In Defense of Gaming

Gaming's often seen as a strange, antisocial activity. Part of this is probably its history of being strongly attached to nerdiness and technology. Video games started off fairly obscure and have become more and more popular until now it's no longer something you can make fun of people for, it's mostly something that some people do while those who don't wonder what the appeal is.

From one perspective, playing video games is strange. What's the appeal of running around as an dwarf, slaying monsters and collecting items? Why do you want to shoot people in the face so badly? How exactly does winning battles between 0s and 1s excite you? Wouldn't you want to interact with REAL people? The thing is, with that logic lots of other things seem strange. Why do you enjoy watching virtual armies destroy each other on the screen (the Lord of the Rings battle sequences involved lots of computer animation)? What's so great about watching other people find love in a wacky, heartwarming way? Why are you reading a BOOK when you can experience the real world? Basically, escapism isn't all that weird- and in a way, games are a better way to escape because you control the experience.

It is an antisocial activity, relatively. You can play it with your friends in one room, or online with your friends, or online with strangers (many of whom talk shit, annoyingly,) or completely by yourself. Ranked next to playing sports or going out with friends, it's antisocial, but unless you're the only human in your game, you're more isolated reading a book than playing a game.

The reason why it's fun depends on the genre, which is why many people (especially girls) only like certain games. Interestingly, I remember reading that there are more woman MMO players (MMO is where the whole game is online, like WoW) than male ones. Some games are fun because you're in a fantasy world that previously you could only read about. Other games are fun because you can run around shooting people, for whatever reason the game gives, something you can't exactly do in real life. Unless you go to war, which I've heard is ever so much fun. And like the game I've been playing recently, some are fun because you get to command entire armies and pit them against the machinations of an opponent. Most of them have a decent story (some have a good story) to drive things forward. And all of them require some skill, so you can feel proud when you accomplish something impressive.

So: strange? Hardly. Antisocial? Relatively, sure. Fun? Hell yes.