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Gaming As Image Statement
In an editorial entitled Will Anybody Care That You Liked Gaming Before It Was Cool?, GameGirlAdvance editor ClockworkGrue discusses aspects of PSP Glamour, and what it means when gaming devices become sex symbols. From the article: "It's great that gaming can be trendy, and that the 300 pound guy on the train the other day and Paris Hilton are both PSP owners. Maybe now there'll be some demand for game-related clothing that breaks the basement-casual standard?" Update: 04/15 11:13 GMT by Z : To fix broken link.
PSP Glamour: Will Anybody Care That You Liked Gaming Before It Was Cool?
Posted by ClockworkGrue at 06:07 PM
The DS was made to change the way that games are played.
If the PSP changes anything about the way games are played, it's that now when you play, you might actually look hot.
psp_mermaid.jpgSony marketing's ability to present the PSP as a "lifestyle accessory" rather than a gaming system has really impressed me. Witness Korean website PSPStyle. This is a series of 3 model galleries on the themes of 3 classic fairytales, The Little Mermaid, Snow White, and Cinderella. Throw in some glamour, add a PSP, and there you go.
And that's what's so odd, really. I mean, yes the PSP is a sleek little device. It fits into the style of the photographs, but, I mean, they're so posed and awkward. It's like they decided to do Gothic Lolita night on The Price is Right. It's not really sexy or mysterious, it's just silly.
When it comes down to it, the best glamour shot of a PSP wasn't even made by Sony marketing. It was made by some girl. I linked to the original picture from Kotaku a few days ago. Much to my surprise, the girl writes for gaming blog-thing RedAssedBaboon under the name of Hatsumi. She has in fact written about "the picture," finally proving that ours isn't the only website where women will fondle gaming hardware and then reflect on it.
hatsumi_lick.jpgOne the one hand, I think it's really awesome that our gaming devices can look like something you'd want to be seen using. I remember when critics praised the Gameboy Advance SP because it was so small that respectible people could carry it discreetly. Why shouldn't the world learn to see people who play games as playful, sexy creatures? On the other hand, there's the flag waving nerdcore gamer in me who wants a handheld to be awkward and gangly because it means that when I do see one it's like a little sign saying "I am of your people."
This is, of course, ridiculous. Random guy on the street with a GBA SP is no more likely to be anything like me than random guy on the street with a PSP. It's great that gaming can be trendy, and that the 300 pound guy on the train the other day and Paris Hilton are both PSP owners. Maybe now there'll be some demand for game-related clothing that breaks the basement-casual standard? After all, if there's one thing we gamers know how to do, it's play (and pwn) well with others, and the pool of "others" just got a whole lot bigger. Right now, gamers are coming out of the basement, into the lime-light, and you know what they look like? They look like me. They look like you. They look like Hatsumi. But they're all here because they love games. No doubt we'll get to have arguments over who was a gamer "before it was cool," but if it means that we can argue over a friendly wi-fi deathmatch, then I'm looking forward to such inanities.
Let me get this straight. Fat guys are losers and Paris Hilton is cool?
*Moves to Mars*
The great sig in the sky!
I don't understand why it is such a revelation that people play video games. Honestly, I don't think this is earth-shattering news. Growing up, my father was a heavy proponent of the "get your ass outside, play sports, and break a limb" philosophy. As a result I am a very athletic. I go to the gym regularly and I play basketball / softball in leagues. However, my father also enjoyed taking me to arcades. He too, liked picking up the occasional video game. We played Parsec and Blast-o on our Texas Instruments game console. As a result, I am involved in a gaming group and I play CS:Source and World of Warcraft. My father comes over my place frequently and we watch sports together. One day, I fired up the PS2 and showed him Madden 2005. He could not believe how far video games have progressed and what is capable now with the technology that is out there. He certainly wasn't any good at the game, but we had FUN playing the game together. ...isn't that what it's all about? Having fun?
Why do gamers hate the activity they love? Why, in the article, did we feel the need to stereotype a gamer as the "300 lb. man sitting on the train". You know folks, there are gamers out there who are probably MORE attractive than Paris Hilton. ...oh yeah, I forgot, attractive female gamers are a myth. My bad.
I understand there are people who sit in front of their computers and play EQ / WoW all day. Hell, I have a friend who is five years out of college, doesn't have a job, but has plenty of time to beat Ocarina of Time for the nth time.
Why are these people (along with the 300lb. man) the community-appointed representatives of the hobby we adore?
Respect It.
It is a natural thing to assume that a video game culture exists. Video games have been amazingly popular since the 80's, and have only grown in popularity since then. What companies haven't figured out is how to penetrate the market.
Want to know why? Companies have no idea what the typical gamer is like. The stereotype has changed so much, it's impossible to get everyone and their dog to like exactly the same thing. Gamers are everything from sweaty perverted nerds (as seen in Dead or Alive 3 commercials), people desperate to be cool (as seen by this link), a bunch of lazy kids (as seen in any commercial you can think of where kid X doesn't want to do homework then suddenly pigs out on pizza product Y), and... well... you get the picture.
What the corporate world doesn't realize is that everyone plays games. You can't get the attention of the 13-year-old sex depraved "gamer" without shunning a few "grrl gamers" and serious adults. Likewise, you're not going to get much love from the adult/retro crowd without sacrificing the interests of "Hal0-Xb0x-R0xx0rz3000" and his buddies in Junior High. Sony and Blockbuster and anybody else that can jump on the bandwagon are trying as hard as they can to fit the "gamer" peg into the square hole, but they don't realize that the "gamer" peg is only one of the pieces out there. And that is why there are so many loyalties and fanboys for every product you can imagine.