Not really sure where I am going with this. Lord knows it has been many months since I have posted here, but... all of this latest controversy has me feeling as if simple things are being missed, and I feel like I need to speak them, even if it is for my own sake.
I am a gamer. I have been this thing I claim since Mario first lit up my small motel room t.v and showed me how cool it was to disappear into another world. I was a gamer every moment I woke up and found my father in my room, booting up the Sega, ready to play a bit of Shadowrun or Megaman. I was a gamer in high school, when my friends and I discovered the greatness of LAN parties and Warcraft death-matches. I was a gamer when I met my fiancee, and found a passion in her for all things obscure that I had never seen in another, and may never again. I was a gamer in college, I was a gamer in the military, and I remain a gamer now. I am this thing because it identifies me with what hobby I enjoy. I am a hiker, a backpacker, a runner, and a struggling woodworker. I am also white, male, and tall.
I refuse to stop claiming to be something that I have been all my life, a thing has given that life incredible memories and happiness, simply because crappy people also claim it. Crappy people are white, male and tall as well. Hell, crappy people are probably runners and woodworkers, after all, not everyone can be Jesus. I never shy away from these things because I allow myself to represent myself. I assume that logical individuals understand that people own their actions, and no one else. Gamers, collectively, are no more responsible for the drivel spewed on internet pages than I am for men who sexually assault women. They own their individual actions.
I don't know where this goes, must likely I am going to repeat myself here, but I do know being a gamer to me is so much simpler than people seem to be making it. We are not a collective. We have no agenda. We are not organized. We ask for nothing, save fun and memories. We are no more in step than two runners passing each other on a winding path, or two hikers sharing stories on the trail. If one of them happens to be an idiot, well, god willing the trail is kind to him, as I no more own his idiocy than the paramedic that helps him. I do not shy away from being White because the KKK exist.
I am a gamer and no amount of misrepresentation and generalization can change that. What little connection I had with my father supersedes that. The love I have for imagination and creation supersedes that. The joy I share with my friends supersedes that. My memories supersede that.
Simply put, I am not a crappy person.... no matter how much people may wish to generalize to make their vitriol stronger.
I am a gamer. I have been this thing I claim since Mario first lit up my small motel room t.v and showed me how cool it was to disappear into another world. I was a gamer every moment I woke up and found my father in my room, booting up the Sega, ready to play a bit of Shadowrun or Megaman. I was a gamer in high school, when my friends and I discovered the greatness of LAN parties and Warcraft death-matches. I was a gamer when I met my fiancee, and found a passion in her for all things obscure that I had never seen in another, and may never again. I was a gamer in college, I was a gamer in the military, and I remain a gamer now. I am this thing because it identifies me with what hobby I enjoy. I am a hiker, a backpacker, a runner, and a struggling woodworker. I am also white, male, and tall.
I refuse to stop claiming to be something that I have been all my life, a thing has given that life incredible memories and happiness, simply because crappy people also claim it. Crappy people are white, male and tall as well. Hell, crappy people are probably runners and woodworkers, after all, not everyone can be Jesus. I never shy away from these things because I allow myself to represent myself. I assume that logical individuals understand that people own their actions, and no one else. Gamers, collectively, are no more responsible for the drivel spewed on internet pages than I am for men who sexually assault women. They own their individual actions.
I don't know where this goes, must likely I am going to repeat myself here, but I do know being a gamer to me is so much simpler than people seem to be making it. We are not a collective. We have no agenda. We are not organized. We ask for nothing, save fun and memories. We are no more in step than two runners passing each other on a winding path, or two hikers sharing stories on the trail. If one of them happens to be an idiot, well, god willing the trail is kind to him, as I no more own his idiocy than the paramedic that helps him. I do not shy away from being White because the KKK exist.
I am a gamer and no amount of misrepresentation and generalization can change that. What little connection I had with my father supersedes that. The love I have for imagination and creation supersedes that. The joy I share with my friends supersedes that. My memories supersede that.
Simply put, I am not a crappy person.... no matter how much people may wish to generalize to make their vitriol stronger.
