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A few months back I was socializing with a couple of lads from my college. We were loungingaround waiting for the next class to begin, and chatting about nothing in particular. The question was casually raised, “What’re you doing over the weekend then?”
“Not a lot”, I replied, “Playing footy on the Saturday, and probably playing some PC games”. Instantly a look of disgust came across their faces. "Playing computer games?", they asked incredulously, "Don't you have a LIFE?" One of them went on to relate how he was working both mornings, taking the girlfriend out somewhere, and clubbing in the evenings. "I don't have time for computer games", he said, almost contempteously, "Those are for geeks".
It was the last bit that really stung, he called me a geek. No gamers like to be called geeks, even if it is the result of mass-stereotyping. I consoled myself with the thought that he was wrong, and dismissed it from my mind. Last week however, the same feelings of bitter unfairness brought the memory back in a flood. It happened when I was strolling round my hometown with a rather nice female aquaintance of mine. I invited her back to my house, and she accepted, "But what are we going to do there", she asked. I lightly suggested the first thing that came to my mind, "We could play some PC games".
The frown of disappointmnt that crossed her face showed only too clearly my blunder. "I don't play PC games", she said, her eyebrows arched. I desperately tried to redeem myself, "You'll love this one I've got, honest. It's called Deus Ex and it's one of the most innovative games of recent times, in fact.......". But her attention was already lost. "I think I'd better get on with my homework actually", she said, and moved off in the direction of her home. I just stood there helplessly. She turned back to face me after a few paces to deliver a parting retort, "I'll let you go home and play your little geeky games all by yourself".
Her last remark wasn't intended to hurt or spite me, but it hit home more powerfully than she shall ever know. Once again my life had been hurt by the frustrating idea that many people have which says that gamers are geeks that have no life. I was wallowing in the self-pity of it all when a thought struck me; what if they were right? Maybe gamers really are the stereotypically spotty, four-eyed teenagers that are despised by the public and so bury themselves in a virtual life as an escapism. Maybe........., Maybe gamers aren't stereotyped at all. Maybe the gamers themselves invented the idea of calling it stereotyping so they could have a clear consciense about themselves. Maybe.....Whooooaaaaaa!!! Calm down a bit. I stopped my imagination flying away and went home to think things through.
The dictionary definition reads as follows. 'Geek - A boring or unnattractive social misfit.'
I wouldn't class myself as boring or unnattractive, and certainly not a social misfit. Phew, panic over. I'm not a geek. Come to think of it I am neither spotty nor four-eyed either. Certainly not a geek then. So how did the idea that gamers are geeks evolve? It would be extremely hard to narrow it down a single person, but there certainly are key figures in society who have borne the idea along heavily. Prince Charles for a start.
Last year, the venerable Prince Charlie spouted the following, "One of the great battles we face today is to persuade our children away from the computer games towards what can only be described as worthwhile books. None of us can underestimate the importance of books in an age dominated by the computer screen and the constant wish for immediate gratification. Why can't the Millenium Commission or the lottery think about an even more imaginative scheme which would enable many more children to witness the best theatre, music and other performing arts? We have got the money through the lottery, I think many new generations of schoolchildren would be allowed access. Just allow them to experience it."
So Prinny of the Wales is telling us that we should leave our computers behind us and focus on more beneficial material like theatre and literature. This is the man who regularly engages in his favoured pastime of deer-hunting. Yet this heartless slaughter doen't stop him lecturing Britain on the bad effects of 'gasp' virtual killing.
Also, he announced this just after a government survey revealed, 'Children who regularly play computer games enjoy many benefits, including better co-ordination and concentration, a wider circle of friends and improved general social adjustment.'
The fact that old Charlie has never actually played any games, despite always being eager to expound his unwanted views at any opportunity only infuriates true gamers. As we know, many games require a huge amount of skill and dedication to master, but it just depresses you when he disregards this as 'immediate gratification'.
The real problem is that his views are widely respected by most British residents. So to have him publicly slaag off computer games can only have a terribly detrimental effect on the population. Now parents who were going to buy their son an x-box or PS2 for his birthday may suddenly feel moved to act, and buy their son an encyclopaedia or something else like that.
It's this sort of negative publicity that the struggling games industry can do without.
Anyone who was previously against computer games would feel strengthened in their beliefs.
Anyone who had no opinion about computer games would tend to agree with the revered opinions of Prince Charles.
Anyone who was a computer gaming fan would feel frustrated at their helplessness, but otherwise unaffected.
Another example is that of Chris Moyles, who runs a radio show on Radio 1 between the times of 3 and 6 pm. He is frequently advertising the Chris Moyles Chat Forum, where fans can listen to him as well talk to each other. The problem is that he refers to it as the 'Geek Room'. If that wasn't bad enough, he devotes some time each week on a 'comedy link' in which he and Dave pretend to be geeks in the chat room. They ask each other blatantly stupid and ridiculous questions, lending further to the geek idea. His criticisms are directed to PC users rather than gamers, but that still includes a good deal of us. This show is broadcast to an average audience of over 6 MILLION listeners. Still wondering why most people are prejudiced against gamers?
A major lieutenant in the gaming stereotypers army is the newspapers. There was extensive newspaper coverage in particular at the release of Soldier of Fortune and GTA3. The excessive violence caused widespread disgust among critics, and they descibed the users of these games as 'murderous sickos and psychopathic geeks'. This wrongly serves to enforce people's ideas of gamers as geeks.
Since this country has such big names preaching to us about how bad videogames and the geeks who play them are, what do we have to fight back with?
The answer?............absolutely NOTHING. Apart from maybe ELSPA, the gaming industry has absolutely nothing with which to fight against the typical idea of a gamer that is implanted in everyone's minds. This is one of the reasons that the stereotyping for the image of gamers still remains. It's because we have no-one in a high enough position to even question it.
But if we aren't geeks, what are we?
Standard humans is the answer. We are no better and no worse than every other human on this planet. People go clubbing, collect stamps, read, drive, drink and do many other crazy things for hobbies, we game for a hobby. In fact our hobby does least damage to other people, because it doesn't require us to get drunk, wake neighbours, spend lots of money, it's not dangerous and only requires as much time as we want to put into it. Prince Charles should be extolling the virtues of videogaming.
After considering this matter thoroughly, I have concluded that although the minority of the population that is gamers can't do anything about the bad name that has been created for them, they can at least realise the truth of the matter. The truth being that gamers are not to be looked down upon. In fact the government survey mentioned earlier pointed out that gamers are exactly the opposite of the 'geek' image, maybe even superior in some regards to non-gamers. But I mean, who's going to listen to a poxy survey when you can listen to bigwigs such as Prince Charles and the Daily Mail?
So the solution is for gamers to be proud of what they are. Not be embarrassed as though their gaming hobby is some of physical defect. Eventually, as we are entering a high-tech age, the world will learn what is in gaming, and it could well become a major spectator sport. The terribly unfair stereotype of gamers as 'geeks' should soon disappear.
Stand firm fellow gamers, this period of pressure being inflicted upon us by a non-understanding world will soon be over, and we will emerge as the supreme winners. When you tell stories to your grandchildren in the future, you will always be proud to tell them that you were among the first of the TRUE Gamers.
Brew
“Not a lot”, I replied, “Playing footy on the Saturday, and probably playing some PC games”. Instantly a look of disgust came across their faces. "Playing computer games?", they asked incredulously, "Don't you have a LIFE?" One of them went on to relate how he was working both mornings, taking the girlfriend out somewhere, and clubbing in the evenings. "I don't have time for computer games", he said, almost contempteously, "Those are for geeks".
It was the last bit that really stung, he called me a geek. No gamers like to be called geeks, even if it is the result of mass-stereotyping. I consoled myself with the thought that he was wrong, and dismissed it from my mind. Last week however, the same feelings of bitter unfairness brought the memory back in a flood. It happened when I was strolling round my hometown with a rather nice female aquaintance of mine. I invited her back to my house, and she accepted, "But what are we going to do there", she asked. I lightly suggested the first thing that came to my mind, "We could play some PC games".
The frown of disappointmnt that crossed her face showed only too clearly my blunder. "I don't play PC games", she said, her eyebrows arched. I desperately tried to redeem myself, "You'll love this one I've got, honest. It's called Deus Ex and it's one of the most innovative games of recent times, in fact.......". But her attention was already lost. "I think I'd better get on with my homework actually", she said, and moved off in the direction of her home. I just stood there helplessly. She turned back to face me after a few paces to deliver a parting retort, "I'll let you go home and play your little geeky games all by yourself".
Her last remark wasn't intended to hurt or spite me, but it hit home more powerfully than she shall ever know. Once again my life had been hurt by the frustrating idea that many people have which says that gamers are geeks that have no life. I was wallowing in the self-pity of it all when a thought struck me; what if they were right? Maybe gamers really are the stereotypically spotty, four-eyed teenagers that are despised by the public and so bury themselves in a virtual life as an escapism. Maybe........., Maybe gamers aren't stereotyped at all. Maybe the gamers themselves invented the idea of calling it stereotyping so they could have a clear consciense about themselves. Maybe.....Whooooaaaaaa!!! Calm down a bit. I stopped my imagination flying away and went home to think things through.
The dictionary definition reads as follows. 'Geek - A boring or unnattractive social misfit.'
I wouldn't class myself as boring or unnattractive, and certainly not a social misfit. Phew, panic over. I'm not a geek. Come to think of it I am neither spotty nor four-eyed either. Certainly not a geek then. So how did the idea that gamers are geeks evolve? It would be extremely hard to narrow it down a single person, but there certainly are key figures in society who have borne the idea along heavily. Prince Charles for a start.
Last year, the venerable Prince Charlie spouted the following, "One of the great battles we face today is to persuade our children away from the computer games towards what can only be described as worthwhile books. None of us can underestimate the importance of books in an age dominated by the computer screen and the constant wish for immediate gratification. Why can't the Millenium Commission or the lottery think about an even more imaginative scheme which would enable many more children to witness the best theatre, music and other performing arts? We have got the money through the lottery, I think many new generations of schoolchildren would be allowed access. Just allow them to experience it."
So Prinny of the Wales is telling us that we should leave our computers behind us and focus on more beneficial material like theatre and literature. This is the man who regularly engages in his favoured pastime of deer-hunting. Yet this heartless slaughter doen't stop him lecturing Britain on the bad effects of 'gasp' virtual killing.
Also, he announced this just after a government survey revealed, 'Children who regularly play computer games enjoy many benefits, including better co-ordination and concentration, a wider circle of friends and improved general social adjustment.'
The fact that old Charlie has never actually played any games, despite always being eager to expound his unwanted views at any opportunity only infuriates true gamers. As we know, many games require a huge amount of skill and dedication to master, but it just depresses you when he disregards this as 'immediate gratification'.
The real problem is that his views are widely respected by most British residents. So to have him publicly slaag off computer games can only have a terribly detrimental effect on the population. Now parents who were going to buy their son an x-box or PS2 for his birthday may suddenly feel moved to act, and buy their son an encyclopaedia or something else like that.
It's this sort of negative publicity that the struggling games industry can do without.
Anyone who was previously against computer games would feel strengthened in their beliefs.
Anyone who had no opinion about computer games would tend to agree with the revered opinions of Prince Charles.
Anyone who was a computer gaming fan would feel frustrated at their helplessness, but otherwise unaffected.
Another example is that of Chris Moyles, who runs a radio show on Radio 1 between the times of 3 and 6 pm. He is frequently advertising the Chris Moyles Chat Forum, where fans can listen to him as well talk to each other. The problem is that he refers to it as the 'Geek Room'. If that wasn't bad enough, he devotes some time each week on a 'comedy link' in which he and Dave pretend to be geeks in the chat room. They ask each other blatantly stupid and ridiculous questions, lending further to the geek idea. His criticisms are directed to PC users rather than gamers, but that still includes a good deal of us. This show is broadcast to an average audience of over 6 MILLION listeners. Still wondering why most people are prejudiced against gamers?
A major lieutenant in the gaming stereotypers army is the newspapers. There was extensive newspaper coverage in particular at the release of Soldier of Fortune and GTA3. The excessive violence caused widespread disgust among critics, and they descibed the users of these games as 'murderous sickos and psychopathic geeks'. This wrongly serves to enforce people's ideas of gamers as geeks.
Since this country has such big names preaching to us about how bad videogames and the geeks who play them are, what do we have to fight back with?
The answer?............absolutely NOTHING. Apart from maybe ELSPA, the gaming industry has absolutely nothing with which to fight against the typical idea of a gamer that is implanted in everyone's minds. This is one of the reasons that the stereotyping for the image of gamers still remains. It's because we have no-one in a high enough position to even question it.
But if we aren't geeks, what are we?
Standard humans is the answer. We are no better and no worse than every other human on this planet. People go clubbing, collect stamps, read, drive, drink and do many other crazy things for hobbies, we game for a hobby. In fact our hobby does least damage to other people, because it doesn't require us to get drunk, wake neighbours, spend lots of money, it's not dangerous and only requires as much time as we want to put into it. Prince Charles should be extolling the virtues of videogaming.
After considering this matter thoroughly, I have concluded that although the minority of the population that is gamers can't do anything about the bad name that has been created for them, they can at least realise the truth of the matter. The truth being that gamers are not to be looked down upon. In fact the government survey mentioned earlier pointed out that gamers are exactly the opposite of the 'geek' image, maybe even superior in some regards to non-gamers. But I mean, who's going to listen to a poxy survey when you can listen to bigwigs such as Prince Charles and the Daily Mail?
So the solution is for gamers to be proud of what they are. Not be embarrassed as though their gaming hobby is some of physical defect. Eventually, as we are entering a high-tech age, the world will learn what is in gaming, and it could well become a major spectator sport. The terribly unfair stereotype of gamers as 'geeks' should soon disappear.
Stand firm fellow gamers, this period of pressure being inflicted upon us by a non-understanding world will soon be over, and we will emerge as the supreme winners. When you tell stories to your grandchildren in the future, you will always be proud to tell them that you were among the first of the TRUE Gamers.
Brew
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Lol, I am not a girl.
*gets angry*
*gets angry*
Protoss = she?
Ich bin confused
Ich bin confused
hi protoss m8 thanks for responding to my first post,ya 1 of the only decnt ppl out there(apart from all the fags that are on special reserve-you know who you are! :)who responded nicely and apropreatly,i enve ppl like you,(im spending so much time around gay boys im starting ta type like 1 aswellhahahahhahaahahahha
Phi11ip wrote:
> 'What shall we do though?' She says
> 'Maybe we could do some homework and watch a bit of TV' You say
> 'Sounds good' She says
>
> Now work from there....
>
> 'Wanna see my room?'
No thanks mate.
> 'What shall we do though?' She says
> 'Maybe we could do some homework and watch a bit of TV' You say
> 'Sounds good' She says
>
> Now work from there....
>
> 'Wanna see my room?'
No thanks mate.
'What shall we do though?' She says
'Maybe we could do some homework and watch a bit of TV' You say
'Sounds good' She says
Now work from there....
'Wanna see my room?'
'Maybe we could do some homework and watch a bit of TV' You say
'Sounds good' She says
Now work from there....
'Wanna see my room?'
1) That was one hell of a long post, brew.
2) If you're at Uni then I would have thought that you would like to
concentrate more on......other matters, rather than PC games.
3) You take a girl home and show her a COMPUTER GAME? DUES EX? ARE YOU
INSANE? I'm not saying that you're a geek, but, please, some common
sense wouldn't go amiss here.
4) Don't take any cr*p from people.
5) Why am I doing this?
2) If you're at Uni then I would have thought that you would like to
concentrate more on......other matters, rather than PC games.
3) You take a girl home and show her a COMPUTER GAME? DUES EX? ARE YOU
INSANE? I'm not saying that you're a geek, but, please, some common
sense wouldn't go amiss here.
4) Don't take any cr*p from people.
5) Why am I doing this?
Brew wrote:
It
> happened when I was strolling round my hometown with a rather nice
> female aquaintance of mine. I invited her back to my house, and she
> accepted, "But what are we going to do there", she asked. I
> lightly suggested the first thing that came to my mind, "We could
> play some PC games".
>
> The frown of disappointmnt that crossed her face showed only too
> clearly my blunder. "I don't play PC games", she said, her
> eyebrows arched. I desperately tried to redeem myself, "You'll
> love this one I've got, honest. It's called Deus Ex and it's one of
> the most innovative games of recent times, in fact.......". But
> her attention was already lost. "I think I'd better get on with
> my homework actually", she said, and moved off in the direction
> of her home. I just stood there helplessly. She turned back to face
> me after a few paces to deliver a parting retort, "I'll let you
> go home and play your little geeky games all by yourself".
LOL! You baffon, what did you think her reaction would be!?
Come to think of it...there isn't much to do at my house...damn.
> Her last remark wasn't intended to hurt or spite me,
I think it was.
It is interesting to know that the games industry is almost bigger than the music industry according to the news recently, and that it will overtake it within 2 years...lol.
It
> happened when I was strolling round my hometown with a rather nice
> female aquaintance of mine. I invited her back to my house, and she
> accepted, "But what are we going to do there", she asked. I
> lightly suggested the first thing that came to my mind, "We could
> play some PC games".
>
> The frown of disappointmnt that crossed her face showed only too
> clearly my blunder. "I don't play PC games", she said, her
> eyebrows arched. I desperately tried to redeem myself, "You'll
> love this one I've got, honest. It's called Deus Ex and it's one of
> the most innovative games of recent times, in fact.......". But
> her attention was already lost. "I think I'd better get on with
> my homework actually", she said, and moved off in the direction
> of her home. I just stood there helplessly. She turned back to face
> me after a few paces to deliver a parting retort, "I'll let you
> go home and play your little geeky games all by yourself".
LOL! You baffon, what did you think her reaction would be!?
Come to think of it...there isn't much to do at my house...damn.
> Her last remark wasn't intended to hurt or spite me,
I think it was.
It is interesting to know that the games industry is almost bigger than the music industry according to the news recently, and that it will overtake it within 2 years...lol.
Just think of it this way mate, you spend your money on games while they go clubbing and stuff. What do they have to show for the money they spend ? Puddles of vomit and a lack of any knowledge about what happend the night before.
I play games a lot but I don't consider myself a geek. I have a gf, a good number of close friends and I have a laugh with them without having to goto clubs and stuff. I've found that a night in with friends and the game system along with a takeaway has given my group a lot more laughs and good times than going to a club and drinking ourselves to puking point.
Can't even socialise in a club half the time cause youcan't hear eachother.
The "cool" thing to do in a lot of peoples eyes is to drink your wages away while trying to support yourself on a girls shoulders while trying to dump your tongue in her mouth. If you manage to do that without covering her front in vomit then your well away.
Like I said, I have a gf and shes far from a bad catch. Silent85 has seen a pic of her if you need another opinion. ;-)
Not only that but I have another girl who likes me and has said shes reserved her spot if my gf ever dumps me. ;-))
Not bad for someone whos played games all their life. I'm sure plenty of others on here are doing fine when it comes to their social life too. Pretty sad when people call someone else a geek when they're idea of being cool is to feel like crap every sunday morning with little memory of the night before. Not to mention the odd moment of rolling over to find a woman 4 times their weight laying next to them. ;-))
I play games a lot but I don't consider myself a geek. I have a gf, a good number of close friends and I have a laugh with them without having to goto clubs and stuff. I've found that a night in with friends and the game system along with a takeaway has given my group a lot more laughs and good times than going to a club and drinking ourselves to puking point.
Can't even socialise in a club half the time cause youcan't hear eachother.
The "cool" thing to do in a lot of peoples eyes is to drink your wages away while trying to support yourself on a girls shoulders while trying to dump your tongue in her mouth. If you manage to do that without covering her front in vomit then your well away.
Like I said, I have a gf and shes far from a bad catch. Silent85 has seen a pic of her if you need another opinion. ;-)
Not only that but I have another girl who likes me and has said shes reserved her spot if my gf ever dumps me. ;-))
Not bad for someone whos played games all their life. I'm sure plenty of others on here are doing fine when it comes to their social life too. Pretty sad when people call someone else a geek when they're idea of being cool is to feel like crap every sunday morning with little memory of the night before. Not to mention the odd moment of rolling over to find a woman 4 times their weight laying next to them. ;-))
doublezero wrote:
> Having a multiplayer showdown on Halo with your mates is way more fun
> than sitting in your sh*tty local pub drinking beer that tastes like pee
Get out, meet new people. Most arguements here are just proving that you in any ways are a geek! Lets go out, meet people, get completely slaughtered, pull a few birds.....
No, lets play Halo....
> Having a multiplayer showdown on Halo with your mates is way more fun
> than sitting in your sh*tty local pub drinking beer that tastes like pee
Get out, meet new people. Most arguements here are just proving that you in any ways are a geek! Lets go out, meet people, get completely slaughtered, pull a few birds.....
No, lets play Halo....
great point raised there... it really depends on the length of time spent playing games really.. *questions himself* i'm "hip" Yeah yeah thats all ...(:P)
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