Are you proud?

[Stagger P]

On my commute, I rarely see anyone playing with a portable game console. I know a lot of people out there own PSP?, DS? and alike but I never see anyone using them.

Further more, I don?t think I?ve ever seen anyone reading a copy of Edge or other gaming magazine in public.

Are we as gamers shy of our hobbies? Is there still too much of a nerdish stigma attached to video games that we can?t be seen to enjoy them?

 

[OurGloriousLeader]

I was reading an Xbox magazine on the train yesterday, and then someone sat next to me. I felt a mild bit of embarrassment, but not for long. Until I saw that the back 4 pages were covered in sex line adverts, anyway.

 

[Hellion25]

I read GamesTM all the time when I was catching the train to uni if I had it on me. I don't see it as particularly embarrasing, but then I don't really care what most people think about anything outside of my immediate family and circle of friends.

 

[Danny Ocean]

not proud really, not outside of my circle of friends.
Here I'll say Im a gamer first, everywhere else I'm a tkd kid.

 

[wasted space]

I don't see how people can proudly read nuts or FHM on the bus, and some people are almost ashamed to read game mags.

 

[Llil]

I play with my DS all the time on public, but rarely (=only once so far) see anyone else doing so. It's fun to watch how people react when I suddenly start blowing in the mic.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

i used to be embarassed to walk into toy stores to buy videogames. i'm over it now though.

 

[Stagger P]

I don't see how people can proudly read nuts or FHM on the bus, and some people are almost ashamed to read game mags.

Right on.

 

[SteinFaust]

i honestly don't care what people think of my gaming habits because i hang out with like-minded people that like to play games and occasionally get bombed while doing so. it's all just a good laugh to me.

i don't play my psp outside though because i'm too busy listening to my ipod, and i'd rather not be visually distracted. some people don't like playing on public transport for fear of being robbed, but i have no fear of that being that i can beat the piss out of most people that cross my path, and have a number of 'contingency plans'.

 

[Cyclomega]

I'm not reading vidya games magazines anymore, there's too much things I don't care, and I don't want to pay to read ads, but I'm not ashamed of playing with my PSP or DS while riding the bus or the subway.

Yet I'm not usually that proud, since outside of my closest friends, especially during this last semester 2007 in business school :

They see me playin'
They hatin'
Labellin' ev'ryone pass'me'as
Bein' freaky
(passin' me as bein' freaky,
passin' me as bein' freaky)

But yeah, as I would then tell'em :
"Oh yeah I'm a nerdy manchild for playing Gundam on my PSP, it's so much more mature to take at least a hundred blog quizzes on Facebook a week."

Only video games most (except my best pals) would admit to playing would be Tetris, Snake (on mobile phones), or online poker, then you have the girls all giggling gratingly over the Wii because it's so not gaming to mime sports and play Rayman Raving Rabbids...

Excuse me if I prefer a real pool club or get wrist cramps at a bowling alley throwing 13 times in a row a 13lbs ball to this console, which, sadly, had hardly any games that really would convince me to buy one (I'm waiting for Mad World going gold to change my judgment, since, having a 360 and a PS2/PSP, Manhunt 2 and Dead Rising are no argument, and I'm not a fan enough to get Mario Galaxy, regarding Zelda, the GameCube version is better).

 

[Anton P. Nym]

I'm not going to say I'm proud to be a gamer, but I'm not ashamed of it either. I've picked up pre-orders in a business suit, read game magazines on the bus, and worn game t-shirts to work on casual day; it's no big thing either way.

(Then again, half the managerial staff here plays either WoW or Xbox games so perhaps it's no big thing in general.)

-- Steve

 

[SteinFaust]

i used to be embarassed to walk into toy stores to buy videogames. i'm over it now though.

really? i always thought of it as something good, like an "i have my own money now, so you can suck it" kind of confidence. guess that was just me, but let me tell you, watching a clerk see a little kid (me, way back when) drop his own hard earned 400USD on a ps2 set and 3 games? mmm, the confidence was just so tasty i had to bag it, take it home and finish it while playing my copy of Bloody Roar 3. XD

 

[-Seraph-]

Frankly, I dont care if anyone knows I'm a gamer. Those who can't accept it can wallow in their ignorance if they want. I always carry my PSP wherever I go as it's my everything. Play it on the bus, listen to music while walking, watch vids between classes.

Looking at game magazines and websites in public areas isn't a big deal either, rather look at that than be looming on facebook like it seems to be these days.

Not proud or ashamed I'm a gamer, i'v bin called a nerd just as some people here have and to those people I just call them ignorant and go on playing my vija games. Games are fun, let me have my fun and i will not criticize your fun.

 

[LewsTherin]

Heh..I wear my LoZ shirt whereever I feel like, I'm pretty open about my Gamer Status.
I'll walk into the Library and sit down with a Nintendo Power, orhave a conversation in public with my friends about the last DoTA match we played. But I'm in high school, it might be different for you older folks ;p.

 

[TrevorOfCrete]

For me gaming is a way of blowing steam, its not really a hobby. I dont concider myself a 'gamer', it makes it sound like a dangerous cult. I go bowling but dont concider myself a 'bowler' much as i play football but dont concider myself a 'footballer'. I dont read games mags so its not really an issue. Most of there articles are dibble and much better reviews are to be found on sites like this and the internet in general.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

i used to be embarassed to walk into toy stores to buy videogames. i'm over it now though.

really? i always thought of it as something good, like an "i have my own money now, so you can suck it" kind of confidence. guess that was just me, but let me tell you, watching a clerk see a little kid (me, way back when) drop his own hard earned 400USD on a ps2 set and 3 games? mmm, the confidence was just so tasty i had to bag it, take it home and finish it while playing my copy of Bloody Roar 3. XD

yeah, this wasn't way back then. this was me being a 18 year old waltzing through Toys R Us like a newly comissioned pedophile. i think from 16-20 i was sort of embarassed about playing video games. i remember one time i had beat some friends at Virtua Fighter 2 and the next day they were jokingly raving, "Holy shit, AJ (me) is so good at video games. He'll kick your ass." Then i had random kooks coming up to me trying to challenge me to games and it was like, "dude, i don't even play Street Fighter anymore" while making sure nobody was witnessing the conversation.

when i was a teen, videogames were not cool. they were sort of seen as your little brother's toy that you sometimes played with.

 

[runtheplacered]

Pride serves no purpose but to get in the way of things you enjoy doing. Do what you want, without fear of others harmless thoughts (including friends and family), and you'll live a much happier life.

 

[_Serendipity_]

As little as I like to admit it, I do feel a certein level of shame when playing games in public, especially on my own, and incredibly on trains for some reason.

I know it's silly, and that I should never feel embarrased of something I enjoy so much, but... yeah... a small part of my soul knows I'm a geek and is conviced that it's a bad thing

My soul's an idiot.

 

[Susan Arendt]

I'm not in the least bit ashamed of my passion for gaming. I'll gladly whip out the DS, wear a videogame t-shirt, read Edge at the cafe. Some people like football, some are crazy about cars, I love games. If others think I'm strange for that, so be it. I'm very comfortable with who I am.

Gaming has allowed me to do some really amazing things. I've traveled across the country many times. I've met countless wonderful and fascinating people. I've trained like an astronaut on a Zero G flight. I've attended a private concert by The Who. Best of all, I get to do a job every day that lets me share my love of gaming with the world.

Why on earth would I be ashamed of any of that?

 

[SteinFaust]

yeah, this wasn't way back then. this was me being a 18 year old waltzing through Toys R Us like a newly comissioned pedophile. i think from 16-20 i was sort of embarassed about playing video games. i remember one time i had beat some friends at Virtua Fighter 2 and the next day they were jokingly raving, "Holy shit, AJ (me) is so good at video games. He'll kick your ass." Then i had random kooks coming up to me trying to challenge me to games and it was like, "dude, i don't even play Street Fighter anymore" while making sure nobody was witnessing the conversation.

when i was a teen, videogames were not cool. they were sort of seen as your little brother's toy that you sometimes played with.

lol well if anything the shame would come from walking through toys r us. i can't walk around there either because the surburban population thinks i'm there to touch children or rob the place. i remedy that by going to best buy, gamestop, or circuit city instead.
then again, i'm 19 so im sure i'll understand what you mean sometime in the next 2 years or so...