Smashing through social barriers and stereotypes

[charlesr]

Traditionally seen as geeks, a recent thread surmised that half of us think we are geeks and the others just normal people who happen to play games.

Certainly, many of us are married with kids blah blah average etc.

So here at NTSC-uk, the range of people seems incredibly diverse. From young to old, from casual to hardcore, from industry peeps to people who don't know anything about the industry beyond the games they buy - all races, creeds, countries of the world, sex and indeed sexual inclination, they are all represented to a certain extent.

Is this something peculiar to people with an interest in import gaming, and in fact most normal gamers in the UK are spotty-yoofs with glasses who hang around in Game too much? Or is the diversity on display here more indicative of the current general gamesplayer?

If the playing population has diversified, is this because there are more games to appeal to them (eyetoy / dancemats / Who wants to be a millionaire), or are these games a result and an acknowledgement by the games companies that the population has changed?

Where is the population going in the future?

[superkully]

I think the one thing which we all have in common is a lack of something in the real world which causes us to find solice in the virtual. I'm not saying that in a completely bad way, but would we be playing console games if we had a completely satisfying life?

[112]

that is so.......... true, to some extent. But how do you justify this? by the amount of money we spend on it? or the amount of time invested in it? After all you could say watching too much TV is a related matter. After all itsjust another form of escapism. Is video games not an extension of watching TV? therefore how can you bluntly say its because of something we lack in the 'real' world. It would be as easy as saying peeps who watch too much TV are missing something they lack?

112

[bungle]

In that case isn't everything escapism? Don't we play football/go swimming/dance/talk with friends........cause it isn't nessessary to survival.

Just being pedantic.

[JibberX]

If you follow the commonly used Film arc, the medium doesn't breed the community, but the actual content. If the Videogame industry is going to evolve beyond its current state, it needs to branch into other genres, ways of playing etc etc. Consider the dance mat and crazy periferal angle, these have brought a whole new eschelons of punters into the game.

The film to videogame analogy is a fantastic one really. Currently we have mostly commerical based drivel in the cinemas, compared to say yer arthouse sepia subtitled romanian films, which are probably better films, but are never seen. I don't need to extend this analogy because its obvious where its heading.

Its a subjective purity of the medium really, and an interpretation of what people see as a videogame, or a piece of art, or a piece of entertainment.

Funnily enough I was listening to Radio Five Live during the wee hours on Sunday night, and they were having a "debate" if Full Spectrum Warrior should be banned because is portraied Yanks killing Terrorists, needless to say the discussion was comical to sad to infuriating, only 1 guy knew his stuff. Its this kind of cycle the industry has to go through to grow up, its still very young, film has been going 100 years odd.

[Yoshimoto]

112...Exactly you have a satisfying life by filling with things that you enjoy doing. I certainly don't see that playing games means that you've got something missing from your life at all. Its just another interest in the same way that sports or reading books are for example.

But back to the original question. Gaming these days so diverse that its no longer the "club" that it once was back in the 80's and early 90's. At one time you knew that if someone was a "gamer" then you shared a common interest and could always find stuff to talk about with them. Nowadays as gaming has grown and diversified thats no longer true any more. Speaking as someone who 99% of the time only plays Japanese developed console titles i have next to no interest in PC Gaming or the scene that surrounds it for example and therefore feel no connection with the PC Gamers themselves.

As gaming grows ever bigger i can only guess that the diversity of the games and therefore of the people playing them will only increase.

[Ady]

I think the one thing which we all have in common is a lack of something in the real world which causes us to find solice in the virtual.

Speak for yourself, mate.

I play games because I enjoy them, and not for any other reason.

[Brats]

I think the one thing which we all have in common is a lack of something in the real world which causes us to find solice in the virtual. I'm not saying that in a completely bad way, but would we be playing console games if we had a completely satisfying life?

Speak for yourself .

Couldn't you apply that to everything? I mean, if I had a completely satisfying life being single, I probably wouldn't have got married. It doesn't mean I'm seeking solice in my wife though, I married her because I love her. With videogames, I play them because I enjoy them.

I think the reasons why the demographic is changing is because the original gaming generation of which many of us were a part of is getting older. Some of us are married now, some are single. Some have moved to Japan, some have stayed put. There is always more diversity as you get older.

In eighties in seemed last mostgamers were just young kids at school. It was a bit like in the fifties when pretty much anyone who liked pop music (or rock and roll) was either a quiffed up rude boy or a flouncy skirt wearing girl doing flips over his shoulder. Nowadays, its more or less everyone.

However in the seventies, the videogame demographic was as wide as it could be. There were more women playing games, more older people, more of everyone really. It was more a fad thing then though and it wasn't going to last forever.

[SharkAttack]

All kinds of people like music, all kinds of people like films. The video game industry has now grown as big as both of those, hence all kinds of people like video games.

[JibberX]

You could use the brocolli analogy too. It really was only a matter of time before "gamage" became mainstream, thanks to programs like GamesVile, the true front runners.

[martTM]

In that case isn't everything escapism? Don't we play football/go swimming/dance/talk with friends........cause it isn't nessessary to survival.

Completely agreed. Ooh... I'm so tempted to go off on a whole 'religion only working to fill the void in the lives of the weak' rant here... but I won't. Really.

[superkully]

For me this is about more than just gaming but rather all these 'modern' activities which see huge amounts of our lives consumed with little to show at the end (TV, Tom Clancy books &c.)

Don't get me wrong, I love gaming - but I do get a pang of... something looking at the swaying palm trees in Zelda:TWW - that I wish I was looking at a real palm tree and feeling a real sun.

Ach, I think I just need a holiday away from grey, crappy England.

[SharkAttack]

You have to balance things. I love playing my video games but seriously haven't managed to pick one up for a month, doesn't stop me following the video game news though and when I get a chance I will pick up that Gamecube controller and finish BG&E. But at the same time, I want to be playing Guitar, learning French, Spanish, Japanese, picking up qualifications in my industry to further enhance my career, play football, play golf, go to the gym, go out and see friends, see films in the cinema, go on holidays to far off places etc etc.

There is a saying that can be off putting for any hobbies and interests though, Something about Juggler of Many, Master of None i.e. If you have multiple interests you won't be capable of being the absolute best at 1 of them. But I think I'd rather juggle many and keep life interesting than just concentrate on 1 thing.

One slightly off topic thing this brings up for me though, is how much of a waste of money DVDs and Videos are. I used to buy DVDs of films I hadn't even seen, and they haven't been watched once since. What is the point in that? Why would I want something for ?15+ that is going to be watched for 2 hours and then stored in a cupboard? I don't have that much time to watch a film over and over and that ?15 could go towards an activity or equipment for a hobby. So these days the only DVDs I contemplate are bargains I spot of films I think I will, or know I do, love.

[Daniel]

I think i know what superkully is getting at. I remember a bit in the original psycho when norman bates is sat talking to janet leigh and says, "a hobby should pass the time, not fill it". Ok, it's a bit extreme comparing the mentality of a criminal lunatic to the average gamer, but some* people use gaming to fill gaps just as others use drinking or religion or tv. The fact that one form of mindless recreation is socially acceptable and the other still has a stigma attached is something that will change with time. As for the enjoyment of gaming being a means to an end, that depends on whether you think modern entertainment is a healthy pastime or a fruitless diversion.

*Not all people are like this, very few in fact, but stereotypes are usually based on extremes.

[James Harvey]

Don't get me wrong, I love gaming - but I do get a pang of... something looking at the swaying palm trees in Zelda:TWW - that I wish I was looking at a real palm tree and feeling a real sun.

That's beautiful superkully!