Opinion: Mainstream's Perception of Gaming a Work in Progress

I was at a local gaming store on a Saturday afternoon – not an uncommon occurrence.  It was a sunny day out, and I remember looking at the PS2 titles, when a mother in her late '30s came into the store.  She was carrying a large stack of Xbox 360 titles (including Grand Theft Auto IV), all trade-ins she was performing for her 12-year-old son. 

After receiving her credit, she said to the store manager, "I hope he grows out of this video game phase soon." 

At this point I intervened and said, "You know I still game, and a lot of people my age play video games."  She gave me a long hard look upon hearing this.  "Do you have a girlfriend?" she demanded. 

I was nonplussed.  I said I was mildly offended and said I had been dating someone for nine months (who I am now engaged to, I might add).  "You can have a life and still game," I offered. 

With that, she simply left.  Cut the conversation off right there and walked out of the store.  She did not want to hear that her son may never stop gaming.  It was clear that she didn't approve of his video gaming habit, merely tolerated it: games are a child's hobby and she didn't want to comprehend anything else. 

Sadly, these sorts of assumptions were made by this mother who either never played games in her life or only played them for a time in her youth.  To her, video games are likely unknown and foreign, something that designer David Perry says he's encountered a lot in his life.  He remarked to IndustryGamers: "I often have people tell me, 'Oh, video games...,' 'yeah, not my thing,' 'no, never tried one, no interest.' I had a friend that said the same thing about blue cheese. Then he finally tried it, instantly it became his favorite cheese, he loves the stuff now! Sadly (for him) he'd missed about 25 years when he could have been eating his favorite cheese!" 

"How many potential gamers are missing out on discovering video games?  How many have no idea just how incredibly immersive interactive entertainment can be? The answer is billions," he added. 

We really hope we never see anything this ignorant again... then again, it's Fox News

As the industry fights a perception war to assert games as a relevant cultural medium, we have to remember that many who are opposed to that idea probably have little to no interest in actually playing, or even looking at games at all.  The debacle over the sex scene in Mass Effect and Fox News is a prime example, where industry journalist and general nice-guy Geoff Keighley got to be the sacrificial lamb to the "expert" who had an image in her mind of what exactly the sort of bile for children Mass Effect was.  She later saw the virtual sex act in question (which would barely raise a brow if it appeared on network television) and apologized, but Fox News never did and the damage was done. 

When we talk of ourselves in the context of other big-boy entertainment industries like music, movies and television, we must realize that despite the fact that the industry is growing financially and is starting to make good progress with the mainstream, there are still curmudgeonly people we have to deal with that don't game, though that percentage of people is slowly shrinking. 

"I use an analog, that when you walk into a music store and see 2,000 CDs, the reality is that 99% of them are not going to really going to strike a chord with your DNA, meaning you won't be listening to them endlessly on repeat, but then again, there are a few that you will absolutely fall in love with," added Perry. "Books are the same, when you finally find the right one, you can't put it down." 

"With music hitting us everywhere we go (radio/tv/movies, even the elevator and supermarket), you just can't avoid it, they aid the discovery process of finding music you like, they've made it really convenient," continued Perry. "So what about games?  Just how convenient is it for someone to find that one game that makes time stand still?  They certainly won't find it while driving or shopping! Our industry has a lot of growing to do in terms of distribution & game introduction, but that wave is coming, and the move convenient we make it to experience games, the more people will stand a chance to find that game that completely captures them." 

Exposure is one of those things that could definitely help the industry in the short term- the easier access people have to games, the more likely they are to game.  While we somewhat resent Nintendo's attitude of putting out games like Wii Music "for our own good," the Wii certainly has done a lot to get people to at least try games, however briefly.  Casual games on all mediums have also done a lot, because while a housewife playing Peggle on her PC might not think she's a gamer, the experience is still collectively important. 

"Once captivated, then they will never turn back, always looking for that next amazing game. (We do it with movies, TV, comedy, radio, books, theater, why not games?) So the people that excuse themselves from this space, (and that includes people the show distain towards games), are simply one 'right' game away from being hooked for life," noted Perry. 

“I love the fact that games are spreading, they are in the living room, bedrooms, in your cellphone, airplane seat, hotel room and all over the Internet. As access methods improve, and as game virality increases (from friends sharing links), as we improve the convenience of experimentation, we also increase the chance of people discovering that this is the most immersive and potent form of entertainment, period." 

"Like my friend with the cheese, I'm sad there are so many people (that one day will discover gaming), who will realize they could have been playing their favorite form of entertainment for over 30 years now!" concluded Perry. "So just ignore anyone that tells you games are not for them, it's just a matter of time." 

We're not quite as optimistic as Perry that everyone will find a game they like the way everyone can find music they like, at least in the short term.  We are confident, however, as time marches on that the generation that condemns games will either accept them or pass from this Earth.  The day of gaming's coming of age will be a glorious one, and we look forward to when we can small talk about a game like BioShock to a stranger the way we can about a book like Atlas Shrugged.