Casting off aspersions

I never know what reactions I am going to get when I tell people that I enjoy video games and spend time playing them.  Some people cringe like I just admitting to storing severed human heads in my freezer. Others giggle and roll their eyes.  Then I get the eventual questions like "so do you dress up like the characters in the games?"  For some reason people always make this huge leap from the concept of playing games to pretty much doing the nerdiest things possible.  But that's what I want to write about today.  I'm tired of being treated like some sort of social outcast because I like enjoy gaming.

For a long time I was a closet nerd/gamer.  I played games in secret and never talked about them.  But why should I feel the need to hide something that I enjoy?  Gaming has such a negative social stigma attached to it and I really don't understand why.  To me games are just a fun way to experience a story.  The player gets to be the main character and shape how the story progresses.  To others gamers are socially inept and use games as a crutch to escape.

The reality is that gamers are an amazingly diverse and creative group of people.  I'm always amazed by the amazing mods (and not so amazing ones too) and user generated content that is created by gamers.  Most games today have some sort of social aspect built into the gameplay whether it's competitive or co-op.  The argument that games are "anti-social" seems totally outdated.  Playing WoW and hanging out with my guildmates was always a fun social experience.

Another reality is that most people play games.  If you play games on your phone, guess what, you have played a game so you can stop rolling you eyes at me and pretending you are just too cool for games.  Is the person who hangs out on Facebook all day any different from the person who plays WoW?  I think it's time to cast off the negative aura that surrounds gaming.  If someone asks if you're a gamer, own up to it.  Don't be embarrassed!  Gaming is nothing to be ashamed of, so game on.