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[DryvBy]

Mark Kern (StarCraft, World of WarCraft, Diablo II) started a #GamersAreGood campaign on Twitter a few days ago which tried to put gamers in a positive light and talk about how gaming wasn't always "cool". Twitter users began telling their stories about how they've been bullied for gaming (mostly in the past) and why they continued it or what good came out of gaming.

Some Twitter users didn't believe that people were ever bullied for gaming or being apart of nerd culture. Mr. Kern took this opportunity to correct them and explain that gaming (and nerd culture) wasn't always what it is today. Movies were centered around nerds being beat up in the 70s-90s. It wasn't a cool thing to come out and say that you like to play Dungeon & Dragons. Or that you were really into computers. Or that you had memorized every fatality in Mortal Kombat.

It got me thinking about growing up gaming and if I was ever bullied. I've been gaming since the late 80s and haven't stopped since. Most of what I ever received was that I was a nerd in school for liking computers a lot. My parent's owned a computer business then so it also made sense to them too. A lot of teenage girls thought I didn't have a personality because of my gaming habits and the types of games I played. My girlfriend at the time said I was cringy around her friends because I liked to play Pokemon in public, which I explained I couldn't catch 'em all by not playing. But overall, I always managed to avoid being bullied because my small school was full of gamers, I generally try to be funny (or stupid) and get along with people, and I always found common ground with others on various subjects.

My family generally made fun of me, even saying I was anti-social because of my habits. A few of them called me a geek a lot because I used to make 3D models for games and design maps for Outlaws, Quake III, UT and Soldier of Fortune (the only one I ever published for in the late 90s). I also had a big habit of modding all my games, almost obsessed with it. But they also just assumed I would make something of my love for computers.

I've never really been bullied. I do know friends and family that have. It's an interesting topic and I'm curious if anyone on NeoGAF has been bullied over video games — either playing, modding, or programming.

TL;DR: The title asks the question.

 

[SpartanN92]

In high school someone took my copy of the first Halo book and threw it in the toilet.

He’s in jail for cooking meth now. Life is funny like that sometimes.

 

[The Sane Psycho]

Not exactly bullying, but in an art class I had during my senior year of high school, a friend and I would talk about videogames, and this kid that sat at our table would always make sure to tell us that video games are a waste of time and that we could be doing more productive things with our time. Like, it legitimately bothered him on a personal level that we liked playing video games.

 

[Tarkus98]

In high school someone took my copy of the first Halo book and threw it in the toilet.

He’s in jail for cooking meth now. Life is funny like that sometimes.

I love it. Karma’s a bitch.
Never bullied here, but strange looks galore when taking the train into Philly and playing one of my handhelds to pass the time.

 

[DonJimbo]

Yeah everyone who met me said to me youre not a kid anymore choose a new Hobby

 

[KevinKeene]

My parents to this day laugh about video games and call it a colossal way of wasted time. Playing a video game = an act of offense to them.

As for the #gamersaregood tag: I remember how just the other day evilore recommended to drop the GG label. Before going to bed last night I already saw resetera comparing #gamersaregood to GamerGate and MRA and alt-right.
That's why dropping the GG-label would be fruitless, I think.

 

[Eclectic Jabber Monkey]

A former very good childhood friend, who I ditched after his behavior towards me became increasingly toxic as adults (not sure why, he never explained what his issue with me was) used to give me a hard time about playing my "Nofriendo". "Going to play your Nofriendo tonight?!", which he was saying in our early twenties. Very mature... The best part of this for me was he eventually moved to the same city as me and invited me to his place to hang out. What did I happen to notice attached to his TV, a Nofriendo Wii. Which of course made me ask what was up with the Nofriendo at his place. Can't recall his response unfortunately, haha.

 

[-MD-]

My parents to this day laugh about video games and call it a colossal way of wasted time. Playing a video game = an act of offense to them.

My parents didn't really "get" video games but they were always impressed with how cheap of a hobby it is so they never gave me shit for it.

 

[Lilseb93]

Honestly everyone I knew played video games in some form. In high school, I brought my Wii to school and we used to play Smash Bros on the projector during lunch. A lot of people brought their handhelds to play Pokemon. Even my dad is a big gamer when he has the time. I've been bullied, but not because of video games. My family doesn't question it. They will even play casual games and try VR when they come over.

 

[GreatnessRD]

Nah, probably because most knew I'd two piece them if they cracked slick. And because I was chill one in my school days. Used to play games at school during my senior year since I had like 2 free periods before lunch.

 

[AdamMcKraken]

Parents were always mad that I sat too much in front of the PC, funny thing is that lead me to become a telecommunications engineer, now (I'm 31) they're proud and all, but am still frowned upon that I can't grow up and drop gaming.

 

[KormaChameleon]

Never. Grew up with games. My dad introduced me to Doom for DOS. Mega Drive was one of my first consoles. Played a lot of Streets of Rage. At school, Met and made friends that also played games. When it was coming to summer, myself and a few other people would bring in their OG xbox to play Halo 2. Use to play a lot during my youth years. Don't get to play as much now with work, refurbishing house but I still get at least 2-3 hours a night. Currently playing Ghost Recon Wildlands.

My girlfriend on the other hand, She's not against them as she likes to play Sims but can't seem to understand why I spend "too much time" on them or read about them. Oh well, no point in arguing.

 

[120v]

If somebody bullied me over gaming i'd assume they were kind of deranged to care about it in the first place

 

[Dunki]

My parents to this day laugh about video games and call it a colossal way of wasted time. Playing a video game = an act of offense to them.

As for the #gamersaregood tag: I remember how just the other day evilore recommended to drop the GG label. Before going to bed last night I already saw resetera comparing #gamersaregood to GamerGate and MRA and alt-right.
That's why dropping the GG-label would be fruitless, I think.

That whole thread is pretty disgusting. If this were a minority there would be tons of fascists and racists in there.

For the topic: Yeah I was bullied a lot because I played video games. One time they even tried to set my hair on fire. When I was a kid i played a ton of soccer and was outside all day but as I grew up I discovered video games and sayed more at home. In the end even my best friends (at least i thought so back then) were stealing from m when i was in the bathroom or so. Guess that is also a reason why I know do not have a lot of friends but the ones I have a real ones which is way more important to me.

Also I believe that gaming created a sub culture by people rejected by society because of their love for games. And I always saw gamers as very welcome as long you do not judge them for their tastes and do not ty to change what they love. Then some can become pretty hostile which in my opinion is understandable.

 

[lpking2005]

Im now 33, and i still get comments from co-workers about how sad i am or that im not grown up because i play video games.
Ive had some quite heated discussions defending myself.

Other people cannot get that its a sense of escapism.
What makes me laugh is, sit these people in front of a game for a couple of hours and they will love it!

Video games have helped me so much through my adult life.
It wasn't being social with friends or family that helped me through both of my parents passing away, it was video games.
Playing online with friends each and every night allowed me to escape from my own thoughts and probably saved me from depression.
Trust me, when your holding your Mums hand as she takes her last breath of air, that is a thought that is not easy to suppress!

So in a way, video games saved me.

 

[Lupingosei]

No, because I got into games so early and most people did not have computers during the time. It was something very exotic and I often had friends over to play games.

Also because I had a computer I made a lot of money because I could do spreadsheets for smaller businesses or graphs and similar thing or tech support.

I only have good memories. The only thing that was problematic, some people were jealous because I always had money. But I worked after school and people I helped were very generous.

 

[Wunray]

No, actually where I live most of the guys play game. (mostly your cods and NBA's and you fighting games like more and street fighter)

 

[llien]

No, never, and I can't recall times where it was "nerdy", where I grew up, to begin with.
All boys around me were excited about gaming.
I didn't interact much with girls, besides school, as a kid.

I'm over 40 at the moment, if it matters.

 

[VertigoOA]

Nope. Just shit on by girlfriends for it.

 

[cubicle47b]

I don’t think so. I was never really bullied growing up. That doesn’t mean that no one looked down on certain nerdy hobbies, just that the social cost wasn’t that high.

 

[VertigoOA]

Yea, can't say I've been bullied either. Can't say I fit the typical nerdy stereotypes well but even as a child and still as an adult people like to tease my fandom of pro wrestling, video games, godzilla movies, and classic rock but I have always responded the same way to it as I did when I was 10 ... which has essentially always been "fuck yourself - crom laughs at your boring hobbies."

Star Wars used to be part of the nerdom as well but the fan fiction of Disney Wars has pretty much killed that for me.

 

[Droxcy]

Not really games have always been apart of my life. They did keep me from socializing during my middle school & high school years. Either way I didn't like anyone during that period of time anyway, so it really didn't bother me any. Now I have a girlfriend who plays just as much as me, so life is pretty good. My last girlfriend really hated them. She was a Taiwanese art student in NYC.

 

[ABrokenToy]

When, I believe it was Halo 3, was coming out 7-11 had special H3 Slurpee cups. My friend and I were filling them up at the machine and were pretty psyched about the cups. As we were walking away the people behind us were making fun of us. That's the closest. OH! And the whole Sega vs Nintendo arguments back in the day.

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Nope. Almost everybody back in the 90s played video games. Usually people that read books were picked on though.

 

[Kamina]

Just people significantly older than me. Dont know if you can call it bullying either. Might just be belittling. Usually my parents. I‘m 32 btw.

 

[DryvBy]

Yea, can't say I've been bullied either. Can't say I fit the typical nerdy stereotypes well but even as a child and still as an adult people like to tease my fandom of pro wrestling, video games, godzilla movies, and classic rock but I have always responded the same way to it as I did when I was 10 ... which has essentially always been "fuck yourself - crom laughs at your boring hobbies."

Star Wars used to be part of the nerdom as well but the fan fiction of Disney Wars has pretty much killed that for me.

I wonder if that's why I was never bullied is my attitude has always been to bounce things back to them. Or I go for my own jugular and make a joke of it so no one cares. I think I was also a bit privileged in the sense that I went to a private school through middle school and high school and hardly ever got into a fight except with my best friend. I certainly know a few people that were legit bullied for being into computers and video games that went to public school.

 

[Daymos]

Na I hid my hobby well, no bullying here. None of my classmates liked gaming though. Having started gaming in the 80s I'll always feel that my gaming habits are kind of taboo though. My mother and sister are always surprised I still follow that kids' hobby. My wife is awesome though, plays as many games as I do (part of why we're married).

 

[Blam]

I got bullied for everything so really it didn't matter if I hid it or not.

 

[OH-MyCar]

Not by any peers. When I was 17, the mother of my girlfriend at the time got outright abusive about it though (and 20 years later she still remains the most emotionally abusive person I've ever come across). I didn't play games more than anyone else at that age and she would go off on long rants, with me there, that "only losers spend their fucking money on video games" and men like me would only hold her daughter back. Games were definitely a huge component. We broke up a year later because my girlfriend was going on dates with other guys, set up by her mother, behind my back (arguing that it was nothing and I "didn't understand her mother". I did). These were, of course, "successful, business-oriented" guys with chintzy careers like limo rentals who didn't involve themselves with such frivolities. I guess they went home and practiced Excel formulae? I don't know.

Around 7 or 8 years ago she creeped on my Facebook and started messaging me after I posted some random photos of me in Rome, like that was a metric of success. Her daughter was shockingly still single in her early 30s and somehow I was suddenly acceptable.

 

[BANGS]

When I was a kid in the early 90s, absolutely. Hell even when I was older, my parents would bully me about it. Video gaming has a stigma attached to it, even today. Back then non-gamers didn't even have any clue what games were. Nowadays those people play calladooty...

 

[RedHotBoss]

Not bullied for gaming in general, but I was bullied for my selection of games. There was one particular memory where during a sleepover my "friend", who owned an N64 and mostly played goldeneye, started going through my ps1 collection. He looked very disinterested and tossed aside some of my favorites like they were trash.

He eventually scoffed and called me a loser for owning so much "gay Japanese stuff" took my jewel case for Xenogears, and started ripping the pages out of the intruction manual until I started crying. Obviously we didnt stay friends for long after that...

 

[Hoya Destroyer]

I was never bullied, but one guy did pretty much call me a fraud when I was about 14, as I was obsessed with SF2, but really bad at it.
On a school excursion, some of my classmates saw that I sucked at the game, when we came across a SSF2 arcade machine out in the wild. I was too unco to do command moves - except for Blankas electricity :'(

 

[choco-fish]

My dad got all of us into video games, as kids we would regularly go to the arcades and watch him reset the higscore on Asteroids, every couple of years he’d bring home a new console for us to play and he’d put in as much time into gaming as we did. School and college was great too, fell in with a crowd of likeminded gamers and life was good.

However when I started working that all changed, it seemed anyone a few years older than me saw gaming as a complete waste of time, I got so bullied by a group on a training course for my hobby that to this day I never talk about Gaming to anyone in the office. Even 20 years later people I work with still rip the piss out of anyone who wastes time ‘killing Quargs’ on a computer screen.

Makes me kinda sad and disappointed especially as I grew up in an environment where gaming was considered the norm.

I always see it as It’s ok to be a grown man or woman and sit on your ass watchig a tv show or film passively night after night. But the second you pick up a controller and interact with the screen in a way that requires skill you’re suddenly a loser and and an easy target to be mocked in the workplace.

 

[CloudStrife_ca]

Not bullied by any means, but called a nerd forsure, I don't look like your typical gamer though and for the most part I think if anything I've influenced more people to pickup and actually play. I will say I've had people roll their eyes at my collection, friends of ex gf's, with I guess those people seeing it as a "waste of money." The way I look at it though is everyone has their "thing" it could be your car, maybe your significant other loves to shop online, maybe its travel or books but one way or another everyone has their own thing they do that they put time and money into.

 

[OH-MyCar]

I always see it as It’s ok to be a grown man or woman and sit on your ass watchig a tv show or film passively night after night. But the second you pick up a controller and interact with the screen in a way that requires skill you’re suddenly a loser and and an easy target to be mocked in the workplace.

I've never been openly bullied (except the crazy ex-girlfriend scenario I talked about), but that kind of constant, low-grade condescension you're talking about has always been there in my life. It's totally cool if you "don't have time for video games" and you're one of those people who are always operating at an 11, like Elon Musk. It's sorta stupid and self-aggrandizing when you just talked about all the shows you binged, the college football game you watched and the fact that you pretended to work in the back yard for 3 hours to avoid your wife and child.

The Elon Musks of the world don't play many games because they're better than me. The other crowd? Not so much. However, the latter tend to be unanimously certain they're better and often not half as approachable as those who genuinely are doing a lot.

 

[batman2million]

Oh my. I can go on forever on this thread. Yes. Family, school, and till this day friends too.

To keep it short. Its been a sour point in my life but instead of being embarrassed I'm kind of defensive about it now. Gaming is no different than reading or watching Netflix all day but there are some people that will never get that.
Mostly, I'm glad I never gave up on it. I still play as much as I can and get on Xbox Live almost every night to play with a group of my friends.

 

[Fassace]

Only thing I can think of is this guy back in school that used to call me a nerd for getting together with my friends to play StarCraft over LAN a lot back when it was released. He definitely meant it as an insult, but I didn't really take offense since I was enjoying myself and felt "being a nerd" was a good thing.

 

[Jigsaah]

My family always thought I'd amount to nothing because I liked playing games more than say, watching TV...as if that's better. There's always a sideways question like "So how does playing games help you in the real world?"

Fast forward a couple of decades and I have my college degree, working a full time job with my own house, car and recently girlfriendless (this is an achievment in my book, we were together 8 years).

I'd argue I do alot better than alot of people who didn't play games. I'm originally from Chicago. I'm from the Southside of Chicago. If you hadn't guessed yet, I'm also African American. Anybody who knows anything about Chicago, knows that it's very dangerous out here, especially for a black male. So while I like playing games, at least I'm not out here doing drugs, shooting people or getting shot myself. I have no kids because I want to be married first. I managed to choose this lifestyle and survive within it not despite me playing games, but BECAUSE I PLAY GAMES.

 

[Dr. Claus]

When I was a kid, I was raised in common style home at the time. My father was an alcoholic and my mother cared more for partying. At the time, I couldn't understand that this was not very normal. They were both great parents, please don't misunderstand - however when they would fight they would scream. They loved me and my brother, but they would yell, throw things against walls and slam doors late at night. Gaming was my escape. It allowed me a place of refuge where I didn't have to see the people I loved hate each other.

This carried over into school. I soon became reclusive and avoided others as I didn't want to become like my parents. This lead me to being "that weird kid who only played those childish games". During show and tell, I would bring video games in to talk about the adventures. I would show off my Final Fantasy II cartridge and talk about how I became a powerful paladin and travelled to the moon to defeat unspeakable evils from ravaging the world. I would talk about fighting off zombie hordes in Resident Evil 2 as I tried to escape a nightmarish world. This led me to getting bullied on the playgrounds. I was a "freak" who lived in his own imagination.

As time moved on, I found MMOs and was able to meet people who I connected with. From Ultima to Everquest to World of Warcraft. I developed friendships that lasted over a decade now. These friendships I would hold as one of the major reasons why I didn't do something horrible to myself or others. They kept me sane and kept me safe.

Those that claim that "gamers are evil" are woefully ignorant about gaming as a whole and only want to look at the bad. I feel pity for them as gaming saved me and gave me a place where I felt like I truly belonged.

 

[AnimalFather]

yes in gears of war (1) bunch of dutch teens all picked kim and larped as skinheads saying racist stuff.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Some of the stories here are much worse than mine. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

My mom would threaten to take my games away in order to make me do stuff, but then she'd gloat about sitting down to play Super Mario World while I was at school. One time she pretended to be on the phone with Babbages because she was mad at me and she said "I'd like to cancel a Dreamcast preorder". It was my dad she was talking to, but she liked to threaten me. She was supportive for a while, especially when I worked at GameStop. The boiling point was when I failed clinical in nursing school and I was taking her to work one day. She said, "you've done the game thing your entire life, its time to move on". I didn't understand her logic because I had turned my life around after failing to work in health care. The last time I spoke to her she asked me about Assassin's Creed Origins and how to use an Xbox 360 I left at her house. She's supportive of me, but her and my wife don't get along.

My step father just wanted me to get a good job. He would make remarks like "You're reclusive" or he'd ask me in a real jerk kind of way, "Don't only 20 year olds play video games?". It felt like he was trying to get under my skin. This was when I turned 30 and he knew about my hobby and all the games I owned. It was depressing. It didn't make me look at my life in a positive way. In fact, I was even more depressed that he was putting me down about it.

I took my nephews to the arcade and I got them into Mega-Man. They'd pretend like they were Sigma, Zero, and X. They'd ask me all the time about the lore. I even showed them my Street Fighter encyclopedia. They'd ask who was more powerful and etc. Well my sister and her husband didn't like it. My brother-in-law would say things like, "Gamers are drones" or he'd make a comment about my life and say that I'm stuck in the basement playing video games wasting my time. My nephews got into Marvel and DC characters after that. I'm not shocked because my brother-in-law use to read comics a lot and he watches all the super hero movies/tv shows. I think he just wanted to get them off of video games.

There were times when a parent would ask me about GTA especially when Vice City was out and all my classmates wanted a copy. I brought my PS2 to church once and they gave me a lecture about the games I brought in because they were violent. Another thing I remember was talking about violent video games in nursing school. There's a mod called American School Shooter and I watched this video where a cop was bad mouthing GTA and he showed clips of that mod to this high school. I sent the cop an email because I found this video online. I basically told him that he shouldn't be showcasing a mod and presenting it as the actual video game industry. I also told my nursing instructor that GTA is satire crime life. Most of what they see comes from fears and YouTube videos.

Otherwise I don't really get bullied. There are some stories about couples who got a divorce and one of the reasons they got divorced was because the husband would play video games instead of parenting the child or being a caring spouse.

My wife got me these items: (you'd think someone would bully me, right?)

I enjoy owning and wearing them and I'm happy to discuss video games with other people too. I don't consider it being eccentric either.

 

[Kamina]

Some of the stories here are much worse than mine. I'm sorry you had to go through that.

My mom would threaten to take my games away in order to make me do stuff, but then she'd gloat about sitting down to play Super Mario World while I was at school. One time she pretended to be on the phone with Babbages because she was mad at me and she said "I'd like to cancel a Dreamcast preorder". It was my dad she was talking to, but she liked to threaten me. She was supportive for a while, especially when I worked at GameStop. The boiling point was when I failed clinical in nursing school and I was taking her to work one day. She said, "you've done the game thing your entire life, its time to move on". I didn't understand her logic because I had turned my life around after failing to work in health care. The last time I spoke to her she asked me about Assassin's Creed Origins and how to use an Xbox 360 I left at her house. She's supportive of me, but her and my wife don't get along.

My step father just wanted me to get a good job. He would make remarks like "You're reclusive" or he'd ask me in a real jerk kind of way, "Don't only 20 year olds play video games?". It felt like he was trying to get under my skin. This was when I turned 30 and he knew about my hobby and all the games I owned. It was depressing. It didn't make me look at my life in a positive way. In fact, I was even more depressed that he was putting me down about it.

I took my nephews to the arcade and I got them into Mega-Man. They'd pretend like they were Sigma, Zero, and X. They'd ask me all the time about the lore. I even showed them my Street Fighter encyclopedia. They'd ask who was more powerful and etc. Well my sister and her husband didn't like it. My brother-in-law would say things like, "Gamers are drones" or he'd make a comment about my life and say that I'm stuck in the basement playing video games wasting my time. My nephews got into Marvel and DC characters after that. I'm not shocked because my brother-in-law use to read comics a lot and he watches all the super hero movies/tv shows. I think he just wanted to get them off of video games.

There were times when a parent would ask me about GTA especially when Vice City was out and all my classmates wanted a copy. I brought my PS2 to church once and they gave me a lecture about the games I brought in because they were violent. Another thing I remember was talking about violent video games in nursing school. There's a mod called American School Shooter and I watched this video where a cop was bad mouthing GTA and he showed clips of that mod to this high school. I sent the cop an email because I found this video online. I basically told him that he shouldn't be showcasing a mod and presenting it as the actual video game industry. I also told my nursing instructor that GTA is satire crime life. Most of what they see comes from fears and YouTube videos.

Otherwise I don't really get bullied. There are some stories about couples who got a divorce and one of the reasons they got divorced was because the husband would play video games instead of parenting the child or being a caring spouse.

My wife got me these items: (you'd think someone would bully me, right?)

I enjoy owning and wearing them and I'm happy to discuss video games with other people too. I don't consider it being eccentric either.

Where did she?

 

[mariosbrother]

My wife got me these items: (you'd think someone would bully me, right?)

Sweet!

 

[woopWOOP]

Thankfully I've never been bullied for it, but me and my best friend were known as those nerds because of it throughout primary school.
I'm still reluctant to actually mention that videogames are a big hobby of mine because deep down I still fear people will reject me over it. Not sure why, maybe because a lot of my family never really got it or cared about my hobby through the years growing up (parents still think it's a waste of time) or maybe because of all those movies where nerds got beat up that had me scared of being in a similar situation. Or it might just be my social anxiety acting up.

But yeah, nowadays about everybody here atleast tried an app game once. Only for the last few years I feel way more comfortable saying that I'm into videogames.

 

[TheFarter]

Not at all.

 

[Revolutionary]

No, but only because I never made it obvious that I was a gamer. Well, with the exception of the Pokemon craze.. but that quickly faded as well when I noticed how disinterested the girls in my class were with it.

 

[Rellik]

Pretty much everyone at my school played Football Manager or FIFA, so no.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Where did she?

ThinkGeek for the watch and eBay for the ring.

 

[Chakan]

Back at school all my friends played videogames, so no.

 

[_Justinian_]

Bullied? No. Ridiculed? Yes. Gaming is much more accepted by the general public now than it was back then. Not that we cared. We loved what we loved regardless of what others thought of it.