Ashamed of being a gamer?

[The Almighty MegaMan]

Gare, gamers around the world are all the same thing...

I have always been vocal about my love for videogames. I still am.
I think that they're way more than a way to kill time, myself - great adventures lie encased in these little dvds/blurays/etc, and I would like to have my friends come over to play something like Rock Band because it's a lot of fun to play that kind of game all together.

Games can be art (Okami), games can have rock (Mega Man) or movie-like soundtracks (Ace Combat), and in ways they let you do things you couldn't even in your wildest dreams (piloting a one spaceship through millions of enemies on a suicide mission to save the earth, for example).

Why would I be ashamed of it?

Shit, I'm planning on making an Einhänder T-shirt. Let that tell you all.

[crimsonedge]

Gaming for me is just something to blow time, although if its too repetitive I easily lose interest in it. I still consider it a hobby, but the older I'm getting the less games are starting to appeal to me.

I got multiple hobbies, some are more expensive than gaming. Some of my rifles use ammo that is pretty expensive. I could easily go out to the range and shoot $70-$100 worth of ammo in about an hour. That is only once a month I do that.

I used to race nitro RC cars, a friend of mine got me into it, and that was a money pit. They were fun but not for that kind of investment. I put them together myself except for building the engine, with some help and input from a friend of mine.

[MorkaiTheWolf]

I really think it depends on the area and what kind of people you grew up around.

For me, my family didn't accept my gaming as a hobby until I got into highschool (my dad wanted me to a football player which I was good at but didn't enjoy). It was rather weird considering my dad actually smashed a couple of my gaming items on more then one occasion (the most memorable had to be him smashing my original pokemon yellow and the special edition pokemon yellow gameboy color. I loved that thing T_T).

As for my friends, none of them batted an eye lash when I said I played a wide variety of games. I loved trying any and all games (save for sports games, just couldn't get into them for some reason). Now I follow the industry and my favorite developers quite closely, read up on any literature on games I can and in my spare time try out games through emulation before I search them out and buy them (Currently enjoying my small GBA library so much ). Though I don't get to buy many games now that I'm in my senior year of my undergrad program, it sucks cause I'm broke and want a new game which I haven't had since Dragon Age 2 and Pokemon Black/White came out.

That seemed alot longer then I thought it would be for my first post with my new account...=D

Wow...completely forgot to talk about if I was ashamed or not.
No, I was never ashamed of being a gamer at all. I wore it like a badge of courage cause it gave me certain skills above others (I was able to pick up most games alot quicker then anyone else I knew and whoop their butt! Especially SSX Tricky, loved that game back on the original Xbox.

[Zaladane]

Nope, we always gamed. Even during the crazy drug filled party time teen years. Even a lot of the girls in the group would join in as long as it was something like Mario/Spyro/Crash etc. However I do remember one who just loved FF7. It was the early to late nineties though which was a great time for gaming with the snes and then the playstation. Not that we always played but we did our fair share. Good times.

[KrimzonBlade]

I've never been ashamed of being a gamer. My dad was a hardout gamer, he loved his tekken and street fighter (but he was terrible at every other game we played haha).
I'm not afraid to tell people I'm a gamer, though sometimes I think it absorbs too much of my time when I could be studying or doing homework instead (but now that it's holidays that doesn't matter lol). I remember during my exam days off instead of studying I'd no life BlazBlue Continuum Shift 2.

Nearly all of my friends are gamers and we often play together over PSN or XBL since I have both PS3 and 360. We always criticize eachothers playing abilities and mock eachother when we choke or go bad in a game. I've always been a hardcore RPG gamer and I know the final fantasy series like the back of my hand and often bring this knowledge in everyday conversation for some odd reason. :L

[Andy_Jerk]

Well, when I was in middle school out here in WI in the early 90's it was considered pretty aberrant to be a gamer and I remember being called a videogame freak. But by the time I was in high school it was more acceptable and I had on more than one occasion brought the Breath of Fire games for SNES to school to let a Friend borrow them. Nowadays it's more or less acceptable, but since I'm older and I look like a big scary dude I've had clerks ask me if they should gift wrap the game for my "kids," and I guess that's been slightly embarrassing.

[Gare]

Gare, gamers around the world are all the same thing...

Oh, definitely. What I meant was the potential effect of your environment, your peers or the area you grew up in. I wasn't trying to over-generalize countries or anything.

Anyone that does more than that isn't "cool." Because, you know, they aren't getting smashed at a house party on a Monday night and showing up at work completely thrashed. Which is basically what's considered "appropriate behaviour" out here for someone who is 23.

That's actually the kind of thing I was thinking of when I made the thread. I'm pretty sure I've been considered a weirdo for preferring a game over a few hours at the local pub.

[Drageuth]

That's actually the kind of thing I was thinking of when I made the thread. I'm pretty sure I've been considered a weirdo for preferring a game over a few hours at the local pub.

I know I get the same kind of thinking. It's one of the few times I won't voice my obsession with games. Usually when I get invited to go out to "party" (ie., drinking), I opt out for various reasons. I usually tell them that I have other plans, or have to work early in the morning, or have to take my son that night, etc. I rarely tell them that I don't want to go to a party because I would much rather sit at home and play video games for six hours by myself. Because, quite honestly, that's what I really want to do most of the time.

[Lumian]

...Never had this problem, and never even knew it existed. Wow. Most everybody I have ever known (including many much older adults than me) has played and enjoyed video games and even if they didn't it wasn't a big deal that I did. As long as I got my homework done. . But then again, I'm a straight A (college) student lol. So no, not ashamed of it. I wouldn't know how to be.

[HeavyMetalGamer]

I look at it this way, if people don't like me playing video games, fuck them lol. Video games are a form of entertainment. Just like TV, Movies, Music, Internet, Strip Clubs, Prostitutes, etc.

I think where people get the assumption of a gamer being a "loser" is because there are dipshit people that spend hours, if not days on there video games and not do other things.

Me, I can probably play 4 to 5 hours, and be good, I just get to busy with other shit. Plus I like to go out and hang out with my friends etc.


Haters are always going to be haters. Maybe they are just jealous?

[Tassadar]

Not at all, all of my friends currently play games and gaming has become so common now even if it is only for the most casual of games. It's interesting how much gaming has become popular, I remember speaking to some guy years ago and I mentioned games only for him to respond about how he hasn't played them since he was a kid, flash forward to today and he has a 360 and PS3.

[Gypsy]

Not at all, all of my friends currently play games and gaming has become so common now even if it is only for the most casual of games. It's interesting how much gaming has become popular, I remember speaking to some guy years ago and I mentioned games only for him to respond about how he hasn't played them since he was a kid, flash forward to today and he has a 360 and PS3.

Gaming has definitely become way more mainstream within the last 15 years. Whether this is good or bad is up for debate.

Anyway, I've definitely never been ashamed of my gaming hobby. I picked up MTG when I was like 9 and it all spiraled from there. I didn't have many friends from about 4th grade (when my mom moved) until highschool. Lol. Good times.

[treos]

i've been gaming since i first got a nes... yeah, that was my first console over 10 years ago, then went to virtual boy, genesis, gamegear, and onwards up till the wii and xbo360 since then i'm mostly on emulators on the computer gaming but as for how accepted gaming is around here, i wouldn't really know as i actually don't get out much but then again its not like i really care what others think, be it good or bad, i just like gaming

[Gypsy]

me: I like video games
Them: how old are you
me:30 why
them: don't you think your a little old for games and you can't play your life away you have to earn a living.
me: I have a job and am looking for a better one and still have time for gaming which is something I enjoy
them:* shakes head and walks away*

I almost forgot to mention how much shit like this pisses me the eff off. Such bullshit. I'm hoping as the generations where gaming was more acceptable start to age this shit will go away but it probably won't.

[Lumian]

When the above happens, if it ever does, I am going to reply truthfully 'I have a software engineering degree with a minor in mathematics. You?' Unless I am a rocket scientist by that time. Odds are, they won't be.