I have friends that keep their [World of Warcraft (WoW)]-playing secret. A lot of friends, actually. I think it’s kind of silly but I understand the impetus because just like the gaming community has a different culture, they spend their real lives in cultures that stigmatize gaming. Some people deal with constant bullshit in MMOs because they’re female or a minority or gay; some people deal with constant bullshit IRL because everyone they know thinks only losers or people with mental problems play MMOs. Several people in our guild were in the armed services and kept WoW a secret because the attitude toward MMOs was so negative there. Other people have relatives who literally think things like WoW are demonic.
Nattie at MetaFilter discussing why having to use real identities in the gaming world is a bad idea. I only quoted a small part of the comment here, and the whole thing is very much worth reading.
