Video Games - a Waste of Time?

A few days ago I was perusing a popular PC games magazine, as I do every month, while in the background my TV played away to itself. I wasn’t paying much attention to this noise - I only half noticed it was some typical afternoon quiz show that was on - when a question was asked that took my attention away from the article on Dragon Age:Inquisition I was reading. It posed this conundrum: “As well as X and A, what other buttons would you find on a Xbox One controller?”. The contestant, a man in his early thirties, picked the correct answer from the multiple choices available to him, declaring “I’ve got one at home, so I know it’s right.” This brought the following witty response from the show’s host:

“Well done, at least all those hours spent on it weren’t a waste of time now.”  

Other than proving the point the that game show hosts should never deviate from their script, it also reminded me that a great number of people still see playing video games as a total waste of time. I’ve encountered this type of ignorant horseshit before, and frankly it boils my piss.

I always laugh when I recall the first person who informed me playing games was wasteful, what made it especially amusing was this opinion came from someone who spent about 40 hours a week watching reality TV; obviously that’s something that will make you an enlightened, well rounded person. Why is it if a quiz show contestant correctly answered who had won the seventh series of The X Factor - explaining they remembered because they had watched every single episode - they’re unlikely to be met with the same mildly condescending response as for knowing what the Xbox controller buttons are?

Another example that sticks in my mind of someone expressing this kind of blinkered view is, yet again, from the mouth of a television presenter. Anyone familiar with the amazing comedian, actor, writer and director Peter Serafinowicz will know he is a great advocate for playing games, the Dark Souls series in particular. A few months ago I eagerly tuned in to watch him appear on a early morning chat show, where he talked passionately and eloquently about his love of all things Dark Souls. When done explaining what made it such a good game, the show’s presenter responded in the same incredulous manner as if Mr. Serafinowicz had admitted he loved to push nails up his rectum for fun.

In a job application form, is it a good idea to write ‘playing video games’ in the hobbies section? A great number of applicants believe stating this would hinder their chances, even though other pastimes such as ‘going to the cinema’ and ‘reading’ are common answers. Maybe confessing that you occasionally enjoy Minesweeper, or perhaps a quick game of online chess, is how to admit to playing games and show you’re not pissing your life away on World of Warcraft. The value of the global video games market for 2014 is estimated to be 70 billion dollars, so why do so many believe playing games is just so...pointless?

Perhaps it’s just a lingering stereotype of the way gamers used to be viewed. In the past fifteen years or so, the image of people who play games has slowly moved away from the idea of a pasty faced, overweight, life wasting, teenage shut-in. But it seems this caricature is still what certain people imagine when they hear the words ‘video game’ - despite the fact that the average gamer is a 35-year-old family man! I’m sadly on the wrong side of 30 too, but found out a while ago that putting ‘I enjoy video games’ on a match.com profile rarely gives potential dates the impression you’re an average person. I may have well wrote that I enjoy dressing up in old woman’s clothing while frequenting charity shops.  

I guess a lot of people just don’t like or understand the appeal of games, they don’t accept them and believe gamers are just immature kids who refuse to grow up. You can throw all the facts, positives, and statistics in the world at them, they’ll still just pat you on the head and say “Yes, yes. Very good. Now you just go back to wasting your life on that Pac-Man thing.” Though perhaps as time goes on this negative view will become increasingly rare. My hope is that eventually it will be the norm for people of all ages, backgrounds and social standings to discuss video games, becoming no different from talking about the latest blockbuster movie or best selling novel. Until then, should you ever get someone who tells you that you’re a grown man/woman wasting your time playing games meant for kids, give them the same response I did: I say playing games is never a waste of time. Few things give me as much joy, hold my attention as absolutely, immerse me as deeply, connect with me so emotionally and define me so absolutely. I am a gamer, and proud of it.