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Gamers Aren't (Always) Geeks
wo1verin3 writes "CNN is reporting that not all gamers are the anti-social folk they are hyped to be by parents and the media. Roughly two-thirds of college students play video games, but the image of a nerdy guy who spends all day in a dimly lit room blowing up computer-generated bad guys is off base, according to a new study. Full story here."
Articles such as these, just make me mad. Why do people have to conform in society in order to be accepted? Why can't we leverage from richness in variety within our organizational fabric in order to attain greater heights intellectually?
Different points of view are important for progress in technology and science. It's absolutely vital that we continue to nourish the development of the nerdy kid in the dimly lit basement playing Star Wars galaxies. It's more valuable to have him focus on this activity than to obtain social skills that will just hamper him in the pursuit of his research once he completes his post-graduate degree.
I say, bring back the pale geek! Cherish him! Protect him! Buy him the latest Everquest expansion pack! But do not send him out in the wild where he, God forbid, has to interact with other people. They're are a precious resource and should be treated as such.
Wearing pants should always be optional.
Yes people: Even beautiful girls play Wolfenstein!
I think it still depends on how you do your gaming. Non-geeks are way more likely to be into console games than PC.
Also, the genres of games being made show that it's not just for geeks anymore. A lot more sports games, GTA3, etc.
I think the tendency for FPS and RolePlaying games to be online first, still shows the PC is home of the geek gamers (leading tech edge).
-t
http://unmoldable.com W:"No one of consequence" I:"I must know" W:"Get used to disappointment"
I consider that bullshit.
It's either they were talking to the wrong people or the wrong people were responding to the survey.
I was a "gamer" since the C64 days. I was not allowed to have a console machine when I was younger (parents told me I had a computer and it played games, that was that... fair enough). I got hooked on Quake1CTF in my freshman year of college... I still went out w/my friends drinking, I was an active D1 athlete, and I was dating. I had several friends that I played CTF with that were exactly the same.
I figure that they interviewed Internet junkies or the "typical gamer" which is not interesting to the opposite sex.
I want better information on the type of individuals interviewed before we start jumping to conclusions.
they still only socialize with other gamers
Excuse me, but what is your point? Golfers hang out with other golfers, quilters hang out with other quilters, runners hang out with other runners...
Anyone with a hobby, likely socializes with others who have the same hobby.
"I'll have a Guinness, no wait, make that a Coors Light" -Grad student I work with, who shall remain anonymous...
"Actually a lot of people I know are occasional gamers. They arent obsessed with them and associate with "normal" people... The problem is when you become addicted and sit in front of your computer all day."
Every Lan party I've ever been to, an hour into the gaming, even the normal gamers are addicted.
It is just fun to play a competitive game with friends. Especially when you don't have to run or jump to do so. It's pretend!
Girls also have a realistic chance to be competitive. Stupid starfall.
http://use.perl.org
Those people are not what I call a "gamer" - they just happen to enjoy spending some time playing computer games, but computer games are not the dominant activity in their lives.
The problem is when you become addicted and sit in front of your computer all day.
I'm not sure if that alone is the problem - to me it's more the people who do this to the exclusion of going out and seeing people (non-gamers!) face-to-face in the real world (and I don't mean at LAN parties). I suppose it's like anything that has the potential to be addictive.
The real difference (and danger I guess) is that it is entirely possible to create another world and not have to interact with anyone through gaming, effectively withdrawing themselves from society - most other activities don't have this "potential".
"Because it's there." - George Mallory, when asked why he wanted to climb Mt Everest, March 18, 1923 (New York Times)
BTW, I'm both a gamer and a geek and proud of being both.
Dude, seriously, there is a limit to everything.
I like playing games, probably spend an hour a day in average (I sometimes play an entire weekend, bringing up the average quite a bit). However, I am not the least proud of it, nor does it bother me. I do it because I think its fun, and I don't let it become my identity, which it appears is what you have done.
My opinions anyways...
I'm not sure if that alone is the problem - to me it's more the people who do this to the exclusion of going out and seeing people (non-gamers!) face-to-face in the real world (and I don't mean at LAN parties).
What is wrong with meeting people at lan parties?!
Or BBS gatherings. Or Chess clubs. or any other perceived geek gathering place?
There is nothing wrong with it. You just dismiss it because it isn't the way that you would meet people.
Science Fiction conventions, and model airplanes, tis the life for I!
http://use.perl.org
Which is why it (mildly) bugged me that the headlines for this study's results said something like "Surprising Facts About Gamers." Why should this be surprising? It's only those who never lost their narrow view of what these games are about and who plays them who are surprised - anyone who plays the games, reads about them, or looks at the people in EB could tell you that there's no one subculture surrounding them. Yes, perhaps the hardcore gamer still mostly fits the picture, but why should the extreme examples define the majority? With games moving into the mainstream in a huge way, it's damaging to the industry's and the individual gamer's image to allow these ignorant stereotypes to be perpetuated.
Just my $.02 + karma bonus. Now I'll be thinking about Jedi Knight II all day until I can get home and play it...
Was that out loud?
If I enjoy playing golf, am I not a golfer even if I don't play every weekend? Likewise, am I not a paintballer if I don't play every weekend.
If I am not mistaken this is what adjectives were made for. "Avid Gamer" "Obsessed Gamer" IMHO, the fringe should not define the majority. The CNN story simple states that not all people who play games are anti-social geeks who do not interact with the greater society outside of LAN parties and online chat.
My clan has an architect who surfs, a storm chaser, a cop who is an angler, a psychiatrist, mothers, fathers, and even a grandfather in addition to the programmers and sysadmins. You don't have to be a full time hermit to be a gamer.
"The words of the prophets are written on the Slashdot walls."
I have a number of friends who I occasionally see in the really real world who I talk to online all the time, and who I got to know online before I ever met them. Their behavior online is well-representative of how they act in meatspace, as is mine.
I met my girlfriend, who is not a computer geek (though she is fairly competent in the use of computers and the internet) through an instant messenger. I love her, and we are very happy together. If that's pathetic, then you can stick your whole social scene up your mainstream ass, America. What am I supposed to be doing, going to church meetin's? Picking up chicks in the produce section, making eyes at her over the broccoli? (I know that's hard to do because the broccoli is usually off against the wall, but please, grant me a measure of suspension of disbelief.)
One nice thing about the internet is that it's inexpensive. I get enjoyment out of my high-speed internet access every day. I am exposed to people and media that I would otherwise never have had a chance to experience, and it only costs me $720 a year. That's not enough even to take a serious vacation. It doesn't stop me from doing things outside, either, we go camping more or less year round and go on walks and drives and so on, but even if we didn't, what's wrong with that? Some people are simply more comfortable behind their computer, and there's nothing wrong with those people. Well, not all of them, anyway.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Why are you knocking Ray Charles? The man plays piano without his eyes. You probably can't play piano with your overrated hand-eye coordination. I'm certain that if there was a way to convert different areas of a game screen into audio, he'd kick your ass at hockey.
Since you are severely analogy-challenged, perhaps you should stick to simpler language like, "all of them have poor hand-eye coordination."
But this is /.--a place where some geeks act out on their desire to be cool.
Laws are for people with no friends.