elrechazado
Banned
Worked fine with my wife of 10 years. Or was that another stupid "gamer" stereotype schtick you were trying?kodt said:
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I Love Video Games, So What?
- Thread starter Seanspeed
- Start date
RomanticHeroX
Member
The greatest thing about growing up is no longer having to give a shit about how people see you. Sure, some people take that too far and end up forgoing bathing for WoW, but in general if you live your life in balance then you're golden. There's enough real things to worry about in my life that how people judge what I do in my spare time doesn't even rank.
Conciliator
Banned
The thing is not that you play games, the thing is self-identifying as a 'Gamer'. That still has a bit of a stigma. I don't use that word to describe myself in public pretty much full stop, though I am happy to have a conversation about video games with anyone who brings them up.
I honestly dull my own obscure knowledge about video games depending on who I'm talking to, what we're talking to, and other variables. I'm not going to try to explain and defend Dwarf Fortress to a person who's interested primarily in SNES nostalgia. I do the same with music...I'm much rather be thought of as dumb and well-meaning than as pretentious and unapproachable.
I honestly dull my own obscure knowledge about video games depending on who I'm talking to, what we're talking to, and other variables. I'm not going to try to explain and defend Dwarf Fortress to a person who's interested primarily in SNES nostalgia. I do the same with music...I'm much rather be thought of as dumb and well-meaning than as pretentious and unapproachable.
But, people are going to think whatever they want. No matter how much you hide it, or change the story.Seanspeed said:
I was punched and bullied all my way through school, because of: liking videogames + been skinny + wearing glasses = NERD!!
Yet that didn't stopped me from talking about videogames, though in my case is not like I talk about games all the time, I enjoy art, photography, music, movies, even a bit of cars.
In the end, like any relationship; friendships are about accepting and understanding each other. If someone's going to think less of you, because you spent 4 hours playing Diablo, then to hell with them.
That too.Conciliator said:
Some people I know are really into Call of Duty, I like the series, specially Black Ops..but is not like I'm going to them and start talking about Uncharted, Catherine or something else. I talk about the latest Black Ops map packs, and even some Mortal Kombat on the side; and the upcoming MW3.
Friendships are a mutual things. The same way you don't want people shoehorning their tastes into you, one shouldn't do the same to others. So if others don't like someone talking about games, but still enjoy been together, then find other things you both enjoy doing and talking...maybe that way that person is going to give a try to those "games you constantly talk about".
arglebargle
Member
Conciliator said:
this is very much how i see it. i dont mind telling people i play games, and i often argue that games are now where various other media were however many decades ago. when looked at as something up and coming you can position it as getting in on the ground floor rather than whatever other stereotypes are common.
on top of that, while i do play many of the mainstream titles, i have also played through mansion of the hidden souls on sega cd this year. the odds are vanishingly small that my interlocutor has played that.
I see. Well I personally think most of that may just be in your head. Even if they don't agree with how you've spent your time, I'm pretty sure they just see it as one of your quirks and nothing to think badly of you, if they're not totally shallow. As long as you still go out with them and know how to be social, none of that really matters imo.Seanspeed said:
Shallow people are gonna be shallow.
Megidolaon
Member
I'm a female who has always liked games more than clothes and shoes, and I don't really tell anybody either. Most other girls think you're strange if you like games. And other people usually just assume that you have no life and that they're a waste of time/for little kids. So I don't really like telling people if they ask what my hobbies are. I usually just make shit up and tell them what they wanna hear if they seem like the judgmental type.
I also have four sisters and they stopped buying me birthday presents and asking me to go shopping once they found out I'd rather have a game than clothes, or jewelry or shoes. I have enough of that, so what if I want the new Final Fantasy?
\
So yeah, I feel ya. There's only so many times I can hear "you need to get out more. lolz"
I also have four sisters and they stopped buying me birthday presents and asking me to go shopping once they found out I'd rather have a game than clothes, or jewelry or shoes. I have enough of that, so what if I want the new Final Fantasy?
\So yeah, I feel ya. There's only so many times I can hear "you need to get out more. lolz"
SMT said:
I mean I'm an avid video game player and I program for a living. I get shit on from friends' girlfriends all the time in good fun. But I know deep down they don't really understand it anymore than I understand watching shows like Housewives of Beverly Hills or whatever. But yeah some materialistic girls do it in my experience. Not worth anyone's time.
plasticpassion
Member
I do feel awkward talking about the extent of my gaming. Even with my SO it feels strange admitting, yeah I'm playing games again. I guess it's a whole lifetime of idiots thinking gaming is for kids only and must be an immature thing to do.
elrechazado
Banned
"some people think game players are lazy" is equal to "gamers are outcasts in society" ?TheBranca18 said:
Way to not read.
we.are.the.armada
Member
elrechazao said:
I understand what you are saying here but it can be more complicated depending on your social circles. I think that the mass public probably still readily understands the world through stereotypes, so yeah in many public cases gamers are viewed as outcasts.
For example, in my line of work it is considered unprofessional because all of the top executives are either old guard or neo-old guard. It's just something that I keep to myself really, besides they all would rather talk about their golf trips or boats or whatever. If you saw me in person I doubt that you would think that I have a wall in my basement dedicated to JRPGs.
I never bring it up, but people seem to mention it eventually, at uni especially, I'd know people for weeks, but it typically wouldn't come up in conversation until one of us was in either others flats and saw a game collection.
I've not met anyone under forty who's ever reacted negatively about it, I know quite a few girls who are indifferent, but that's about it. I don't think there's much stigma about it.
One night I met a guy and we got thrown out of a party, so a few of us went back to our flat and there was a year planner on the wall with 'MGOB' on it, this guy saw it, recognized the date as the Metal Gear Online beta start date and showed us videos of him on YouTube running around London in a Snake box. It was rad.
I've not met anyone under forty who's ever reacted negatively about it, I know quite a few girls who are indifferent, but that's about it. I don't think there's much stigma about it.
One night I met a guy and we got thrown out of a party, so a few of us went back to our flat and there was a year planner on the wall with 'MGOB' on it, this guy saw it, recognized the date as the Metal Gear Online beta start date and showed us videos of him on YouTube running around London in a Snake box. It was rad.
elrechazado
Banned
Completely false? Gaming has higher revenue, that's a fact. What is your basis in fact for saying it's completely false?TheBranca18 said:
pieatorium
Member
1 game = 6 movies and the revenue being higher is only counting box office and not dvd sales/streaming fees/rentalselrechazao said:
arglebargle
Member
i feel like materialistic girls are getting a bad rap. my girlfriend is materialistic but she understands that games are my hobby; in fact, she bought me my dsi, 60gb ps3, and my 360, and nary a opportunity goes by that i dont get games as gifts. do we mean shallow or something else?
ScepticMatt
Member
At my university it's perfectly normal, we even have a 360+PS3 hooked up to a big plasma where you can play every time in a larger break.
My family is different though. My dad and one older brother still are of the "do you still game?" type. I don't tell them when I game, ever.
My family is different though. My dad and one older brother still are of the "do you still game?" type. I don't tell them when I game, ever.
I find myself judging people who openly talk about their WoW guilds or whatever in real life, and I love video games, always have. I keep my gaming obsession largely personal for that very reason. There's still an element of the gaming population holed up in their mother's basement, downing mountain dew and not bathing, and the general public likes to emphasize that element.
Lionheart1337
Member
RomanticHeroX said:
51st reply always gets it.
JJDinomite
Banned
Luckily I'm a teenager, so my contemporaries play videogames. I don't see anything wrong with adults playing them; it's just a hobby - like watching a movie or reading a book.
DangerousDave
Member
The best thing about working in the industry is that you always have the excuse "Is my job, I gain my money with this".
It's a luck that most of the people don't know that in order to program games you need to look a lot of code, not play a lot of games
It's a luck that most of the people don't know that in order to program games you need to look a lot of code, not play a lot of games
DangerousDave
Member
elrechazao said:
Gaming has more revenue because games cost more than movies (specially cinema), but doesn't mean "more mainstream".
Everybody look movies, even if it's on TV. But not everybody play videogames, not even the windows solitaire. A lot of people say "I don't like gaming", or "gaming is for kids". But you have to dig very deep to find someone that say "I don't like movies", or "movies is for dumbs".
Ultravi0lence
Member
"Video Games: bleeping, blooping, masturbatory aids for emotionally crippled social outcasts: probably male outcasts, probably physically repugnant and sexually inexperienced, probably frightened of the real world, probably standing here on this very spot, saying these very words to camera right now, probably me, basically."
Kazuma Kiryu
Member
SafeinSound said:
pretty much. if people don't like me because i play videogames, they can just fuck off. i've been gaming for 30+ years (although i play less right now because i just don't have much free time) and i don't intend to stop anytime soon.
Conciliator
Banned
SalsaShark said:
Sure you do. They have their own turns of phrase, 'film buffs' and just 'readers', respectively, but people who are really into those things self-identify themselves with it just like People Who Play Games, or whichever word you'd like to describe them. People who are really into anything self-identify with it. Most of those things have connotations, as does 'Gamer'.
SalsaShark said:
This sentiment is either disingenuous or under-informed. You don't see "film watchers" or "book readers" simply because that isn't the accepted nomenclature. Try "movie/film buff" or "bibliophile/bookworm". Plenty of people self-identify as enthusiastic consumers of films, books, or music, just as enthusiastic consumers of games self identify as "gamers".
God DAMN it, Conciliator.
DeaconKnowledge
Member
Gaming is. Being a gamer isn't.elrechazao said:
While not terribly surprising, I'll definitely keep that in mind the next time I cite that quote, lol.Stumpokapow said:When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things.
- Paul, 1st Corinthians 13:11, which is what he's referencing here, but presumably distorting the meaning of
Hooray for interpretation, I guess?
@OP: I'm very, very open about it. Proud too, even.
shaowebb
Member
People have interests. Thats okay.
If people choose to be weirded out by your personal interests then the problem lies within their own small tolerance of anyone who isn't them.
Folks are folks...they either learn to accept others or they can eventually push themself so far away from anyone different that they push themself away from the world entirely. Stop caring about those guys OP. Those folks are worthless anyway.
If people choose to be weirded out by your personal interests then the problem lies within their own small tolerance of anyone who isn't them.
Folks are folks...they either learn to accept others or they can eventually push themself so far away from anyone different that they push themself away from the world entirely. Stop caring about those guys OP. Those folks are worthless anyway.
Actually I've had the exact opposite feeling really. When I tell people that I work in the gaming industry, where I work and what I'm working on they usually go, "That's so fucking cool!" or something to that extent. It could be because I've lived in bigger or more liberal cities but it's still pretty cool.
RumblingRosco
Member
I think the issue lies with people that identify themselves as a "gamer" as opposed to "someone that likes/plays video games." I'm not a "movier" just because I like to watch movies and I'm not an "iPoder" just because I listen to music on an iPod. "Gamer" still has a bad connotation that "video games" managed to shed.
That's my experience, anyway. I'd say 98% of guys I met in undergrad played video games at some level, be they dudebros or nerds. A fair amount of girls played them too. That didn't stop those same people from mocking the "gamers" that did nothing but talk about/play video games in all available free time.
Note:
That's my experience, anyway. I'd say 98% of guys I met in undergrad played video games at some level, be they dudebros or nerds. A fair amount of girls played them too. That didn't stop those same people from mocking the "gamers" that did nothing but talk about/play video games in all available free time.
Note:
I actually don't own an iPod... I just use my cell phone for music. Just trying to make a point here!
iSurvivedTheOutage
Member
elrechazao said:
/thread
Just dont say you play console games then your audience begins to think ur a tool.
I keed.
iSurvivedTheOutage
Member
Grinchy said:
Sounds like you work with a bunch of Kathy Lee's.
Conciliator said:
TwinIonEngines said:
You know what im talking about, its not the same.
Why if i like everything? am i a hardcore gamer film buff and reader? i think there should be no middleground, everyone enjoys entertainment. According to the old stereotype and whatnot, if you see a guy playing a game he must be some fat looser who sits in the basement, is this true when someone finds out about another person watching a movie or reading a book? that's what im saying, the word GAMER is still related to that stigma, its time to drop it.
Live Free or Die
Banned
but but the Today show said its not cool if I play video games....
I don't think people have problems with the idea that most people can enjoy a video game.
The idea is that someone can't become successful, get married, start a family, and do all of this while spending the majority of their free time playing video games.
Or if they do these things, they must give up the games on the way there.
The idea is that someone can't become successful, get married, start a family, and do all of this while spending the majority of their free time playing video games.
Or if they do these things, they must give up the games on the way there.
The game's been out for how long now? You could probably get 200 hours by playing for maybe a couple hours a week if you've owned it long enough.Seanspeed said:
And besides that, I'd see no reason to be ashamed even if you game a ton. You obviously still have time to go on dates and have a job if you're with said girl to begin with.
Conciliator
Banned
SalsaShark said:
I don't know what you're talking about, sincerely...how are they not the same?
Anyway, I don't want to get tangled...my point in this the following: People who are in to all kinds of things identify themselves, at least in part, by the things they love. Some people are passionate about carpentry, some people are passionate about vegetable co-ops, some people are passionate about video games. But the concept of being passionate about video games has a negative connotation. I'm hesitant to try to defend it even on a forum for people who are passionate about video games. Right now I don't publicly self-identify with that passion, but I do privately self-identify with it. I wish I didn't feel like I need to hide that.
I don't have a problem telling people I play video games, probably because I don't consider myself a gamer or have this real deep passion for video games or whatever. I enjoy playing video games and I like talking about them but it's not like I want to marry them. I think having around that level of interest is pretty well accepted by most of society.
Video gaming is probably the most socially acceptable of my hobbies anyway.
Video gaming is probably the most socially acceptable of my hobbies anyway.