The Trouble With Being A Gamer Today.

Saying games are big business these days is a gross understatement. It's widely documented that the games industry makes more money than the movie industry and with videogame production values growing all the time, games are increasingly becoming large scale undertakings. Furthermore, a number of games are using their increased budgets to create works of such limitless scope that they deserve recognition as the hugely ambitious artistic endeavours that they are. Even smaller scale games with original ideas like LocoRoco deserve mainstream credit, but are widely overlooked, simply because at the end of the day, they're 'only a game.' Yet, despite gaming's evolution from comparatively visually primitive games (no less worthy of artistic merit) to full blown, multi-million budget projects, more in keeping with a movie production, videogames continue to be marginalised by the mainstream as a lower form of creative media.
In recent years, games have slowly managed to seep into the mainstream, partially as a result of Sony's success with the original PlayStation making it a console for anyone and everyone. With the PS2 shifting millions of units worldwide and the subsequent runaway success of Nintendo's DS and Wii, gaming is more popular than ever, recalling the days of Nintendo's all-conquering NES and Gameboy, systems that managed to sell 40 million and 120 million units respectively.

Here's the rub. In spite of all of the progression games have made over the past two decades as an artistic medium, there still exists a tunnel-visioned minority who are completely ignorant to the value and importance of videogames. Whether it's an anti-games lobbyist like Jack Thompson, your average outraged Daily Mail reader or narrow minded ignoramus, they're all guilty of holding on to an anachronistic view of gaming as a depraved social evil, robbing children of sunlight, sanity and moral values. As long as this uninformed, blinkered view exists, games will forever be seen as unhealthy toys for kids: violent and anti-social, when the reality is that violent games are appropriately rated by the BBFC and gaming can be anything but anti-social under the right circumstances. Games like Guitar Hero, Singstar, Warioware and Wii Sports are transforming the image of games in a positive way, getting the whole family involved but there's still a long way to go before games become accepted by society as a whole.

The press jumping all over the latest controversy-baiting title only makes matters worse, perpetuating this unfounded perception of gaming and hindering the growth of the industry into one that is universally taken seriously like it should be. The recent outcry over the use of Manchester cathedral in Resistance and the banning of Manhunt 2 are the latest examples of games being targeted as a scapegoat for society’s ills. Whenever there's a tragic shooting or seemingly unmotivated killing, the finger of blame is always pointed squarely at either a game or movie that the killer used to play/watch as people desperately clutch at straws for a tenuous link in a vain attempt to try and explain away the offender's mental state. It's an argument that is fast becoming tired and predictable.

I recently experienced an attitude that is sadly still prevalent amongst the majority of the population, particularly those 40 and over. Talking to someone about the benefits of a 100Hz television I told her that as a gamer, 100Hz is something to look out for. She began to tell me how she never intends to game and from her tone, I could tell that she was of the opinion that gaming is for geeks with no social lives. Proclaiming myself as a gamer, she seemed disgusted, exclaiming, "Oh God! Do something else with your life!" It was this knee-jerk reaction to the mention of games that provided me with the impetus to write this piece.

It pisses me off that people still perceive games in this way, as a waste of time, an addiction that saps away at the life force of people who would otherwise be out climbing mountains or experiencing the wonders of the world. The reality is, gaming is not an addiction for the vast majority of players. It can be a more involving and sociable pastime than watching a film or reading a book and can engage and challenge a participant in a completely different way to that of a book or film. Neither does gaming get in the way of having a perfectly normal and well-adjusted life in the outside world. Until people are educated in the value of gaming as a well-established medium with an army of followers who are passionate about their pastime, gaming is doomed to forever be perceived as a hobby for wan, acne-ridden pariahs with nothing better to do. Just because I happen to be all of the above, means nothing. Gaming is the most exciting medium that continues to flourish and develop as innovation and invention largely thrives unabated. No other creative medium is so fast moving and genuinely interesting to be involved in. In this sense gaming is not just a cultural phenomenon but also a way of life. However until people attempt to understand gaming rather than chastise and judge it as a base form of entertainment, the medium will never be taken seriously.