Mouthbreathing Troglodytes (a.k.a. gamers)

I consider myself a pretty nerdy gamer guy. I'm unashamedly a gamer, but I'm also no socially inept. I always feel like the caricature of gamers presented on television shows make us out to be way worse than we are. Well... I went to Wal-Mart in hopes of picking up New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Before being turned away by their incompetent bewilderment, quite a queue had formed.

I was 3rd of five.


The Illustrious Cast
Guy 1 - slim, clean-cut, 30ish with eyes that sort of crossed over a little in the middle.

Guy 2 - Friend of guy 1 from conversation I overheard before they made my acquaintance. I'm no slim guy myself so I can safely estimate this guy to be around 400 lbs. He was sweating bullets, wearing glasses, had a bit of a beard and looked like hadn't showed in days. I could get glimpses of his pasty white stomach through the holey, threadbare T-shirt he was wearing underwhich it appeared he was shoplifting throw pillows.

Guy 3 - Myself.

Guy 4 - Probably about 18. Nothing too nerdy except that he let his lips peel back from his teeth so that in tandem with his eyes they tried to convey utter confusion with the world. To add to this, he was quite twitchy and looked very nervous.

Guy 5 - Ostensibly the friend of guy 4. He was tall and lanky. He had a bit of the pizza face for which I won't fault him covered sparsely by patchy, but long, black facial hair... for which I will fault him. The mass of the entirety of his "beard" couldn't have filled a thimble despite the fact that several individual wispy strands were no less than half and inch in length.



A Tale of Five Nerdies
Now before you strike me down for my cruel attacks on their appearance, I'll tell you that looks alone said nothing to me until added to the awkwardness of the situation.

I saw guy 1 and 2 milling around the annoyed but nervous lady they'd apparently asked for help. I went to ask if they were looking for NSMBW. Guy 2 excitedly said yes and said it was so good to meet a fan before thrusting forward 5 stubby lengths of sausage for me to embrace. I shook his hand earnestly and introduced myself noticing that through his coke-bottle lenses he appeared to be looking beyond where his eyes should've focused to meet my gaze. There was introduction to be reciprocated. He quickly asked if I was excited about Mario Galaxy 2. I confirmed this as his friend attempted to actually introduce himself. Guy 2 seemed to lose interested my like my cat when she sees a moth... and he briefly disappeared into his own world.

I already realized that these guys had a certain nerd factor that made me a tad uncomfortable so I tried to step back and wait more patiently. Both of the gentlemen fiddled with things in the area without letting the stock lady leave the spot. The one time she did they excitedly informed her that the phone was ringing. She learned quickly to just stay put, but she had the look on her face of a person wearing a pork-chop jumpsuit in a pit full of hungry lions. Guy 1 and 2 regularly insulted her inadvertently yet also obliviously making comments about her working in a job she wasn't trained for (meaning working the electronics booth when she was only a stocker). Their comments all seemed unusually barbed yet they both had great big smiles on their face and were being quite patient other than the need to fill the silence with their inane babbling.

Guy 4 and 5 approached and 4 paced around nervously until she asked if he needed help to which he stammered something about Mario before she cut off his botched attempt at communication and assured him that we were all waiting as well. Guy 1 made a comment, once again degrading the clerk, and guy 5 smiled (by which I mean his lip pulled from over his teeth to some point beyond exposing his gums for a moment before he dropped back into his normal paranoid/confused state). Guy 5 seemed to confer with him quietly before going to pace around while guy 4 was left standing with the rest of us ingrates.

As if we all didn't seem nerdy enough, then Guy 1 asks, "Do you like Star Wars?" I did a mental face palm not at the question but at the picture he was painting all of us into in the eyes of all who were wandering about the general area. I mentioned I did a little and that my wife had only just recently watched all of them before he launched into a full on tirade about the awesomeness that is Star Wars.

By now Guy 2 was obviously tired of holding up his 400 lbs. for a whole ten minutes. After indicating this to guy 1 they schemed about where the nearest bench was for him to park it.

Before it came to that the manager showed up to let us know they had no packages in the back marked for the 15th... only the 17th (doubtless a box of AC2). In my meanderings I'd noticed a handful of boxes stacked on palettes nearby with various street dates labeled across bright red tape. One of these had November 15th, but after these events I decided to cut my loses and head on home. I guess I'll be picking it up and any number of retailers who will have it on the shelf in the morning.



Conclusion
I know this was Wal-mart, but even Gamestop seems to be no better. Is this an accurate cross-section of the gamer populous? Am I wrong to assume that at least a reasonable percent of the gaming demographics could string two sentences together and not draw undue attention to themselves? Child molesters are far less conspicuous for Christ's sake.

I think that, considering that the majority of the gamer populace is 20s-30s, there are a whole lot of more "normal" guys out there that skew the scales away from nerd stereotypes. The kind of guys who buy Madden, Halo, and Call of Duty (I fall into the latter two category, anyway). People like your Wal-mart buddies probably aren't the majority, but there are plenty of 'em.

Ok.

I have a lot of gamer friends and only half of them look like the atypical nerd. Even then many of them look like different types of nerds.

At the gamestops I frequent, I usually either see parents buying for their kids or gangster wannabe's cause I like in the suburbs of a metropolitan area. :roll2

Although popular culture has stereotyped the gamer, I feel the reality is far from the truth. Yeah the stereotype is out there (otherwise it wouldn't exist in the first place) but the majority I see look like everyday people to me.

The people I see in the stores don't look nerdy. They look normal, sometimes even cool. But then you go to game releases and it's swarmed with a variety of people, many of who actually do match the stereotype.

Though maybe that's more to do with the town I was in. It's not a very, er, nice place.

I'd personally chalk this up to the fact you were at Wal-Mart. It's easy to spot the more... interesting people there. :p

I'm really trying to get a mental picture of the stereotypical gamer, though-- and I'm realizing that I can't. The term 'gamer' has evolved and branched into so many different forms that I can't think of just one certain quintessence of the word. However, I think that if someone could find the absolute embodiment of a 'gamer', it certainly wouldn't be what most of us look or act like. Some people are very open about their fandom, and others you can't even tell what their hobbies are until you talk to them.

I personally find myself in between. I certainly don't hide the fact that I'm a gamer-- albeit one of a very niche demographic of fandom-- but I don't personally think I really have an appearance that screams 'Yeah, that arcade cab on the other side of the room? I've put more quarters in that thing than anyone else on campus has (which very well may be true, by the way), and I also own almost every spot on the game's scoreboard (very true, indeed).'

(of all the shmups out there, that's one of the ones I suck horribly at, too. I just play it 'cause that machine never gets any love, much like the three sport arcade games (*cringe*) surrounding it. I'd be an even more poor person if they got a cab with Gunbird 2 or ESPGaluda or Mushihimesama or any other game I'm a huge fan of)

*looks up*

Oh wow. Don't mind me, it's 4 am and I'm just babbling away~

Man to tell the truth I hate buying video games anywhere because you are immediately thought of as a nerd by everyone with in ear shot of the cash register. I hate to be sexist but I've found female store workers get incredibly dismissive of you when they see you buying video games. They go from being bubbly & over polite to oh good another nerd! I am most certainly not a nerd. I'll admit have friends who are nerds (by their own admission I'm not be a d*ck) but I enjoy my stereotype of being a drunk good for nothing musician. I am most certainly not a mouth breathing troglodyte!

Honestly, I do a good 90% of my game/anime/nerd shopping online. It's easier, often cheaper, and no one judges you. :p

I don't think you could categorize gamers by what they look like as I've seen gamers of all kinds. I bet if you saw me you wouldn't immediately think I'd play video games as much as I do. What I will say though is that all gamers act the same in public. I always liked the idea of randomly bumping into someone on the street who shares the same passion for gaming as me. The problem is that everyone in a games store will be staring at the ground and not saying a word. The ones who are open about games are usually just into sports games which is no fun. I guess most gamers are ashamed of what people will think of them. Its quite sad, really.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shattered Dreamer

Man to tell the truth I hate buying video games anywhere because you are immediately thought of as a nerd by everyone with in ear shot of the cash register.

---

I know what you're saying. I don't mind going in and buying, say, a Halo or Call of Duty game but most of the time I'm going in to buy something really obscure which is always a little awkward. Its hard to not show who you really are when your buying a game like Arcana Hearts for example. I remember when I went and bought Valkyria Chronicles and the checkout girl jokingly asked me what this game was about and I literally froze on the spot. You could tell she was mocking me and that made it 10 times worse. I forget exactly what I said but I know I was out of that store as quickly as possible. After that encounter I only went to my local gamestore as I know the people who work there and don't feel like I'm being judged everytime I walk in.

I'm exceptionally rude to people at the tills who are rude to me. It's horrednous customer service to try to take the piss out of your customers, and the best thing about it is that I can verbally maul them without it sounding like I'm being an overly rude person (see Dreddz jokey checkout girl). Seriously, you can say anything with a smile and people think you're just having a laugh. Good fun. :D

I was in PC World asking about graphics cards, and the guy who sevred me was horrendous. He didn't listen to me when I was telling him what I wanted out of him, instead choosing to just point me to the most expensive one. smurf off, moron, I'm not an idiot. Then he just started going off on one about his monster PC with 500 million graphics cards in it, and 87000GB RAM, and how he liked to snipe people on CoD (if anyone's wondering, his name is "C4_Miles", y'know like see for miles, because I see for miles YEAH THANKS DUMBASS I GET IT :mad2:). It was the worst shop experience I've ever had, just because it's so horrifically bad. He then decided to take me away from the £100 graphics card he was promoting and instead showed me the "cheap" £600 PCs they had. For the record, I neither asked nor hinted that I wanted a new PC. It was truly abysmal customer service, and this guy was an immense stereotypical gamer. I can't stand those sorts of people. Games are for fun. Go kill yourself if you think any different.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quin

Games are for fun. Go kill yourself if you think any different.

---

That reminds me of another subject. What of those "gamers" who do nothing but buy their games, and leave them sealed on the shelf?

Frankly, they disgust me as much as the annoying stereotypical gamers. If you're buying games to display them on a shelf, never to be opened, you're missing the point.

i just love it when people automatically assume all of us gamers are exactly the same.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Azar

I think that, considering that the majority of the gamer populace is 20s-30s, there are a whole lot of more "normal" guys out there that skew the scales away from nerd stereotypes. The kind of guys who buy Madden, Halo, and Call of Duty (I fall into the latter two category, anyway).

---

Absolutely, I was in line for Modern Warfare 2 at 8AM on the day it launched and the line of guys with me could have been your average mix of 20-30 year old males from Philadelphia.

I kind of feel like since the Playstation days "gamer" has come to represent nearly all males from 10-30 (maybe now it's even higher) it's just a nationally recognized past time instead of grouped in with the action-figure/board game industry. For that reason I don't feel the gamer stereotype has been relevant for more than a decade now.

All of my game purchases lately have been at Gamestop in Philly, and only a minority at any given time are white, much less nerds, so the "gamer" stereotype hasn't been something I've seen in a long time. I would say the most representation of that demographic probably happens on the PC and they all buy their games on Steam now, if they buy them at all.

I don't know, maybe it was just b/c you were waiting for New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Momiji

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quin

Games are for fun. Go kill yourself if you think any different.

---

That reminds me of another subject. What of those "gamers" who do nothing but buy their games, and leave them sealed on the shelf?

Frankly, they disgust me as much as the annoying stereotypical gamers. If you're buying games to display them on a shelf, never to be opened, you're missing the point.

---

Unless they have a zillion billion dollars and every game bought is like a penny to them, then it's really very silly! I proudly display my collector's edition of FFXII still wrapped in it's plastic, but I received that and the standard box as a Christmas gift the same year.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jessweeee♪

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Momiji

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quin

Games are for fun. Go kill yourself if you think any different.

---

That reminds me of another subject. What of those "gamers" who do nothing but buy their games, and leave them sealed on the shelf?

Frankly, they disgust me as much as the annoying stereotypical gamers. If you're buying games to display them on a shelf, never to be opened, you're missing the point.

---

Unless they have a zillion billion dollars and every game bought is like a penny to them, then it's really very silly! I proudly display my collector's edition of FFXII still wrapped in it's plastic, but I received that and the standard box as a Christmas gift the same year.

---

See, something like that's fine. You're still enjoying the game for what it is, and since you have two, there's no point in opening the other, especially if it's a collector's edition. But buying games for the exclusive purpose of keeping them sealed up and on display, it just makes me shake my head in deep disappointment.

Most gamers I know aren't real gamers. They only play games like Halo or CoD and that's all they know. By real gamer I would assume someone who has played a lot of genre's and is basically what I'd call pro not a person who plays Halo because it's a "cool" game to play.

Oh, right. Can't forget the kids who play Halo 3 and call themselves MLG pros just because they're hot :bou::bou::bou::bou: with a Battle Rifle and nothing else, and whine and complain if they can't get a Battle Rifle or if someone is using something other than one. Y'know, because those other weapons are n00b weapons and they aren't meant to be used. :roll2

Screw weapons, use your fist and grenades. This is also why I am pretty dodgy at Halo. i do that, or camp, because I am a pussy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jiro

Screw weapons, use your fist and grenades. This is also why I am pretty dodgy at Halo. i do that, or camp, because I am a pussy.

---

Bwahaha, sounds like me :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by McLovin'

Most gamers I know aren't real gamers. They only play games like Halo or CoD and that's all they know. By real gamer I would assume someone who has played a lot of genre's and is basically what I'd call pro not a person who plays Halo because it's a "cool" game to play.

---

There is definitely a demographic out there I just don't understand. There are people willing to drop $600 on a console and then just buy 2-3 sports games on it... ever. I have seen this with my own eyes more than once. Of course even $300 on a console seems too much for that type of waste. The same goes for those who only have a very small collection of (generally WWII themed) FPSs.

I'm just not physically around this type of person enough to get them (and god knows they're probably the types of douchenuggets who wouldn't be caught dead on the internet when they could be out "slayin' b**ches"). If all other gaming is of no interest to you, then why is it cool to play sports games? It would seem these types of epically casual and wouldn't have time to sit down and play through a season of anything.

On the other hand, EA makes a frackton selling the latest madden every year. I guess the people who don't get enough after paying $150/mo. for NFL Sunday Ticket still need sports games on the side? You wouldn't think the demographic would be big enough for companies to put so much into it.

I guess who am I to call them on it if they have the money though.

smurf y'all haterz the Battle Rifle is better than sex.

I'm not really a fan of people who call themselves "gamers". I also like to watch movies but I don't call myself a "movier" or whatever. It's just asking for it, really.

I'm a movie goer :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Psychotic

smurf y'all haterz the Battle Rifle is better than sex.

I'm not really a fan of people who call themselves "gamers". I also like to watch movies but I don't call myself a "movier" or whatever. It's just asking for it, really.

---

To be fair, there is a reason for the label. By default all people are "moviers." Who the hell doesn't watch movies? The pretentious ones might call themselves film buffs.

Not everyone does play games. While the term gamer is probably far too all inclusive, there is a pretty solid dichotomy between people who play games and people who absolutely don't whereas there is no such group of people who don't watch movies.

Those weren't gamers, those were Wii gamers :P

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vyk

Those weren't gamers, those were Wii gamers :P

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bolivar

I don't know, maybe it was just b/c you were waiting for New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

---

Now who is stereotyping? ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vyk

Those weren't gamers, those were Wii gamers :P

---

Normally I would disagree, but one of them asked me if I pre-ordered. I said no and explained that not only does it seem pointless (there are always enough copies on the shelves of the other stores in the morning so why tie yourself down?) but I've had luck at Wal-mart before because often games that don't have midnight release parties at Gamestop can still be picked up at midnight in Wal-mart.

Then I made the reference "...like Modern Warfare 2," and all I received was a blank stare. The same guy who is all abuzz about Mario Galaxy 2 (which you almost exclusively would have to hang on the internet to be privy to) seemed to have never heard of MW2 despite the gigantic case right behind him with at least 50 copies of the game.

I wasn't interested in MW2, but if you're a "gamer" what the hell kind of rock do you have to live under to be completely unaware of it?

I only stereotype when its funny :D (Cuz I was kidding)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vyk

I only stereotype when its funny :D (Cuz I was kidding)

---

I figured as much... it just happened to be inadvertently apt. :p

Yeah, I have a lot of friends, especially female ones, who are gamers. Now one of them is much more hardcore than the other, but we'll go into Gamebuzz or EB Games (EB being the Canadian version of Gamestop) all the time. I rarely go to a department store to buy games, unless I am back home at my parents' where that's the only place you can get them.

Great thing about Gamebuzz is that they have all the obscure JPRGs. EB Games didn't even have Person 3 (& FES) or Persona 4. :/

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vyk

I only stereotype when its funny :D (Cuz I was kidding)

---

I know you both were but its fun to call you out and I'm bored :colbert:

I'm glad I work for the HMV flagship store, when a game comes out and I want it I buy it there...more often than not thats just good financial sense as well since I get 30% off my games (meaning a £39.99 game becomes like £24.99 for me to buy brand new) I also merely get served by one of my colleagues who are generally very understanding that we all in some way class as "geeks" whether it be music, books, films or games we're in to in a big way. However would I ever actively introduce myself in the way of: "Hey I'm Steve and I'm a gamer?" Hell no. I merely introduce myself as Steve. I don't actively class myself as a geek either, I'm in to my cinema, music and games and I read a lot but I also do a considerable amount of socialising and other activities (sports included) Therefore I'm just a man who manages to fit more in to a day than most imo.

I don't normally necrobump, but there's a hilarious follow-up. I ran into the friend of the large guy. You know, the one who introduced himself as a Mario fan...

Well apparently the large fellow has just recently reached World 8 and is quite proud of himself. This blows my mind considering he seems like the type that sits down and plays games hardcore with his poopsock handy. It's also hard to imagine someone who would consider themselves a Mario fan and one who is certainly old enough to have grown up playing it on the NES... would have such difficulty completely NSMBW.

Context clues (via the slender friend who apparently works at Wal-mart who I've now had many brief conversations with related to his friend) lead me to believe that the large chap is and has been unemployed and may indeed be playing this game a lot - mind you in our original meeting it was the slender friend giving the large one a lift to Wal-mart at midnight. I asked what other games he played and the question petered out without an answer. I assumed maybe he played a lot of WoW and didn't have time to dedicate to the hardcoreness that is NSMBW, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

The slender one told me he wouldn't tell his friend about me finishing it so as to not make him feel bad.

I don't know how to feel. The guy didn't seem horribly mentally deficient, just socially inept. Part of me wants to laugh, but then I wonder if he's seriously troubled.


Also, on the topic of this thread, I'm about to head to Wal-mart to try my hand at procuring White Knight Chronicles at midnight.

Absolutely none of the Mario games are hard enough not to be beat in the time frame given, most of them can probably be beat in like a week of decent game play.

I feel kind of bad for this guy, huge and not very good at his obsession?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yeargdribble

whereas there is no such group of people who don't watch movies.

---

Hasidic Jews and the Amish.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Momiji

Frankly, they disgust me as much as the annoying stereotypical gamers. If you're buying games to display them on a shelf, never to be opened, you're missing the point.

---

Well, that means you're disgusted with me, then. 'Cause I'm one of those people who likes to have a full series of games and not just bits and pieces. If I've played the previous games and don't like them but I like the sequels, I'll buy the whole series (if money allows) and just play the games I like.

It's also a great boon when money problems come up! Just recently I had to sell a few high-priced games to pay my student loan.

Also I think it's kinda crazy to consider gamers to be "nerds." I mean, we're all wasting time doing the same things, so why the name-calling? I'm not aiming this at one specific person (though I think Yeargdribble's take on the whole thing is interesting). It's just absurd to be talked down for liking games. The whole "oh, he likes Star Wars/model trains/whatever, he must be a nerd" thing must stop at some point as well. We're all people. We all poop the same color poop. We all breathe and function in the same way. :jess:

In my opinion, if a person is socially awkward/inept/whatever, it's not because of games or other so-called "nerdy" tendencies. It's because of experiences they've had with other people in the past. That's a discussion for another thread, though. I'd know plenty about this subject because for anyone who knows me, they know I'm a misanthrope.

I like games and I guess I may look like a bit of a nerd. I have myopia and I prefer my thick-framed black glasses over my gunmetal gray wireframe Hugo Bosses (which only come out at job interviews and dates, really). I even have a Super Mario T-shirt (though it's just part of my summer jammy collection).

But I also like to have a beer with mates, go out with my girlfriend, go to the footy and meet new people. I'm not socially inept, though I am prone to using big words more often than I need to. Though I'm sure if you got all my close friends to line-up alongside me, you'd pick me as the 'nerdiest looking'. Of course, not everyone who plays games is a nerd. It just so happens that I look like one. Just a little.

One of my friends plays DotA at least 3 hours a day and plays competitively in LAN tournaments whenever he can, but he wouldn't look out of place in a Coca-Cola commercial on a beach somewhere with a surfboard tucked under his arm. My girlfriend can be classed as a hardcore gamer on the premise that she owns every Sims game and expansion pack ever released, she's also taken recommendations I've made for her like Little Big Planet, Katamari Damacy and Okami, but she certainly doesn't fit the bill of a reclusive nerd.

Once upon a time, it may have been easier to pick a gamer out of a crowd on looks and mannerisms alone, but these days, you might as well try and pick out someone who prefers Coke to Pepsi.

*i'm thirsty*

I can't believe I actually read all three pages of that. People who just met me have a hard time stereo-typing me. Especially now in the winter when I go out I have a baggy sweater with sleeves that are too long. Really they hang like six inches from the end of my finger. I'm clean too (I'd really like to know how the unclean stereotype started, all my friends shower every day too) and I'm not a wide load or a stick, I've been a healthy 185 lbs. since 10th grade. And I'm just cheerful all the time too. And it's like Dreddz said way back on page 1, most gamers are quiet and seem to be ashamed of what they are. And I agree with him, it's sad.

And I'm with Momiji and people who hoard there games. Games want to be played. But what pisses me off worse are not the people who hoard them, but buy multiple copies of games just to sell them on eBay a few months down the line at inflated prices. Those guys are dicks.

But I got off topic. I'm not ashamed of my hobby. I pump well over 30 hours a week into my games. Putting that much time into something and being ashamed is just weird to me. I love talking about what I do. Even if they are being condescending I don't care, I'll talk there ear off. Maybe someone who cares will overhear I'll make a new friend. It's happened before. My story time now.

Alright me and my friends went to watch 9 awhile back, but arrived early cause there's a G2K Games built on the side of the cinemall. I was just broasing over the PSP section, not really looking for anything. But this guy came up and picked up Class of Heroes and made a rude comment about the art style and said the W-word. Now I was offended, I mean it was probably my copy. I beat and probably wasn't going to play it again so I sold it to give someone else a chance. But this guy called the people who played it the W-word. So I went up to him and told him it was more akin to old school western games like Wizardry and you build your teams and go dungeon crawling. But he was moron (like most people who use the W-word) and had no idea what I was talking about. He bought a movie for his PSP and left.

He left and this guy came up and looked like 24 from the Venture Bros. You know over weight and with a pony-tail. I was disappointed when he opened his mouth and didn't sound like 24. But anyway, he came up and we started talking about those old school first person dungeon crawlers. It was awesome.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Shattered Dreamer

Man to tell the truth I hate buying video games anywhere because you are immediately thought of as a nerd by everyone with in ear shot of the cash register. I hate to be sexist but I've found female store workers get incredibly dismissive of you when they see you buying video games. They go from being bubbly & over polite to oh good another nerd! I am most certainly not a nerd.

---

Not for me. There's a hot one at a Gamestop in a mall that I go to ocassionally and going by what she says and her enthusiasm, she's a gamer too. Just wish I could have some kind of chance with her.

Looking back I the couple of gaming friends I had did go under the sterotypical nerd appearance. When i had my gaming class last semester, I saw it was mostly people who didn't fit that description although I'm not too sure if I'm a good judge of that. You can find me and som e of my class mates in tthe beginning and end of this video.

YouTube - STREET FIGHTER 4: BISON (John) VS RYU (Tim)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NorthernChaosGod

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Yeargdribble

whereas there is no such group of people who don't watch movies.

---

Hasidic Jews and the Amish.

---

And no one stereotypes or makes fun of the Amish.

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

This is a major beef of mine (the gaming stereotype, not the Amish one), but coming at it from somewhat of an opposite direction. I grew up, and continue to be highly involved in, a high-performance sport environment. Most athletes are not usually very interested in video games, especially compared against the same age demographic of, say, university students. As such I have extremely few friends who have an interest in video games. I'm not a very social person by nature, so it's not like I've made a concerted effort to go meet people of a similar persuasion, but virtually every time I meet someone who is very interested in video games like I am, all I can think of after I get to know them better is "wow, you are a loser." Which makes me sad because, a) I don't have many gamer friends, and b) that is the demographic I feel I am a part of.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Depression Moon

Not for me. There's a hot one at a Gamestop in a mall that I go to ocassionally and going by what she says and her enthusiasm, she's a gamer too. Just wish I could have some kind of chance with her.

---

/facepalm /facepalm /facepalm

Nooo... please don't be that guy. This is the reason Gamestop is starting to employ tons of chicks, most of which have no clue about gaming (much like their male co-workers I might add). I mean, that's great if your chick might really be a gamer and might really be cute and all that.

Problem is, they are preying on the loner-nerd stereotype that rubs his hands together excitedly at the though of even talking to a girl. It's part of a fantastic business model for this horrid company.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mo-Nercy

I like games and I guess I may look like a bit of a nerd. I have myopia and I prefer my thick-framed black glasses over my gunmetal gray wireframe Hugo Bosses (which only come out at job interviews and dates, really). I even have a Super Mario T-shirt (though it's just part of my summer jammy collection).

But I also like to have a beer with mates, go out with my girlfriend, go to the footy and meet new people. I'm not socially inept, though I am prone to using big words more often than I need to. Though I'm sure if you got all my close friends to line-up alongside me, you'd pick me as the 'nerdiest looking'. Of course, not everyone who plays games is a nerd. It just so happens that I look like one. Just a little.

---

To me you don't sound that nerdy. While you can make a snap judgment on looks alone, it's usually the follow up conversation or even an overheard conversation where my mind is just blown.

Problem for me is that I am a huge gamer nerd, I'm not slim by any stretch of the imagination. However, I can wash myself and talk to people. I understand that some people have problems and the large fellow obviously has more than I suspected if it's taken him nearly 3 months to make it to World 8 of NSMBW.

I'm stuck somewhere between frustration and irony that so many gamers I do run into fit so cookie-cutter into the negative stereotypes the world has of gamers and that only makes us look worse. I don't care if you have glasses or acne, but wash yourself and wear clothing that doesn't look like you dug it out of Goodwill's rejection bin.

Quote:

---

Man to tell the truth I hate buying video games anywhere because you are immediately thought of as a nerd by everyone with in ear shot of the cash register. I hate to be sexist but I've found female store workers get incredibly dismissive of you when they see you buying video games. They go from being bubbly & over polite to oh good another nerd! I am most certainly not a nerd.

---

Haha, I've seen this happen plenty. It's similar with codgery old men. There's an obvious disgust. Then there's the mid-to-late 20s guy who think he's so cool. When he sees you buying a gaming or asking for one you can tell that he immediately feels superior because being a non-gamer talking to a gamer puts him in the higher social strata. Of course with all of them I'm always thinking, "Hey buddy... you're the one working at Wal-mart." This is especially true for the grumpy old codgers you think I'm wasting my life.

None of this bothers me. I'm old and married. I don't care about the idiot girls. I don't care about the bitter old men and I don't care about the guys who are naive enough to think they can keep acting like a stud playing the field until they are 50.