I have nothing against people who don’t play video games. It’s just another form of media, and in some cases another form of art. Not everyone watches films. Not everyone reads books. It’s not a big deal. But I do get irritated by people who don’t play video games and therefore don’t understand them, then judge and criticise those that do.
I recently rediscovered this brilliant ad for the very first Playstation. It captures something that I think a lot of non-gamers miss when they make fun of gamers. We apparently waste our time for hours sitting in a room doing nothing. Nothing? We build worlds. We live dreams. We face impossible odds. We go to places, meet people, have adventures, that would otherwise be impossible. You can experience similar things in films and books, but gamers live it. If all we did was sit and stare at a screen, it would be a waste of our lives, I admit that. But is that all we do? We live a double life. Is a double life a waste? Or is it something more?
The ad is about gaming in general, not necessarily the ones that make a good case for gaming as an art. But the point remains. Anyway, the ad:
Love that ad! I can certainly relate. I don’t know what people really think when I say I play video games. I get the impression that most men my age think it’s cool and most women my age don’t really understand why.
A fair point and an interesting advert but when you say “If all we did was sit and stare at a screen, it would be a waste of our lives, I admit that.” Are you dismissing time watching all TV as a waste or did you mean a blank screen?
Just sitting. Watching a tv could be entertaining, educating… Not necessarily a waste of time at all. I think some critics of gaming think of games like the ones you find on Facebook that become an addiction. Substandard gameplay with addictive scoring. My point is that gamers can be having pretty profound experiences depending on the game. Not just growing fake crops for fake money.
I think it’s slightly unfair to dismiss the sorts of games you get on Facebook. I don’t have any figures to back this up, but I’d be surprised if the explosion of casual gaming on Facebook, smartphones, Wii and so on wasn’t the biggest source of growth for the games industry over the past few years (with the possible exception of “blockbuster” games like Modern Warfare). I was an avid gamer when I was younger and still am when time permits. The rest of the time I’m restricted to 10 minute blasts on the likes of Angry Birds.
Also, great ad. Although not a patch on this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGAlDGYzI3I
They have their place and they’re popular. What I mean is that non-gamers sometimes think all games are like that.