Do people look down on gamers

[tickle gamer]

I got to thinking about “Ebun”s reading vs gaming post last night, and it preempted this question.

Do some people look down on gamers, or to an extent games?

Me, myself. I am a big fan of reading [after I found a book style I liked], but, as for gaming, it's a great way to blow off steam, and, in some case, [games like Harvest Moon] relax.

And, In some cases, [like the MMO's] it kind of forces you to be social, and talk to other people. [I can't do MMO's, dang internet] and two, almost every game now-a-days has a community or forum, so the social-thing kind of extends to all games.

but, I have felt, for me, as I get treated more like a little kid [by some member of my family] because I like games.

 

[EBunbury]

Personally, I like gaming, and gamers. Gaming is fun, has documented benefits in improving eye-hand coordination., and many of the occasional gamers I know are interesting people. I also like reading, and read way more than I game. I don't game as much as I used to because I found that for me personally, it took too much time that was better devoted to other things. I do see the stereotype of young male gamers whose life revolves around FPS games; just last year I had a student who was doing well in my class (B's) whose grades suddenly plummeted to F's, and he failed the class. He came back the following semester, apologized, and said he'd gotten wrapped up in GTA to the point where it wrecked his transcript and cost him his job. He aced the class that second semester. 🙂

 

[chicago]

Theres the stigma that gamers are not social enough, lack skills to be social, may be lazy, dont exercise enough, lack lifre experiences, but with anything, if it makes you happy and is not negatively affecting your life, work, or relationships, i dont see the harm.

I like gaming and i couldnt give less fucks about what some pretentious jerk wants to think of me cuz i havent read some monthly quota of fantasy novels. While they grumble over the state of millennials smart phone usage and the intelligence if future generations and the death of the paperback, ill be havin fun playing Skyrim

😉

 

[milagros317]

No, it's just a hobby. Like any other hobby, it can't eat up your whole life if you let it grow beyond reasonable bounds.

 

[duderino84]

I got to thinking about “Ebun”s reading vs gaming post last night, and it preempted this question.

Do some people look down on gamers, or to an extent games?

Me, myself. I am a big fan of reading [after I found a book style I liked], but, as for gaming, it's a great way to blow off steam, and, in some case, [games like Harvest Moon] relax.

And, In some cases, [like the MMO's] it kind of forces you to be social, and talk to other people. [I can't do MMO's, dang internet] and two, almost every game now-a-days has a community or forum, so the social-thing kind of extends to all games.

but, I have felt, for me, as I get treated more like a little kid [by some member of my family] because I like games.

Maybe. I think the console is looked down on. Like a toy. Like at family events, my brother wouldn't be shy when we were younger to bust out a console and have fun. Now that he's married/has a kid it's like he feels obligated to play "adult" and do something else.

Also, Gaming has kind of changed from when I remember being a kid solving puzzles or playing Mario or adding in modded cars into the original GTA into this stereotype of "guys and their battlefield/call of duty" thing.

Considering I'm a pretty big nerd and I'll choose to watch movies or try new sound experiments in a DAW on a computer, it only made sense to build a desktop and shove a graphics card in there. It's not only better functioning, it looks like it can be used for business, just isn't being used for that when they see me lol.

Idk, I don't do online multiplayer....just don't really find it to be that fun compared to a single-player. I see all sorts of weird trolling videos on youtube. That kind of sums up my feelings about that.

 

[Bator]

I gave up on seeking approval from others concerning anything I enjoy doing in my mid teens. Besides, I don't do anything illegal, plus it's none of their business.

 

[The Internet]

I like gaming and i couldnt give less fucks about what some pretentious jerk wants to think of me cuz i havent read some monthly quota of fantasy novels. While they grumble over the state of millennials smart phone usage and the intelligence if future generations and the death of the paperback, ill be havin fun playing Skyrim

😉

Hey! Since when is gaming - or having your nose in a cellphone all the time - limited to "millennials"? People have been playing Xbox and Playstation and computer games nonstop, right through the 80s and the 90s, enthusiastically, great long weekend binges and all. My father is 69 years old and he's an extreme gamer, that's all he does practically. He's been gaming since the Atari days; even beforehand, he used to play a computer game where you had to mail your moves. Smartphones, too. I see baby boomers, Gen X'ers and "gens", walking around (or driving around) on their phones all the time, not looking where they're going, taking selfies, etc etc. (I used to take "selfies" with a normal camera). I don't see how gaming, or smartphones, is strictly the territory of the millenials the way, say, using the hula hoop was strictly the territory of teenagers way back when. (nor is using the internet, let's throw that in there).

"Persecution of gamers" (in other words) is not persecution of millenials; negative attitudes about gaming ("why you wasting your time with that, Jimmy?") go way, way back.

Which answers the OP's question: yeah, of course, some people look down on gaming, you can find someone who looks down on practically anything. Do ALL people? No. As for me, I do have some friends who game from Friday night to Sunday night every weekend and while I don't look down on them.......I may cock my head a bit, if you know what I mean. But hey, to each his own, whatever gets you through the night.

 

[tickle gamer]

Theres the stigma that gamers are not social enough,😉

Yeah. I have heard that one too.

I may come off as anti-social to some, but in my case it's because all my friends that used to come over [we would talk a lot, and, yes. play games] are ether dead or moved away.

I've not had many people to socialize with [face to face] in , I would say it's been a good 20-25 years. I'm almost a hermit, LOL!

And, too. another thing that makes me mad. When someone kills someone and the news blames video games, chances are, I played the same games, it doesn't mean I would go out and kill anybody. but, they blame games, because games are an easy scape-goat.

 

[chicago]

Yeah i just mentioned that because the thread that inspired this one had posts talkin about millennials with their nose in their cell phones and whatnot. Im on the same page as you

 

[duderino84]

Yeah. I have heard that one too.

I may come off as anti-social to some, but in my case it's because all my friends that used to come over [we would talk a lot, and, yes. play games] are ether dead or moved away.

I've not had many people to socialize with [face to face] in , I would say it's been a good 20-25 years. I'm almost a hermit, LOL!

And, too. another thing that makes me mad. When someone kills someone and the news blames video games, chances are, I played the same games, it doesn't mean I would go out and kill anybody. but, they blame games, because games are an easy scape-goat.

To me I'm "anti-social" because I find more often than not I feel like I'm thinking more actively than people around me. Maybe I'm wrong but that's the vibe I get from people. I remember in high school a lot of people from my town moved out of state by default to "see the world, find another group of people" .....in hindsight I might be healthier if I did the same.

 

[tickle gamer]

find another group of people

I would do that, but due to my health issues, I am not able to get out much. and, even when I do get out, it's for little quick trips. there and back, you might say.

In fact, I've been out, at times, were I've not spoken to another person, and vise-versa.

and, to make it worse. All my neighbors are family [on my dad's side], so, no chance of meeting anyone new there.

 

[duderino84]

I would do that, but due to my health issues, I am not able to get out much. and, even when I do get out, it's for little quick trips. there and back, you might say.

In fact, I've been out, at times, were I've not spoken to another person, and vise-versa.

and, to make it worse. All my neighbors are family [on my dad's side], so, no chance of meeting anyone new there.

Idk, my area is kind of easy to isolate yourself. .....people just are tight knit with their small groups. It's easy to just go to a movie on my own if I want to "get out".

I guess my end of the thread is "no, everyone games to a degree, just some people are weirder than others".

 

[The Internet]

Gamer, you've got health problems? So sorry to hear it, by all means game, do what makes you feel good, so sorry you feel unconnected to people.....you're not missing much, lol. Trust me. Gaming is better. Duderino, too. Be a shut-in, what's the difference.

Bah, I didn't realize that was precipitated by another thread, duh, now I see it in the OP! Now I get it, sorry about that, C.

Hey, you know what I love? Does this count? My buddy has an amazing flight simulator that's so realistic and spectacular - whenever I house-sit for this guy, I spend the entire time flying all over the world. Pyramids at sunset. Tokyo at night. The whole globe, every airport, amazing. Very relaxing!

 

[moose]

I hope not we all have hobbies and it's still better than doing drugs

 

[tickle gamer]

Hey, you know what I love? Does this count? My buddy has an amazing flight simulator that's so realistic and spectacular

I played a flight sim once. I was not good, never got the plain off the ground. so, yeah. I thought, after that, that I would make a sucky pilot, lol.

 

[tickle gamer]

Gamer, you've got health problems? So sorry to hear it

Thanks Man! I spent a lot of the early 90's in and out of hospitals. I have really bad seizers at times [not had a real bad, pass out, seizer in years] mainly, now, if I don't eat after so long [about 2-3 hours] I just go out of it [not pass out] just don't know what I'm saying or doing.

In fact. That is how I lost one friend. I was out of it, [this has been a 10 years back] and I said something, he got mad it me and left. To this day, [he is my cousin] we don't speak, even though he lives about three doors down.

 

[Mitchell]

tickle gamer... to answer your question . in regard to my position about this.

I never "Look Down" on anyone, except ..

If they are a jerk as a person, regardless of their race, sexual orientation, political views, job, or hobbies. .

As was said earlier. "Gaming" is merely a hobby, similar to many other hobbies.

 

[Wade]

I'm not a gamer but there's nothing about it that's inherently any more or less problematic than any other hobby. In fact I read this book, The State of Play, that makes the world of gaming sound really interesting.

I will say it's my impression that for many in the general populace, gamer culture got kind of a black eye from that whole gamergate thing, wherein the community got tarred by the misogynist behaviors of a few of its members. So it may take some time for public opinion of the activity to bounce back from that.

 

[Bugman]

Far be it from me to tell anyone how they should spend their time. I've probably spent too much time on the forum over the years.

I was very worried about one of my nephews years ago. All he did was game all night and sleep all day while incessantly complaining about not having a car, a girlfriend, etc. It took a few more years but something finally clicked and he began putting his life together. His problem was gaming but it could have been any number of things. And like Moose said, at least he wasn't using drugs.

So if games float your boat have at it. 🙂

 

[tickle gamer]

I was very worried about one of my nephews years ago. All he did was game all night and sleep all day while incessantly complaining about not having a car, a girlfriend, etc. It took a few more years but something finally clicked and he began putting his life together. His problem was gaming but it could have been any number of things. And like Moose said, at least he wasn't using drugs.

It is true. Gaming, like anything else, is bad when it become an addiction. but, on the other hand, a lot of the, so called, "gaming addicts", which, I have been called a time or two before, [not saying all, but some of them] are really just playing games to escape reality.

Like I said before, you have to find a good balance.

It sounds to me like your nephew had, what I have heard called, "Warcraft Syndrome" [or, as it is more commonly known "MMO-Fever"

Glad to hear he got over it.

 

[Comfort Eagle]

Yes and no.

"Gamers" tend to behave strangely both on and off the internet. "Gamer humor" tends to be simplistic, cookie-cutter and bland, and when the industry attempts to be cool it ends up as coming across as hokey and embarassing itself (Joel McHale vs the industry at that videogame awards a few years ago is a great example of the contrast between 'gamer' cool and 'mainstream' cool). On top of that, most videogame... celebrities, I guess is the word? Tend to be garbage, and play up a manbaby character. Angry Joe, Markiplier, the green haired guy, all tend to be interchangeable and do nothing much more than "I'ma scream, and u laff. VIDYAGAMES SURE IS WACKY!", and considering their popularity and connection to vidya, it shouldn't surprise anyone when that's a common takeaway.


However, videogames are, and have been for decades, an incredibly mainstream source of entertainment. The most stereotypical gamer isn't a preteen nerd locked away in his room, but college and adult age men. So any genuine disdain anyone would have towards them -or people playing them- seems weird outside of the confines I mentioned earlier. I'd be shocked to find any one person who said they did't have a friend who played videogames regularly.

 

[Philip_2006]

Find it curious that activists from the far-left & far-right never interview the participating male & female Counter-Strike teams.

Safe to assume that the Scandinavian host city sacrificed themselves for the mass shooting blood sacrifice to fulfill some sort of annual death metal ritual.

 

[Rectangle]

I don't think so. Playing video games has become pretty mainstream.
My boss plays. All my coworkers play. All my old Army buddies are out there playing shooters.
I linked my PS4 to my Facebook friends list, added a bunch of friends, my high school principle is out there playing Skyrim, Sheriff in my old town is playing Battlefield, girls I had crushes on growing up are out there playing ESO and stuff.
It's pretty widespread now man. Everyone grew up playing Mario and Zelda.
The days of people hearing you play video games in your free time and thinking you're automatically a nerd are mostly over, I think.

 

[tickle gamer]

Everyone grew up playing Mario and Zelda.
The days of people hearing you play video games in your free time and thinking you're automatically a nerd are mostly over, I think.

I can remember the first Mario and Zelda on the NES. In fact, one of my greatest gaming moment was when I set up all day [8 AM-1AM next morning] playing the first Zelda, but I beat it.[with breaks to eat and stuff, of course]

Well, I am a nerd, and I am proud of it.

 

[Tenebrae]

Too much of anything is unhealthy. Doing sports is great for your body, but too much of it and it will kill you. Everybody loves a musician, but if you never go out, spend all your time in your garage with your guitar and ignore your baby crying while your wife works to support both of you (yeah it's a real life example), then it is just awful. Social networks are amazing tools, but you can get lost in seeking others' approval. Etc, etc...

I think honestly the stigma of gaming is fading away. Like Rectangle pointed out, gaming has quite hit the mainstream: we've got cool characters in mainstream fiction who are gamers, and now people game at all ages; but it's definitely not always been like this. We all have in mind these ugly, Steve Urkel-esque geek characters of the 80's-90's fiction who all made us feel bad at some point. When I was a kid, I was among the few boys who were actively reading; when my French teacher asked me what and I replied the title of a fantasy novel, she sniffed and said "oh, it's good you are reading, but you should read real literature". Even Conan Doyle, Mark Twain and Stevenson were not good enough for her, although it's true that in France the holy genre of social commentary or satire reigns supreme over adventure, mystery or fantasy; not sure what was the state of things in 1990's America. My parents never approved my gaming either, they still don't. Every time I go back home to spend a weekend with them, my father would always tell me with his disappointed face: "Oh. So you're still playing those kids' things? Don't you think you're too old for that? What does your future wife think about all this?..". Point is I really understand the stigma you are talking about, even though, yeah, it has definitely become "cool" to game. Or be into nerdy stuff: "smart is the new sexy" and all that.

The other day, I and Bugman were discussing the perceived lack of education these days. He does blame the kids' excessive use of social networking tools; can't say I completely disagree, but I am not sure the tool is to blame in this case. We share the concern though, that our younger contemporaries' writing skill is decreasing, so is their attention span, ability to focus and drive to work hard. I work in education, and I have friends who do as well, we all agree on this. Are gaming, social networking or smartphones to blame? No, clearly. An abuse of these? Maybe, I think.