I hadn’t heard of Hot Blooded Gaming until this morning, when GP linked to this piece by Kreyg, the site’s founder. A thoughtful, melancholy article about how videogames acted as a guiding force in his life – a protector during dark times and a limitless resource of joy whenever it was needed. I’ve always felt that it takes real courage to write articles like this one, to wear your heart on your sleeve the way Kreyg does. So check it out.
My earliest memories are of videogames. I don’t recall the specifics, but at some point in 1980 my Dad came home with a copy of On-Line’s seminal Mystery House – one of Roberta Williams’ first games. My brother, my Dad, and I played that game on our Apple II+ for hours over the next year, and it was through the text parser that I learned to read.
While Kreyg details what can only be described as a fairly miserable childhood, mine was more or less the opposite. I grew up in a stable, loving family, I was not the fat kid, I did okay friend-wise in school. I had less to escape from than he, but when there was escaping to be done, videogames were my avenue of choice.
Gamers in general come in many shapes and sizes but are united by a shared love of the hobby. There is one differentiator, though – it’s not PC vs. Console, it’s not Casual vs. Core. Those comparisons are irrelevant. For some, gaming is a hobby that they love and (in many cases) seek out in advance of any other entertainment. For others, gaming is something that has become part of us, as much as our hands or hearts are part of us. The difference is subtle and difficult to vocalize, but it’s there. Even if Real Life Responsibilities reduce our time in front of the screen, games still call to us.
Now of course, there’s nothing wrong with being the former type of gamer. I enjoy music, but not in the same way it’s enjoyed by someone for whom music is their life. Doesn’t make me a bad person. In fact, it’s very tough to be what we’ll call an Inherent Gamer – young people who fall into this category are often teased at school, and often subject to parents or similar responsible individuals who quite sensibly want them to enjoy activities other than videogames as well. Adults who are Inherent Gamers are often perceived as enjoying something “for kids,” which can hurt them personally and professionally. It’s not because other people are judgmental. Inherent Gamers are hard to understand. Most normal people, for example, wouldn’t fire up a videogame on the day they’ve learned that someone close to them has died. An Inherent Gamer might. Not to escape, not to forget what’s going on, and certainly not because they don’t care… they do it for the same reason that we hold our breath when under water and breathe instinctively otherwise. They do it for the same reason that snakes slither or cats stare at the floor for hours on end. They do it because it’s natural for them, and to not do it would be unnatural. But other people don’t understand that, so they get mad (or baffled). Which I can totally sympathize with, but it doesn’t change reality.
Kreyg’s introspective and frank article made me feel a bit of a kinship with him, because despite the fact that our life experiences have been so markedly different, we’re both Inherent Gamers. And there aren’t as many of those as you might think. He called videogames his guardian angel, and he’ll always be able to find reprieve and comfort in them. Even for those who don’t have gaming in their very bones, there’s something to be learned from that.
Adults who are Inherent Gamers are often perceived as enjoying something “for kids,” which can hurt them personally and professionally.
I imagine I am an “Inherent Gamer.” I’ve been playing console/PC games for over 30 years now. I still do it quite often. In fact, of late, I have been playing more than I have in the last few years. On a PC, no less. SUCK THAT, DOBRY! 🙂
I am also married and I am an attorney who works at a pretty big firm. Well, pretty big for the local market. While you are not going to find many gamers, Inherent or otherwise, at all, among the older attorneys at my firm, slowly but surely I have ferretted out a rather substantial number of what I think would be considered inherent gamers among attorneys at my level or slightly below (ages 25-35, for example). These are all very highly respected people in the firm. Some of them are strictly WOW-heads, but others play all sorts of different games.
I think the main reason for this that the older generation simply didn’t grow up at time when video games were really even available. Sure, Pong or some Atari games might have been on the scene when they were teenagers, but it wasn’t something they really ever grew up with and, therefore, not something they would do as adults. While, I don’t think the “video games are for kids” perception will ever truly go away (since many video games are for kids and the industry is plagued by marketing and advertising that is catered to teenagers), I think as our generation and earlier generations start to move into full fledged adulthood, I think you’ll see more and more Inherent Gamers in the professional ranks (outside of IT departments or the like) and it wont be quite the stigma it once was.
Then again, I could be wrong. After all, I turned 36 a couple weeks back and received three gifts: an action figure, a comic book (er, graphic novel), and a gift card to Game Stop.
Well, come talk to me if you ever have a kid. You’ll live my pain and call me for advice and hopefully I will be big enough to not mock you. Hopefully.
Among Courtney’s circle of married girlfriends, at least, it seems pretty readily accepted that video games are “just something guys do.” I’m definitely an “Inherent Gamer.” If I have a night away from the kids, I want to play for more than an hour of uninterrupted gaming (or hang out and board game with my elusive friends).
I can’t even begin to imagine how lawyers find the time to mainline a WoW habit. It doesn’t seem like an addiction that can be controlled. These WoWhead lawyers have apparently found a way.
That was a nice story.
I don’t know if I’ll ever live to see the day where video games are as socially acceptable– and respectable– as those other popular mediums we know as film, music, and book. I think it is becoming more normal for younger generations, but still probably not socially acceptable, in the same way that parents would prefer their children not eat five candy bars a day and drink a dozen cokes. I think it definitely does carry a mostly negative stigma. It is too often associated with obesity, causing people to be violent and desensitized, lazy, and for adults to be called “childlike.” The truth is, in my experience, it is just the opposite: some of the kindest, most caring, intelligent, well-read and -spoken people I know are those who love gaming.
As Kreyg notes in his story, it is often the ones playing “violent” video games who are at home staying out of trouble. That was definitely me. I can tell you that over the last two weeks I have probably stabbed, slashed and maimed thousands of people in Assassin’s Creed II, and I’ve loved every minute of it. I would never hurt a fly in my Real Life Day-to-Day Activities. That’s really the basis of why I switched from being solely a reader to a reader and contributer of Four Fat Chicks, and now Tap-repeatedly: to share experiences with like-minded people, and by that I mean, of course, people who love gaming, among other things.
Maybe I would be scoffed at or mocked for saying so (by so-called “normal” people), but computer and console games have been some of my greatest teachers in all aspects of life. They have much to do with my love of reading, my interest in science, and actually for that matter they also really improved my spelling and grammar over the years, something I always prided myself on.
I think the world would be a better place with more Inherent Gamers.
Sorry this is a little off topic, but it’s strange how ‘playing’ is something that becomes more stigmatised with immaturity as people grow older. I’m not just talking about video games here, this includes board gaming and other table top stuff. Unless it’s productive in some way like being active or earning money it’s considered pointless and a waste of time. It’s also strange that nearly everybody I knew from school who so desperately wanted to be “mature” and all grown up, look noticeably older than me now… almost bloated with maturity.
As we grow older and take on more responsibilities, that innocent and hapless imagination play we enjoyed as children slowly closes down, but it’s remarkable how people seem to look down on playing, y’know just for fon. Y’know fon. Games have kept that fantastic child like exploration and sense of discovery frontier alive in me which has sort of defined my personality really.
It’s true, Gregg. Play of all kinds is seen as something to “grow out of.” Which is silly, when you think about it.
I always tell people: how to baby tigers learn how to be tigers? Do they go to tiger school and get lectures from tiger professors? No. They play. So do all others in the animal kingdom, including humans, when learning. Other animals keep it up throughout life, but we stop. Well, some of us do, anyway.
That’s why it’s so troubling to me when I hear stories about parents wanting to ban children’s games like Cops & Robbers or even tag because of the implied violence or opportunity to fail. It’s almost like de-evolution.
I’m female, 50-ish and play video games. I’ve been happily playing them since my 30s. You should see the looks I get from some of the people in my office when they find out I play video games. And don’t get me started on 99% of the guys my age. Puh-lease. eHarmony doesn’t include video gaming in its “29 dimensions of compatibility”. 😀
@Steerpike: Mine and Lew’s Grandad (the one mentioned here who introduced us to the Sinclair Spectrum) used to make wooden swords and shields for us, and occasionally guns but they were nowhere near as fun. Seriously the swords and shields were awesome when we had our friends around to play ‘knights’. We used to play one game where we setup a gauntlet of friends and one of us had to defeat each one in turn usually whacking the hell out of each other. Thinking about it we must have looked like something out of Monty Python and The Holy Grail.
We also used to climb a lot of dangerously high trees that looking back could have killed us had we fallen… how times have changed!
I remember back in 6th grade, a friend and I used colored pencils to draw a multi-page graphic novel (if you can call stick figures and red scribbles a graphic novel) detailing our adventures as mass murderers. It was on notebook paper we stapled together. Each page detailed a new atrocity – things like killing all the shoe store employees because we wanted new sneakers.
Never killed anybody in my life. But can you imagine if two 11 year olds were caught doing the same thing today?
I’m watching my back you cold blooded bastard.
Toger said: “eHarmony doesn’t include video gaming in its “29 dimensions of compatibility”. :D”
Hehehehehehehe….well said Toger! There was a time where I felt I had to keep quiet about my gaming, sort of like I was ashamed to be spending so many hours playing them (and loving every minute of it!). Eventually I realized that I couldn’t care less what others think of my favorite hobbies. So everybody at work knows about my gaming obsession and sure enough I get my share of pitying looks and exclamations of, “Oh, you and my 10 year old kid should get together for a play date”. They say this and then go home and sit in their armchair and watch 5 straight hours of TV including American Idol, Ya Think You Can Dance?, and The Bachelor. I’m certainly not going to knock TV in general or these shows in particular, but at what point in time did it become accepted that spending your free time watching TV was the mature thing to do while playing games is the immature thing to do? 🙂
@lakerz: too true. I think we all know that feeling. Strangely, it’s pretty much exactly the same shows over here in the UK. Not that I watch them.