As far as I see it game enthusiasts try to create a separate sub-culture of gaming (or, possibly, someone who wants to profit creates it for them). Still, does gaming, as a medium, need to have a separate group of receivers of the medium?
A sub-culture, or any other group of people who consider themselves as the us (we, who play games) and the outsiders as the them (they, who do not) restricts access to the medium.
How? By promoting the ?gaming culture? the gamers imply that whoever plays games is somehow related to the culture of gaming. A culture that may not be very appealing to a non-gamer. The widely promoted gaming culture events push that forward ? we are gamers, they say, we have our own culture, we are the we and you are the you. You play games, you become one of us.
And then there are those who pride themselves in being part of that culture. In most cases an act of defiance (as a relatively new medium gaming receives a lot of criticism, it?s cool to defy stuff).
And now consider someone who would in other circumstances like video games is discouraged by the notion that he or she would be considered a ?gamer? ? which in turn is connected to a negative stereotype. Is someone watches TV for a few hours every week there?s no ?stigma? in this. If someone spends the same amount of time playing games ? whoop! We have a gamer!
Does mainstream cinema have its own ?movie-goer culture?? Is reading a book associated with a particular kind of person? Not really, not today at least. So why should games create such a cultural environment?
If we want the mainstream medium of gaming to be treated on par with cinema, television etc, should we really promote this kind of thing? Those other mediums don?t have their own cultures and are not associated with stereotypes, why should gaming be?
Why not do the opposite? Why not cut the gamer from the gaming? Why not show that you don?t have to be a part of something to play a video game? Why not try and show that mainstream gaming is something that you can talk about without being labeled as a gamer?
A sub-culture, or any other group of people who consider themselves as the us (we, who play games) and the outsiders as the them (they, who do not) restricts access to the medium.
How? By promoting the ?gaming culture? the gamers imply that whoever plays games is somehow related to the culture of gaming. A culture that may not be very appealing to a non-gamer. The widely promoted gaming culture events push that forward ? we are gamers, they say, we have our own culture, we are the we and you are the you. You play games, you become one of us.
And then there are those who pride themselves in being part of that culture. In most cases an act of defiance (as a relatively new medium gaming receives a lot of criticism, it?s cool to defy stuff).
And now consider someone who would in other circumstances like video games is discouraged by the notion that he or she would be considered a ?gamer? ? which in turn is connected to a negative stereotype. Is someone watches TV for a few hours every week there?s no ?stigma? in this. If someone spends the same amount of time playing games ? whoop! We have a gamer!
Does mainstream cinema have its own ?movie-goer culture?? Is reading a book associated with a particular kind of person? Not really, not today at least. So why should games create such a cultural environment?
If we want the mainstream medium of gaming to be treated on par with cinema, television etc, should we really promote this kind of thing? Those other mediums don?t have their own cultures and are not associated with stereotypes, why should gaming be?
Why not do the opposite? Why not cut the gamer from the gaming? Why not show that you don?t have to be a part of something to play a video game? Why not try and show that mainstream gaming is something that you can talk about without being labeled as a gamer?
