Lessons From the Controller

In my life, I have two separate females that have taken it upon themselves to become gamers.  They looked at a handful of friends that played games and decided they were going to as well.  I should be hyped that my lifelong hobby is expanding to include new people, but this continually growing activity is bringing in some unwanted company.

My general problem with these two people is that they don't actually play.  They bought an Xbox or downloaded a PC game and never play them.  They make status updates about how much they love playing games and include random aspects of their "gamer" lives, even posting pictures.  And when they engage in real world conversation about video games, it always includes generic comments, listing off a few classic titles, and patting themselves on the back for making references that are so well known my grandmother could have made them.  To be fair, Grandma Schweers was pretty bad ass.

In essence, these women can talk the talk but in no way can they walk the walk.  It's hard to understand where they come from.  Perhaps they thought that owning a few triple A titles would make them seem cool, elite, or maybe even smarter?  Or maybe they are just trying to get in on this new "nerd is cool" wave that is rolling through pop culture right now.  I have never looked at games from that point of view.  I play because I simply always have.  I like it, so I do it; I have no justification.

Video games becoming more and more popular has brought in a lot of people like this, both male and female.  Some people that join the culture actually do play the games but don't really show the appreciation or respect.  They get on forums, into chat rooms, or log into game servers only to yell things like "Halo is for fags, Battlefield rules!"  I don't need that, no one does.  But despite all this, I still think the video game world is a "more the merrier" situation. 

So my general life lesson from all this is that I have to take a deep breath and let go.  As much as I want to nurture and protect this passion of mine that has been present my entire life, I have to accept the fact that I can't.  I want the industry to grow as big and fruitful as possible.  I want more developers with creative ideas and new, amazing technology to blow my mind.  I want to play with new people, have long debates and hear new points of view about my favorite games.  And more players mean a more sustainable industry.  All those things are happening, but with the good comes the bad.  In order for growth, there must be growing pains, both in the video game landscape and in life.  So as much as people talk up games but don't actually contribute to the culture in any positive way, I must accept them for they are signs of progress.