The Top 10 Worst Portrayals of Gamers on Television

[Amir Kondori]

I loved Code Monkeys and was super sad when it ended. It really wasn't about the games, it was a workplace situational comedy kind of thing, like The Office but with the freedom to do crazier things that animation brings.

Otherwise, all the things I expected to see. The closer to prime time, the worse the portrayal.

EDIT: You know, I don't think Cartman is actually shown to be super into gaming. Sure, he wants the latest greatest console in a few episodes, but that is because he thinks having the latest greatest, and most expensive thing makes him cooler than everyone else. Not because he is super into gaming. I think that is a real stretch, and may be you selecting him because he posses those qualities that are often associated with gamers, especially online since the whole gamergate thing blew up.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

Oh boy this topic

I might as well come clean and loud: BLOODY SODDING HELL, WHY ON EARTH CAN'T POPULAR CULTURE PORTRAY US AS JUST NORMAL PEOPLE INSTEAD OF SOCIOPATHS OR PSCYHOPATHS?!?!?!

This is why I hate most pop culture, it twists and distorts, it sells fantasies and doesn't challenge. This is pure comfort food for a population of people who don't want to live in reality even more than the so called "power fantasy" fools. Times need to change and our media has to adapt in order to treat idiots worldwide of their condition.

Sorry, I get miffed about portrayals like this. Yeah, it's time to change people's perceptions of our little world. Call out the assholes, the delusional and the ones who forgot reality all you want, I will side with you there but you start showing every gamer like that and I will give you no quarter and no mercy.

Also, I got another example. Criminal Minds had an episode called "Wheels on the Bus" [http://criminalminds.wikia.com/wiki/The_Wheels_on_the_Bus] which had two brothers from divorced parents play violent video games and had their latent sociopathy increased to the point that they kidnap a bus full of kids to play out a real life version of one of their games.

 

[Izanagi009_v1legacy]

You can't fight common consensus, nor can you escape it. You can't fight its origin nor it's outcome. Because the point of it all is simplicity of identity, an ironic paradox intend of allowing us to judge entire swathes of people we don't know in as few words as possible.

Or maybe I'm just a bit of a pessimist.

I think maybe a little bit pessimistic if you can change common consensus, then we'd still have all manner of what we consider evil in our everyday lives (Slavery, lack of Women's Suffrage, etc). The funny thing about stereotypes is that they help us a society function. Stereotypes do a great job of providing a framework of thoughts and ideals about how to interact with a certain group of people, and the vast majority of the time, those interactions are so seamless and subtle that they never even enter into our mind.

Now, where the problem comes in when a person(s) is presented with information that disproves that stereotype, but those people continue to cling to the stereotype. The thing is, stereotypes work on a macro-level, but they collapse on a micro-level. There is no one person that fits perfectly into a stereotype. A healthy individual uses the stereotype to broadly define how they should interact with a group of people, but then adjusts that for individuals, and makes exceptions to the stereotype. Enough exceptions to the existing stereotype, and the stereotype as a whole changes. Granted that's an insanely complex process of identity. meaning-making, and semiotics all rolled up for that happen, but it does happen.

So really, a stereotype has a negative connotation, but people only really ever think about stereotypes in a negative connotation. They ignore how they allow us interact with other groups of without knowing the specifics of that person. For example, a stereotype of waiter, you expect to act in a certain way towards you. We expect a health nut to act a certain way, we expect a gamer to act a certain way -- and by-in-large, these are fine. it's only when we can't reconcile the individual from the stereotype that it becomes 'pathological,' and we end up with things like sexism, racism, etc.

If you care at all about this stuff, an awesome read is Sander Gilman's Difference and Pathology. A lot of what just wrote here with stereotypes comes from this book.

the stereotype of gamers should not be so negative now. Times have changed and the population of gamers had encompassed everyone no matter what device. The world needs to change whether it wants to or not.

 

[Baresark]

This just feels whiny to me. The truth feels like the only people who really give a shit about what everyone thinks about gamers are people who actually fit that stereotype in one form or another. I am a gamer, which is just one aspect of myself. I also am a professional in IT (clearly, can be considered part of the stereotype for some), but I also go to the gym 5 days a week, was an amateur boxer and MMA instructor, and also an artist.

I don't fit a lot of the negative stereotypes. I am a gamer. And I couldn't care less about what anyone perceives about me as a gamer.

 

[JoJo]

I shouldn't have to explain this one.

You really should, considering you've put the cast of the Big Bang Theory in the banner at the top. I've only seen a random selection of episodes so maybe I missed the one with the terrible portrayal of gamers but from what I've seen, gaming doesn't feature much at-all in BBT. At most there's the odd reference to the guys having a gaming night or a one-liner referencing a popular game franchise, I suppose there was that one episode where Penny became addicted to WoW but that was clearly being played for laughs, it was so silly.

Ah, but as a nerd/geek you're SUPPOSED to hate the show. Because.. you know, it's sooo bad at portraying "our culture."

Fun fact, I know plenty of nerds who act exactly like the characters on that show. The whole "they want us to laugh *at* the characters instead of *with* them" argument? Uh-huh, yeah. That's called a sitcom and 90% of them are set up like that.

I can stand with the argument of the show being incredibly sexist. The earlier seasons were some of the most sexist moments not on Spike TV, and the latter seasons haven't done as much as they could to improve that.

But the idea of the show being so popular to rag on, to the point of such a smug "I shouldn't have to explain this" on an otherwise detailed list of entries, is really starting to get on my nerves. It isn't the best thing on television, but it's far from the worst thing either.

Yeah, I've always thought that the non-geek characters get ragged on just as much as the geek characters in that show, I mean how many thousand 'Penny is dumb' jokes have we had so far? Everyone gets laughed at and I don't see why anyone would have a problem with that, it's healthy to be able to laugh at yourself / groups you are a part of every now and again. It's a shame as it would have at-least been interesting to hear Bob's views on how this applies to gaming in particular and if there's any episodes are particularly bad at representing us in his mind.

 

[marioandsonic]

Hey, I liked Code Monkeys...

But yes, gamers do tend to still be stereotyped as fat and/or unattractive losers still living in their parents' basement. Not just in TV shows, though: movies, news reports, and sometimes even within video games! (look at ZP's review of Infamous: Second Son)

Oh well. At least we know that you'll never resort to using those stereotypes, right Bob?

 

[Redd the Sock]

Honestly, that was kind of a lame list given the stretches for half the entries. Villain of the week crime dramas aren't exactly supposed to represent reality as, well, they need their bad guy every week, so they just turn something into a lunitic. That's 5 off the list. Code Monekys and South Park are supposed to be about douchebaggery in exaggerated levels, so again, nothing to take seriously. This leaves the short lived show no one watched, a couple of cheap shots by the Simpsons (like they do anything else) and BBT which went without explaination despite actually being the one grounded in reality, and usually not that flattering. Gaming doesn't come up often, but some of the times it did was to demonstrate Sheldon as a horrid loser when Penny beats him at Halo, Penny's online gaming addiction, Sheldon's taking console choice far too seriously, Howard (and occasionally the others) avoiding wife and chores to play Batman (though that plot goes back to football games in 1950s sitcoms), and a few rounds of "here's how dumb you look playing the wii and DDR." It's rarely flattering, but then again, we've all kind of been there in our lives, and it's good to laugh at it.

Less concern for our portray on TV than why anyone still takes TV as some mirror of reality instead of shitty and contrived plot devices and joke generators.

 

[Schadrach]

Yeah, I've always thought that the non-geek characters get ragged on just as much as the geek characters in that show, I mean how many thousand 'Penny is dumb' jokes have we had so far? Everyone gets laughed at and I don't see why anyone would have a problem with that, it's healthy to be able to laugh at yourself / groups you are a part of every now and again. It's a shame as it would have at-least been interesting to hear Bob's views on how this applies to gaming in particular and if there's any episodes are particularly bad at representing us in his mind.

The "Penny is dumb" jokes are mostly "Penny doesn't get some concept from physics that half of the audience won't either" or "Penny zones out when someone is talking about something geeky."

By comparison, the jokes the guys are the butt of tend to be "the guys are into such-and-such geeky thing, isn't that hilarious?"

Let's not forget these gems, descriptions taken from the BBT wiki:

While the gang is playing, Penny and her friends, knowing the guys are too engrossed in the game to notice them, have a laugh by telling the gang they want to have sex with them. Leonard does look up wondering what just happened and then goes back to his gaming.

She leaves and then returns to Amy and Bernadette in her apartment. She says that she doesn't think that Leonard will be making that mistake again. She also tells the girls that if they ever tell Leonard that they helped her with the paper, that she will beat each of them with a bag of oranges. They both agree. Penny then explains that next time maybe they can put their heads together and get an A. Bernadette explained that her ?B-?was on purpose to make it believable. Penny snapped back that they didn't think that she was smart enough? ?No, no?, the two girls replied in unison after Penny?s bag of oranges comment. ?Good? she finished. The girls felt like they were back in high school doing the prom queen?s homework so that she would like them. Amy finished with that it was finally working.

The latter of those really kind of turned me against the show.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Hey...i really dont get this apparent offense im supposed to take here. Ive dabbled in all these shows at some point and not once does it bother me when these "stereotypes" pop up. TBBT does remind me of some younger days, though the writing has dived more into dumbed down relationship arcs and simplified science analogies; i find that to be the only gripe of the show.
Also with Lisa's problem, i fully empathise as i used games as a coping mechanism for depression and isolation when younger, to the point it did affect my GSCE work a lot, amongst other tings. Stereotypes will always be. Just go along and humour them and please...why so serious?

 

[Steve the Pocket]

So, basically, Gus' petty revenge/empowerment fantasy using his ex's image (without her consent, incidentally) now has her marked for literal death by supervillains on a weekly basis, and somehow he's still the good guy.

And yet, he didn't purposely bring them to life and send them after her, nor did his game portray her as the bad guy you're trying to kill, but rather someone you're trying to rescue.

Sad how recent events can actually make this guy look good by comparison.

 

[RandV80]

Yup -- our actual premise is that a woman asserting herself in game development creates a (literal) man-eating monstress that kills guys and wrecks the game. Delightful.

Hey I never knew that Anita Sarkeesian appeared in a 90's X-Files episode!

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Bob, hate to break it to you but Cartman isn't a portrayal of a "gamer" he's a portrayal of a total douchebag sociopath who happens to be a gamer. I think his gaming is less about being a "gamer" and more about lording it over Kenny (well everyone but Kenny especially) how he (Cartman) has all these neat things and Kenny is just "poor white trash."
I'd not put Cartman at #1 just because of how your list is skewed by everyone else on it (except maybe #10 who I wouldn't have even remembered existed). You wrote about one-off portrayals of gamers and then threw Cartman in at #1. If you've an axe to grind about Eric Cartman and South Park in general, go ahead and do it. Don't make a disingenous list so you can ***** about a few minor portrayals in the entirety of Eric Cartman's TV existence. Because any of those gaming episodes are minor when compared to the slew of other things that encompass Cartman.
I'm not necessarily defending Cartman, but I am calling you out for writing an article that fails to live up to the premise and goes off the rails at the end.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Fun little read. I'd like to hear your thoughts on Big Bang Theory some time Bob. I first watched the show and thought it was amusing, but the more I watched it, the less funny it got. Struck a wrong cord with me I guess. The way the main characters acts is too much like the stereotypes I often see and hear about nerds and geeks. And Sheldon just got too annoying for me to handle.

Looking forward to seeing next week's list. Is Clarissa going to be on there, since you did an article on her a while back?

 

[Steve the Pocket]

I suppose there was that one episode where Penny became addicted to WoW

Age of Conan.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I thought you might have included one of the more ridiculous Star Trek TNG episodes: The Game. The IMDB summary goes:

Wesley Crusher returns to the Enterprise on vacation from the Academy only to discover a mysterious alien game infiltrating and controlling the crew.

The game itself is absurdly stupid, consisting of somehow directing (through your mind) balls into rings. It's a game you think anyone would get bored of in 20 seconds, but apparently it's so addictive the entire crew turns into zombies and need to be rescued. In the end Wesley ends up concluding that "reality is more interesting than any game" or something like that, seemingly dismissing all games in one blow. It really could have been a decent episode if the drug/addiction angle was made more explicit, but it just seems as if the writers think it's reasonable to substitute drugs for electronic games since obviously both are equivalent in their perniciousness.

 

[Nixou]

I really dont see what the South Park one has to do with poor portrayal of gamers

The article is not about poor portrayal of gamers, it's about story portraying gamers as bad people: some (most) of these portrayals are done poorly, but others, like South Park, are competently done.
Also, that's why Bob should have elaborated on Big Bang Theory, instead of allowing too many readers to assume that he was merely bashing the show because it's the fashionable stance to have.

***

Recent example was an episode of "Castle" where the main character is clearly a childish, nerdy, and game enthusiast.

Rick Castle has always been portrayed as a childish, nerdy, game enthusiast (although some of his seemingly immature attitude is a defense mechanism) which never stopped him from being sympathetic (although torturing a guy involved in his daughter's kidnapping was an evil deed, even if he was desperate and clearly not thinking straight at the time)

***

Bob, hate to break it to you but Cartman isn't a portrayal of a "gamer" he's a portrayal of a total douchebag sociopath who happens to be a gamer

And gaters are total douchebag sociopaths who proclaimed to be the Only Real True Gamers©. The overlap is pretty obvious

 

[dWhisper]

This list is wholly incomplete without covering NCIS, which has repeatedly portrayed gamers as extremes of the worst generic tropes. I mean, a lot of these are more about just playing to base stereotypes (of which something like Big Bag Theory does pretty much always), yet NCIS is awful. There was the episode with the "MMO" players that ended up fighting with swords and writing stuff that looked like it was basically ripped from an 80s after-school special about the dangers of D&D. Or the time it had the "High Scores in all of the MMOs" out there. Or... just so many other examples out there that are awful.

 

[EyeReaper]

This article was almost good... but I'm gonna complain anyways.

The number ten slot, Deadly games. I don't get the problem here, unless it's worse in the show than you're describing it (never even heard of the show) First of all, the whole "Used his ex-wife's image without consent" is just as dumb as a complaint as when Lindsey Lohan used it against GTA, Secondly, If I could program a game where I was a great hero who went around kicking the collective crotches of everyone who has wronged me, I would. I'd rather a guy beat up a virtual clone of me than actually assault someone. Thirdly, There's nothing wrong with fictionally assaulting overpricy car mechanics. The Mask did the same thing, and I don't ever hear people complaining about that.

Also... Did you just insult code monkeys? We can't be friends. Sorry.

 

[CaitSeith]

I shouldn't have to explain this one.

You really should, considering you've put the cast of the Big Bang Theory in the banner at the top. I've only seen a random selection of episodes so maybe I missed the one with the terrible portrayal of gamers but from what I've seen, gaming doesn't feature much at-all in BBT. At most there's the odd reference to the guys having a gaming night or a one-liner referencing a popular game franchise, I suppose there was that one episode where Penny became addicted to WoW but that was clearly being played for laughs, it was so silly.

Let me think:

- Sheldon's WoW account is hacked and his virtual stuff is stolen (including a "Battle Ostrich" named Glenn). He reacts by calling the FBI and the police, while having a nervous breakdown.

- The gang is playing World of Warcraft and attempts to retrieve the Sword of Azeroth. Sheldon captures it only to teleport himself away at mid-battle and sell it in eBay. He answers to the outrage by stating he is a Rogue Night Elf ("don't you people read character descriptions?"). The sword is bought right away by Howard ("I AM THE SWORDMASTER!")

It's possible there are worse (as these aren't that bad, it's Sheldon after all), but those are the ones I remember the most.