This. Madness. Needs. To. Stop.

[Orks da best]

"Warning" this post will contain rageing, and will be in some parts more or less venting of anger, and is very long, you have been warned.

After watching the Game Overthinker lastest episode, "Bat-slap", Moviebob says a few shocking things, likw as we as gamers are wether or not knowly, holding gameing back, which I will get into later, but I gotta say, Moviebob is right.

Now this has been an opinion of my for awhile now, in fact two of first few posts talked about the biggest problem with gaming in gamers. And I shall hold true to that belief, becuase its true in my eyes. But why am I posting this post then? Because a recent thread has been talking about the subject:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.321828-Why-do-we-want-to-be-taken-seriously

The saddest part is that some people are agreeing with the idea of "why should gaming be taken seriously?"

What? WHAT? Are you freaking kidding me? Gaming is a media that is different then all those before it. It can do ong thing which other medias cannot, allows us to explored ideals, beliefs, and morality in a way that no other media can, because it is interactive, and what do we seem content with? Just being there for fun... nothing more nothing less. Are we serious about this? If it wasn't enough for most mainsteam of society to call videos games just games, now gamers are doing it too?

It makes me sorry to call myself part of this group, a group that doesn't want the media it enjoys to progess into something more than a fun disraction.

AAAAAAArgh "think calming thoughts, think of smashing in a puny eldar panzy head in."

Is this really what we want,or do we want gameing to progess forward?

Honestly at this point, I say most of us are acting in way that says no... a big fat freaking no.

Whenever someone calls out a game for being violent, sexist, homopohic, etc. we go into a protect gameing mode, while trying to smug about it, while it does nothign makes us look like little kids trying to protect some random thingy they found lying on the ground. We need to accept that people are going be saying these things about games until society from the richest to poorest and everywhere in between accept gaming for what it truly is, a way to explore humantiy in a media that can do this, gaming.

When it came to more people playing games, we go like "nah there playing games for kiddies only they not true gamers..." Um they freaking are gamers, if there playing games, then there gamers....

I could go on but I feel if I would only be repeating myself. But if go like "nah your wrong." Then your proving me right, we as gamers need an attiude change, a big freaking attiude change.
We need to accept that people are going critize games whilist not being hardcore gamers themseveles, and that idiots are going to continue saying video games cause violence, which doesn't, there idiots for beliveing that.

I am not perfect, I will admit that, but so is gaming, the sooner that we admit that gaming has flaws, the sooner we can working towards improving said flaws. Also being less like whiny crybabies will help that do... We need an attiude change, the sooner that happens, the sooner video games can start to be accepting by everyone.

I... da... I ran out of steam, I may need to return this subject later, but for now.

^_^ Now to hid in my fort, active the plasma shields, and man the big guns.

Come at me flamers.

 

[Magicmad5511]

Dude TL;DR. Give some form of summary towards the end.
Also you seem to be purposefully aggravating flamers and hoping they'll come.

Put a topic to discuss and then we'll talk.

That's all I can say. Too tired to read that essay.

 

[Phlakes]

You're not talking about gamers here, you're talking about people on the internet. And we all know how easily the internet can change.

 

[cthulhumythos]

i love how you say we need to be less childish and then say

"Now to hid in my fort, active the plasma shields, and man the big guns.

Come at me flamers."

anyhoo, i feel your getting worked up about nothing. making a mountain out of molehill, for those who enjoy sayings.

video games are accepted. not unanimously of course, but what the hell is? i don't think we need to shape up.

... i would love to say more, but i really don't know what else to say. the entire thing strikes me as non-issue.

 

[Mallefunction]

I honestly never understood it too. Media can be taken seriously as art and still have it's stupid fun shlock. Movies are talked about critically, but Michael Bay still gets to make his films and people get to see them. Making something art does mean that all the shit automatically gets blocked out FOOOOOOORRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVVVER like the fanboys assume.

As long as certain things are still popular (i.e. big titties, multiplayer, FPS), they will continue to be made regardless of the label that they fall under. Will these things have as much value as something created purely out of the pursuit of art? Well, that depends on a person's individual values.

But taking media seriously will hardly do any damage to games. And hell, you might even get that rare game that combines the sexy with artistic value a la Black Swan for film.

Just sayin'

 

[Zhukov]

Uh huh.

Those things annoy me too.

In particular, I'd like to see games get to the point where they can do something a bit more profound than level-ups and headshots. But some people freak out at this notion as if they think all the fun is going to be replaced by pretentious navel-gazing.

Basically, this:

 

[Orbot_Vectorman]

Personaly, I think the best thing we can do for gamming thus far is let the people who scream that video games cause violance, scream. When they shout "*Insert game title here* has led to the rise of (rapes/murders/thefts/ect.)", we as gamers should let it roll off our backs, not say a word, either

A.) they stop yelling.
B.) they ramp up their offence, hopefully to violence them selvs, letting us point and laugh at their hipocracy.

And we as gamers could also do with a total attitude change, insted of sepperating our kind into "Hardcore" and "Casual", perhaps we can just use a more universal term... you come up with that part.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Take anything in it's infancy, and pour hate on it repeatedly.

It will retreat into it's shell, denying any flaws. And eventually, when it gets big enough, it will start lashing out.

At which point the tormentors poke more fun at it.

Take a look through any mainstream media at their representation of gaming. The positive stories are overwhelmed by baseless accusations of gaming being "TEH EBIL!".

How many times have you seen this headline?

GAMING ADDICT KILLS LOVED ONE

[sub]The murderer, who quite likes video games, was found to have murdered his loved one after losing his house, life and been involved in alcohol/drugs, while going to a psychiatrist.[/sub]

Anti-Gaming groups have called for all games to be banned to stop this happening again.

For historical continuity, replace games with video-nasties, rock music, literature or flint/steel.

It's not as if some of us aren't trying as well.


But look as even Dara has to explain that half the people are going

"Ah jeesus, you're 38. Why don't you grow up?"

And if you admit flaws, just wait for the tabloids to take that quote out of context and nail you for ratings.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

If the modern media want a rational debate on games, they've got to give us a platform where we'll be treated like adults.

Until then, are they even surprised that we get so defensive? No. They just abuse/bully us because our little minority(majority?) aren't protected by the free speech laws.

As the highest earning entertainment industry in the world, you'd think they could give some time to not accusing us of rape, murder and kitten juggling.

But no, half the audience still sigh, cross their arms and say "When are you going to grow up?"

Not really surprising we have the occasional tantrum, is it?

 

[shrekfan246]

You're not talking about gamers here, you're talking about people on the internet. And we all know how easily the internet can change.

This. I started typing out a pretty big response, but it's difficult to explain what I was thinking via text and I know it would be misinterpreted, so just this. The internet is full of the very vocal minority who will grab the torches and pitchforks over anything (just check out Youtube comments every now and then), it's not confined to simply gamers.

EDIT:

Spoiler: Spoiler'd for brevity

Take anything in it's infancy, and pour hate on it repeatedly.

It will retreat into it's shell, denying any flaws. And eventually, when it gets big enough, it will start lashing out.

At which point the tormentors poke more fun at it.

Take a look through any mainstream media at their representation of gaming. The positive stories are overwhelmed by baseless accusations of gaming being "TEH EBIL!".

How many times have you seen this headline?

GAMING ADDICT KILLS LOVED ONE

[sub]The murderer, who quite likes video games, was found to have murdered his loved one after losing his house, life and been involved in alcohol/drugs, while going to a psychiatrist.[/sub]

Anti-Gaming groups have called for all games to be banned to stop this happening again.

For historical continuity, replace games with video-nasties, rock music, literature or flint/steel.

It's not as if some of us aren't trying as well.


But look as even Dara has to explain that half the people are going

"Ah jeesus, you're 38. Why don't you grow up?"

And if you admit flaws, just wait for the tabloids to take that quote out of context and nail you for ratings.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

If the modern media want a rational debate on games, they've got to give us a platform where we'll be treated like adults.

Until then, are they even surprised that we get so defensive? No. They just abuse/bully us because our little minority(majority?) aren't protected by the free speech laws.

As the highest earning entertainment industry in the world, you'd think they could give some time to not accusing us of rape, murder and kitten juggling.

But no, half the audience still sigh, cross their arms and say "When are you going to grow up?"

Not really surprising we have the occasional tantrum, is it?

This too. So much this, Root hit the nail on the head again.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

Taking games "seriously" is a buzzphrase, you can tie whatever cultural issue you want to it. "Where are the games dealing with the situation Haiti?"

 

[Appleshampoo]

I read up the point where you said 'Moviebob is right'.

I hate that guy, and don't really care about his blatant one sided opinions and thus didn't read the rest.

I'm sure it was a good topic though, so keep up the good work there buddy!

 

[Sparrow]

I wouldn't want to get in the way of the progression of gaming as a media as long as it remained fun.

 

[Kirke]

Well, why do we want to be taken seriously? As long as gaming is fun, why should we care?

 

[GonzoGamer]

Sure, gaming takes itself seriously...too seriously sometimes: look at anything R* has released this gen. Gamers take it seriously, that?s for sure.

But if you want ?everyone else? to take gaming seriously, you can?t just dress up the games in a suit and say they?re grown up. It takes more than a boring and pretentious story to make a mature title but many don?t seem to realize this.

I too think the attitude of gamers needs to change if we are to be taken seriously. I think it?s hard for others to take gamers seriously when they are all so easily driven by hype and threats. You?re going to be considered a child if you?re happy to pay the store the entire price of the game, months before they have to give it to you. Or if you buy a machine even though it is notorious for breaking. Or if you?re willing to pay every extra fee that?s asked of you. As long as gamers act like the biggest suckers this side of new car lots, gaming isn?t going to be taken seriously.

 

[Timotei]

Dude TL;DR. Give some form of summary towards the end.

That's not his problem. That yours.

The OP should never have to make a TL;DR unless you're dealing with something around the levels of quantum physics and you need to help explain something complicated to a more simple person in a way they can understand.

That is acceptable. Paraphrasing is not.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

RAAAAGE.

Dude, videogaming has a bad rep because for every thirty of us that behaves in a socially adjusted manner after a round of murdering children and kittens virtually, there's one who figures that, hey, murdering children IN REAL LIFE has got to be fun, right? I mean, Real Life comes with the highest of all HD imaginable, so it's gotta be fucking AWESOME, right?

Let's go murder children! I'll just blame it on the game! Wheeee!

Gamers also get a bad rep because of the fact that for every ten or twenty of us who have a job, or at least projects and prospects that involve an upcoming career, there's one or two who just happen to embody the basement-dwelling, smelly, fat enthusiast stereotype who seems to be shaping up to become an inept man-child with only video game references as a social canvas.

And, unfortunately, it's that minority that's outspoken. The rest of us doesn't need to shout. We don't need to behave à la Red Shirt Guy or to otherwise throw a fit when we lose or when a game doesn't live up to our expectations.

In other words, 99% of us have a life outside of gaming. We just have to pay for the one percent that does not, or that equates video games to the single, greatest achievement in all of Mankind's history and that will throw a fit if you wrest it away from its console or PC.

As for us being taken seriously, I'd like it if it were understood that video games can tackle complex subjects realistically. Like Jim said about GTA, those who prefer their urban crime epics to be absolutely bugnuts can go play Saints Row: The Third. This leaves the field wide open for exploring more mature subjects than the genre tends to - which is something Rockstar jumped at the chance of doing.

I, for one, am glad that both Volition and Rockstar exist. You want your lively nonsense and murder sprees? Go play Saints Row 3. You want to explore themes centering around the recent recession and the general climate it causes in an American metropolis? Go play GTA V.

I really don't understand why people can't accept that gaming *should* strive to be a serious medium - without sacrificing it's ability to entertain. One does not destroy or negate the other, folks. Both can coexist.

 

[mjc0961]

You just constantly pretending not to rage doesn't help your case at all. Why should we want games to be more than just fun? That's what they are: entertainment. That's all movies, books, and TV shows are too. Sure, every now and then you have one that tries to be super special or whatever. Games can do that every now and then too. But to imply that it's wrong for people to want their entertainment to be entertaining is what's really "a big fat freaking no" here.

So stop acting like every game ever needs to push boundaries or whatever. There's plenty of room in every other medium for both the serious and the mindlessly entertaining, and there's plenty of room for both in gaming too.

Oh, and you want to know what we have to do to make gaming accepted by "everyone"? Nothing. Go about our lives and just wait. Eventually all the ignorant old fools all over the world will be gone, replaced with people from younger generations who realize games are not satan. All kinds of media have gone through this before, and something else will go through this after games in the future. We don't need to sit here and whine about how we should want "progression" in our games (by the way, why does nobody explain what they mean by "progression"? you don't even know what you're asking for, do you?). We just need to wait for all the older, ignorant people to go away and ta-da, gaming is magically accepted.

Uh huh.

Those things annoy me too.

In particular, I'd like to see games get to the point where they can do something a bit more profound than level-ups and headshots. But some people freak out at this notion as if they think all the fun is going to be replaced by pretentious navel-gazing.

Basically, this:

The problem with that craphole of a video is that he thinks fun = explosions and blood. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. Fun = being entertained. Fun is the point of any entertainment activity. If a TV show isn't fun to watch, I change the channel. If a movie isn't fun to watch, I turn it off. If a book isn't fun to read, I put it down. And if a game isn't fun to play, I stop playing it. And there are a hell of a lot more ways for games to be fun than "explosions and blood" like that know-nothing nitwit implies in his video.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

All valid points, buuut...

Don't forget, entertainment can go deeper than simply shooting stuff up. In essence, I'm entertained by L.A. Noire's social commentary and I feel that this game brings something new and interesting to the table, as opposed to an -nth game about barrel-chested supersoldiers being all manly and mowing down other manly aliens arbitrarily designed as evil.

Fun has its place in games. Of course it does, the very name of that field implies the act of play, of leisure. However, modern gaming has the opportunity to both continue to exercise that function - and to go above and beyond the call of duty.

I'd personally LOVE to see a game rendition of something like Moby Dick, or to wake up to hear that a given game's scenario is so moving and its characters are so human than even non-enthusiast press venues are giving it attention.

In other words, as much as I love me some Left 4 Dead, I like to come back to the Uncharted series for its characters and storyline. Far less so for the gameplay, as stellar though it may be.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Again, disregard this. The Escapist likes to nom my posts, it seems.

 

[Something Amyss]

It's become trendy to rant against your own interests.