There is, believe it or not, more than 1 gamer stereotype. Gamers have decided that there are many different stereotypes within gamers as a whole, as demonstrated by this image-
Link. However the presiding stereotype, especially to people who are non-gamers, is one that has been portrayed by the media and TV shows.
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| Copyright South Park Studios |
In this case, there is no parent’s basement involved, but there often is. The image of a unemployed, overweight, messy, generally useless gamer spending their entire time in their mums basement is one that many TV shows seem to enjoy portraying. In fact, here is South Park again. And there’s a basement!
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| Copyright South Park Studios |
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However, there are real life examples of this stereotype as well. Some are
more extreme than
others, however many follow a similar pattern. This stereotype is very much ingrained within the public mind, despite efforts of some gaming manufacturers to present their products to a more casual audience and attempt to pull in people who do not fit the stereotype and may not have been interested in gaming before. Such as Nintendo and these people.
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Aside from that, this stereotype is one of the major stereotypes that seem to have a considerable effect on people’s lives. Admitting that you are a "gamer" to a "non-gamer" automatically seems to bring in a negative effect in terms of how that person may react towards you. It may be some time until this stereotype changes enough to remove this negative effect.
Interesting points.
ReplyDeleteHow about the stereotype of 'computer games' themselves, actually? I'm certain most folks have a horrible impression from media and lack of actual hands-on approach.
I disagree completely. All gamers are overweight, have impressive beards, and generally look like they have come directly from WoW.
ReplyDeleteSeriously though, I think gamers as a stereotype are not an issue these days, they can however be categorised.
The Dungeons and Dragons gamer, the one I described above who enjoys copious amounts of red bull, crisps, pizza, coding and world of warcraft.
The twelve year old, the one we all hear screech over the TV screen when you dare to play any console game online.
The older gamer, this is an important and newer one that breaks the stereotype - people who may not have played games before but suddenly find them accessible and enjoyable (the Wii, PS3 Move etc), which is in part because they are more accessible, but also because they have paid for marketing with such beautiful people like Ant and Dec and girls aloud.
@Anonymous. That’s a good point, I’ll write one up about them at some point.
ReplyDelete@Drainy. I’ve joked about the older gamer a bit in this post; however you are right they are extremely important in terms of the industry. I think that with more and more people of all genders and ages start playing games, the stereotype will begin to fade to an extent at least. Even now, a lot of people who might not identify themselves as “gamers” play a considerable number of Facebook games- http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-10-21-facebook-game-stats-dwarf-wow to the extent that half of all Facebook accounts were created to play games. I doubt all of these people think of themselves as the normal “gamer” stereotype.
i think the stereotype is fading out, and me personally would not consider a person playing nintendo wii a gamer, the nintendo wii seems to be just the modern way of playing board games, jingo and twista which alot of people love, fun for family and friends. a gamer is somebody who loves computer games and pretty much puts games more than there life. world of warcraft people well, not a game for myself bores me to death. those people who spend there life on those type of games tend to be viewed as overweight, unshaven and the rest but generally it aint the case. i would consider myself a gamer, i love games and i know how to program games and hopefully i look to pass my degree and become a computer games programmer. but i aint fat, i work out alot and im neatly shaven, is it because im more of a ladies man than a gamer or am i both lol. these days the stereotype is still there but only to ignorant people who have not joined the world of gaming. let them keep talking there missing out
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