Ready Up

What ARE they thinking?

“Why do you waste your time playing games?”

This is the comment which was levelled at me a while ago. The source of this, rhetorical as it turned out, question then turned on her heel, took her glass of wine and went to watch EastEnders, or Coronation Street.. or something.

I was struck then, as I am now occasionally, by the simple lack of vision that large swathes of the population suffer from. Simply put the statement is this:

Gaming = Juvenile and a waste of time
TV = Entertainment and a release from everyday life

This drives me crazy.. seriously!

Gamers - happy and interacting!

How on earth can otherwise sane and rational people not see the glaring contradictions in their own statements? We can however, draw some comfort that we are not alone in suffering these prejudices – for that IS what they are. Anything which can be touched with the ‘Genre’ brand falls foul of these gross generalisations and summary dismissal by the self styled ‘sensible’ people. I’m going to throw some other statements out here..

“A perverse pleasure derived from the apparent struggle and suffering of others”
“A diminishing of the individual personality, subsumed by the need to belong”
“The dilution of personal and societal moral values through exposure to the most extreme levels of dysfunction”

I could go on. Are these resonating? Well these are things the I can very easily attribute to the effects of watching TV – namely Soap shows and reality TV, the glorification of fashion and celebrity and the apparent validation of a culture of entitlement where asocial and sometimes downright illegal behaviour is openly tolerated.

So the next time someone points and sniggers at you for being a gamer, don’t get angry, don’t feel embarrassed, don’t even feel the need to justify yourself… these are people to be pitied as they’re simply a product of the media they’ve exposed themselves to.

ME? I’m proud to be a gamer, I’m proud to enjoy Sci-Fi and fantasy in all of it’s many forms – but I’m also open minded and mature enough to accept that others think and feel differently and be happy in my choices while respecting theirs.

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John

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Comments

9 responses to “What ARE they thinking?”

  1. Tony avatar
    Tony

    “What ARE they thinking?” really suits those two in the picture.

    Green flip flops with jeans? Fake zebra skin rug? Playing 360 like it’s a Nintendo Wii?

    What ARE they thinking?

  2. John avatar
    John

    Yeah.. and who amongst us has never tilted the controller like that when screaming a Ferrari F40 around the Nurburgring!! 🙂

  3. Laura avatar
    Laura

    I’d much rather be ridiculed or frowned upon for doing something I love than sitting and watch Big Brother or Eastenders every night!

    lol @ Tony 🙂

  4. paradox avatar
    paradox

    exactly what laura said.

    many a time my friends pour scorn on my love of gaming and sci-fi, then fail to see my point when they admit to watching ‘reality TV’.

    makes them question who’s got the worse end of the stick.
    brilliant read john, and sooo true!

  5. Michael avatar
    Michael

    “The dilution of personal and societal moral values through exposure to the most extreme levels of dysfunction”? I don’t think I’ve heard of that one!

    Seeing images like the one you used drives me a bit mad…

    I have been sat in a room with someone watching a soap or whatever while I’m, say, reading a book and happened to look up at the telly to see some person in the show playing a game… next thing I know, I’ve starting raving about how they’re not using the right controller for X machine or “What IS he/she thinking? They haven’t even paused the game! They’re going to end up dead/crashing into a wall/other!”

    It’s not just me, is it?

  6. Kirsten avatar
    Kirsten

    Your three quotes applied to reality TV are precisely my thought. I’m enraged by these programmes and disappointed in anyone who takes pleasure in the ritual and unrelenting humiliation of the more vulnerable member so of society. The idea that those who sit and gleefully snort at gullible people being duped on TV think that playing video games is a waste of time is so rediculous it;s almost funny.

  7. Aerithscar avatar
    Aerithscar

    Couldn’t agree with this any more, I’ve basicly grown up around Video Game’s that it’s strange to see how many people actually object to them. I can’t say there’s been many moment’s where I’ve had a “There’s nothing to play” moment like a, “Nothing on TV moment” and just sat down playing anything until a good game come’s on.

  8. John avatar
    John

    Aerithscar, you are absolutely right! There’s ALWAYS that one extra achievement you can have a go at getting, to fill the void between…. well work and bedtime really!

  9. Lorna avatar
    Lorna

    Only just read this – what a great post! I agree that the same people that are happy to gloat and pretend to be superior are the same folks that watch shovel-ware tv like I’m a Celeb and Big Brother. At least gaming can improve mental reasoning, problem solving, logic, and dexterity…what has Big Brother done except sap the nation’s soul just a little more.

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