Following on from the discussion of the difference between a
‘gamer’ and a ‘game player’, it appears that there is a layer of stereotype
surrounding the term ‘gamer’. Could it be possible that this stems from the
immersive experience that is gaming? Since a great deal of the experience of a
game is the way a person interacts with the game through an interface, a game
that is immersive and encourages participation is surely what makes them
entertaining (here I am not distinguishing between diagetic/intra-diagetic
immersion as in the Taylor reading). Gaming relies on the involvement and
attention of the game player, otherwise by definition it is not a game.
This immersion could be the downfall of the gamer identity.
People sit in a darkened room to enjoy cinema, so it is natural that the same
occurs to enjoy the cinematic and aesthetic aspects of a game. Gamers now seem
to be associated with the act of hermiting indoors, like the Hikikomori
of Japan, or with an intense passion for the game. This
could be attributed to the experience of gaming online (where, as many may have
found, people yell at you). Gaming, whether it be on a console or on a
smartphone, is a common entertainment undertaken by all types of people. These
stereotypes have culminated, thanks to this kind of attention in news media,
into a representation that is unflattering and not true of the community.
A recent story caught my eye, a story of a man hiring
in-game assassins to kill his son’s avatar. This was in the hopes of deterring
him from World of Warcraft so he would find a job. Here gaming is changed from
being a hobby to being a nuisance to society, simply because a man belongs to
more than one community, and one of his communities is online. His community of
hobbyists is no different from those who belong to a sports team or a boat
club. There is the same level of commitment that is undertaken. Why do we then
shun the name ‘gamer’? Even as someone who only occasionally plays PS3 (when I
can wrestle the controller off my brother), I can appreciate the way the
immersive experience can pass hours in a second. Probably more hours are spent
staring at Facebook than are spent playing Alan Wake or Assassins Creed, yet
someone playing the game gets the title. Perhaps game players will someday
adopt the title of ‘gamer’, but the negative connotations need to dissolve
first.
Taylor, Laurie. “Video Games: Perspective, Point-of-View,
and Immersion”. Thesis. University of Florida, 2002.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20931304
I totally agree with what you are saying. We all have our different ways of spending our time. I think its a great misconception in society that 'gaming' is a waste of time. I remember reading an article about how technologies such as game consoles are numbing the brain and dumbing us down as a generation. Yet the amount of multi-tasking and pure skill-set involved in some games seems anything but brain-numbing. I can't imagine the amount of time and knowledge that is needed to insert your own modifications into a game that the modding community often does. In fact, as the world rapidly heads toward a networking society I think gamers in many ways have the upper hand on all us digital immigrants.
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