The Gaming Stereotype

The term “gamer” tends to be synonymous with “geek” in many people’s minds. They see gaming as a device that absorbs the majority of the time of the user, leaving them as mindless empty, pale husks with no ambitions other than beating that next boss or shooting the enemy in the face. However, few gamers waste their life away. On the contrary, many of these so-called geeks tend to be more social than the average person, and farther down the technological curve than most. For the truth is that gaming is a rather useful and beneficial hobby. It gives people an outlet to focus on, and can connect them with many others worldwide. It can teach and entertain at the same time, and can be a useful distraction at other times. In this essay then, closely examining the gaming hobby in comparison to other methods of entertainment will show that gaming is obviously the better method for using free time and connecting people.

Many people view gaming as a hobby to frown upon, viewing it as a simple toy or comparing it to simple board games; they view it as a child’s play thing. According to the misinformed, many view these “gamers” as immature due to the “childish” toys they use. And when those people do not think of gamers as little children, they view them as strange beings, foreign to their knowledge, disturbing in fact. This hasty generalization, this stereotype, became the main base for which people labeled these gamers as “geeks.” Historically, the geek’s definition, “a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken,” (“geek”) sheds light on how many viewed geeks. Not only has society taken this term completely out of context, but the society has attached it to a community...

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...rdware required to use them. They can, if implemented correctly, even teach. And, despite the constant misunderstood stereotype of “geek,” the “gamer” tends to exist as a better established human being than many others. The “gamer” has an obvious passion which leads them through their life, and games have a hefty shadow under them. Many view this “geekish” hobby similar to biting the heads off chickens, yet I do not know any other subject of which they render the stereotype of “gaming” more incorrectly. Entertainment is not disturbing; socialization is not foreign or strange. No reason exists to think of gaming as such; the misunderstood of the world just need to give it a try, or at least attempt to understand the unknown.

Works Cited

"geek." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 13 May. 2010. .