Gaming celebrities

[Hey Joe]

I'm not talking about D-List celebrities that get invited to PR mixers thrown by developers keen to show that they're 'hip to the groove'. I'm talking about celebrities that achieved their fame through the medium of gaming.

My question are these. Does gaming have any celebrities to call its own and who are they? Are they Yahtzee? Are they Cliffy B? Pro Gamers?

Once we have outlined who is a 'gaming celebrity', we can then conjecture as to who will be one in the future. Will leads on blockbuster games be considered Spielbergs? Will American McGee be considered an early Wes Anderson of our medium? Will pro-gamers come to the fore or will media personalities rule the scene?

DISCUSS

 

[Space Spoons]

I'd think the big thinkers and visionaries of the industry count as celebrities. Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, Ed Boon, John Tobias... They aren't exactly household names to anyone else, but most gamers know their names and deeds. That makes 'em celebrities. At least, that's the way I see it.

 

[D_987]

Pro gamers = no chance!

They arn't celebrities as not that many people IN gaming know their names, I for one know a couple having seen their names posted by (lets be honest) nerds on certain forums.

I beleive people like Peter Molynenx, Hido Konjima, Cliffy B. Desginers well known throught the industry and by gamers alike are the celebrities of gaming. But its more the characters than anything, Mario, Master chief and Snake are all known by almost anyone.

 

[The_Deleted]

David Hayter made a name for himself script writing successful movies and voxing Snake if that counts.

 

[DannyDamage]

David Walliams (Little Britain) started off as one of the 'House Gamers' on a Sky TV gaming show called Games World - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_World

He was the *****-boy of Alex Verrey's character "Big Boy Barry". I'm sure he's pretty well known to some by now too - Enough of my trivia.

More on topic: I think some extremes will become more famous, maybe Yahtzee if he keeps making a noise and doesn't loose his opinions on other issues (instead of just gaming opinions). Pro gaming championships will become even bigger (imo) and grow as big as some other televised competitions/sports.

I feel that people who win gaming tournaments and such have just as much right to a little of the spotlight (if not more) than all of these pointless z-list reality TV celebs and socialite tramps.

Looking at it with a business mind, it's pretty easy to see the marketing potential. If a gamer is famous, chances are there's 1 game that got him/her there, this gives advertising space on the gamers chest in the form of a lovely t-shirt or jumper. This obviously can point to an individual console or gamer-chosen joypad/keyboard/mouse set etc.

 

[kinch]

Does Uwe Boll count?

 

[Frybird]

American McGee......well, is not a Gaming celebrity, but thanks to him naming the games after himself, we all know his goddamn name!

I guess the ultimate Gaming Celebrity is Nolan Bushnell. It's a name that is recognized not only by gamers.

Also, i think no one mentioned Sid Meier and Will Wright yet.

The "problem" with Gaming Celebrities is that they are just names (often) without faces, and therefore can't possibly be recognized by any sort of "boulevard" press.

I mean, even Director's are barely recognized by the greater public if they don't happen to be married to a "real star" (see Guy Ritchie) or have a household name (Steven Spielberg)

 

[TommyGun465]

Jack Black, one of the only celebrities who ACTUALLY plays games for fun.

 

[Syphonz]

if anyone says Leeroy jenkins is a celebrity..I will chastise them.

 

[Aries_Split]

David Jaffe.
.
.
.
....What?
Okay fine, Moar David Jaffe.

 

[Jamanticus]

Jack Black, one of the only celebrities who ACTUALLY plays games for fun.

You mean Stephen Spielberg doesn't count? I think they both play games for fun

 

[poleboy]

If you're talking celebrities in the same strain as movie celebs, most of them are pond scum in my opinion. A bunch of camwhores without anything intelligent to say about the industry, who use gaming as a means to feed their enormous egos and pathetic needs for attention.

If we're talking "pillars of the community" type of people, I would say Miyamoto, Uematsu and Kojima definitly rank up there for me. Molyneux, Tim Schaefer and Ron Gilbert deserve honorable mentions as well.

 

[King wiL]

David Hayter made a name for himself script writing successful movies and voxing Snake if that counts.

Yeah he's fraking awesome in the live action film of The Guyver

 

[MRMIdAS2k]

WWE wrestler Kane is apparently shit-hot on FPS games

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Jack Black, one of the only celebrities who ACTUALLY plays games for fun.

There are plenty of celebrities who game; Robin Williams, for instance, is a serious Warhammer/40k player... Nathan Fillion and Daniel Craig play Halo, as do a ton of bands like Breaking Benjamin and Incubus... I know a lot of movie and TV sets have DSes around for cast and crew for use during down times, including the Harry Potter sets.

(I had a bunch more examples, but they all puddled out of my brain as soon as I tried to write them down. Dammit.)

-- Steve

 

[haruvister]

Molyneux, Tim Schaefer and Ron Gilbert deserve honorable mentions as well.

They'd be my choices, too. We can squeeze Sid Meier and Geoff Crammond on the podium while we're at it.

It's heartening that 'gaming celebrities' should be considered those aspirational figureheads who've actually made a positive difference to the medium.

 

[Aries_Split]

Did I say David jaffe?

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I don't know if I'd use the word "celebrities" but in terms of gaming personalities I'd note the likes of Cliffy B, Peter Molyneux, Pete Moore, Hideo Kojima, Shigeru Miyamoto, Tomonobu Itakagi and the oft forgotten Yu Suzuki - the father of all the Sega classics.