The Gaming Stigma

There seems to be a certain stigma surrounding gaming at the moment. If you're a gamer you become automatically labeled as a 'mouth breathing waste of space' or whatever tag we're currently being labeled as. Oddly enough it's normally other gamers insulting each other this way, but I won't get into that.

My issue is with this stigma. Yes, I game. Yes, I enjoy gaming. It's my life and what exactly do I owe you from it?

I'm fairly active when it comes to sports and hobbies. I work hard at my job and I do better than most at it. I earn a pretty good living and I consider myself fairly fit from the work I do. Yet if I spend a night playing a game rather than spending time in a bar I don't even like - I'm deemed anti-social.

If I spend money on a game which can be free to play I'm deemed a loser. If I enjoy a game and I think I'll get the entertainment out of it I'll happily play a 'freemium' game. I don't understand why people get so mad about it, if it wasn't for people like me these games wouldn't exist in the first place.

Where did strangers get it into their head that they can judge me and my hobbies? Sitting watching TV like a potato having nonsensical narrative spoon fed to you is culturally fine but doing something which is actively engaging and challenging is not?

I was recently hanging out in a cafe after a few hours workout and I was having a pretty good day. The conversation turned to gaming and all of a sudden the group next to us felt the need to share their opinion that gaming was a waste of time.

Now we'd spent at least two hours on the walls and they'd been sitting in the same spot from before we got there. On top of that they were talking about TV shows and movies from what I caught. But yet, gaming was the time sink?

I'd love to know what they considered so important with their time. I don't consider sitting around a cafe for hours on end in any way more rewarding than gaming with my friends.

And on top of that even *if* it wasn't tremendously ironic what gave them the right to judge what I do in my spare time? I'm pretty competitive with pretty much everything I do and that's why I enjoy gaming. I can pit myself against anyone from around the world and I think that's a far better hobby than sitting watching TV. I prefer it and I don't think I should have to explain myself to anyone.

So suck it up folks. Gaming is here to stay and next time your computer breaks down and you can't access Facebook don't come crying to me because I'll be far too busy with my 'waste of time'.