Gamers are fat, short, and wear glasses. Nevermind that I'm 5'10", 120 lbs, and have nearly 20/20 vision.
Gaming steroetype that you'd like to clear.
- Thread starter Hawkeye16
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A lot of the trouble is that so many people will play Call of duty for a weekend online and decide that the people they hear make up the majority of gamers. What they seem to have Trouble realizing is that we turn our mikes off because were not sticyly there to socialize and we don't like the annoying **** kids as much as them.
I just realised how much I should appreciate that delightful thwack. I have a sudden urge to run upstairs and throw them about.meganmeave said:
As for the topic at hand. Well, there's not many I have issue with, except the one about Halo fans. It would be nice for everyone if they stopped thinking we're all anti-social and stoners.
Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to go lock myself in with my xbox and a bong.
Well, see the problem with this and some of the other "myths" being dispelled is that by the statements your also at the same time disqualifying yourself (presumably) as being a gamer.RabidusUnus said:
To put things into perspective, I'd agree with you on 3 of those points but to be a gamer you pretty much need to spend most of your time gaming. There being a distinction between being someone who plays games, and being a gamer. It's similar to how someone who occasionally shoots some hoops once in a while is not nessicarly an athlete.
The thing with stereotypes, whether they are cultural, sub-cultural, "racial" (also technically based on culture), clique based, or whatever is that they are true. People
resent this of course, but that's what things like sociology are about. By saying you buck one stereotype oftentimes you wind up in another. People make the mistake of also assuming that a stereotype is "cookie cutter" and that to match a stereotype you have to match it on every specific point. When dealing with a person you can catagorize them as matching a given mould on the majority of points and make some pretty good predictions. It's noteworthy that even being a "non conformist" is a stereotype. That is to say someone who picks out every thing that defines the biggest stereotype they fear being associated with and deviates from it in some way. Simply by resisting the truth of this statement and trying to defy easy classification you become classified. This is also what advertising is based on.
At any rate, I digress. Gaming is a form of escapism, for someone to become a gamer, meaning their primary activity and defining trait is playing games, it means that typically they are withdrawing from society for a reason. Nerds and those seeking hard core escapism have ALWAYS fit a general description. The standard "fat or painfully skinny guy wearing glasses" stereotype is the SAME stereotype that was associated with an excessive comic fan decades ago. You also have the "rock music poseurs" who are the same way, but take music subculture to a ridiculous extreme... a fat or skinny nerd wearing black and worshipping groups like Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osborne, or whatever hoping it wouldn't make them a nerd. Closing themselves up in their room for 18 hours listening to ear bleeding music. That was an alarmist behavior before video games as well. One of my constant points is that people like that withdraw, and it's not the material they use for escapism that actually does it, take away one thing, and another will eventually replace it. The only way to fix problems like this is ultimatly to fix society and simply put nobody wants to address that issue which is why escapist material or the nerds themselves are targeted.
At any rate, the point is that while it is theoretically possible for there to be a normal, well adjusted gamer, the time investment in gaming to earn that label... or in any hobby for that matter, is enough to make someone abnormal. Society only accepts involvement in a few things (like athletics, or certain artistic pursuits) as not being truely "abnormal" or at least not a problem.
As a result I think dispelling myths about gamers is difficult because anyone who is aware (or self aware) enough to discuss it seriously is probably going to realize the truth. The people who are gamers who deviate from the stereotype are by and large an exception, and not the rule. For example someone who might spend 18-20 hours a day at times travelling or being on "standby" in a cubical (which is increasingly less common with downsizing) might spend enough time obsessively gaming to be an exception. A number of the "Celebrity Gamers" you hear about, for example are people who are going to spend a LOT of time travelling, or waiting to do something. Actors have trailers and such because of the downtime they can spend between scenes that require them (going from long periods of boredom and doing nothing, to frantic activity by many reports). A Rock Star, Model (Models travel around doing promotions and such), and similar types might spend 20 hours at a time in a bus or on a plane and far less time actually doing something before getting back on the bus or plane. Still this kind of thing represents a serious exception.
Furburt ninja'd me to about everything I was going to say.
though he did leave out that "All gamers listen to metal"
No we don't.
Only about 99% do.
though he did leave out that "All gamers listen to metal"
No we don't.
Only about 99% do.
That gamers have no social skills and cant find girls because we spend to much time on out games. Its anoying and insulting to hear that from a frat kids who been charged with rape, at least we get sex the legal way!
Yeah, kind of reminds me when a bunch of guys in my class were talking about Call of Duty and asked me if I played. As much as I hate to say >..<
Sure I may be an rpg addict but I know plenty of girls that can kick a man's ass at Call of Duty or Halo.
Sorry for the rant Xp
Sure I may be an rpg addict but I know plenty of girls that can kick a man's ass at Call of Duty or Halo.
Sorry for the rant Xp
I'm not fat (although I could be skinnier, I am in pretty much in the direct middle in average weight vs height) and I have had 3 girlfriends (although, never nothing serious). I am a bit perverted, but that's from watching the first Austin Powers movies as a child. Another generalization I would liked cleared is that all gamers are stoners- while I 100% look like a stoner, I am not. I'm also looking into hockey and I lift weights in school.
Another thing is, as it has been pointed out numerous times before by others, is that not all gamers are male. Although this one is.
Another thing is, as it has been pointed out numerous times before by others, is that not all gamers are male. Although this one is.
That not having a penis makes you a more "special" and worthy of more attention gamer.
Girl gamers are just like us, I'll treat them the same as I do male gamers. A laugh when I lose, a rematch to have another challenge and a "good game" if I win
Some female gamers seem to think being a girl can be an excuse for not being good at a game, that pisses me off when they do that. It doesn't matter if you lose, but it does annoy when you make excsuses like that. Most guys I know take it on the chin, I hope this is the case for girls too.
The ones I play at my place and online happen to be the more annoying type... But they are my friends so I have to put up with it.
Girl gamers are just like us, I'll treat them the same as I do male gamers. A laugh when I lose, a rematch to have another challenge and a "good game" if I win
Some female gamers seem to think being a girl can be an excuse for not being good at a game, that pisses me off when they do that. It doesn't matter if you lose, but it does annoy when you make excsuses like that. Most guys I know take it on the chin, I hope this is the case for girls too.
The ones I play at my place and online happen to be the more annoying type... But they are my friends so I have to put up with it.
I hate the typical halo fan bullshit you mentioned cos i get that one alot. I would also like to dispel the belief that all gamers are afraid of girls, live in their parents basements and have no social skills. I also know people who think im weird because i like halo and COD so i would get rid of that one too.
ScottLillie said:
Well, when it comes to the OP he seems to be focusing on a stereotype that exists within the gaming community as a whole. Truthfully though when it comes to certain stereotypes like FPS players I feel the exceptions are so few and far between as not to be worth much consideration. While he mentioned HALO, I see that as overlapping with other games like "Modern Warfare 1/2" and others, which are defined by things like the whole "Itzlupo Vs. The Pro" thing from a little while ago which pretty much became such a big deal that the entire gaming community was following it. That entire arguement basically revolving around a bunch of FPS players acting like tempermental 12 year olds who just learned how to swear, getting moderated, and then making an issue out of it. When you look at the number of people who were defending Lupo & company and their behavior it sort of says a lot about what your dealing with.
As far as preaching to the choir goes... well it takes guts to do otherwise. This is why you see so little in the way of action by the gaming community in general, other than people acting like twits. For example I could take some of my political sentiments and go hang out on a few forums where I have less overall interests (like gaming) and have people yell "hear, hear, you rule!" or the equivilent but that would be pointless. Rather I prefer to at least have people hear what I have to say that might otherwise not hear my point of view (except through tainted hearsay). Even when I upset people I feel having gotten them to think about things from a differant perspective for a bit is good thing. Even on The Internet people tend to generally not be that brave... (and no, I do not consider hit and runs by trolls, even well intentioned ones to be the same thing).
For example if someone wanted to go debunk gaming stereotypes in say a pro-Atkinson forum they would wind up getting a ton of hostility, and well expressed counter arguements, which they probably don't want to deal with. As well as risk moderation and such.