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Miyamoto Concerned About Gamer Image Stereotype
kukyfrope writes "In a recent interview with MTV News, Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto voiced his concern for the stereotypical image of gamers as kids alone in a dark room. He says that Nintendo wishes to change that image with the Wii, a sentiment made obvious by the wide array of people shown playing Wii in Nintendo's recent promotional videos." From the article: "I think it's time to break free from that stereotypical definition of what a gamer is, because until we do, we'll never truly be part of the national or worldwide culture."
This doesn't seem to be a big problem in Western countries as much as it is in Japan. In America I play games with my friends all the time and we're hardly 'the bottom of the barrel' but here in Japan I've yet to hear something good about people that play games, though huge amounts of people do it, just in secret. But it could also be the way Japanese society works, namely it's a very casted and stereotype producing system.
Gamers in Korea are worshipped as Gods. Why can't all countries be like that? :(
Rather than read an article about an article why not just go directly here? It's a very informative interview, I really look forward to Super Mario Galaxy and how the Wii controller will work in that type of game.
Regular Meta Moderators are not more likely to get mod points.
That's why I love my Gamecube. I love all the four-player games available on it. I can not stress how much fun I've had on a weekend with my friends playing SSBM, passing the controller around, and just generally having a good time.
I will be purchasing a Wii, and the extra controllers, and will be taking it to a friend's house rather immediately.
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto voiced his concern for the stereotypical image of gamers as kids alone in a dark room. He says that Nintendo wishes to change that image with the Wii ... by giving it a high powered LED that will light up their parent's basement.
This doesn't seem to be as much of a problem with console gamers as it is with gamers on PCs. It's much easier to imagine someone playing in a group of friends on a console than it is on a computer.
It's not the "stereotypical definition of what a gamer is", it's the lack of games that non-hardcore gamers want to play.
No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
this is the whole point of the Wii
I was about to say that the stereotype of living in your parent's basement is wildly inaccurate, but one of my best friends who is 28 just moved back in to his mother's house, in the basement, where he plays WoW...
The Atari 2600 was originalyl marketed this way. They tried to appeal to the sense of family gathering around the TV to play Pong or whatever. All their early ads had photos of families in them to reinforce this idea. In reality though, kids who spent much of their time in arcades were the lion's share of the market for the 2600 and that's why consoles have been developed and marketed towards this crowd for the most part.
Thanks to EA, Sony, MS, and World of Warcraft for making good-hearted gamers look like social outcast that do nothing but play videogames for hours on end having no social life whatsoever. That is so untrue. I'm a gamer, but I also have a life, I'm healthy and fit. I have dated good looking women, I have confidence. Basically, I have a life, and I'm still a hardcore gamer. Those companies tend to give off the image that most gamers are nothing but social outcasts in our society. For that we now have people who really are social outcasts who cannot function in the realworld because they have no social skills whatsoever. WHo will probably never touch a good looking woman in a sensual way, consentually. This type of person is by far worse than a nerd or geek. These are the people who wack-off to anime, lolicon, and lolicon-guru and they all think its ok, thanks to games like Final Fantasy X-XII.
Give me a break. Put down the controller, go outside, get in shape, eat healthy, stop drinking Mountain Dew like its going out of style, go back to school, get educated, earn a degree, start making money, buy yourself a nice house and car, and get yourself a hot woman as a wife. oh and guess what, you can still be a gamer. Games will always be there, but life isn't, don't miss your chance!
that Nintendo wants me to Wii in the company of friends?
Kids in a bright room wearing dark sunglasses going "wheeeee!" when playing Nintendo's latest console.
I applaud Nintendos efforts to increase the number of attractive models playing video games and am delighted by their commitment to encouraging a wide diversity of hot people playing their console.
However I doubt it'll increase profits that much ...
All well and good for him to say that, but at least here in the US, part of the very typical group dynamic is an exclusive sense of elitism even if the group is relatively 'low' on the social dominance scale.
/.ers at people who find Windows XP perfectly adequate. The 'geek hierarchy' writ large.
Thus rather than saying "OK, we need to broaden our appeal, let's try to get lots of people gaming!" (a message that would of course appeal to a BUSINESS selling good to the identified market segment), the members of the group behave rudely, and reject any broadening of the franchise to "outsiders".
Look, for example, at the level of scorn directed at casual players of World of Warcraft by 'hardcore' players in-game. Or (for a broader, but similar example) the sneers of derision by
Sure, it's a defensive reaction based entirely on protecting the ego. The lame geek KNOWS he lives in his parents' basement, KNOWS that while spending 12 hours a day playing a video game he's missing out on other social activities that are widely considered to be more constructive, KNOWS that virtual wish-fulfillment might be very satisfying, but really doesn't compare to actually accomplishing anything.
But to welcome in the unwashed masses into his 'world'? That would be to at least partially accept their 'yardstick' of normalcy, against which his self-image would measure smaller. Who would welcome that?
-Styopa
Yeah, because I always Playstation 2 in the company of friends.
Can we please get over these stupid puns? I think all the hilarity in these jokes has been exhausted ever since before the first one was posted.
"When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
Oh darn, it just got modded funny. Guess I was wrong :(
"When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
I've given up most online games not because I don't like to play anymore, but I don't want to put up with the subcultures that grow up within them.
You better watch out, there may be dogs about . .
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With respect: you've passed through the looking-glass.
At home, in uhMURRkuh, you are so thoroughly immersed in your culture and sub-culture that you're not aware of it. You might as well ask whether a fish notices water.
Abroad, in Japan, or elsewhere, you have to deal with a new culture, and how you "slot in" to that new culture. While I accept (and know from my own cultural/linguistic experiences) that many things *are* in fact different in each culture, I have noticed that the very strangeness of a new culture totally changes your relationship/perception with even those parts that are most analogous to your "home" experience.
In your case, you're seeing a great deal of negativity in Japan against people who play videogames, even though you know that millions of people must be playing videogames. Hadn't it occurred to you that precisely the same negativity exists in your home culture? It probably has, at some level, but since you're so comfortably ensconced in your sub-cultural niche, you never gave it much thought. It has taken a cultural dislocation to make you see there are other ways of thinking about games and gaming.
This, folks, is why people *should* travel. Experiencing other cultures doesn't just mean drinking their liquor--although that's part of it, as well.
...and if I remember correctly, it was precisely this market the DS was intended to capture. Score one for our cartoony overlords.
Although these really aren't new characters so to speak, the "Wii Sports" series features these little models which you can put your own faces on ... and then you may start to see those characters, with faces you've created, appearing in different games on the Wii system.
Huh. So your WiiSports avatar might be, say, an enemy in SMG? Make a cameo in a crowd in Smash Bros. Brawl? Methinks this ties into the WiiConnect24 service, as well...your little head popping up in other people's games and so on. I'm surprised nobody's talked about this yet.
> Can we please get over these stupid puns? I think all the hilarity in these jokes has been exhausted ever since before the first one was posted.
I think someone's just a wii bit overdue for a nap.
The Red Steel was a guy alone in a dark room doing the *BLAM BLAM* *SWISH* with the Wii-wand...