How "into" gaming are you

[SeeIn2D]

I'm going to post two responses to this. The reason being, is because gaming has felt a little stale to me lately, but I'm not sure if that's because there just haven't been good releases this year, or if the medium as a whole is just getting old for me.

First response:
I have always been an avid gamer. That is not to say I don't do other things, I play soccer every other day and get out and see the sun. However I do have a Hauppauge HD PVR to record any games I think are fun. I do have a youtube channel to go with that. And I do have a set of Tritton AX720s for my PS3. Every since my parents got me my first game console in 2001 (the PS2) I have loved every minute of gaming. I remember being up very late with my friends playing Halo at their houses, and playing Fifa with my friends which was the first game they got me to go with the PS2. Before my first console I had a Gameboy Color which was basically purchased for me because my parents needed something to occupy my time on a long flight to Hawaii. So in terms of all of this stuff, I am very into gaming. When I go on Call of Duty 4 I play very competitively and I do get into "The Zone", especially with my headset on.

Second Response:
Lately I have not been as into gaming simply because it is, for the time being, stale for me. I have played basically all of my games into the ground. That isn't to say I don't have any fun with them anymore, I just need something new. The reason I don't buy any new games, is because absolutely none of them are remotely interesting to me. I have played all the games that look like I might want them and I just end up putting them down with a very 'meh' impression. I really hope this changes with the close of Q4 this year and all the great games coming out, but for I am just not as 'into' gaming as I used to be.

 

[Screamarie]

...So....you're self-hating gamer?...and apparently we should all jump on that band wagon and be ashamed of ourselves? If playing games makes you feel so ashamed of yourself maybe you should quit. But for others of us who don't care that people think, we're just going to keep on doing what we're doing.

My brother is a gamer, he's 30. He's also going to get married soon and adopt his fiancee's daughter as his own. I'm 23 and I'm a gamer and I just graduated with my Bachelor's in English and I'm going to go on to get my Masters. My mother likes to play games, casual and facebook, but games all the same. She's 50, has been married for 23 years, has had 2 children, has been a housewife and worked in a bakery. So tell me, have we not grown up yet?
Simply accepting the views that non-gamers like to put on gamers and nerds in general doesn't help us. It just makes them think they're right. It's best to instead prove them wrong and be an example....but hey, what do I know?

People ask me what I like to do for fun, one of the first things out of my mouth is video games. I will wear my Mass Effect hoodie with pride, I proudly walk into a game store, in broad daylight, and purchase as many games as I can pay for and if I ever get the money I will go to a gaming convention.

 

[Camarilla]

Pfft, I just bought 2 GoG.com shirts, I spent £1,700 on a gaming rig last year, and I'm currently doing Games Design at Uni, so you could probably say I'm quite into gaming. I don't give a rat crap if some stranger on the street/on the internet thinks I'm too old to be a gamer. It's my life, I'll do as I please. Also, who do you think made most of those games you play? 'Cause it sure as hell wasn't 12 year olds.

 

[Stravant]

I'm into gaming enough that I'd GO to game conferences, and I'd even be one of the nerds who'd line up for over an hour just to get a 15-20 minute demo of a game.

But unless the conference was taking place in my general living area, I wouldn't take the time to go, because I hate traveling.

Which means of course I'll never go to one, seeing as how I live in Canada, and nobody holds game conferences in Canada

 

[Harlemura]

I regularly wear my three Street Fighter shirts and I don't remember the last time I went a whole day without playing something. I don't really go out of my way to play stuff, I just don't have anything else to be doing.
I don't go to any conferences or conventions or whatever, but that's because all the worthwhile ones are in America, so there's that whole ocean-inbetween-the-UK-and-USA holding me back.

So yeah. Guess I'm into gaming. But I'm 17, so it's "allowed". I'd comment on how I think that tigma's incorrect, but it's been said a lot better in this thread already. So I'll leave it at "I agree with those guys".

 

[chaosyoshimage]

"Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

-C.S. Lewis

Yeah, frak public perception of things. I wear video game shirts, as well as comic book shirts, cartoons, and movie ones (Stuff like Indiana Jones and Star Wars). Hell, it just means I might meet someone else who thinks "thing I'm into is cool" as opposed to "look at the dork". I love the fact that in my Electronics class at a seperate high school than my normal a few years back, people loved my nerdy shirts. The coolest guy I've ever known thought my Transformers: The Movie (G1 with Unicron, Rodimus Prime, etc.) was genuinely cool. I even asked if he was making fun of me. Nope. Same thing happened when he asked if I played Pokemon.

I had the biggest crush on that guy...

Oh, the question, "How into gaming are you?". Very, recent years have bummed me out on the mediocrity of the industry and I don't like some of the things that are happening to it. But, I'm still a kid (19) with silly dreams about changing that. So, gaming keeps me going, and if I ever stopped I'm not quite sure what would happen to me. Probably something unpleasant...

 

[LikeDustInTheWind]

I'm currently wearing a shirt with DK on it and my cell phone has ringtones from both Zelda and Final Fantasy. I am also currently trying to find a good video game poster for my room. So, yeah, I would say I'm pretty into gaming.

 

[Saelune]

What is "growing up"? Is it losing all sense of fun, joy and happiness? If so, then fuck it. I'll stay a kid forever.
If playing video games is immature for adults, then fuck adults. I'd rather be looked down upon as immature and ENJOY THINGS than "grow up" into a husk of lifeless maturity.

 

[Legion IV]

I could write paragraphs how gaming s my passion in life and how its changed my life but the quikest way to say how much it means to me is.

If my dream girl, my perfect women wanted to marry me but i had to give up gaming, i'd say no and to kindly get the fuck out of my apartment.

also its all confidence.... i wouldn't wear like a Catherine T shirt, but i have T shirts i wear alot like my Fox Hound one, or my FF ones, but i never get insulted or anything because if you know me and see me you have to respect me or just kindly leave.

Every paycheck i pick up a shirt or a poster, my apartments mainly Full of FF Posters, i also have a room dedicated to Building Armored Core models and my warhammer army's, my Benchpress is also there, gotta find another place to put it though, its really cramping the style of my models. lol

OP: stop gaming really, go do something you think is grown up.

 

[Zakarath]

My Red vs. Blue shirt is one of my favorites, I'm going to see if I can go to PAX East this year (and I'd go to the GDC if I could swing it), and the only reason I'm not always out buying games at a store is because of Steam and Amazon.

Think that says it all.

 

[Robert Ewing]

I'm not as into gaming as I once was. I'm in a strange situation where I really WANT to be into gaming, but nothing is really satisfying my taste. Fun little games like Minecraft and from dust have kept me going this month. But I don't know what i'll do when I get bored of from dust.

Not minecraft, because thats impossible.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I don't have any game tshirts, but I have a few Transformers and Star Wars Tshirts.

Though I DO have a mint tin in modeled after a Hylian shield.

 

[AlternatePFG]

It's my primary hobby, but I don't wear any t-shirts or go any conventions of the sort. I've been gaming my whole life, but I don't feel the need to advertise it to everyone.

 

[MetaKnight19]

I'm still fairly into gaming as a whole and I'm not really bothered what other people think about me because of that. I still wear my Pac-Man and Guilty Gear shirts, and I tend to impulse buy a lot of games and accessories as well.

Spoiler: Example of an average impulse buy...

 

[DustyDrB]

I'm pretty heavily into it, but it's one of many hobbies of mine that I'm passionate about. As much as I love it, I'd still rather play music and surf if I had to give one of the three up. I really don't think there's that much of a stigma anymore against adult gamers. That stigma is against people who are consumed by it, but that doesn't apply to most of us.

No, I don't own any gaming T-shirts. I wouldn't anyway, I don't like logos on shirts (I pretty much only wear solid colors). And I don't have memorabilia, nor have I been to a convention (nor do I really want to). And I mostly order my games online. I absolutely love games, but it's not what defines me.

 

[AwkwardTurtle]

This is indeed the odd question. I'm not one to hide my love of gaming, but I haven't really gotten into all of the things you've mentioned. I haven't really gone to conferences or buy t-shirts. I prefer to show my passion for games through discussion with others.

I think it's silly to worry about appearing grown up, when all that matters is actually being grown up, right?

 

[Digitaldreamer7]

I <3 games and so does my girl. Im 30 and she's 29 and we play games regularly (usually a few hours a night after kiddo is in bed.) What we don't do a whole lot of is TV and movie watching. We despise sports and the culture that surrounds it (difficult to do here in football/handegg country.) We both have our cheeky game shirts we wear when appropriate. We could give a fuck less about what people think of our hobby. We are both productive members of society. We raise a child, have careers, take care of our responsibilities, and don't cause any trouble. Studies I have read put the average computer gamer at the age of 31. I've played online shooters and RPG's with people in upwards of 50-60. I'm a computer geek and proud of it.

TLR - Fuck what people think, life is too short to pass up the things you are passionate about.

 

[Vigormortis]

Do you wear the apparel? Go to the conferences? Go to game stores to buy games? etc?

Even though I like video games, I would NEVER wear the game apparel (t-shirts, etc) or go to the conferences and I even try to refrain from going into game stores in broad daylight.

Let's face it, by the time you're my age (26) if you're still playing video games you get slapped with the rightly-deserved stigma: you have yet to grow up.

Many gamers don't want to admit it, but if you're an adult who plays video games it DOES affect the way people perceive you. And it's even worse if you're really "into" it.

Come on gamers, can we be honest about the true nature of gaming please? It's not a socially acceptable medium for adults to engage in.

Ya, systems like the Wii are socially acceptable for their family-friendly non-engaging appeal, but that's about it.

I'm curious how being into gaming is any different than being into any recreational activity? Does playing, say, Starcraft 2 make you more childish then donning a jersey, painting your face, and getting drunk while you whoop and yell at the TV as your team scores?

I'm inclined to say no. Quite the opposite in fact. Your choice in recreational activities is not the sole factor that denotes your maturity level. In fact, more often than not, those that DO chastise others for their choice in entertainment (in this case, gaming) are usually far more immature than the people they're lambasting.

Just because society says you can do something, after you've hit a certain age, does NOT mean you're automatically mature enough to do it in moderation and not act like an ass. Being "into gaming" is no different than being into film, or music, or sports. And, if you feel uncomfortable admitting that to the world, then maybe you should reevaluate your self-esteem and perhaps start hanging out with other people.

As for me, I was born in 1983. Started playing video games at the ripe 'ole age of seven. Been doing it ever since. I'm not ashamed of it in the slightest. I have collections of console and PC games from multiple generations. Hell, I still have a working NES, SNES, N64, even a Game Gear. I have a Half-Life 2 hat as well as a Left 4 Dead hat. I also have several gaming-related shirts, including a few from online comics about gaming. I've even gone as game characters for Halloween parties.

So I guess you could say I'm quite "into gaming". But I'm also very "into" music, film, literature, art, and the sciences. So I guess I'm, in the very least, a well rounded nerd.

Oh, and I'm fairly certain gaming is, in fact, a socially accepted adult activity. I mean, really, how many people do you see playing games at home or even on their cell-phones on the bus nowadays? More than enough to warrant the idea that people "accept" it as a form of media for all ages. I fail to see your point.

Also, this:

What is "growing up"? Is it losing all sense of fun, joy and happiness? If so, then fuck it. I'll stay a kid forever.
If playing video games is immature for adults, then fuck adults. I'd rather be looked down upon as immature and ENJOY THINGS than "grow up" into a husk of lifeless maturity.

 

[Vigormortis]

I'm 29 and VERY into gaming, comics and technology. I was born in the early 1980's so I have grown up with all things thundercats and space invaders. When I tell men they are like 'OMG that's so adorable.' Then they realise I'm actually, in reality, a huge nerd and don't want to know. I have a theory that 30 year old men don't really want a girlfriend with a collection of Batman comics no matter how much they think they do.

I'm getting a tatoo of a space invader on my ankle for my 30th birthday :3

The happiest people on this planet are those that do not lose their sense of childishness.

Quoted for truth.

Um...I'm fairly certain that, in a few years when I hit 30, I'll be a-okay with dating a girl who has a collection of Batman comics. Hmm, yes. Yes indeed.

A space invader tat, huh? Of which? The tank, one of the aliens, or perhaps the stately UFO?

 

[Cridhe]

Is it weird that I WISH I were more into games but I'm not since most games since 200X haven't interested me in the slightest as hard as I try to love them?