Gamer Valhalla

I learned a very cool thing about my new coworkers, yesterday.

I was watching over one coworker’s shoulder, while she instant messengered another coworker. I saw the guy she was talking to had a 20-sided die as his IM icon image. (I noted that the die was showing 11 instead of a natural 20.)

“Oh, he’s a gamer,” I said.

“Yeah,” she said, “one of many around here.”

That statement intrigued me. There were many other gamers at this company? Cool. Now how can I find out who without seeming like a nerd asking around? We went on with our work.

Later, when back at my own desk, I added the gamer coworker as a contact in my IM list. I then sent him a message to say, “Hi.”

During our brief introduction, I asked him, “Why is your d20 icon on 11 instead of natural 20?”

“My birthday is on the 11th,” was his answer. “No one else has ever asked that question before.”

“Well,” I wrote, “I’m a gamer, too. So I notice that kind of thing.”

“Cool. Tom, Doug, and I play D&D with some other folks on Monday nights,” he wrote.

A little while later, again, the original coworker (whose shoulder I had been looking over) was in my office. I asked her if Doug was at our lunch gathering on my first day.

“Yes,” she said, “he was sitting beside me.” She apparently figured out why I asked, because she added, “Those guys play D&D together. And my husband plays, too, but with a different group.”

Amazing. I’ve joined a company full of gamers — and the company has nothing to do with the gaming industry. How freakin’ cool is that?

Bullgrit