How do the people around you respond to your gaming?

They usually have a confused look on his/her face and feel the need to remind me that I am a woman in my early thirties. I guess those 2 things are supposed to be mutually exclusive with gaming.

People like to talk about video games that they play, but most of the time people seem a tad turned off. This specifically in regard to men. With women, I usually avoid talking about games like the plague, because in DC anyway, there’s a severe negative connotation of games being your main hobby.

Whether the games are violent are not doesn’t seem to matter to people, but most people don’t think of gaming as a true hobby, as in a valuable use of free time. Most people look upon time spent gaming as a waste of your free time that could be better spent doing something else.

So far I have had no backlash from my gaming due to the recent shootings. I have had a couple conversations related to it on various forums, among friends, and at my local GameStop. I’ve been playing video games since my parents got me an Atari 2600 in 1978 when I was 5 and they knew I was hooked then. Since then I have played basically every console and a massive amount of PC gaming as well. For a few years I even got to work in the console industry and have tested more PC MMOG’s than I can probably count since starting them in Phase 1 CBT for Ultima Online to today. In NC I was actually the first Blockbuster Video Game Counselor back in the Mid 90′s. My family, friends, and acquaintances usually find it odd when I’m *NOT* playing a game of some sort.

When I meet new people who don’t know about my passion for games they usually are a bit confused at first that a 40 year old (next month) guy spends so much time gaming. However, given a little bit of time around me they tend to see just how invested I can get in them and start to understand. My parents were never gamers, but they would sit for hours just watching me play games and be my “co-pilot”. Although, my dad has become a hardcore Bookworm player and my mom when she can wrestle the PC from him will log crazy hours in Mahjong or Peggle. They even tag team at Bookworm.

I was a very hyper-active kid (ADHD these days) and the doctors first suggested video games to my parents as a “focus” for me because I had such a fascination for board and card games at a young age.

We first got pong when I was about 13. I got my first Nintendo when I was in my early 20′s. I started playing my first computer games in my 30′s. I’m now in my 40′s and have been enjoying many of the MMO games out there over the years. I’m a real lightweight casual game player, but when I’m playing, I find it very relaxing and a great escape from the world. Family and friends don’t say much about me playing games, but when I’m acting like a bear, they do comment “Don’t you need to raid or something??” They call it as “my therapy”. Hay, it’s cheaper than a shrink!

Admittedly it is rather uncomfortable being a 20 something year old man, who is a very competent Raider/PvPer and retains the pride that comes with being someone who has completed some of the more difficult content in the game.  Then finding yourself in a conversation that sounds something like this.

“I have a lot of hobbies, skiing, running, weights, play games like wow,” I am interrupted.

“You play WoW?” Asks a 30 something woman in front of several other individuals with relatively successful but normal career and know nothing about gaming.

“Yes,” I respond.

“Oh interesting.  My twelve year old son plays wow too.  I think he reached max level last week and beat the game,”  She responds.

“How nice,” I comment. 

However on the inside I am thinking, I just had my competence compared to her twelve year old brat. 

FUUUUUUU  WOMAN!!  RAWWWR!!!

I grew up on games so gaming for me is just something natural to do in my spare time. I have a full curriculum of 200-300 college level courses and a job. What more do I need to do to prove to that gaming doesn’t negatively effect me? Its almost like they expected me to grow out of it and I’m some sick deviant for sticking with it or something I’m not really sure what to think of it at this point. Hopefully in time they’ll understand gaming is something new to these generations and that its nothing to be ashamed of. Though maybe its a cultural thing? Kind of like how being an otaku in Japan is shameful? As Americans I guess our dads expect us all to be jocks and our moms expect us to be the next Einstein or the next American Idol/Model.

I avoid contact with my family because of the fact they assume, because I play video games most of my time, I am some invalid they need to help and it kinda pisses me off. I am 18 and most of me friends play video games. The only members of my family I do talk to are the ones that understand why I play video games. 

Also I live in the UK and Americans shooting each other then blaming it on video games isn’t helping me with my family so please do the follow:
1. Scrap the American constitution and wright up a new one, it was written in 1791 I think its a little outdated at this point.
2. Gun in a home…. just no, shouldn’t be allowed
3. Stop having people who know nothing about video games telling you what to do
4. Stop you’re news media being able to use “the right to free speech” as a way to be BIAST towards a religion, political party or a point of view, they should be subjective and disconnected from the news they’re covoring
5. Stop trying to police the world and sort your own shit out.

I met my girlfriend on 360 over borderlands 2. We are planning on playing Tera Online Soon, with my guild from Guild Wars 2 . I havent really been effected by the Tragedies that have happen in the US, i feel sorry for the families i think we all do. My Entire family are nerds in their own way lol. PC has always been in my life, From teh first pentium 64 to now an i7 lol

The Ice Dragon cometh! 

Not sure if my Grandparents know much of what i do with my spare time, Mum dosent understand, Dad dosent seem to be bothered, i game with one of my brothers when hes around, we’ve been taking part in the Halo infinity Tournament. 
i wouldn’t consider myself a hardcore gamer cos i dabble in Tabletop gaming, various CCG’s, Mountain biking, Canoeing along side various other outdoor pursuits so perhaps thats a reason i never rage and find physical exercise to vent frustration. (normal keep free weights handy for long dungeon queues/Flight paths)

Then there’s my Wife she sometimes plays Magic cards with but that’s the limit of our gaming, we watch films and some tv together. the downstairs of our house is open plan with only a Stone Archway to divide the two rooms i game one side she watches tv on the other. i get into more trouble when i listen to whats shes watching and try and be involved and take about Downton Abbey etc then if just stick my headphones on and just game away the evenings.

my 2yr old son can manage some co-op Halo4 and enjoys running my wow toons into trouble and jumping lots working on getting him to do gathering proffessions.

As for my friends all understand gaming and while we will debate Mario Vs Sonic till the end of times we respect each others game.

Been told by my father since day 1 it was a waste of time and consider the fact I was playing hardcore since age 3 on NES with Super Mario/Duckhunt, Excite bike, some fisherprice game and Sesame Street spelling game and Dirty Hairy.

Of course it hasn’t really changed and my dad laid off of me I guess when he heard of stories of how screwed up other parents kids were (of life long friends and so on) whether it be drug addiction, in jail, dead or just plane said screw their parents and disappeared. Such stories came about and after when I was 18, since most of the others were around my age.

Yeah, but 2 sisters that played more video games when we were like 10 years old but not really since. My sister plays CoD only because her boyfriend plays it and his brother is a hardcore gamer but even that is more like once every couple of weeks and all she uses the xbox for is netflix.

Really nobody in and out of my immediate family are gamers, only me. I naturally met people at school that played games but not that many since my dad wasn’t into the whole playing video games thing it was hard to bring friends over for that and hard to go over others houses.

I strongly envy people with gamer siblings and envy even more people with gamer parents because mine were a near polar opposite, I had nobody to compete with, play with or network with really besides my group of friends that I made. I pretty much felt more like a closet gamer most of my life I could never really talk about them: nobody around interested. I would love to go to conventions but really can’t afford them atm my traveling for my is an issue with crappy old cars.

That is pretty much my sob story, play the violin but I am still going and love what I do. Ah geez, sometimes I wish I was adopted it be like a party everyday for me living in a gamer household.

I’ve always been a gamer, since Atari.  When it was console games my mother never seemed to care.  Then when I was about 14-15 she got a PC for both of us to share.  A friend of mine got me a copy of Starcraft and then when Diablo 2 came out all I did was play online with him. 

My mom at that point started to kinda nag at me from time to time.  Then we started playing Nexus: Kingdom of the Winds, and that is when everything changed.  I would play all day and night after school and would even fake being sick to get days on end of gaming.

At that point my mom was always complaining that I’m online to much and that she needed the computer for work, etc.  So I would let her use it and started playing less.  Then she got curious to why I played Nexus so fanatically and guess what?  She got addicted too.

After that I was always battling her for computer time to play the game, finally she got her own PC in her room and we would both play 24/7 pretty much.  I was already lvl 99 so I would power level her and twink her out for her level range.  Also I’d help her with pretty much every quest in the game since she was the biggest noob on Earth.

When EQ1 launched I jumped over to that.  I tried to get her hooked on the Evercrack but she couldn’t grasp the game and the 3D world scared her.

I had bad asthma as a child so instead of going out and running around I had more fun playing games, and getting damn good at them XD

Majority of my family know me as a “Gamer”, I grew up on all the consoles.  Staying up all night to carry on with them (back in the days when there was no “Save” option).
It has had some effects on my life in terms of friends etc, particularly when Final Fantasy came out, people don’t want to sit around and watch you play that shizz. 

I was never a PC gamer, my hands were well shaped into the grip of controllers. I played COD religiously any spare time was spent playing. Until I discovered dun dun duuuun WoW! At which point I decided to lay down my controllers once and for all and begun my epic journey through Azeroth.  

At first I was a casual player learning how things work, and it didn’t really effect anything.  But then I discovered raiding!!  and a new found addiction was born, this did however have a detrimental effect on family life.  Time was spend more in Azeroth than in real life, this started to cause a strain on married life and generally being a good dad.  So I stepped down the raiding schedule to a three nights a week with dedicated “family nights” during the week.  

Once a balance was found things became a lot better and now I have the best of both worlds!!

All my friends and family know I’m a wow geek, and as for the people that discover it and call me a geek well I just Recruit a Friend them! lol

my family considers it like the end of the world and blame everything they can on it. I’m not goin out with my friends? it’s cause you’re playing videogames (it could’nt possibly be that every1 is busy and on their pc asell right…). I’m stressed out? it’s cause i’m playing videogames (sure it can be a little if i’m playing multiplayer but it’s mostly due to my finals). they also compare it casino gambling or doing drugs by using the extremes of those cases. My friends and gf couldnt care less cause they play with me aswell

I guess I am treated as though WoW is just part of who I am. 

Is it me or do you see smoke coming out of her mouth. Must be REALLY cold haha.

My family doesn’t really care about what I do.  All they moan about is getting a good job and making massive amounts of money, my well being and dreams be damned.  So, in short, no, it doesn’t even come up in discussion.