Gaming in Society

[itsoutthere]

It seems that as popular as Gaming is, Games are still not talked about in public. I understand that some people do and that's great (I think) But as a rough guess I would say about 90% of the people who play games don't openly admit it.
The Wii I think is a nice middle ground that people can admit they play because its more of a party system (Meaning having a bunch of friends over to play)
The best way I can think to describe it is this
If you are inside your home or your friends home gaming is okay to talk about is a secure environment but as soon as you step outside with other people around gaming, for the most part, isn't brought up
I think for the most part Society still hasn't accepted "Gamers", even though gaming keeps growing more and more popular
Does anyone else feel like this?
Should gamers be more open about games or should society be more accepting?
Can't wait to hear others opinions
Thanks in advance

 

[Citrus]

A lot of people still don't view games as a real medium. They think games are cute, stupid little hobbies because it's never covered in the media as much as movies are, and the only experience they have dates back to games like Super Mario Bros.

A suprising amount of people think that games play like they do in arcades, and that they're developed by some teens in their basement with some cheap program. They don't realize that they cost millions of dollars and a professional development studio to create, can have storylines as great as or greater than movies, and are deeper than running around jumping on things' heads. They view it as a stupid little hobby, and the reason they react so harshly to things like the sex scene in Mass Effect is because it breaches the boundaries of what they're comfortable knowing about videogames. They thought it was this, but as soon as they see that it can be more than what they perceived, they reject it because that isn't what they believe games should be. They should be 2D men jumping on mushrooms' heads.

Anyway, I believe gaming will become more open in society in the future, when the newer, tech-saavy generation replaces the generation that was around before the first personal computer. Until then, we'll have to sit around and listen to people complain about things like how sexual situations in videogames should be outlawed, despite being extremely prominent in movies. After all, videogames aren't about emotional investment, good storylines, or deep characters. They're about jumping on heads.

 

[Abedeus]

Actually, I have encountered few tabloids in Poland where they "review", that is put summaries of new games in the culture section, next to books, films and theatre.

Also, The Witcher has received a lot of (good) press, regardless of it's 18+ content. Maybe because it's an adaptation of a very popular book series, The Witcher, but still, I was surprised to hear that my parents have learned of it in a newspaper.