The Privilege of Play By Aaron Trammell

"The Privilege of Play" offers a compelling exploration of white masculinity in geek culture, tracing its history through hobby gaming. Despite the growing mainstream popularity of geek culture, the demographics within spaces like comic book shops and hobby stores remain predominantly white, male, and heterosexual. Aaron Trammell argues that understanding the exclusionary tendencies in geek identity requires delving into the history of early communities of tabletop gaming hobbyists.

The book begins by examining the privileged networks of model railroad hobbyists in the early twentieth century, establishing a cultural foundation for subsequent scenes around war games, role-playing games, and board games. Trammell details how these networks thrived due to the overlap of leisure interests and professional ambitions. Despite individual progress, the networks remained homogeneous, secret playgrounds of white men.

Trammell then explores how gaming clubs, primarily composed of isolated white men in segregated suburban areas during the sixties, seventies, and eighties, developed strong networks through hobbyist publications. These clubs eventually broke into the mainstream, shaping the socio-technical space of geek culture. The book underscores the historical role of hobbyists in computer technology, game design, and popular media, revealing the structural obstacles that hinder inclusivity. It concludes by examining how digital technology paves the way for a new, more diverse generation of geeks to emerge 📚❤️