Video Game Sandwich

You are about to read a Blog Banter article. Blog banter is a sect of gaming odd-balls with the combined goal of turning the brains of the people inside out with sheer mental power.  This act is also commonly known as “thinking”. The head of the think-makers is bs angel, and as such, you should crawl along to her palace of information to get some knowledge about this whole Blog Banter process. Some links for the rest of the think-makers will appear below this article.

There are many common misinterpretations about the video gamer. A lot of these are old and contorted, like a Grandma playing Twister, as stereotypes seem to carry along the wind with no real backup. They just exist as gospel truths because they’re old beliefs, and this isn’t necessarily a logical way to think. In this era of acceptance, where we’re all trying to hold hands and heal the world, the gaming platform and the gamer within that platform is still struggling to find acceptance. It seems okay, perhaps even “cool,” to be a casual gamer. But don’t you dare turn the focus of conversation to clan matches or your lengthly collection of Intellivision classics, for you will thusly become banished to the realms of enthusiast; the domain of geekdom.The geek is yet another common stereotype that, like the image of the video gamer, seems to revel in its own myth with no real re-enforcement.  And as such it leads me to connect the dots on these two alleged breeds of social misfit and present you with my gamer stereotype: gamer’s are geeks. It makes sense, sure, to envision the gamer as the geek for it is a platform created by such people, and then accelerated by them - but this is such an old concept! It’s so 1980s to see this picture of the spectacled nerd with the my blind mum cuts my hair in the dark with a sharp knife-do sitting atop his brain-filled cranium. And yet people still seem to see the enthusiast gamer in the same light; the social misfit, dodging sun-light, and trying desperately to conquer his Japanese import copy of Persona 3 in a darkened room with only a downloaded strategy guide for company - he apparently cannot talk to girls, nor can he play sports, or enjoy social occasions.

Now, as is the nature of the question, I shall bring myself into the mould. I would classify myself as a gaming enthusiast; it’s my escape. I work hard on things, I worry, and I think entirely too much. But my counter-balance is video gaming, which I get involved in when I need to remove myself from the harsh realities of modern existence. I’ve done so since my brother bought home a Commodore 64 when I was aged 4, and have not stopped gaming since. I read several gaming magazines, subscribe to RSS news updates for numerous websites, and listen to about 4 or 5 gaming podcasts (I even co-host my own!). It’s safe to say I am an enthusiast, but am I this stereotype? The lonely, reclusive gamer? Not by any means! Let’s take the those three factors I mentioned earlier into consideration…

1. Girls: I’ve had a pretty steady stream of ladyfriends since I was about 12 years old. It’s an early start, I know, but I rather quickly noticed the glory of the girlie and was something of a pre-teen lothario! Perhaps the only boy in the playground to actually stand still rather than run when girls would announce the commencement of a kiss chase in their oh-so subtle “KISSS CHAAAASSEEEE!!!111″ tone.
2. Sports: I was quite a warrior when it came to soccer and athletics at school, in fact, I was part of the youth development scheme for Chelsea FC here (one of our main soccer clubs). I’m still very active in this respect, and play twice a week. I’m a very big sports fan… Figuratively speaking. I’m not ACTUALLY very big. Otherwise it would be something of a marvel that I’m any good at sports at all. I’d be famous, darn it!
3. Socializing: Hmm, see, if anything I’ve done far too much “socializing”. As a former, erm… drug lover… I’ve done enough “socializing” in the span of 6 or 7 years. The kind that many could only accomplish in 10 or 20, and vowed never to touch another substance again. Not even beer! (I never really digged that stuff anyway.) Beyond all that very dark nonsense, however, I still go out regularly. It’s just now I don’t have the added pleasure of waking up in a ditch with my shoes missing!

And so, the gaming stereotype of gamers as geeks need not apply to everyone. You can still be a bit rock ‘n roll, and be able to play Phantasy Star Online with your guild of Dreamcast lovers, even years after the official servers have closed down and the Dreamcast has been phased out. Why? Because you’re an enthusiast, and you just know how - that’s why!

Check out these other Blog Banter articles! The Average Gamer, Silvercublogger, shinybento, Unfettered Blather, Boom Stick Brigade, Gamer Unit, Zath!, Man Bytes Blog, Game Couch, Video Game Sandwich, Delayed Responsibility, thoughts and rants, Hawty McBloggy

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