Proud To Be A Gamer

A clueless mother hurriedly searches for what her daughter/son wanted. She can’t even remember the platform, never mind the game name. She picks up the aforementioned Barbie Horse Adventures Pets Fashion Designer Roller Coaster Simulator #27 and you struggle valiantly to keep your mouth shut, your eyes bulge and eventually start to pop out. You can’t keep it in anymore and your little gaming angel on your shoulder begins confrontation.

“Excuse me, I see you’ve picked up BHAPFSRS#27. Do you mind if I ask who for?”

“My daughter, why? Do you work here?” She snaps.

“No, I don’t. I just thought I could recommend a few games for your daughter, DS right?”

“Yes, DS. But what’s wrong with BHAPFSRS#27?”

“It just not very good, your daughter might not like it. Can I help you then?”

You put on your best smile, grinning ear to ear like some kind of videogame recommendation elf. She stands there silent, arms crossed and slightly perplexed.

“Here, try Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Chrono Trigger…” You babble on about the best games for the DS and eventually your apprentice picks out a brilliant choice and purchases it. Satisfied, you leave the game store knowing you have saved a child from the pinnacle of gaming atrocities.

A few days later, you find yourself roaming the game store once more, prowling for items to fill your signature gaming bargain bin. You see a familiar face, screwed up in a contortion of anger. It’s the same woman you helped out a few days earlier and boy do you get an almighty earful for “Forcing me to buy this, my daughter is so upset!” and so your brutal little gaming devil on the other shoulder kicks your legs into a rapid retreat from the store.

Alas, she was just but a thorn in your gaming crusade to enlighten those less fortunate to know when a game is good and when one isn’t. Yet, this further highlights that not everyone has the same taste, Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is surely one of the most widely appealing games out there, but undoubtedly some people don’t or won’t enjoy it, one bit. Everything all comes down to opinion.

Leaving that awful scenario astray, I ask: how proud are you to be a gamer? How long is it before that lovely new person you’ve just met figures out you’re a massively obsessed gamer? Do you tell them upright and get it out of the way or let them try and constrict it out of you? Generally, I can now admit I have got to the point of saying outright, in a social situation, that my first and foremost hobby is gaming with only a few smirks here and there. Later, you realize there is nothing to hide from, people worried about what others think can shun them away like swatting a fly.

With the Wii being popular for those so-called ‘casual’ gamers, you’d think nearly everyone in the modernized world would have played a videogame or two, but you’re wrong. Some, albeit old-fashioned, men and women out there think that games are for kids, and don’t realize kids grow up too. Very rarely have I heard stories about people ‘growing out of games' and gaming in general. It just doesn’t happen that much. You might leave it for a while, miss a new console every now and then but you will always come crawling back to gaming when you need it and miss it.

As everlasting as time is, it also influences the way you think about how others perceive you and your gaming habits. You seem to generally shrug negative flak off and delve deeper into the gaming world, forming clans and groups of friends through the games you play a lot. But is this a good thing? 

Gaming is in a better place now than it has ever been, and most people can agree on that. Not just in terms of quality, but financially as well, the gaming industry is booming and prospering thanks to us, us loyal and keen eyed, hard to please gamers.

We are the benefactors here and we must spread the word, gaming is here to stay and hell, I don’t care what others think. Because who else will tell that poor soul, probing for a very cheap and very low quality game for her daughter that "you should choose this instead", that "you should be wary of what age rating is on the front" and that "you should get into it all yourself". I began enjoying games at an age I can’t even remember, it's all vivid, nostalgic and joyful; it’s my childhood and you know what, even when my hands are dancing and I can’t tell my own family from Bob and I’m soiling myself every five minutes, you can bet I’ll still be playing Final Fantasy XXVII.