An Interview with a Video Gamer

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In this meeting, Andrew Wong happily proclaims his love for video games. At 23 in the military, with his own house and eccentric personality, he plays every weekend. He’s even into comic books and all the latest hit TV shows—he enjoys the witty humor and is enticed by the creativity. “Nevertheless,” he says, “my best memories lie with video games.” As his fellow co-workers claim, he’s the ultimate nerd.
Wong is conscious of those stereotypes. He knows it’s unpopular to be a nerd—described by Rachel Hartigan Shea of the Washington Post as, “Clad in too-short, too-tight pants, armed with a pocket protector, glasses firmly taped together and pimples unpopped” (1). Wong responds to these assumptions with proud confidence, “Everyone is different.” According to him, passion for playing video games isn’t a typecast. Gamers are not how the stereotype says they are.
In America, it’s a common thought that many gaming men and women have no time to mingle. In reality, video gaming is simply not a respected hobby, which makes way for exclusion and bullying. Wong’s coming up defies what it’s supp...

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