Anti-gamer article

[CarlZog]

She seems upset that average age of gamers is now pushing 30, and she thinks that there's something amiss with adults being so obsessed with video games that they'd pluck down thousands of dollars and spent countless hours awaiting the new consoles.

But I don't really believe today's "average" gamers were the ones camping out overnight for a PS3. Those were the fanatics.

As for the ebay money.. well, adults with enough cash will always find silly stuff to spend it on. Is it really any different than the guy who spends thousands for tickets to the Super Bowl?

From a social standpoint, it IS interesting to me that a growing number of adults today are sticking with hobbies developed in childhood and adolescence (RPGs included), rather than taking up golf and bridge. But I don't particularly think that phenomenon has the dramatic negative overtones that she gave it either.

Carl

 

[IcyCool]

I think she is voicing an opinion on the situation. She isn't calling for policy changes, which I equate to having an agenda. In stead of using her freedom of speech for something productive she is using it to insult people.

You're probably right. Was this published in the opinion column or letters to the editor section?

Everybody's got one, and most of them stink?

That's the one.

Actually, I believe it was Plato who said that opinion was the lowest form of knowledge....

Hmm, I'm going to have to remember that.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Truth hurts, huh fellas?

 

[LightPhoenix]

She just doesn't understand everyone was buying them to make a quick buck on eBay. She should stop knocking capitalism.

 

[Banshee16]

You're probably right. Was this published in the opinion column or letters to the editor section?

She's a regular columnist in that paper, from what I understand.

Some of the points being raised in this thread are interesting. I thought about writing an article....but haven't quite decided whether to go ahead with it

The article is so outright anti-gamer however, that it was almost funny. I do think it's rude, but hey.

Banshee

 

[Ranger REG]

Why not rail against all the half-wits who waited in line to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster?

Because you don't see a mad frenzy rush to fill the theater and see the movie to the point of violence ... unless it's about Eminem.

[As a precaution, I don't watch the movie on opening night.]

As gamers we should probably be used to it.

And to that I say, MAN UP! Get used to taking guff from me about your pay-2-playing MMORPGs and must-get Playstation 3. *Eerie Mocking* Oooh!

Get a Life, Gamer! Play D&D!

--I'm a PnP Gamer and I Approved This Message.

 

[quasidomestikat]

People like that make baby Jesus cry, man. Hasn't she ever heard of the word 'hobby'?

 

[Nyaricus]

People like that make baby Jesus cry, man. Hasn't she ever heard of the word 'hobby'?

Yeah, but she seems to be mixing up the fanatics (ie people who struck their tent on Monday night for the Friday [or whatever] release of the PS3 - and yeah, somebody did that in my city) with the hobbyists, who are generally normal and now older than ever, as she mentions.

There's an interesting point in heraldy which I feel compelled to mention. You might very well see stuff like a faily crest divided into four sections on the shield of a family crest. These fours sections woudl be the four main things which are important to a family: your work, your family itself, your relationships with others, and your free time. A teacher of mine is a Mackennon, and his family crest has a boards head (free time/hobby - for hunting), a Christian holy symbol (relationship with god), a castle (their home/family), and some sort of symbol for their nobility, IIRC (work). I think that balancing these things in life is an important thing to do, and I think that this woman is misguided and just misjudging gamers.

Up until, what, say 15 or 20 years ago, technology had stayed relatively stable for almost two thousand years - now, we live in the Technology Age, where rapid advances in technology allow us to perfect things so much fast than eveer before, and continue a circle of invention and improvement very rapidly. So, she likes sewing. Well, sewing has changed very little over the last few hundred years, so you can hardly dislike something so passive - it doesn't jump out in any direct way. But (video) games - WATCH OUT!

Personally, I agree with Aeson. She isn't trying to change anything, she is just being bitchy and venting in her column. Good for her for using her mouth and using her right of free speech - I can give her that much credit without qualm.

cheers,
--N

 

[ssampier]

I'm disappointed. I expect such diatribe on a personal blog, but not published in the newspaper. For shame. For shame.

 

[IcyCool]

I'm disappointed. I expect such diatribe on a personal blog, but not published in the newspaper. For shame. For shame.

My faith in newsreporting being much more than sensationalist tripe was eroded several years ago. But I do know what you mean. I certainly think she should be free to speak her mind, but if she is doing so in a venue in which what is said is supposed to be more than opinion, I think that's sad.

That said, I just read an article about the president of a homeowner's association in Colorado demanding a resident take down her christmas wreath (which is in the shape of a peace symbol) because "some residents" have complained that it is anti-war or satanic. When the five members of the board refused to force said issue, he fired them. What the hell is wrong with people? He makes Ms. Pellerin seem positively tame by comparison.