I can relate to both sides of the story but to say that gaming has an influence is insane. I have been out of school for some time but can still hear the teasing in my head. I was top 10 of my class and was a little overweight. Now I play games like Unreal Tournament and I name the bots after people I either don't like or I am having a problem with. Nothing feels better than to blow them to pieces (especially with the sniper rifle. This doesn't mean I am going to purchase a rifle and do it for real that's the whole point of gaming. To do in a game what you can't do for real. I wish that when I was in high school I would have had a computer, it would have made things a lot easier to deal with. Teachers and parents still don't have a clue. They don't realize what it means to be a geek in todays society, even as an adult geek there is still a level of ostracism that I have to face daily. Being smart sounds like it would be a plus socially but it's not. I tend to intimidate people with the amount of information that is stashed away in my head, I don't try to, it just happens and when it does it unintentially makes the other person feel less than smart. My parents died when I turned 35 and they still didn't have a clue because they never lived the life of a geek. To all those Geeks out there just remember: Respect yourself, know who you are and don't let society change you. If we keep that attitude then sooner or later there will be more of us than them and we will rule the world.
Slashdot Mirror
I can relate to both sides of the story but to say that gaming has an influence is insane. I have been out of school for some time but can still hear the teasing in my head. I was top 10 of my class and was a little overweight. Now I play games like Unreal Tournament and I name the bots after people I either don't like or I am having a problem with. Nothing feels better than to blow them to pieces (especially with the sniper rifle. This doesn't mean I am going to purchase a rifle and do it for real that's the whole point of gaming. To do in a game what you can't do for real. I wish that when I was in high school I would have had a computer, it would have made things a lot easier to deal with. Teachers and parents still don't have a clue. They don't realize what it means to be a geek in todays society, even as an adult geek there is still a level of ostracism that I have to face daily. Being smart sounds like it would be a plus socially but it's not. I tend to intimidate people with the amount of information that is stashed away in my head, I don't try to, it just happens and when it does it unintentially makes the other person feel less than smart. My parents died when I turned 35 and they still didn't have a clue because they never lived the life of a geek. To all those Geeks out there just remember: Respect yourself, know who you are and don't let society change you. If we keep that attitude then sooner or later there will be more of us than them and we will rule the world.