[PriZm]

It has come to my attention recently that there are almost no decent outlet for people who like video games on the internet. I will call those people 'we' because although I certainly don't want to identify with 'gamer' culture, I refuse to be ashamed to play video games.

The image we are projecting through the official media is simply awful. Game 'journalism' is atrocious. Gaming must not be very attractive to outsiders if they wanna get informed. Console wars, trolls, kotaku, adoration/racism towards Japan, competitive vs scrubs, casual vs hardcore, nerd rage, internet tough guys, etc. These are all by far the most popular terms we get associated with and frankly I find it disgusting.

I have a friend who is a major movies buff, and although he was certainly against blockbusters when he was young and used to call everyone who liked stuff like Rocky or Total Recall ignorant tasteless idiots but, as he matured, he began to understand that not every movie aims to be a philosophical contemplation and an innovative artistic masterpiece. He began to understand the intention behind a movie and could appreciate the blockbusters like everyone. My point is, is game culture simply young and not mature enough, and will it ever grow up ? Is it because the medium itself is young or because games mostly cater to younger people ?

Also, since the more reasonable people are more likely to be less vocal since by definition they probably don't care about these issues, is there any way for us to change the image that we are projecting ?

Is there a way to project an image where we don't care about XBOX360 vs PS3;

where we don't find it particularly fun to piss other people off;

where we don't care that a girl cosplaying as whoever made a panties shot;

where we can appreciate and be intrigued by Japan and its culture without becoming obsessive and without being called weeaboos;

where we find it frustrating to lose to someone who always does the same move in a fighting game and yet don't care enough to become competitive tournament players;

where we don't care whether a game is labelled hardcore or casual and can find enjoyment in both games like Bejeweled and Farmville as well as more involving ones like Call of Duty and Dark Souls ?

[Gollgagh]

Originally Posted by PriZm

where we don't care whether a game is labelled hardcore or casual and can find enjoyment in both games like Bejeweled and Farmville as well as more involving ones like Call of Duty and Dark Souls ?

I was actually thinking about this one last night when I was rating a few DSiWare games last night. The channel itself asks whether the game is more appropriate for "Everyone" vs "Gamers" and if the gameplay was more "Casual" vs "Intense" and nothing else about the game. It just seems like it boils down the game to a pointless dichotomy that doesn't even mean anything any more.

Why would you make those two the most important questions to ask if they don't actually tell you anything about the game?

[Bahamut]

I personally choose to ignore labels or platform and enjoy whatever game I play for what it is, casual or otherwise. I don't particularly care about labels when it comes to enjoyment. They may help facilitate discussion about certain topics, but other than that I don't care. I have already reached that point. I'm sure eventually there will be lots of other gamers who have too (and I'm sure there are some others who are likeminded as me here), but I'm not even interested in when it happens. What others do doesn't concern me.

[Moomba]

I don't think it's particularly likely to change. Interest will always default to the controversial and dramatic side of the fanbase. Unless you kill anonymity, there will always be extremely vocal people who cause most of the stereotypes we're labelled with.

In my opinion, one of the reasons why it may not be quite as bad on the film side of things is because the medium itself doesn't promote interaction between the community quite as much. These days, with multiplayer of all types generally playing major roles in most games, we're always pushed into interacting with other members of the community, often in slightly stressful situations, and that's where the clashes really begin.

Additionally, the video game industry has more levels of diversity in what people are looking for when they play a game - from graphics to storyline to gameplay and it's generally nigh on impossible to cater to all of them so someone will always complain about something and spark a war.

Plus, we'll never be rid of trolls. Never.

Generally, I just tend to ignore anything people try to label me as. It doesn't really matter that much at the end of the day.

[Mirby]

I, for one, have enjoyed nearly all the games I've played. There are a few that were just stinkers, but most were great. then again I also try to avoid the universally despised ones.

I also don't subscribe to the console wars, PC elitism confounds me, Japan's cool, spamming doesn't bug me, and the casual/hardcore gamer debate is just inane.

[PriZm]

oh my post wasn't a generalization. I wasn't saying that all gamers are like this but only underlining the points that make us have a negative image in general.

If you are not personally guilty of any of these, then more power to you, but I was asking was what do you think could change this.

Also I understand that we cannot get rid of the trolls, same thing as we can't get rid of bullying, but is it possible to make their presence not a defining factor of gaming experience and culture ?

[Mirby]

We'd need to be a louder voice than them, a more prominent side of the community.

However, it's only the negatives that people remember things by. In the case of gamers, it's the stereotypes of the aggressive guy who yells all the time playing Call of Duty, the morbidly obese nerd with severe acne playing WoW in his mom's basement, the PC gamer who scoffs at any and all consoles because he is much better than everyone else because he is a PC gamer, and so on and so forth.

With all those corrupting what could be a good image, it's a nearly insurmountable task to replace those as the image, as the representation of the culture.

[The Derrit]

its the same story you get in the news all the time, generally speaking people who are muslims are labeled as terrorists even though the vast majority of people who are muslims aren't terrorists.

why? because someone blowing up a town over 52 virgins is a much better story than 'muslims peacefully exist'

and its the same for gamers

[Mirby]

Originally Posted by The Derrit

its the same story you get in the news all the time, generally speaking people who are muslims are labeled as terrorists even though the vast majority of people who are muslims aren't terrorists.

why? because someone blowing up a town over 52 virgins is a much better story than 'muslims peacefully exist'

and its the same for gamers

same with pit bulls. PIT BULL MAULS THREE YEAR OLD GIRL makes much better story than PIT BULL LOVES FAMILY AND DOES NOTHING BAD.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

The most tossed around statistic is that the average age of a person who plays video games is around 35 years of age. This statistic is misleading in that it might lead people to assume that these are a bunch of 35-year-olds who picked up video games for the first time instead of people who just grew up gaming.

Games are still too "comic book" in their scope of audience, and until games "mature", the stereotypes are going to persist.