I would like to know, has anyone ever received stigma for being a gamer? I don't know why but I thought that gaming was a mainstream thing. But, apparently I still encounter people who thinks that video games are nothing more than "A waste of time" or gamers need to "get a life". I can probably strike up a conversation to anyone about a favorite movie, or a TV show, a sports team, or a song and book. But when I try to bring up a conversation about video games to people I get a lot of reactions like: "I hate games" or "I think they are evil!" So, what is it about video games that get this treatment?
yea this super hot botanist found out I was a gamer so she gave me a bunch flowers and as she pointed to the center of the flower she said, "I hope you like the stigma on this one"
games are cool and all but they're not something you talk about over the dinner table
games are kind of like an extended hobby. if you start talking about cars in front of people who have no knowledge of cars at all then they're not going to pay attention to what you say. you can get away with it more on the internet because nobody cares, but in real life it just makes you look like you spend your whole day in front of a tv/monitor playing games if you talk about a bunch of them. i don't blame people if they think of you as a nerd with no ambition because you probably are
People are more open to video games now. There's a closed audience to talk to if you're going to chat up your super sick raid in WoW, but I can talk to a lot of people about games. It depends on the person and the game, though. I can tell my girlfriend about games like Skyrim, or I can talk with her about the Sims or SSX Tricky (something we've both played.)
I began to really like my boss and he's been super helpful to me. Our relationship was bolstered when we started talking about State of Decay and other newer games.
Stigmas start to arise when you label yourself as "a gamer" rather than "a guy who enjoys playing video games."
[QUOTE=Archonos 2;41388500]People are more open to video games now. There's a closed audience to talk to if you're going to chat up your super sick raid in WoW, but I can talk to a lot of people about games. It depends on the person and the game, though. I can tell my girlfriend about games like Skyrim, or I can talk with her about the Sims or SSX Tricky (something we've both played.)
I began to really like my boss and he's been super helpful to me. Our relationship was bolstered when we started talking about State of Decay and other newer games.
[B]Stigmas start to arise when you label yourself as "a gamer" rather than "a guy who enjoys playing video games."[/B][/QUOTE]
this
I never say "i'm a gamer".
I just say I play video games idk about you guys.
Video games are pretty mainstream now, I remember 8 years ago I'd get mauled if I said that.
the rule of thumb is that if you tell people that you play call of duty and madden then they'll just see you as someone who plays games occasionally and not religiously. to me, if you log more than a dozen hours a week playing games then you have way too much spare time
[QUOTE=LordCrypto;41388535]this
I never say "i'm a gamer".[/QUOTE]
what are you talking about whenever i say that i'm a gamer i get showered in pussy
No.
But I find I can't get into any meaningful discussions about video games where I live because I don't know anyone who is as interested in them as I am.
with the prevalance of consoles and the billion dollar video card/pc economy i doubt there's any stigma
sure, if you're a korean spending 24hrs at a netcafe playing Wow and then dying of a heart attack, sure theres a problem
but for joe avg. who enjoys the occasional console game or even the guy who comes to fp... big deal
I never hide it but I never flaunt it.
Honestly I have not experienced any stigma over video games in a very long time, even from people I know who do not play them.
People who spend more than 5 minutes complaining about how they are treated for being into video games or other nerdy things are most likely looking for ways to pretend they are being unfairly discriminated against. This ties in to an article I read a long time ago that said that "nerd-dom partly began as a white male attempted to feel as discriminated against as any woman or non-white person". (I should find this article). This calls to mind people like /r/atheism and bronies, but sometimes gamers who try to act stigmatized.
There's less of a stigma now than there used to be but there's still people who think that because you might play games for a couple of hours in an afternoon that's all you do all day.
I been a gamer and everyone in my family knows about it as well, and I surround myself to people who also plays video games or anything other people who shares the same interest that I have. I take pride on playing certain games out there because they are challenging, put up an interesting story, and has a spectacular gameplay that makes me want to get hooked into that certain type of game.
I can understand that certain... conflicts can happen when discussing games out in the public when certain types of people prefer other things, like repairing or adding new shiny things on a car, or talk about work for the people who are diligent and industrious type of people who enjoys working, or enjoy talking about family, people, kids, and issues regarding family. Many people got a different lifestyle and sometimes just like video games that many people don't play, rather discuss other things, rather it's politics, religion, family issues, hobbies, comedy, and other shorts of things besides video games.
[editline]10th July 2013[/editline]
[QUOTE=markg06;41389491]There's less of a stigma now than there used to be but there's still people who think that because you might play games for a couple of hours in an afternoon that's all you do all day.[/QUOTE]
some people just like to look at the negative factors of people who spend hours on the video games and place that negative outcome onto everything like it's a stereotype, like all geeks have pepple faces and get bullied by jocks and football players...
i like high performance cars and with the police and the whole anti car enthusiast media and insurance
its a bigger problem liking cars than games
i put it to you that a guy who plays his games at home isnt a big threat to society
Speak for yourselves guys, I just spent the last 10 hours (with a few breaks) playing RIFT with my beautiful fiancee.
Talking about games in public makes me feel really weird, I can talk to my brother and cousins about games quite well, but only if I feel that nobody non-gamer isn't really listening.
I feel self conscious wearing a headset, I just feel like a twat in it
[editline]10th July 2013[/editline]
Can't talk to my missus about games, her eyes just glaze over. We did complete LBP, and TLOU together though
Well I used to know people that would give others shit for playing video games, but then again, these would be the same people that think that Russia adopting a law which makes telling children about homosexuals illegal is a great idea and that the rest of the world should do it as well, so generally only really narrow minded people. Well it is of course uncomfortable gaming a fuckton and then not knowing what to talk about with other people, but that's a different problem altogether.
[editline]10th July 2013[/editline]
though there is a stigma associated with actually buying games instead of pirating them round where I am
For all I noticed video games are as tolerated as any other form of media nowadays.
I still remember early 2002 years.
I would be redirected to a psychiatrist, if I would say that I actually enjoyed playing computer games way more than playing football, which I freaking hate, so do volleyball. On the other hand, I love endurance bicycling, as fast possible & as long as you can... too bad, my country doesn't like people who have bikes and bike paths are so frakking rare that you should make a worldwide discovery if you find one here.
Still, my best memory was when my grandma came sometime when I was 11 or 12, my parents went off for a day or two. After starting up computer I managed to launch Quake 3 and play it for 5 minutes, she came and tried to turn off my computer saying I have spent way too much time already and I should stop.
It was literally less than 15 minutes.
She went really crazy and tried to find fuses to turn it off, after she discovered that monitor isn't the source of "vile evil" ... what the hell.
Still, I don't talk to the people about games if I know they are not really interested into any.
I sometimes ask if they do play something, sometimes don't at all.
But I clearly see trend, that people who were "football" whores back there are starting to play some sort of a video game nowadays, even if it's an awful facebook game... Still it is something that means games are becoming more popular and less of a "OMG, this person needs help for playing a video game!"
Last year I was at university living in a flat with these two girls that were on fashion design courses or something similar. Lucky for me there was another student in the School of Computing there and we get along quite well.
So one evening we're just talking about random shit in the communal kitchen and one of these girls comes in. Me and my friend exchange a glance, as this girl is quite honestly pretty bitchy (trust me, I could write a book about what she did). She puts on her usual fake friendly attitude and asks my friend what he's going to do tonight and he replies honestly.
"Oh, I'm probably just going to play some games online with friends"
She replies with "Hahaha, that's weird!" and gives him the most shit-eating grin you could possibly imagine.
I think people like this don't have enough exposure to recent games to realise they have gradually gotten more complex and that people that aren't children actually play them.
Games aren't really a topic of conversation for the uninitiated so why you would ever start talking about games to a stranger is beyond me, if it's friends or family who have the "GAMEZ R BAD" attitude you should punch them really hard for being stupid
everybody plays videogames
it's only when you start posting shit on facebook about minecraft or whatever, that's when people are going to think 'wtf'
I dunno why everyone has such a problem, when I was at college I just hung out with p much everyone and didnt shy away keeping myself to myself, I hung around with the "cool" kids and my nerdy friends at the same time, people wont give a fuck if you play videogames if you're an actual half decent person that can integrate with society.
I had a few friends who were your typical stereotype of the cool kids who go out all the time partying and shit, talking to them they actually played decent videogames and had better taste than some of my nerdy friends, this one guy I knew collected figurines and read comic books and nobody gave a fuck or made fun of him because its your own personal taste, people act weird and shy away from others and assume people hate you because you're a gamer... Just dont act like a total sperg and you'll be fine.
I feel like to an extent, there is. If you flaunt it and you carry the sort of "nerd stereotype" then people are still going to dislike you for being who you are and all that. It's on the same level as calling yourself a "DnD-player" or something, it still carries a good level of stigma. In fact, DnD was exactly the buzz word my middle school PE teacher used, even though it would be video games at that point. I dunno, if you have social skills, then people aren't going to care. If you don't, then you're going to be pigeonholed as a sort of "anti-social" type.
I'm not a very openly judgmental person, as I'm sure most people are. I do however associate certain traits to people based on what I've seen people of that demographic do. However, even then there are sub-demographics within the overall "culture" of it. It's similar to punk or metal culture in that essence, it's something to identify with, although not all people who are technically part of the culture identify with it or necessarily accept the notion. You could just like punk or metal music and some people would consider you "punks" or "metalheads." It does have to be conscious though, you can play games and not consider yourself a "gamer."
Most of the time, the "gamer" stereotype, from what I saw in my years of high school and even now, normally makes me think that they are unambitious, which again, is not always the case. I'm an ambitious person, and I do other things, and a lot of self-proclaimed "gamers" also played lacrosse or football at the school, so the two were not mutually exclusive. There were definitely the socially unacceptable geeks who obsessed over a game or a series, but those have existed all the time. Caught in the middle are the average underachievers, who are good enough to get by but want more, blaming their own laziness and the fact that they'd play games over studying/homework, which in my opinion, is the most toxic way to associate with gamer culture. Yes, there are nerds who play a lot of video games, such as myself, but it really depends on how much you let it control your decisions and friendships. Some people use it as a springboard to gain friends, which makes a lot of groups "gamer groups," but it doesn't really offer much substance.
The thing is, games are really very different in their overall delivery, feel, and audience. Books are less popular now, but imagine if books were the medium. You'd have groups which mostly like horror books, but it wouldn't be very substantial and there would probably be better reasons to be friends with each other rather than just associating with people with common interests.
Take my own circle for example, most of the friends I have are gamers to some degree. My best friend and I play Kaillera and we've played Minecraft in beta, LoL, Dota 2, Borderlands, Killing Floor, etc. We even arranged a group of five at one point. It makes a good medium to hang out with without driving fifteen minutes to go see a movie or something, but it isn't a lasting or permanent effect. There needs to be something more to evoke closer friendships, like overall rapport or openness. However, I do have close friends who share different interests, like history, or just relatively nothing in common. One of my closest friends shares almost none of my main interests, but we're still friends because we can talk to each other about life in general.
Basically, I don't care if you associate with gamer culture, it's just as much of a blank slate as being a car/sports guy, which is probably the case for most people. If you're the "caught-in-the-middle" guy then I'll probably be somewhat alienated, but I won't be an asshole. People who are assholes about things like that are generally that way about anything. You can however be a giant tool about it, which is very possible. I know a guy who is a "self-proclaimed gamer" and he wants his name to be known, but the truth of the matter is, someone who ardently cares about gaming does not mention it all the time. It's just as annoying as being anything else, but it seems to be "cool" to be a gamer nerd these days or something. There are people who like to pretend that their entire life centres around gaming, but again, that's a very small population.
There is no natural stigma associated with being a gamer in this day and age, since it has permeated almost all levels of society and is pretty worldwide. It doesn't carry the same stigma as it used to.
[QUOTE=69105;41389305] to me, if you log more than a dozen hours a week playing games then you have way too much spare time[/QUOTE]
Yeah man, 90 minutes a day is WAY too much spare time!
Don't like 90% of people under 25 play video games nowadays.
There's no social stigma regarding playing games anymore, however there is a social stigma for being a basement dwelling mongoloid.
[quote]But when I try to bring up a conversation about video games to people I get a lot of reactions like: "I hate games" or "I think they are evil!"[/quote]
Also this is incredibly hard to believe.
A lot of people now days are considerate to what others like well atleast where i'm from, they will talk to you about what ever, even if they haven't played it but heard about it, nor is it a waste of time plus who cares what others think anyway what you do with your own time is your choice, aslong as you're not some murderer or like that.
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