Mouthbreathing Troglodytes (a.k.a. gamers)

[Yeargdribble]

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.

[XxSephirothxX]

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.

[Laddy]

Ok.

[Wolf Kanno]

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.

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.

[Jiro]

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.

[Momiji]

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

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~

[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. 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!

[Momiji]

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

[Dreddz]

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.

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.

[Quindiana Jones]

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.

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 ). 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.

[Momiji]

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.

[~*~Celes~*~]

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

[Bolivar]

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.

[Jessweeee♪]

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.

[Momiji]

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.