It’s not a hard concept is it? About this time of year the folks around you start asking the question — either directly or in some oblique approach which sends me toward paranoia — “So, what would you like for Christmas?”.
Why then do I STILL have to put up with the nonsense responses I get to my perfectly reasonable reply of “I’d like XXX, please, for the Xbox. Thanks”
“Is that a game?”
“Yes, yes it is. It’s actually quite good, but you’d probably have had to played through the first one to really understand the character.”
“Oh, a game. Wouldn’t you like something more grown up and practical?”
At this point either the top of my head pops off, or I simply sigh and say that actually, socks would be good.
How much time do we have to spend, how much energy do we have to commit to getting people to understand that gaming is not a preserve for children, the socially retarded or slightly overweight IT guys with a pony-tail and a collection of black T-shirts. OK those groups DO play, but I’m not them, and I suspect neither are you!
What is it with our pastime of choice which still evokes the ‘oh you poor dear’ attitude from so many in the general population? If I’d asked for a DVD, or a book that’d have been fine, despite the fact that one is a totally passive experience and the other is even more socially excluding than playing a game. Watch someone play Forza, or Mass Effect or Assassin’s Creed and you can see what’s going on and even interact. Watch someone read a book ever? It’s no fun!
Even the more interactive and inclusive titles such as those using Kinect or Move or on the Wii are still seen as a bit frivolous and somewhat a waste of time. It’s a bloody outrage!
But at least those people, the ones above with the socks and stuff, at least those folks are honest in their ignorance of the joy of our world and for that they can be somewhat forgiven. Ignorance is after all a temporary condition easily cured through the application of knowledge and experience. Far worse than those are the fakers. You know the ones. Those time-wasting fardles who ask that most heinous of leading questions “So what’s this all about then?”
I hate those people because they leave you with only two choices, you can either be blunt — “Well, I could tell you but firstly you wouldn’t understand and secondly you don’t actually care!”, or you can tread that sorrowed path and explain the depth of the characters, the level of detail in the physics, the overall conceit of the game in all its glory and you know, you just KNOW that at the end of it all you’ll get a platitude along the lines of “Well I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, I don’t really understand these X-Station things”.
Bang 45 minutes of your life gone, right there. And that’s a decent race, a level or two, some discovery or at least a bit of building which simply didn’t get done because of some mealy-mouthed relative who thinks that talking about something is the same as understanding it. GAH!
My solution is simple: I don’t ask for games any more; I just go and buy them. Even in the week before Christmas, if I see a game I want I buy it. It’s just easier that way. Of course as a result of this I get a lot of socks for Christmas, but you can never have too many socks really!
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