What do you think about when you imagine a gamer?  I don’t mean a table-top gamer, or a LARPer.  I mean a thumb workout, mouse and keyboard home consoler or PC gamer.  What do you think about when you see a fat, greasy headed, pimply face kid or guy in town?  Do you think he’s a gamer?  A couch potato, chip eating internet browsing loser?  Or do you simply think he’s a loser in general?  Why?  I won’t lie, even I do that sometimes.  However in my 21 years, I’ve gamed for 19, and let me tell you I am not fat, I’m only greasy when I work out or do physical labor, and pimples were a regular teenage experience.  The couch potato part, well it is sort of true.  It’s where I sit/lay whenever I’m playing my consoles. But what about you? Do you fit the gamer stereotype? Are you just a regular joe who loves to game?

If you are, you’re a gamer. You will always be stereotyped. Regardless if you are at the fittest, to some of the ignorants out there, you will always be a time wasting, good for nothing nobody. Simply because you choose to play videogames…and enjoy them. It’s sad, isn’t it? Now, how do you stop such stereotypical behavior of those around us? I’ve found that showing them that gaming isn’t a laggards sport. Whoever believes that I am good for nothing, simply based on the information of me playing games, I do my best to show them that I divide my time between gaming, college, work and physical fitness. So what that sometimes gaming takes up more time than the others? I’m doing it for fun. It’s my hobby, like anyone else that has a hobby. Instead of putting a model together, or debating, or whatever else a hobby could be pertained, gaming is my own. What’s so wrong about stereotyping a gamer, you ask?

It’s simply really. It’s wrong because the majority of those who stereotype gamers are gamers themselves, or know gamers personally. Some that know gamers don’t know anything, they don’t see anything else other than a person who’s idling time away as he or she gets to the next level, or gets a better kill per death ratio. They don’t see the effort, though not physical(though the World of Warcraft players do put in time, and plenty of effort) gamers still work HARD at the games they play. I know for a fact that there are people who see gamers as laggards and losers, are only projecting their inability to put forth any effort into their activities. Sure, they have 500 different things to do in a single day, but does he or she put their fullest into it? I know if I had so much to do in a day, I wouldn’t be able to put every ounce of my being into all of them. By the time the day was over, I would have already died twice over. Sure, I might be built like Ahnold, Sexy like Ben, or Smart like Albert if I did so, but I’d rather be myself.

How do you stop generalizing and stereotyping gamers? If you are a person who does so, here is what you do:

Number One: Become active in the activities of a gamer, if you have one in your family. If the gamer games on multi-player games, ask to join in. Become a part of their gaming life.

Number Two: If the gamer is an inactive person, do not belittle that person for it. It is not a part of a gamers life, it is a choice. Realize that maybe that person isn’t interested in being outside? Sunlight burns. It hurts. Being around people who don’t understand him/her keeps that person from going out. Try to understand that.

Number Three: Watch. Don’t see a split second and judge on a whole. Ever notice that when your gaming loser has his friends over to play Guitar Hero or Rock Band, that he or she is active in a group? Do you see that he or she is active, be it playing the drums, singing, playing the bass or the guitar? Or how about Halo, or Counter-Strike? See how, if they are a clan or just people who play together in LAN parties, that they are co-operating and enjoying it? Watch. See that it is a hobby and for fun. See that it isn’t a bad thing.

Number Four: Do not try to change a gamer. Girlfriends, wives, parents. This one is for you. You may be able to take the gaming from a man/woman, but you can’t take the gaming out. Even if they are older, less active gamers, games will be a part of their life in some small way. They will pass on their sport, their hobby, to your children one day. Your grandchildren will play something, even if it is just a handheld. They WILL play something.

It’s all about acceptance people. Games, gaming, and gamers will be around until the world ends. It doesn’t matter how the industry will go. Gamers are here, and you have to live with them. It’s our world too, ya know?