LogFAQs > #887829306

Throughout my life, I've always noticed video games being looked down upon as something that only lazy idiots and nerds do to entertain themselves. I often find/found myself agreeing. I remember I went to a support group for depression once and it was certainly not the support I was looking for. Instead of other depressed people or the manic pixie dream girl that was going to rescue me from my despair, the entire group was composed of judgmental parents of depressed teens or seemingly unaffected middle aged people who just had nothing better to do on a Sunday night. When it was my turn to talk, one of the judgmental parents was grilling me about my hobbies. I immediately said "video games". The sighs around the room were palpable, as if they all thought, "another lazy, listless youth, tsk..tsk.." I then said I also liked to play guitar, everyone perked up as if playing a musical instrument was a noble, selfless crusade like donating an organ to a stranger. I thought that was silly. I only started because I had this false notion that playing guitar makes you cool. Turns out, I was about 15 years too late for that.

These days, I notice a somewhat different, somewhat sinister disdain. Even the young and newly old saying stuff like, "I'm too busy doing stuff in real life to waste time with silly games.", "You should be living life instead of staring at a screen". I've noticed this attitude coming heavily from the middle middle class and up. Especially Type-A people who are really into crossfit or restaurant hopping or travelling or boating. Notice something? Those are expensive hobbies. Video games are not the niche thing they once were. They are a mainstream hobby, and we are in an age of abundance, as long as you don't need to have the very latest, you can play new games nonstop for petty cash. I can't afford to drop everything and travel to Europe, but I can travel Skyrim for under $10 shipped. I can't afford the fuel, car depreciation, maintenance, and time off work to drive around the country, but I can walk around a vast nuclear wasteland in Fallout 3 for single digit dollars. I can't afford the equipment and league dues to play organized hockey, but I can play 30 consecutive seasons with the same team in NHL 14 for $5. Video games, once a gadget for the children of yuppies, now a tool to appease the misery of the poor and lower middle class.
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I don't think so, Tim.
~~ Pizza Crew ~~