Consolation Prize

It’s a fact that gaming is now starting to become more socially acceptable. I am no longer completely embarrassed when I admit to being a gamer, and neither do I feel the need to hide this fact from the world at large, although admittedly I’m still a little apprehensive regarding people’s reactions whenever I list “Video Gaming” as one of my hobbies or interests.

You see, although gaming is gradually crawling out of the shadows of the bedroom towards the light of the living room, there’s still some stigma associated with being a games player. I’m sure many of us are still attributed as being “Geeks” or “Immature”, and are assumed to be lacking in any form of social skills beyond those required to set-up a death match on Halo 3 or converse in “leet -speak”. In fact, I quite happily label myself as a geek, and often do so before anyone can even think about using the term in a derogatory manner in order to confound and leave whomever I’m speaking with in search of another stereotype.

Anyway, I need to get to the point. What got me thinking about the acceptability of gaming was the fact that a well known BBC Radio One DJ, Chris Moyles, freely admits to playing on his Xbox 360 regularly. And often during the course of his breakfast show he will quite openly talk about playing Call of Duty 4 or Call of Duty: World at War, seemingly without any regard for the admonishment he may receive from his colleagues or the millions of listeners that have tuned in to listen to his show. I genuinely find the show highly entertaining, but knowing that Mr Moyles is an avid gamer provides me with yet another reason to tune into the show just on the off-chance that he may regale us with stories about his gaming habits.

Acceptability now seems to have also extended not only to the small screen, but also the big screen. It’s now nigh on impossible not to catch sight of various celebrities enjoying the odd game of Brain Training on the DS, and even when I last went to the Cinema to watch Quantum of Solace, there were four big budget trailers advertising games which included Gears of War 2, Little Big Planet, Need for Speed: Undercover, and of course a licensed game based on the movie. I doubt we’re quite at the stage yet where we’ll see Nicole Kidman or Patrick Stewart sitting on the sofa shouting into there headset calling everyone “n00bs” while playing Call of Duty (nor would we want to), but we’re certainly headed in the right direction.

So when did games suddenly become so mainstream? It seems to have snuck up on us over the years. A gradual process as the industry has blossomed, but I do however believe there has been a significant breakthrough in the last couple of years. Arguably this has mainly been pioneered by Nintendo with there onslaught on the casual marketplace which has seen families flock to the Wii and many millions of others pick up a DS. More and more people are discovering that you don’t have to be a a geek, or a sad and lonely individual to enjoy this amazing pastime.

The light is at last dawning.