It seems to me that every Gamer has a certain feeling inside of them; a feeling of isolation and being misunderstood. After all, aren’t gamers just another group of people ostracised by our backwards and unaccepting society? Aren’t we cruelly labeled as antisocial, lazy and unproductive? Don’t people even see us as Satan incarnate?

Well, maybe not. Whilst there are certain stereotypes concerning gamers which people hold as true, the fact of the matter is that society doesn’t hate us as much as we think. By examining different social groups in our life, we can see what people truly think of gamers.

Please note: the following research possesses little to no facts or science. It’s just the experience of one person. It’s probably still correct though. This person is incredibly smart (and handsome).

Let us start with the most judgemental and close minded people in our lives. Our parents. I recall the phrase “stop wasting your time and do something productive” often being uttered by mother whenever I played The Sims as a wee lad. This usually happened when she was watching “Take me Out” on the television. I’m pretty sure she thought that my gaming habits weren’t healthy and were in fact antisocial. I fixed this by playing online with my friends, but according to a speech by an irate father at midnight, my gaming habits still “were ******* unacceptable”. They still bought me games, even though gaming was “a waste of our money”. I always thought they were hypocritical however. My dad could spend six hours a day playing Tiger Woods games. But maybe he thought that Sports games don’t count as real games. And to be fair, neither do I.

Speaking of non-serious gaming habits, my brother likes Call of Duty (the recent ones, not the good ones). I used to have a hope that one day I could make him into something truly great, and get him to play real games with me. But he uses the word “swag” unironically so I’ve given up on this for now. If he wasn’t so popular and socially talented I’m sure he would love to play nine hours of Elder Scrolls Online with me, but he’s too normal, and sees my habits as “really weird”. It’s a shame.

The other notable members of my family are my grandparents. They obviously love my gaming habits, as they can be relied upon to buy me the latest edition of Pokemon for my Chanukah present. They don’t game themselves though, and given how long it took me to teach them how to use WhatsApp, I have not the patience to teach them.

Patience, however, is a virtue, and there is none more patient than my girlfriend. Four years ago she saw videogames as evil, as apparently I would rather play Minecraft than move our relationship forwards. Now, she sees games as a good thing. She knows that, stubborn obstinate fool that I am, I will never give up video games. Therefore she now sees them as a way to bond. Sure it may be casual (think “Just Dance” casual), but it’s still gaming. And she must be enjoying it, as she recently mentioned buying a gaming PC. I’m so proud of how far she’s come.
Don’t get me wrong, she says she still sees gamers (including myself) as absolute weirdos, but is willing to join the weirdness herself.

It’s hard to know what my friends think of gamers. We don’t talk much. This is probably because of the excessive amount of time we spend playing our own games, watching YouTube and browsing the Steam catalogue. When we do talk, it tends to exclusively be in video game quotes. So I can’t be sure, but I think they see gamers as A-OK.

Sometimes people display their affection and respect in obvious manners. I was on the bus once, and I was training my Pokémon (as you do on tedious journeys). The whole time a man of about forty-six was staring at me. My brother said this was because my headphones were unplugged, but he was wrong. I know that it was really because he was in awe. In awe both of my level seventy nine Rattata, and my self confidence, that I could display such a powerful beast in public (possible phrasing). I know for certain that for him, a gamer was the pinnacle of the social ladder. The height of evolution. A gamer was, and is, a person of magnificence who should not be judged.

In this extremely academic research conducted by notables such as myself, we can learn two things.

1. Gamers are tolerated, but not wholly accepted. Even those who can see the benefits of gaming and respect us gamers (my girlfriend and randomers on the bus) still won’t stick up for us. For example: my girlfriend still thinks gamers are weird, implying that we’re not a normal, central group in society. We can participate in our own ways, but don’t expect society to thank us for it.
2. We can still change those who don’t initially accept us. People can be taught to love our culture, and participate in it. So let us go and brainwash some victi….. people.

We aren’t hated. People just think that what we do a waste of time. This doesn’t equate to dislike though. As stated, people just need educating about our lifestyles.

But in the end, why does it matter? Who cares how long you spend on Polybridge a day, or why you play Putt-Putt instead of going out clubbing. We gamers have each other. We help each other, and are there for each other. And in the end, we aren’t alone, we have our own society.

X-Boners can still go **** themselves though.