Gamers and Laypeople

[cinabar]

When laypeople think of games they think of Vice City or whatever the big AAA title currently getting the latest media/press/advertising time on television. If you try to explain how cool Ico is, or the magic of Mr. Driller they usually meet you with a blank stare.

Well... everyone I work with still imagines games looking like they were when they used to play... e.g. space invaders / pong etc!

[Ady]

Yes, a lot of non-gamers see us as big kids indulging in puerile fantasies. I feel no shame in telling people I'm a gamer and I certainly don't feel threatened by their ignorance.

I recently got a non-gaming friend into Super Monkey Ball and she really loved it.

[Che Musashi]

I really am not ashamed of it. It can feel lonely being the only self proclaimed geek in the office.

Another thing is it hasn't really become as mainstream as people think. The day my mom calls me up to ask me how to beat a boss in Metroid Prime, or my sister would email me about how much she can't wait for Soul Caliber 2 to come to the states, it will be mainstream.

In the meantime, I got my british peeps here to talk about games with and I'm working on getting a few converts at work.

[Ish]

My enthusiasm for gaming has led to me being labelled a 'bad-influence' by a couple of the guys I work with girlfriends. Before meeting me 6 months ago the pair of them had a passing interest in games but no more. Since I've arrived and shared an office with them they've both bought new consoles (XBox's) and one of them is about to buy a GameCube (after playing Metroid Prime and Zelda on my Q).

They also now know far more about TVs, cables, 60Hz/50Hz, black borders etc. than I think they ever really wanted to.

Having said that I'm pretty certain the rest of the office thinks I'm a bit 'odd'. Oh well....