I grew up while video games still were not a mainstream form of entertainment. I grew up cast aside for the choice I made of staying inside and glueing my face to a TV screen as I watched digital art perform as I controlled it.
A main stereotype that surrounds gamers is that we are single overweight men living in their parent’s basement with no job. Although this may be true for some individuals I don’t feel that is a standard that we as a culture can accept anymore. Most of us know gamers and know it isn’t true.
As time has passed the average gamers age sits between 25-32. With the average gamer’s age in mind it seems that most households have at least one form of video game entertainment in it. This ranges from PC to any form of a console. Even elderly communities have adopted games as a form of movement, mostly the Wii, but it still counts.
The younger generation is now more accepting than ever for people that play video games. It actually seems to be more of an oddity if someone doesn’t at least play a bit. In my opinion, it seems that kids have it easier today than when I was growing up. They are able to talk about video games without being ridiculed.
I think that this recent movement pushing games into homes is great. It is great for those of us that knows how it felt to be cast aside as a “nerd.” Growing up I was not proud to be labeled a nerd, but today more people can sport that title proudly. Today adults and kids both can say with pride that: “Yes I game, and Yes I am a nerd.”
The word nerd is no longer a negative connotation. It seems that when two people of that kind get together they can argue about who is the bigger nerd… and do so with pride.
