It’s true that people tend to be tribal. The same is true of gamers. (No, I’m not implying that gamers are not people. Wait, now that I think about it…)
Ahem. At any rate, gamer tribes can be sliced and diced a number of ways. You’ve got your console gamers, and within that tribe, you’ve got the Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo clans. There are PC gamers, but no one seems to be paying much attention to those any more. (I jest — I’m mostly a PC gamer.) Slice it other ways, and you’ve got your action gamers, your strategy gamers… This sort of thing can go on and on.
If you’re deep into one genre, that’s fine. But I tend to be an all around gamer, though not so much on consoles. (I mostly use my Xbox 360 for watching Netflix streaming.) Recently, though, I did spend a lot of hours on Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon on a DSi during my post-ExtremeTech vacation. I’m also, as many of my readers have noticed in the past, a board gamer and have been known to dive into pen-and-paper RPGs on occasion.
So when I see people weigh in on topics like “PC gaming is domed”, or “the PS3 is dead” or “the Wii isn’t a serious gaming system”, I do the eyeroll to heaven thing. Really, who cares? It’s all about gaming, and what keeps you entertained and your brains (and reflexes, in some cases) working.
Then there are the gamers who don’t want to admit it. On the flight back to San Jose, I noticed my seat mate playing what looked like a strategy game on his laptop. I asked him what he was playing, and it turned out to be Port Royale 2. I asked him how he liked it. “I don’t really know,” came the replay. “I just picked it up, but I’m really just learning it so I can teach my son.”
Uh-huh. Sure.
Maybe someday gamers won’t be ashamed to admit their addiction hobby to others. We can dream.
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2 comments
Adam says:
July 24, 2009 at 8:40 pm (UTC -7 )
I think you meant to say “PC gaming is doomed” not domed, though that is a bit of a funny thought. I have to agree with your premise though, gaming of all kind will continue to live. I think non-gamers will always criticize gamers though, many people have the idea that gaming is childish and a waste of time.
Loyd Case says:
July 24, 2009 at 8:57 pm (UTC -7 )
Actually, no. The “domed” remark is a play on words used by a number of guys on the quartertothree forums. So that
was actually intentional and not, for once, a typo!