Hello,
Chaz Marler from Pair Of Dice Paradise here with the next installment in my Meeples For Sheepish Peoples series, discussing the social activity of board games in the lives of people who aren’t necessarily socially outgoing.

Up to this point I’ve focused on preventing the butterflies in your stomach caused by attending gaming events as a participant. But this time, let’s discuss another way to potentially prevent gastrointestinal Lepidoptera, by changing your role at a gaming event, switching from the hosted to the host.

This may be a good time to again mention that this suggestion is simply based on my own experience, and your mileage may vary.

But, at least for me, I’ve found that I’m more comfortable in a group if its a group that I’ve organized. Even if it’s a portion of a larger event.

For example, a couple hundred people attend my town’s largest gaming event. I attended, nervous and shy in the crowd as I looked for games to join, but I also scheduled and hosted a Wits & Wagers game show event there. While I was hosting the game, I was fine, engaging with people, making jokes; generally being pretty awesome. Even though I was still interacting with strangers, the difference was that it was within a setting that I had organized and was in control of.

So, its possible that your role in a social situation can affect on your comfort level within it. It’s possible that putting yourself in charge of an event may help melt away some of the anxiety. Allowing for more games, with more people, more comfortably. It may be worth trying, but again, everyone is different, and your mileage may vary.