own D&D and fantasy experiences, vividly, right down to finding some of my old character sheets in a 3-ring binder a decade and more after I had stopped using them." -R.A. Salvatore, New York Times best-selling author of The Dark Elf Trilogy, and lead storyteller of 38 Studios game company "A fun, quirky and fresh perspective for those wanting to know more about the amazing world of gaming." -David Brin, futurist and Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Award-winning author of The Postman and Startide Rising "Ethan Gilsdorf's quest for himself leads through the fantasy world of millions of gamers in a breathless adventure/quest/memoir that is uniquely contemporary. This is at once a primer on the world of gaming, a self-help manual, and a wistful meditation on the passing of real time in a (nearly) virtual world."-Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and author of The Posthuman Dada Guide "An Orcs-and-all journey through geekdom, told with affection for every elf, wizard and dungeon master it meets along the way. Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks is for anyone who's ever been lured by the enchantment and secrets of faraway fantasy worlds; meticulously researched and lovingly told, the book gives a personal face to the cloak-swishing, wand-wielding, lightsaber-rattling gamer in us all." --Melissa Anelli, author of Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon "Vivid, moving, evocative, intriguing, engaging." -Chris Castellani, author of A Kiss from Maddalena and The Saint of Lost Things "Gilsdorf . . . returns to the fantasy games that he used to navigate a difficult childhood as a jumping-off point for a full-scale investigation of geekdom." --Huffington Post "A detailed, funny, and loving account of all things dorky." --The Wire "Like many who will pick up his book, [Ethan Gilsdorf has] got one foot squarely in the real world, the other in the fantasy one. This is a journey well worth taking." --Booklist

From the Back Cover

"This is a delightful book--more fun than being a Dungeon Master to a group of high-level mages and thieves."--A. J. Jacobs, New York Times best-selling author of The Know-It-All and The Year of Living Biblically "Witty, downright funny, poignant, honest and . . . well, wistful. Anyone who has ever embraced 'escapism' will understand, and those who haven't taken that leap of imagination will want to after reading Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks....Reading Ethan Gilsdorf's tale conjured my own Dungeons & Dragons and fantasyexperiences, vividly." --R.A. Salvatore, New York Times best-selling author of The Dark Elf Trilogy, and lead storyteller of 38 Studios game company "A fun, quirky, and fresh perspective for those wanting to know more about the amazing world of gaming." --David Brin, winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards, and author of The Postman, Kiln People, and The Transparent Society"Ethan Gilsdorf's quest for himself leads through the fantasy world of millions of gamers in a breathless adventure/quest/memoir that is uniquely contemporary. This is at once a primer on the world of gaming, a self-help manual, and a wistful meditation on the passing of real time in a (nearly) virtual world." --Andrei Codrescu, NPR commentator and author of The Posthuman Dada Guide "An orcs-and-all journey through geekdom, told with affection for every elf, wizard, and Dungeon Master it meets along the way. Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks is for anyone who's ever been lured by the enchantment and secrets of faraway fantasy worlds; it gives a personal face to the cloak-swishing, wand-wielding, lightsaber-rattling gamer in us all." --Melissa Anelli, author of Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon

About this edition

• Publisher: Globe Pequot Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0762756756
• ISBN 13: 9780762756759
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320