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Now that consoles have seemingly grown up, there are more and more older gamers around. It’s nice to go to work and be among other people who have the same gaming interests as myself, but there still seems to be a stigma attached to the gamer at work.
I often take a games magazine to read at lunchtime, if I’m not reading a book or Fortean Times, and although a few people come up to me and chat about games, I still get funny looks. These seem to come from the stuck up suits that think squash or golf should be everyone’s sport, but if that’s what it takes to get to their level, I’m not going there!
So, is it right, now that there are so many gamers, that we should still have to deal with so many people who think gaming is only for those who haven’t left school yet? Well, the whole idea of ‘growing up’ revolves around becoming more mature and more responsible, but this doesn’t exactly dimiss the idea of playing games so it has to be something else. I believe that there are a couple of reasons why many people still don’t ‘get’ older gamers and their love of games.
1) The idea of fitting in
Some people are so insecure that they rely on other people to tell them what to do and what they should be interesting. Of course, the people they look up to are sometimes thinking exactly the same thing, which leaves everyone holding one foot in the air waiting for someone to make the next move. You have a situation here where someone who doesn’t care about this whole structure comes in and does their own thing. They get instantly shot down for it, because no one else wants to jump away from the herd.
2) The fear
Technology is still an unknown for some people, often people higher up on the company ladder. These people don’t want to be interested in gaming because it involves something they are not good at or don’t understand and they need to feel in control. They belittle gaming adults because they feel more secure with the things they know.
I’m sure there are more reasons, but these seem to sum up most of the people I’ve met who dismiss older gamers as pathetic or stupid, without saying it sometimes but making it obvious none-the-less. The answer is for all of us to proudly display our love of games, get others interested and get people talking. I’ve already got 2 people now thinking about getting a console who previously may not have even bothered. The two things that sold it were Rogue Leader pictures from my Nintendo magazine and the wealth of football games on the PS2, not to mention pictures of FIFA 2002 which were hanging around at the time!
Does anyone else here in the mature gamer bracket find that others feel obliged to point out their hobby or avoid them because of it? What have you done about it or did you feel segregated by it?
I often take a games magazine to read at lunchtime, if I’m not reading a book or Fortean Times, and although a few people come up to me and chat about games, I still get funny looks. These seem to come from the stuck up suits that think squash or golf should be everyone’s sport, but if that’s what it takes to get to their level, I’m not going there!
So, is it right, now that there are so many gamers, that we should still have to deal with so many people who think gaming is only for those who haven’t left school yet? Well, the whole idea of ‘growing up’ revolves around becoming more mature and more responsible, but this doesn’t exactly dimiss the idea of playing games so it has to be something else. I believe that there are a couple of reasons why many people still don’t ‘get’ older gamers and their love of games.
1) The idea of fitting in
Some people are so insecure that they rely on other people to tell them what to do and what they should be interesting. Of course, the people they look up to are sometimes thinking exactly the same thing, which leaves everyone holding one foot in the air waiting for someone to make the next move. You have a situation here where someone who doesn’t care about this whole structure comes in and does their own thing. They get instantly shot down for it, because no one else wants to jump away from the herd.
2) The fear
Technology is still an unknown for some people, often people higher up on the company ladder. These people don’t want to be interested in gaming because it involves something they are not good at or don’t understand and they need to feel in control. They belittle gaming adults because they feel more secure with the things they know.
I’m sure there are more reasons, but these seem to sum up most of the people I’ve met who dismiss older gamers as pathetic or stupid, without saying it sometimes but making it obvious none-the-less. The answer is for all of us to proudly display our love of games, get others interested and get people talking. I’ve already got 2 people now thinking about getting a console who previously may not have even bothered. The two things that sold it were Rogue Leader pictures from my Nintendo magazine and the wealth of football games on the PS2, not to mention pictures of FIFA 2002 which were hanging around at the time!
Does anyone else here in the mature gamer bracket find that others feel obliged to point out their hobby or avoid them because of it? What have you done about it or did you feel segregated by it?
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I'm only 17 (18 on 23rd December, for anyone thinking of sending me any money!), but already I've noticed that a lot of people in my age group have failed to maintain an interest in videogames. The obvious exception would be the likes of Edgy, who'd breed with consoles given half the chance.... but I think you'd all appreciate not having THAT image force-fed into your brains.
My mother is totally against playing videogames, saying that she's got better things to do with her time than sit in front of a TV screen for hours on end. Yet, this doesn't seem to be the case during primetime. Strange, that...
My brother is 100% behind videogames. He's always challenging me...and losing, unless he happens to challenge me to a game of GoldenEye or Perfect Dark, whereby my backside sees itself getting quite a hefty dose of kicking. He's also a PC nut, always fiddling around and most of what he knows is self-taught, so I think there's no immediate danger of HIM losing interest in consoles and videogames.
I would go on further, but that just about sums up the residents of my house...unless you count the dead rabbit buried in my mum's rockery, but she's less of a resident than a candidate for Resident Evil.
My opinion on the whole adult videogames thing? Well, surely it hasn't escaped everyone's notice that a hefty amount of games have the official BBFC "15" or "18" certificate slapped onto them? Any games rated 18 are obviously aimed at the more mature inhabitants of the gaming public anyway... so games like Grand Theft Auto, Soilder of Fortune and (for some unknown and bizarre reason that will remain escaped from my understanding for eons) Perfect Dark are, unless you were like me and looked far older than I actually was, only going to be purchased by the adult audience.
So I don't think that adults playing videogames should be something that is to be frowned upon by society. Videogames are manufactured to cater for everyone, no matter what age they are... and the sooner people see that, the better.
My mother is totally against playing videogames, saying that she's got better things to do with her time than sit in front of a TV screen for hours on end. Yet, this doesn't seem to be the case during primetime. Strange, that...
My brother is 100% behind videogames. He's always challenging me...and losing, unless he happens to challenge me to a game of GoldenEye or Perfect Dark, whereby my backside sees itself getting quite a hefty dose of kicking. He's also a PC nut, always fiddling around and most of what he knows is self-taught, so I think there's no immediate danger of HIM losing interest in consoles and videogames.
I would go on further, but that just about sums up the residents of my house...unless you count the dead rabbit buried in my mum's rockery, but she's less of a resident than a candidate for Resident Evil.
My opinion on the whole adult videogames thing? Well, surely it hasn't escaped everyone's notice that a hefty amount of games have the official BBFC "15" or "18" certificate slapped onto them? Any games rated 18 are obviously aimed at the more mature inhabitants of the gaming public anyway... so games like Grand Theft Auto, Soilder of Fortune and (for some unknown and bizarre reason that will remain escaped from my understanding for eons) Perfect Dark are, unless you were like me and looked far older than I actually was, only going to be purchased by the adult audience.
So I don't think that adults playing videogames should be something that is to be frowned upon by society. Videogames are manufactured to cater for everyone, no matter what age they are... and the sooner people see that, the better.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, a few mates and I had a 4-player Mario Kart session in the pub. After a few beers, we got rowdy enough that people were looking around to see why we shouting "get that shell up y'ass, yerbugger". And the looks we got from some people were comical - they couldn't have looked more disgusted had we all been eating each other's excrement. Having said that though, an equal amount of people came over asking to have a go, so it's not all bad.
I spose I'm the archetypal 20-something gamer. Been playing games since my brother got his first Game & Watch when I was 3. I've got other interests, I love music, I go out with my mates, I play squash, I snowboard, I juggle, I read and I play videogames. A lot of my friends are gamers, others are not. Between us, there's no issue. It's been a while since I had a negative comeback from someone about me being a gamer. So I invited them round, and after half an hour on the dance mat, they were converted. Their exact words were "this is f***ing stupid, but it's SO MUCH FUN!". Most of the time, it's this ignorance about what gaming involves that drives the negative feelings.
I tend to find that there's a lot of hypocrisy in those who dismiss gaming as a waste of time. Invariably, these are the people who spend a couple of hours a night in front of the telly. Of course, once you point that out to them, they stumble for words, often claiming that 'the TV I watch isn't for kids'. Well, suprise, suprise, GTA3 isn't for kids. Nor is Metal Gear, Silent Hill or Half-Life. Admittedly, Sonic Advance is, but then again, so is Tomorrow's World.
I tend to find that there's a lot of hypocrisy in those who dismiss gaming as a waste of time. Invariably, these are the people who spend a couple of hours a night in front of the telly. Of course, once you point that out to them, they stumble for words, often claiming that 'the TV I watch isn't for kids'. Well, suprise, suprise, GTA3 isn't for kids. Nor is Metal Gear, Silent Hill or Half-Life. Admittedly, Sonic Advance is, but then again, so is Tomorrow's World.
pb wrote:
> But seriously, I just don't let it bother me too much and actually go
> out of my way to show that I play and enjoy my hobby. Only today at
> work I was playing a two player Bomberman with a mate during lunchtime
> in a busy canteen, while others looked on in interest.
>
> (by the way, I really recommend GBA Bomberman, the multi-player is
> great!)
It's true. We all play Doom on our Advances or Mario Kart in the common room (when we should be revising).
It's interesting the way people frown then two minutes later they go
''can I play?'', ah well...
> But seriously, I just don't let it bother me too much and actually go
> out of my way to show that I play and enjoy my hobby. Only today at
> work I was playing a two player Bomberman with a mate during lunchtime
> in a busy canteen, while others looked on in interest.
>
> (by the way, I really recommend GBA Bomberman, the multi-player is
> great!)
It's true. We all play Doom on our Advances or Mario Kart in the common room (when we should be revising).
It's interesting the way people frown then two minutes later they go
''can I play?'', ah well...
It's still true, even today after Sony helped raise the average opinion of a gamesplayer into something different, that some people still look at game fans as kids, even when they are grown.
I say we burn them all... ;-)
But seriously, I just don't let it bother me too much and actually go out of my way to show that I play and enjoy my hobby. Only today at work I was playing a two player Bomberman with a mate during lunchtime in a busy canteen, while others looked on in interest.
(by the way, I really recommend GBA Bomberman, the multi-player is great!)
I say we burn them all... ;-)
But seriously, I just don't let it bother me too much and actually go out of my way to show that I play and enjoy my hobby. Only today at work I was playing a two player Bomberman with a mate during lunchtime in a busy canteen, while others looked on in interest.
(by the way, I really recommend GBA Bomberman, the multi-player is great!)
Keeping to the treatment of older gamers, i've found that although the 'average' gamer seems to be getting older, people who don't have any interest in playing generally still have the early '90s stereotype of gamers as kids.
When they encounter anyone who doesn't fit their stereotype, instead of acknowledging that their perceptions may have been inaccurate, or may not apply to everyone, they try to make you fit into what they expect a gamer to be. Whatever they really know about you, they try to infer things about you so that you do fit into their stereotype. If you're not a child, you must be childish. If it's not something they find productive, you must be idle. All they really need to see is that it's possible that their stereotype was wrong.
More worrying, considering that stereotypes are usually, by definition, hugely generalistic, i think maybe it says a lot about peoples' ignorance that they still insist on putting so much faith in them.
When they encounter anyone who doesn't fit their stereotype, instead of acknowledging that their perceptions may have been inaccurate, or may not apply to everyone, they try to make you fit into what they expect a gamer to be. Whatever they really know about you, they try to infer things about you so that you do fit into their stereotype. If you're not a child, you must be childish. If it's not something they find productive, you must be idle. All they really need to see is that it's possible that their stereotype was wrong.
More worrying, considering that stereotypes are usually, by definition, hugely generalistic, i think maybe it says a lot about peoples' ignorance that they still insist on putting so much faith in them.
Not easy for most to comment accurately on this when they're still in secondary school... a life ruled by peer pressure and image.
No. That's not true at all. Much as it's sad to admit it, the same thing continues well into adulthood, often not fading out of our lives at all. People are always going to mock those who do things they cannot see the appeal in. You're not going to be interested in something unless you take an interest in it.
Obvious, no?
Yet people continue to discard what they don't know about, basing those decisions on badly formed and woefully innacurate preconceptions. And they will keep doing this, disregarding the new, the unknown, or the 'geeky'. Playing safe because you can't go wrong, until one day you wake up and realise that it is you that no longer fits in, you've become a relic of the past, and the world has moved on without you.
But I've not yet mentioned why it is dismissed... and I think it comes down to this:
Girls, generally speaking, don't play video games.
These people who don't see eye to eye with the older gamers are mature, in their understanding of the word. To partake in activities which are extremely popular with, and strongly associated with kids, and also with only one sex, would obviously make you immature, wouldn' it?
Mature adults, either purposefully ignorant, or else still deeply affected by peer pressure. Either way, it's a sorry state.
No. That's not true at all. Much as it's sad to admit it, the same thing continues well into adulthood, often not fading out of our lives at all. People are always going to mock those who do things they cannot see the appeal in. You're not going to be interested in something unless you take an interest in it.
Obvious, no?
Yet people continue to discard what they don't know about, basing those decisions on badly formed and woefully innacurate preconceptions. And they will keep doing this, disregarding the new, the unknown, or the 'geeky'. Playing safe because you can't go wrong, until one day you wake up and realise that it is you that no longer fits in, you've become a relic of the past, and the world has moved on without you.
But I've not yet mentioned why it is dismissed... and I think it comes down to this:
Girls, generally speaking, don't play video games.
These people who don't see eye to eye with the older gamers are mature, in their understanding of the word. To partake in activities which are extremely popular with, and strongly associated with kids, and also with only one sex, would obviously make you immature, wouldn' it?
Mature adults, either purposefully ignorant, or else still deeply affected by peer pressure. Either way, it's a sorry state.
I don't believe some people when they say that you have to be attracted to games at a young age to enjoy them as much when you've grown up.
My mum had never played a single game before she started her Mario Bros. (NES) addiction in the early '90's. Nope, she hadn't even played Space Invaders down a local pub! But she took a very strong liking to it, and I have no idea as to why!
Strange how it was only really that game she played on the NES, and not anything else I had like Duck Hunt or Kirby. But she was up for hours playing Sonic on the GameGear the night before my sister was to get it for her birthday!
My dad also took a liking to the NES, also as his first gaming experience.
But he preffered a variety of games, where-as my mum just liked the simple platformers. Maybe becasue it was something different and new back then??
And seeing as they realised they were 'aeging', maybe they decided to try be 'cool' and 'popular' amongst more people!??
I don't know why. But I do know that you don't have to start gaming at the age of 5 to still do it when you're 40+. So i'm quite confident that we will see quite a few 20-30 year olds suddenly taking to gaming, mainly because of their kids!
My mum had never played a single game before she started her Mario Bros. (NES) addiction in the early '90's. Nope, she hadn't even played Space Invaders down a local pub! But she took a very strong liking to it, and I have no idea as to why!
Strange how it was only really that game she played on the NES, and not anything else I had like Duck Hunt or Kirby. But she was up for hours playing Sonic on the GameGear the night before my sister was to get it for her birthday!
My dad also took a liking to the NES, also as his first gaming experience.
But he preffered a variety of games, where-as my mum just liked the simple platformers. Maybe becasue it was something different and new back then??
And seeing as they realised they were 'aeging', maybe they decided to try be 'cool' and 'popular' amongst more people!??
I don't know why. But I do know that you don't have to start gaming at the age of 5 to still do it when you're 40+. So i'm quite confident that we will see quite a few 20-30 year olds suddenly taking to gaming, mainly because of their kids!
There are alot of lads and stuff at school that think they are so cool. They all hang in gangs and stuff thinking they are hard and they really annoy me. I have a few mates and we all have PS2's. However when these so called lads are around who think they are it it's pretty hard to bring up a convo about computer games. They call u a jerk and saddo. But what they shud realise that they are the skivs and they are up to no good and wont get anywhere in life. At least we can keep ourselves occupied out of trouble rather than causing trouble in a local park all day. Now thats what i call sad. Them....not us.
My mum liked Waverace though! She also used to play tetris loads and columns on the megadrive.
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