Every now and then, those of us who have been around longer get on our high horses and dispense what we consider guidance while those we speak to may consider it unsolicited rambling. But hey, we’re older so you have to respect us dammit — especially the young geeks of the world.
We know it’s a hard life but let’s be clear, you have it a lot easier than we did. Back when we were younger, playing video games, Magic: The Gathering and AD&D 4th Edition usually meant you’d catch some teasing and probably not get laid. Well, in some circles by the time you hit 30, the latter two may still be true but at least now gaming is incredibly common and not a symbol of geekdom.
But if you’ve done the whole growing up thing right, you wouldn’t be so worried about what people are going to think by the time you’ve hit 30 and have probably found yourself a quality group of cohorts who won’t be making fun of you for playing AD&D 4th Edition. They will be the ones who will be giving you a hard time because you rolled a 1 and fell onto the blade of your own sword by accident.
So when you find these friends you can pull out your Monster Manual and get cracking… except for those who “fell off” their game when they stopped playing around 15. And while some packed their cards and games and figured neatly away just in case, we know tons who got rid of everything. They sold it off way cheaper than they knew they should have or in some cases just got rid of it.
What wisdom I’d like to impart upon you is as long as your collection becomes unbearably large to the point that there’s no hope of safely and economically storing at least the centerpieces of it, don’t get rid of it now because you will regret it later. Think about how many of our parents had their comic book or card collections dumped by their parents. Congrats grandma, it’s your reason Tommy had to take student loans instead of just inheriting dad’s Mickey Mantle rookie card. In other cases it’s MTG cards. Instead of just adding in a few new cards, it is a whole new collection to be started. Even Dungeons & Dragons manuals which are basically the same $40 books they were fifteen years ago have to be repurchased.
Basically, you aren’t going to change who you are. If you really like nerdy things, chances are that you’ll continue to like them for a while. Even if you hide it away for whatever reason, you’re probably still going to enjoy dungeon slaying roleplaying adventures two decades later. So save yourself the trouble. Know who you are, be proud and don’t start throwing stuff away. High school sucks for everyone and usually the people it doesn’t suck for are douches anyway.
