I've been gaming all my life, and I've been backwards and forwards many times on how much my inner geek should be allowed out in public. I've been through periods where I tried to minimise how much of a geek I appeared to others (and yes, the gaming posters will put off some girls, just the same way that a wall full of posters of football players would), but when it comes down to it, over the past couple of years I've realised that I don't much care what people who don't know me think. And yet I still draw myself an invisible line; I'm not going to loudly start a conversation about gaming in the lunch room at work with people who aren't interested - that's just rude and obnoxious - but I was surprised when the topic of gaming came up naturally how many people did enjoy playing. In the long term, would you want to be with someone who thought you were nothing more than the sum of your wall decorations? In the short term.. well, that's a different matter ;) And yet there's a difference between passionately following a hobby and shouting from the rooftops at passers by about how great something is. I don't have any answers, and I think I'll be trying to find a balance for years to come, but I'm certainly much happier now I'm relaxed enough to let my inner geek out, even if I expect him to behave in polite company.

I have a movie poster from The Wizard up in my apartment, opposite my Mortal Kombat II arcade cabinet :-) So I don't much care what others think...

In any case, these bouts of shame should disappear as gaming continues to mature. Some of the posters I've seen from the likes of Modern Warfare and Heavy Rain are mature, shame-free, display-worthy pieces.

I'm not even a fan of the Halo series, but I still proudly display the giant helmet I got with with XBox 360 last year in a package deal. I'm also wearing a shirt right now with the knight slaying the dragon from adventure. I'm happily married to a wife who loves gaming and we regularly go and play Munchkin at our favorite coffee shop (or she'll play Parappa the Rappa while I'm playing Dragon Quest IX).

I'm sure it's shameful to some--but so is poetry and I'm getting my MA as a poet.

I think Jason is right. The shame goes away not only as gaming matures and finds a safer haven in culture--but also as we mature as adults and start to care less about what we project and more about what we are. I turn thirty next week, so I'm sure that milestone has something to do with my comfort zone, but I think the level of imagined shame is melting away more and more each year, no matter who you are.

My apartment is drowning in gaming posters, EGM covers, toys, swag, etc. When I became single last year, my friends were telling me I have to get rid of all that stuff if I'm to invite any lady prospects over. I stood my ground. Instead, I made it very clear to any girls that I was dating, right up front, that I'm a huge nerd and that my apartment is a sight to behold -- very much 40-year-old-virgin territory. :)

Anyways, I gave my current girlfriend ample warning before she came over for the first time: "Listen...you're about to walk into a nerd palace." Luckily, she was drunk at the time, and she didn't seem to mind. Worked out well! We've been dating eight months now....

I feel compelled to say... as an actual female geek, surrounded by actual female geek friends (we're legion, folks, and we're not some weird species; try treating us like people and see what happens) this post rubs me the wrong way.

If what you want in your life is shallow "hot chicks" then thinking shalowly is a great way to find them.  If what you want is a partner who not only tolerates your hobbies but celebrates and shares them, then that "Mario's History" poster stays on the wall.

You want someone who wants to be with you for you. If those posters represent you, why change?

Sounds like she wasn't the girl fir you anyway. I have the Mario pirate poster, and I think it's hilarious. At the very least, said girl should at least have a sense of humor. Even if you lock out your neediness now, it'll come out again anyway, so hiding yourself is really self-defeating. Isn't New York one of the top nerd wonderlands? (I haven't made it out there yet.) I've been dealig with this issue too, but it defines so many other parts of me, I've decided to just pet it go, for now. Best of luck on your move and the new you.

I have a pair of framed gaming posters in my living room; one of Rufus and the Turks, the other of Breath of Fire IV. Additionally, I have a framed limited lithograph of Custom Robo above my kitchen table. No shame for the game, nor will any be had.

I've got the exact same set of Mario posters sitting in my studio. Someday, I'm going to get the balls to just frame one and live with the consequences from the Mrs.

I take some of the particulars in the article to be exaggerated for comedic effect (e.g., "hot girl"), but this does speak to something I've discussed before with others: In decidely non-geeky settings, talking about video games can be a little strange...even ostracizing. And it doesn't help that when discussing games to people who generally do not play any, I have no shared langauge that easily conveys what I'm trying to say about the medium. I can, at times, feel like I'm just talking with myself while a confused onlooker tilts his or her head to the side.

But an easy solution to the problem -- put your posters in frames! Seriously. Frames make everything look more "grown up," so to speak. My home office walls are still covered in punk rock posters, after all.

Dude, if you're over the age of 22 and you still have posters on your wall, the subject matter of the poster is probably not the biggest issue.

My fiancee insisted I mention the Final Fantasy VII wall-scroll which dominated her bedroom wall when we first met...

Oh shit... I'm probably never going to stop laughing at that Silence of the Lambs line. 

Chris, gamers and nerds are already the cool kids, but not because they are gamers and nerds. It's because most of us have arrived at a point where we don't care what people think. That is what makes a person cool. 

As other people have commented, everyone is a nerd about something. In fact, we have a word for people who don't have a dedicated hobby: boring. 

On the other hand, if you want to attract a certain type of person who is diametrically opposed to video games, then maybe that is who you are now. Either way, not giving a fuck is the quickest path to happiness and acceptance. 

Just out of curiosity, Chris, how old are you?

Double what Lydia said about the frames. They are super cheap a IKEA. Check it out!

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/decoration/10757/

I love all the comments here calling Chris out for not having frames. :)

I never had a ton of game posters, just one or two from a magazine, but the first movie I ever watched with my first girlfriend when we were 16 was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. I'm not sure why I thought she would like it, or why I even liked it, but we watched the whole thing and she told me it was good. Once we'd been dating for awhile she informed me that it was incredibly stupid and I was a big dork, but we're married now, so she's stuck. She knew what she was getting herself into.

Indeed, all these frame suggestions are catching me off guard.  I've never once thought about framing any of my awesome posters (and by awesome posters, I mean a "Mario for President" poster that I got in an issue of Nintendo Power, and a Randy Moss, Cris Carter, Jake Reed "Vikings Triple Threat" poster).

Can I just say that I love you all? To the people that told me I'm a total loser and I need some frames, I love you guys twice :)

Hey Chris, I've really asked myself the same question, whether gaming is a shameful hobby. After collecting all sorts of old and new games, I often think that I'm getting too old for gaming. I hardly have any time to play a long RPG.

Still, I hope that no one would criticize me for my old Secret of Mana poster that's still hanging on my wall. I have fond memories of such old video games and I wouldn't want to lose many of those artifacts for good. Whatever the case, I hope no one thinks of gaming as a shameful hobby 20 years from now.

I'm 33 and have a Dreamcast P.S.O. poster hanging next to my Mortal Kombat Arcade machine and next to that is a poster with a ton of Zelda items/characters on it that I think came from an issue of E.G.M. I don't care what people think when they see these things because I love gaming, the history of video games and its community. Damn, that might be why I have no girlfriend right now =P

I say rock it while you can. I'm marrying a girl who makes beautiful art, and I gladly retired all my movie and game posters without a fight. Mostly, though, I just got tired of putting them up. I could never find enough sticky tack and they'd always fall down on me while I slept.

You really have to decide for yourself whether or not you're ashamed enough of something to hide it from girls. But do you really want to date someone who thinks less of you because you play video games? I will never understand people who put up with partners that view a hobby of theirs as childish. No one deserves that and I don't understand how anyone can be happy in that situation. If these are just random hook-ups you're looking for, then you definitely shouldn't be surprised by the fact that getting rid of videogame posters might help you. In that situation, there's a lot more obscuring your own personality that probably needs to happen besides hiding one of your hobbies.

On the other hand, apartments/rooms/houses covered in videogame posters and other such nerdy things can be a little weird. It's as crazy as covering your house in sports-related items. Just because you shouldn't be ashamed about the things you enjoy in life doesn't mean you need to appear to obsess over them. My girlfriend plays quite a few videogames, but if we ever live under the same roof, I don't think she would be very thrilled if I insisted on decorating the entire apartment/house in videogame posters.

I just want it said that I could totally have all of those posters on my wall and my girlfriend would still be way into me. She isn't a "gamer," but she did beat all of Henry Hatsworth including the hidden levels. 

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