5 Reasons It's Still Not Cool to Admit You're a Gamer

[LadyCrimson]

Hope this wasn't posted within some other thread already...but I found this Cracked.com article really funny...his points are, imo, somewhat on target, but it's the way he writes them out that made me giggle.

 

Your mileage may vary.

 

http://www.cracked.com/article_18571_5-rea...oure-gamer.html

[Orogun01]

I'll give you a sixth one:that article.

 

5th cause actually makes sense, but stereotypes are hard to shake off and you shouldn't let them bother you if you sure of yourself

 

4th cause had me thinking the writer was an ugly feminist chick, until I saw that it was a dude that doesn't like boobs because "they insult his intelligence"

 

Third, games are not storytelling mediums. No matter how much story goes into them they still need gameplay, they shouldn't try to be thespian pieces of art.

 

The second and first just feel like fillers, things that are there to take up space and not make an actual point.

 

Overall it was a one-sided report (rant) about why he doesn't like to call himself a gamer.

[HoonDing]

That article is a great trolling attempt. And I want to play Bayonetta now.

[Pop]

I don't know why it's an assumption that gamers are 17-year old douchebags. Core demographic gamers are, in fact, 17-year old douchebags of many ages and circumstances. Stupid douchebags, even. This forum is the only gaming forum I've been to where it hasn't been the case 100% of the time. Yet here we are in a thread started by a woman and it doesn't take but a single reply before we hit a nadir. Classic.

 

Really I'm pretty much over this "Silent Majority" bull**** that thinking gamers pull out whenever rational individuals actually listen to what average gamers have to say and they come to the very reasonable conclusion that gamers are, by and large, mouth-breathing retards. Go to any place where gamers congregate. They are fickle, impetuous, narrow minded, spiteful, resentful, envious, intolerant, afraid, risk-averse, needy, bullying, shallow, small, and sanctimonious. Like so many enthusiasts, they cheapen that which they cherish.

 

But games and game culture are not necessarily synonymous. These days it's becoming more and more the case (see: the way Bioware has tailored aspects of their games to fan demands) but with most games you can separate a game from the dreck who play them.

Edited May 25, 2010 by Pop

[WorstUsernameEver]

Even when I was a 17 years old guy, something like the God Of War 3 video would have made me laugh so hard I'd almost die.

It has to be a parody.

That said, he goes a bit far when he basically complains about an alternate costume, and he completely misses the point when he argues that video games is a storytelling medium.

No, it's not. Arguably some games have their primary focus in telling a (hopefully interactive) story, but most don't, so it's not like you can complain about the fact that there are a lot of alien-invasion story.

Take Gears of War as an example : the plot there is clearly made just to give you an objective, though the developers of course will argue that there is some very deep interaction and bla bla, but they just didn't care about the plot, they wanted to give the players a fast-paced action-y, visceral experience.

As for gamers being douche.. that's absolutely true, but unfortunately that's true about most people you meet on the net, so I'm not sure about why he's so surprised about the 'l0l!11ONE! N00B!1ONE1!' guys on World Of Warcraft.

Especially WoW actually, since more people always means there will be more human sized ass holes.

 

Note that it's true that being a gamer isn't considered cool but.. come on.. even if it isn't what's the problem?

[Walsingham]

I agree with Pop and would simply add that the only thing worse than gamers is non-gamers.

[Oner]

Yet here we are in a thread started by a woman and it doesn't take but a single reply before we hit a nadir. Classic.

I'm not following, what do you mean?

 

 

 

The unintentionally funniest bit is when he uses Bayonetta as an example... except she's primarily the fulfillment of the creator's fetish fantasies, not the fans'. If he wanted to sell games with boobs then DMC's protagonist would be called Dantina.

[LadyCrimson]

General thoughts:

 

Well I viewed the piece as taking a few salient, age-old points about video-gamer culture wrapped up in a giant hunk of self-deprecating humor. If one reads it as being very literal, I can see having an annoyed reaction to it. Maybe my being female during the growth of the gaming industry is part of why I find it so funny, I don't know...more likely I have a strange sense of humor. Anyway, the bare bones "reasons" listed are always debatable, but I mostly liked the article because I've encountered enough things related to all of those "reasons" to find the humor relatable in a way that made it hilarious to me.

 

In terms of the stereotype that gamers are youthful douchebags...perhaps it began with arcade games, where the stereotype back then was "youthful dropouts/hooligans skip school to drop quarters in the arcades." Or the start of rock n roll and science fiction fandom. If something is, for some reason, associated with some kind of youth culture movement/rebellion (that is, by the adults/parents of the time), it often seems to stick a while. Such hobby/interest stereotypes abound for a lot of hobbies/interests & certainly doesn't apply solely to video gaming.

Edit:

P.S. Another thought: I do think the entitlement thing tend to run rampant (on the internet) more and more, but not just in terms of price vs free etc. I had a discussion about that elsewhere once, and one of my theories was that the ever increasing ability to have contact with game companies themselves may be a partial factor. "We" are increasingly used to the idea of being heard, and for some, that includes becoming increasingly impatient when "we" think we're not being listened to. eg:Borderlands forums, when everyone was convinced latest add-on broke the end game(ie they didn't like it), when there was no response by Gearbox ppl within a few weeks, droves of fans threatened to quit/never buy again, & conspiracy theories about the silence abounded. It was, imo, all fairly ridiculous. But also interestingly amusing.

Edited May 25, 2010 by LadyCrimson

[GreasyDogMeat]

I certainly understand most of the points, but I find it odd that he mentions GTA IV on the shallow stories point when GTA IV is better than most crime dramas I've seen in years on television or in movies.

[Hurlshort]

I think he was spot on for the most part.

[Malcador]

Oh dear, it's not cool, heh. Looks pretty accurate for the most part.

[Slowtrain]

Relative to point 5 ( I think):

 

It's often the case that when people are into particular hobbies or interests that fall even slightly outside the mainstream they often get labeled in deragotory terms. I've seen it happen with model rocketry, ham-radio enthusiasts, collectors of all sorts, non-commericial/non-realistic artists. I could go on and on. In the US, one doesn't have to do much to get labelled as "weird"

 

In the US anyway there are only a few things that it's safe to be "really into" and still be cool. Sports, guns, American Hollywood movies, Television, cheap beer, anything that makes money. Those interests, even taken to pretty extreme levels, will generally not marginalize you. Of course, there's a point for anything where extremism crosses the line into marginalization, regardless of how culturally embraced a particular interest is.

 

SO yeah, if you're into gaming people look at you funny. But they also look at you funny if you spend your weekends shooting off plastic rockets in the park. So, since you're never going to win, why bother fighting.

[Walsingham]

I also agree with Slowtrain, I think. Should gamers really care if the mainstream doesn't like them? No, not really. The mainstream is too busy watching Oprah and shovelling cheesy fries into their gaping maws to anything except hop around and wave their mental arms periodically. They haven't the time and attention to travel into alternative worlds and shoot the natives, solve puzzles, roleplay, stare at CGI boobies. etc.

 

Now of course there's going to be tension, because the manufacturers want as large an appeal as possible. So they try whenever possible to mainstream gaming. But IMO it will NEVER happen.

[Slowtrain]

I'd also point out relative to one of the articles points that one of the first thing film makers did was make porn movies. And they're astill at it today and doing quite well financially

 

SOme obsessions appear to transcend particular hobbies and interests. Ergo: a fascination with naughty bits isn't a gaming issue.

[Slowtrain]

I also agree with Slowtrain, I think. Should gamers really care if the mainstream doesn't like them? No, not really. The mainstream is too busy watching Oprah and shovelling cheesy fries into their gaping maws to anything except hop around and wave their mental arms periodically. They haven't the time and attention to travel into alternative worlds and shoot the natives, solve puzzles, roleplay, stare at CGI boobies. etc.

 

Now of course there's going to be tension, because the manufacturers want as large an appeal as possible. So they try whenever possible to mainstream gaming. But IMO it will NEVER happen.

 

 

I worked one job where in our departmental lunches people would sit around and talk endlessly an in exacting detail about all the different televion programs that were on. Most of these were shows that I had never heard of though apparently everybody else had. They would dissect all the actors and characters and reality competitions to obsessively insane degrees, yet nobody ever considered it weird.

 

But if I had tried the same things with crpgs, it wouldn't have been too long before I was eating alone. Every day. For the rest of my time there.

 

But would there have been any real difference between the 2 discussions? Not really.

[Volourn]

" This forum is the only gaming forum I've been to where it hasn't been the case 100% of the time. "

 

This is a silly comment not based on fact. This forum is no different than the majority of other gaming forums. The arrogance shown here is not original as everyone believes x place is better than y simply because they post there. It's just silly.

 

Nothing wrong with being a gamer.

[Oner]

It's not "I post here so this forum's better", it's "This forum's better so I post here".

[Raithe]

You have to admit, there are a lot of places where there seems to be frothing teenagers..or at least , people who seem to act as if they're frothing teenagers with attitude...

 

That and the amount of blinding ignorance people seem to show off when they make comments on gametrailers and the like..

 

It can be very disturbing to realise these people actually seem to mean and believe the astonishing drivel they're writing...

 

(yes, that might be a touch of arrogance on my part.)

 

Gamers are a cross-section like any other "hobby". It's just very simple to stereotype certain extremes and carry it over.

[213374U]

Lol.

 

It's not cool to admit you're a gamer?

 

Try admitting you're a wargamer.

[Thorton_AP]

I'm a war gamer! \m/

[Raithe]

Or a pen n paper roleplayer

 

Wargamers can get a better rep in certain locales... But say you play DnD or Mutants & Masterminds...

 

Of course, then you get to look down on the Vampire Masquerade Larpers..

[Malcador]

War gamers are cooler though, they've got patience and appreciate complexity

[213374U]

Oh, no doubt. Try chatting up some non-wargamer acquaintance of yours about the impact the Prussian Needle Gun had on the Austro-Prussian war.

 

...yeeeeeeeeeah.

[Hurlshort]

In the US anyway there are only a few things that it's safe to be "really into" and still be cool. Sports, guns, American Hollywood movies, Television, cheap beer, anything that makes money. Those interests, even taken to pretty extreme levels, will generally not marginalize you. Of course, there's a point for anything where extremism crosses the line into marginalization, regardless of how culturally embraced a particular interest is.

 

I'd say guns aren't cool in many places in the US. But I agree with your other points.

[Oner]