I spent much of today going through last night’s post comments, and making sure that people I’d inadvertently blocked on Twitter were unblocked.
But, uh, the thing is … after going through about 250 links, I’d only actually blocked three of them. Everyone else was “just in case” or something like that. I thought, gee, maybe I didn’t make the instructions for finding out if you’d been blocked clear enough.
But the other thing is, I ain’t even mad. Because I did that today, I saw a couple hundred real people’s faces, and got a tiny little glimpse into what all of those people have been doing with their lives. It made me feel connected in an unexpected way (it put the “social” in “social media”), and though it was time consuming, it turned out to be a nice way to take a break from doing actual work.
And it gave me an idea: Why don’t you introduce yourself to me and other WWdN readers?
Leave a comment in this post that tells us a little bit about yourself, if you feel comfortable sharing that sort of thing. Don’t post personal stuff that could be too revealing or hurt your privacy, but maybe share your first name, if you’re married, have kids, what sort of work you do, and maybe something that you like.
The idea is that, when you see the actual, real, human person behind a screen name or twitter handle or whatever, it’s a tangible reminder that we are all people on the other end of the connection. We’re people with families and jobs and hobbies and passions and hopes and fears and we all live on the same piece of rock, hurtling through space.
Of course, you don’t have to do this, and I can’t stress enough how important it is that you protect your personal information, but since I enjoyed the social experience of feeling connected to actual humans, maybe you will, too.
Or maybe you won’t. I’m not the boss of you.
I am Janet but I was given the nickname Daisy by our Harley Riding Group. No club affiliation, we just like to ride. I am married, 2 kids and two Grandkids, life is good. I’m the Controller for our company, newly promoted and still learning, but it is fun. I am an avid reader, mysteries and sci-fi are my fav, but I will read anything. Raised in the Bible Belt, I know, sounds negative, but I learned love here and to make no judgements of people and to treat everyone as I want to be treated. The Golden Rule at work. Thanks Wil, for giving us space to leave a little of ourselves here. I really enjoy your comments and postings.
Hi, I’m Tara from Washington DC, but I am a Techer so whenever you or Anne post something about Pasadena, it feels a little bit like home. 🙂 I am a scientist by training, although now I have a desk job. I’m married, and our 10 year old is a huge fan of Tabletop and board games. He’s currently designing a DnD 5th edition adventure for us to play (and it turns out he’s really good at it!).
Caitlin 🙂 25, PhD candidate about to submit my research on freshwater turtles. Massive sci-fi and fantasy fan. Was procrastinating one day and stumbled upon Tabletop, I now have a gijillion games, have board games days with my friends and started playing DnD. My social interaction with people outside of PhDland and offline has increased 300 fold as a result of tabletop, thank you.
My name is Al. I live in Ottawa Canada.
Married with two children. I’m a musician – and an avid gamer – both video gamer and board gamer. In fact our house is a houseful of gamers.
We have a 14 year old and a 3 years.
I met you @ Ottawa Comic Con two years ago. I brought our oldest – and we had a conversation with you about family. I had said to you that, I’d felt a kinship with you because Ray was not my bio-child – he was my wife’s first child from a previous marriage and that being a Step-Dad was as rewarding as if he’d been my own. Your words to us were profound – and they touched me: “Blood doesn’t make family – Love makes family… Play more games together!”
Truer words were never spoken.
So it is fitting that today is Dec 23rd – as today marks the first anniversary of our adopting, Silas, our 3 year old.
To celebrate this – we made a thing – a Family tree with our finger prints as the leaves of the tree — with the Caption .. “Love Makes Family”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/alromayhem/15901002607/
~~~ Still Playing games
Al
Hello, I’m Jason. I’m in Kansas and work at a community college. In my spare time I write stories. I used to make comics and music but writing is what satisfies me most. I did see that you hadn’t accidentally blocked me on Twitter which was a relief.
Hello! I’m Julia and I live in England. I adore TableTop (and all the other awesome G&S shows. Extra honourable mention to Cooptitude!). My various intentions for 2015 include spending more time being social (I’ve been studying for a postgrad MBA part time for the past 3 years – all work and no play makes Jules a dull girl…) and being more creative and crafty. I.e. doing all the things I love, but haven’t had a chance to do of late. This, of course, includes organising some gaming days!
Happy Christmas to the entire geek collective, from my family to yours!
‘Social’ takes practice, doesn’t it. Happy Christmas! And here’s to a new year full of creative opportunities.
My name’s Matt. I’m from the UK. I collect Generation One Transformers and am obsessed with Star Wars. I tweet Wil just about every week and he never tweets me back. This does not deter me. x
Craig (@CIBerger), here, common law married, no kids, originally from Brooklyn, migrated to L.A., may be going back to New York soon. Screenwriter focusing on T.V. First got turned on to Wil when trolling a poker site looking for results, ended up discovering his blog and twitter feed and as a fellow sci fi, fantasy, RPG geek, have been a fan ever since.
Oh yeah, and I watched that Star Trek thingy when I was a kid, too.
My name is Scott and am a life-long Minnesotan. I’m a retailist by trade and geek by heart. I love traveling, although aside from a day trip to Morocco, have only visited Europe. I enjoy gaming, but my introversion means aside from games with family members I mostly enjoy playing single-player campaigns on PC. However, thanks to a very early introduction by some awesome grandparents, I am an absolute cribbage FIEND.
My name is Ryan. I live in Japan now. I’m a teacher at public schools. I’m 40. I’m married. I have 3 kids (2 boys, 1 girl). I love gaming in all forms, so I’m a big Table Top fan. In fact, the show was inspiration to start gaming with my family. I’m a big Star Wars fan and am GMing the new version of the TTRPG. I’m not much of a Star Trek fan but I admired the Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: the Next Generation TV show. I was a science geek in high school and it was great seeing a smart kid on TV. I never understood all the hate directed toward the character. I’m not a big social media fan, so there is impossible for you to have blocked me on Twitter. Game on!
Ok, I am game. I am Alan. I do IT for a living and have for the past 25 years. I play board games, ride mountain bikes, bird watch, build robots, use Android phones (I was lucky enough to be in a market research group that allowed me to test several dozen phones over 10 years before the budget ran out). I love reading all kinds of stuff but particularly science, natural history, and science fiction.
Loved original trek (well, half of it. Some of the episodes were real dogs) . Hated next gen but watched every episode for the handful of gems (didn’t really like your character, but you acted it well- so not about you) . Liked ds9. Hated Voyager. Liked Enterprise until they added time travel. The first 4 seasons of Babylon 5 were the best story (not just sci fi) to ever be on television. Season 5 was a waste of time. BSG was great but the final episode made no sense. So basically, I try to watch anything sci fi but am usually disappointed.
I am liberal and proud to carry the label.
Without getting too personal, I understand and sympathise with your struggles with depression, and your assertion that depression lies has helped me and my family overcome some recent crisis.
I enjoy reading your blog, and hope you continue to write despite the haters.
I am Howard, married and two kids. A one time IT drone, I went back to school and now I am government attorney. I have always been a science fiction reader and exposed my wife to enough SF that she is now fully into it as well. We are raising our kids on SF and general geek culture, and they have taken to it in their own ways. Thanks to Tabletop we all have developed a love of gaming and our house is now filled with them (Thanks Wil!) In fact, I am looking forward to Christmas so that we can play the games I know are under the tree.
Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to…
…wait no, sorry, my mistake, that’s not me. Got confused.
My name is Christopher, and I am a student who is studying game design. I am a huge video game enthusiast and gamer all around. I have been playing video games since I was 3, and am currently 31 years old.
I wish I had more people around to play board games like the ones I see on Tabletop, but sadly most of my friends are online. We still do manage to play Pathfinder, which I run using an online game board.
I love pencil and paper games like D&D and Pathfinder most of all.
Easy mistake to make 😉 Hello Christopher! Wil’s blog is one of the reasons i got into D&D actually! As soon as i moved from a little island to a big city, i sought out like-minded IRL folks. Worth their weight in gold, though online play is a great thing too. X
My name is Andy. I’m married with three kids (5yrs old or younger) and two cats. I teach music at a nearby university and moonlight as a concert pianist, which has allowed me to do some amazing traveling.
I’m as much of a geek as my budget and free time will allow, and I take pride in my grilling.
As a side note, one of the wonderful things that TableTop as done is put the social back into gaming. You have done a marvelous job in reminding all of us how fun it is to get together and play games. Thanks.
Hi Wil and friends! I’m Rebecca, been a fan since Stand by Me (which my sister and I quote, alternating lines, every time we watch). I’m a single mom with 2 sons – 18 & 9, who are second generation Wil Wheaton fans and proud, proud geeks. Parenting done right, y’all!
For money and creative release, I’m a graphic designer. Not a lot of money in it where I live, but freedom to be there for my boys when they need me. For fun and sanity, I read, draw badly with oil pastels, and watch bad horror and good sci-fi movies.
Also, I wanna be Felicia Day when I grow up. 😀
Computer programmer and amateur classical pianist/violinist who, in the 60’s and 70’s was telling all his disbelieving artist and musician friends that they’d each have a computer in their homes one day. (Clearly wrong/too uninaginative, I should have replaced ‘homes’ with ‘pockets/purses’.)
Hi Wil, My name’s Hamish.
I’m 29 from England.I design & make pyrotechnics for a living but I’ve always been a wargames, PC games, and tabletop geek. I love all of Geek & Sundry but Tabletop has (more recently) opened my eyes to “proper board games” and I’ve been branching out a lot. Lords of Waterdeep is my favourite so far 🙂 I’m also a keen homebrewer!
If you read all these comments then just let me say thanks for what you do online. You’re not just entertaining, you’re informative and you (sometimes) make me think. Keep it up!
Hi Wil, I’m Mike, I’ve been a fan of yours since your brief appearance in The Last Starfighter lol. I’m also an avid role player. Been playing D&D, Gurps, Shadowrun, Star Wars, Battletech, Pathfinder etc since 86. My wife and I love your tabletop series and she’s a huge fan of Felicia Day. I have one 9 year old son, though he prefers Xbox to anything else. I work as a network administrator for a large financial institution in central Florida. Currently my gaming group is enjoying Monte Cook’s Numenera it’s ease of play and character creation is awesome, and on the PC it’s Stronghold Kingdoms, Star Trek Online, and Shadows of Mordor.
I want to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, or Happy Holidays. I do hope the Wil Wheaton Project comes back…a lot of geek shows are on and we need you!. I miss Skeleton reading tweets lol.
Take care man.
@Laststarftr
My name is Brian, and I’m married with three kids. I grew up watching Star Trek with.my Dad, which is how you entered my world.
I’m an army veteran, and not at all proud of that. But that did allow me to be a mid life college student which I love. You won’t like this, but I’m a libertarian, so I’ve always appreciated your anti war and pro privacy statements.
I’m in a phase of my life where I’m trying very hard to be a source of positive energy, so I draw much inspiration from your work to celebrate creativity. Thanks for doing everything you do.
I’m David. I’m married with two daughters. I’m a university librarian and I get to teach a class on board games in our game design program (send me a tweet @dclr42 or @boardgametweets if you’d like to talk about it!).
I’m a Lego builder, gamer (primarily analog/tabletop, but some PC/iOS as well), and SF fan.
Hi, I’m Coleen. I’m 23 and have been a huge fan of you from childhood. I was raised on Stand By Me and loved you in pretty much everything you’ve done, especially the episode of Tales from the Darkside you were in. Tabletop has become one of my absolute favorite shows and because of Tabletop I’ve ended up joining demo teams for many gaming companies and sharing the love of board games with people I know. My favorite games include Gloom, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Catan, Pandemic and Murder of Crows (which is totally a game you should show. :))
Also, it was because of your episode on King of Tokyo that my husband bought the game. It has become our most played game in our collection.
Cool idea Wil.
I’m Larry. I’ve made forty-four trips around the sun. I successfully recycle oxygen into carbon dioxide. I’ve been married four years and we’re raising a teen-age daughter (Lord help us). I work on robots. My wife is Heather Locklear… yeah, that’s the ticket.
One of those sentences above isn’t true.
I alternate playing D&D and Mutants & Masterminds twice a month with friends of mine.
I’m a gearhead. At one point I could identify a car’s make & model by their head- or tail-light configuration at night. Until the late 80’s when the same car design would have two or three different badges on ’em.
I like open space.
My wife and I just threw our first real, grown-up Christmas party with 20 people in the house; Note to self: CATER IT NEXT TIME!
My first Con was in Denver specifically to see Wil. He cancelled that year, but showed up with his fantastic wife the second year.
I owned an Atari 2600 as a kid, but didn’t buy my own console until the Xbox 360 ‘slim’ about a year ago.
Dawn, 45 (as of Saturday), Married, Gamer geek RPGs led to LARPs to computers to board gaming…I will play anything once. My family breeds and shows dogs, I have a cat and a husband and am going to be getting a dog again this coming year. I like this idea because it means that we are paying attention to the people behind the handles and we tend to forget to do that. Oh and btw: Thank you to you and your wife for your advocacy in rescue and against BSL; all dog people believe in strong rescue programs. 🙂 Fight BSL, punish the deed not the breed.
Hey Wil, I’m Robert. I’m a nerd who likes Star Trek, craft beer, and Tabletop games. And when playing, it’s not important for everyone else to win, but for me to lose. It may not surprise you to learn that I’m called the Wil Wheaton of our gaming group. By pure coincidence, we started a weekly gaming session about 2 months before Tabletop first debuted, and your show has been a huge boon to us. Between us all, we own about 2/3 of the games you guys have played. So thank you for you efforts and play more games! 😉
Hi Wil, I’m 35 and I live in South Florida. I’m a female Civil Engineer. I watched STNG in high school and later Voyager and DS9. You have always been one of my favorite ST characts. I recently listened to your Just A Geek audiobook and was very pleased to hear what STNG meant to you. Have a beautiful day! 😀
40, MA In literature, employed as a project engineer. Married, nerd, music geek w no musical talent.
My name is Neal. I’m a 39 yr old husband, father of 2 girls and a forensic chemist. We’ve always enjoyed mainstream board games and now, because of TableTop, we are enjoying indie games too. I’m a home brewer (currently have a Belgian porter, coffee vanilla porter, and a hot and hefe {chili pepper hefeweizen} on tap), and play a lot of pc rpgs.
Just wanted to say thanks for being out there as the face of nerds, geeks, poindexters, or whatever anyone wants to call us (I always had a soft spot for band fag).
I’m Eric. I’m 45. I’m both a veteran and a professional peace activist working for the largest secular peace organization in the US. My partner of 22 years (a knitting nerd rather than a gaming nerd) has spent her career in the environmental and community justice movements.
I’m also an RPG gamer since the White Box days of D&D and had the opportunity to get paid for freelancing with a couple publishers.
I saw Stand By Me, but, as a Trek fan going back to re-runs of TOS, it was TNG that made me aware of WW. I’ll admit I’m not a fan of all his work (bits of TWWP were cringe-worthy) but WW got me into poker years ago and I love TableTop. I’ve bought half the games played across seasons (SmashUp! and Betrayal at… are personal faves) and have introduced Zombie Dice to nearly 50 friends and relatives at this point..
Professor of History, Assistant Dean at my university, homebrewer, geocacher, tweeting @beerstorian. Wife, three boys. Big respect for how you’ve portrayed yourself in BBT–not many Hollywood-types would allow themselves to be poked at like that. I think it shows great confidence and the kind of outlook on the world I’d like my students to come out of college with.
I am Mikeal. Post nerd/gamer/metalhead/scifi/dad/maker/husband. I live in northeastern MA, work for a Fruit company, never wear pants, love and brew beer. So totally your target demo.
Hi Wil. My name is Tony. Remember when you met Henry Rollins? That’s how I feel trying to communicate with you. But here it goes anyway…
I’m 40ish, love sci-fi, been a fan since TNG. Loved Eureka! Got lots of help coping with my depression from you.
I’m kinda conservative, and love that you are not. Makes it easier to examine my own beliefs when someone that I look up to challenges them, even if you didn’t know you were.
Was a gamer in my youth, RPGs, consoles, and PCs. Would still like to, but time just slips away.
I am married and have two wonderful kids.
There are a ton of things that I want to write. The most important though is thanks.
where is non-judgemental ninja when I need him…
This is Diana (me) from a few posts ago. I wanted to add that I am an amateur radio operator but I forgot. That is probably the most interesting thing about me. Sorry about that. Be well.
My name is Dave, @fridayjones on twitter. I live in NJ and work in NYC. Married 7.5 yrs with two young kids, I work as an IT Manager for an airline. I try to live by “Wheaton’s Law” and kick myself when I fall short. Wil, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the content you’ve provided over the years. And beg for more Radio Free Burrito and Memories of the Future! But outside my own selfish wants and needs, thanks for being a good, decent guy Wil. Your talent and good work is greatly appreciated out here in the anonymous(less so today) ether.
Hi,
My name is Doug “Kilt Man” Johnson. I love wearing kilts. I juggle and used to be a clown.
I just passed 4 years post suicide attempt and have never looked back. Plan B is working very well for me.
Avid reader (mostly audiobook) and movie geek.
Have a small world connection to Pat Rothfuss
I love telling people what they mean to me and how much I love them.
I lost both my parents to cancer this year only 3 months apart.
I run a website that sells teflon tape for computer mice. I call it Mouse Tape. I make just enough money to buy beer.
I love you and Anne. You are wonderful people and do much good in this world.
Doug
My name is Karen, I’m an office drone in Tulsa, OK, I have 3 official cats and 6 unofficial ones, and I love working with fused glass.
Hi Wil, I’m Lauren. I’m ridiculously excited that my TableTop season 3 goodies came in the mail yesterday.My plan is to take the DVD’s from season 1 & 2 and pick a game or two to play with my family (definately Takenoko, because pandas, still debating on a second). TableTop has been a really great way to introduce games to non-gamers and give them an intro to the game and get a feel for how it plays. Plus it works really well for my husband who can pick up the mechanics of a game after watching the TableTop episode once but if he had to read a rule book would give up after 5 minutes of complete incomprehension. TableTop has been an awesome show to watch and has definitely enriched my game playing life! I sincerely hope you’ll be able to keep making it and I’ll keep contributing to funding campaigns to keep it going!
Happy Winter Holiday and Happy New Year!!
Hey there Wil. Ny name is Ed Walsh. I’m 34, married, and a father of two awesome kids. I work as a systems engineer in the aviation field to improve system safety. I grew up playing Magic the Gathering and Middle Earth (another CCG based on Tolkien) with by best friend watching TNG and X-Files. I’ve always loved playing games, and am very appreciative of TableTop introducing me to so many great new ones to play. Thank you for being awesome!
Greetings, fellow nerds! My name is Misti. I’d rather not mention my age as the next birthday is a big one that I’m not looking forward to. :p Anyhoo, I’m a ministry assistant, which is a fancy term for church secretary. It’s not a glamorous job but I enjoy it. I’m also a big sci-fi and fantasy, video game, music geek.
My name is Shay. I live in a Midwestern city that I love but that gets dismissed as “flyover country.” My husband and I have been into board games since the oceans of Catan were hexes, not frames. It’s a huge part of our social experience, and a get together without games is unthinkable. When you introduced Tabletop Day, it extended this love to my coworkers and helped me get to know them better. I’m in the software industry, which is ripe with other geeks. Thanks for all you do, Wil.
I’m Mike. I’m 41, married, 2 great kids. I do technical writing for a bank in my muggle life. Leisure time is spent on activities with kids, reading, and sometimes singing in a choir. Strangely enchanted by Wil and Anne’s internet personae, rather than what they actually do for a living. Does that make me creepy?
Hey Wil,
I’m Tyler, I work in PR and I’m a big gamer. I’ve been following you for a while and have always enjoyed your interneting. I’m from the midwest, enjoy sci fi and fantasy books and can go on forever about punk rock music. Thanks for letting us in to your world!
I’m Kathy, I’m a introverted comedy nerd, currently residing in the middle of Canada, with my husband, 2 dogs and a big fat cat with a bad attitude.
My passion is creating things and I have had my hands in a lot of different things over the years from knitting, crocheting, embroidery, wood working, gardening, cooking, painting, sewing, jewelry making, polymer clay, soap making … hence my name @masscrafter.
Hey Wil,
I’m Scott and I do IT for a Financial News provider. I’m married with a daughter and my wife is pregnant again. We actually met once before, I was in Vegas in 2005 for a work thing, and I headed over to the WSOP at the Rio in the evenings. Towards the end of the main event I was talking poker with a few people when you came over and joined us. I was so geeking out on the inside,
Hi, I’m Steve! Last I checked I was 26, Irish, and I have worked in the customer support industry for a video game company for the last 5 years. On the side, I’m trying to get started at making my own game, however there are legal hoops to jump through because of non-compete clauses in my contract 🙁
Big into sci-fi, anime, video games, and long walks on (virtual) beaches. Also starting to build up a love for, and collection of, tabletop games.
Hi, my name is Felicity and I am an environmental scientist in Australia. I am married with a gorgeous 5year old son who starts school in the new year. I am a massive scifi geek most notably Star Trek tv and RAH books. I also crochet – I’m quite passionate about crochet – it’s kinda scary!
So great to meet you all. Thanks for the opportunity Wil! Take care.
Andrew, 43, married, father of 2 amazing kids. I’m an engineer at nuclear plant. One of the highlights of my week is the Pathfinder session I host and DM with a group of great friends.
Kristin Guttormsen, M, 42, Longview WA. Lifelong uber nerd/geek into just about everything commonly included in those categories. For work I do whatever is available as I need it. Thanks for all the things you do…you bring much enjoyment to many people.
Hi, I’m Anelle. I’m a native North Carolinian, though I lived on the west cost for a few years while my husband was in the Air Force. We have two red headed boys that are my heart and soul. My degree is in botany, but my full time career now is carting my little buddies around to their schools and enriching their lives. Maybe one day I’ll get back to geeking out with plants, but for now, back yard gardening it is. I grew up playing board games with my sister, and have always loved them. I took a long hiatus when we made a few crap purchases when we first got married, and became very frustrated. Tabletop helped me get back into board games, and now we have game days with friends, as well as with our family! I’m passing my love of board games on to my kids, as they are always begging to play games with me. My current goal is to move them into more kids strategy games, and away from the mind numbing ones such as chutes and ladders. We love Catan Jr, and recently started playing Dungeon!. I’m not a big twitter person, but I did spend a good deal of time, as well as enlisted the help of a friend, trying to figure out whether or not I was blocked. Turns out I wasn’t. Woo! I’m also a huge Star Trek fan, though didn’t know this until I was in my 30s. Can I just say it’s really funny to know actors in their current adult state, and then go back and see them in their much younger acting states? Unique perspective. 🙂
My name is Joseph, but please, call me Joe.
I’m a writer, activist, thinker, and yes I do help business owners with growing their businesses.
I’m married to a beautiful woman, and have been for 22 years. I have two kids, both all “growed” up.
I’m geek, in fact, Wil’s first book “Just a Geek” was an inspiration for me to read and embrace that fact.
I read David Foster Wallace, am into science and literature, and heavy into technology’s impact on our society.
And Wil, thank you for allowing space to do this, I’ve enjoyed reading everyone else’s introductions even more than writing my own.
I’ve known my husband since 2nd grade. In addition to dating in highschool, he invited me to his AD&D group. We’ve been married for 17 years, have a 11yo daughter and 7.5yo son, and have started playing D&D5e as a family. After our daughter was born we went in search of alternatives to CandyLand and our eyes were opened to the wonderful world of hobby boardgames. We’ve enjoyed our family boardgame nights with friends for the past five years and we’re looking forward to our annual New Year’s boardgame party. I dabble with video games, including five glorious years playing City of Heroes with my husband and The Impossibles supergroup. Not long ago our family became obsessed with Doctor Who and have been tearing through the seasons together. My alter ego is a project manager for a math textbook publisher. Start planning for pi day: 3.1415 and a Saturday!
Wil, thank you for being such an inspiration. I’ve gotten excited and made things, by going out and trying photography; and I’ve ventured out to conventions, namely PAX:East and, for the first time this year, GenCon!