The problem is that people think of "gamers" and "gamer culture" as a singular monolithic entity, that all gamers are the same. We're not. There are many genres, and genres that appeal to one person won't appeal to everyone. For example, I call myself a "thrill junkie gamer", and I gravitate towards racing games and shooters while avoiding things like simulators and hidden object games because they bore me to death.
There are groups that gravitate towards simulators, others that focus on role-playing and other story-driven games, and yet others that are like me and just want excitement. Yet when the media, and most other outsiders, look at us, they don't see the differences in what we like, they just see "gamers" without seeing the interests of the various different kinds of gamers that are out there.
There's a game for everyone, if they know where to look. And there's always the choice to play single-player rather than play online. You just need to look deeper than first impressions. Otherwise, you won't know what you're looking at or how individual gamers can be very different from each other.
