It's a sad truth that video gamers are still a greatly maligned segment of the population.
Proclaiming oneself a "gamer," to most people, amounts to approximately the same thing as shouting "I'm a maladjusted, socially inept and immature weirdo with violent tendencies who has never seen a naked woman outside of a National Geographic magazine." We're also expected to have Nacho Cheese Dorito stains on our chubby fingers and action figures on our shelves.
But, of course, that stereotype is really a thing of the past. I don't know anyone who subscribes to National Geographic anymore, and you can see all kinds of nakedness on the Internet. Also I don't have chubby fingers. But that's not my point.
My point is that I still feel rather hesitant to reveal or get into my gaming hobby with people I hardly know - and even many that I've known for years. There's always this look people give when I reveal my fondness for pixelized dragon-slaying and explosions that's akin to the look you'd get if you just passed wind at a formal dinner party. I always feel like apologizing for what I like to do in my free time.
To me, video games are a lot more entertaining than the majority of shows on television today. I would much rather run through a virtual jungle shooting bad guys or meet other people online to raid a mysterious tomb for treasure than watch yet another reality show iteration where celebrities and models dance, survive or marry millionaires. I'd like to take them all to a tomb in the jungle and shoot them but that's just my violent tendencies talking.
Games are just much more interactive. It's like living the movie or television show rather than watching someone else have all the fun.
It seems I'm not alone in my hobby, though. At last count, the video game industry was outpacing the movie industry in profits. In fact, many top Hollywood names now work in the multi-billion dollar video game industry lending their voice acting skills to characters.
Even the United States Army has gotten into the act, producing the award-winning game America's Army. Used as a recruiting tool, this first-person shooter is free to download online and play, and is actually a superior gaming experience.
Video games are now being used to take various professionals into virtual environments as simulators for real life experiences. Everyone from airplane pilots to doctors are using gaming technology to enhance their skills, it seems.
In fact, since the recent outbreak of the H1N1 virus (the swine flu we aren't supposed to call the swine flu), medical scientists have been talking about using virtual gaming worlds like World of Warcraft as testing grounds to see how a virus can spread in a population.
A few years back, a computer virus infected players in that game's world. Incredibly, and despite efforts by developers to contain or quarantine zones, layers and servers, the virus continued to spread. It actually took on many of the characteristics of a real-world pandemic.
So if games are more popular than movies, and everyone is using them, then we must be in the majority. Hey, that means all you non-gamers are actually the maladjusted, social outcasts! Here's a bag of Doritos and a subscription to National Geographic.
We still love you.
