Time for another EarlyGame Talk. Get a snack, sip on that coffee, kick back and relax. It’s time for our EarlyGame Talk.
The other day, the girl I’m currently dating asked me how much time I spend playing video games. There’s nothing special about that question, nothing wrong with it at all. In fact, it’s a fair question, seeing as I work for a gaming website. The thing is though, the question was asked in hopes of me answering something along the lines of me not spending that much time playing video games.
And that’s the problem that I want to exaggerate today, because, you know, I love ranting.
‘How much time do you spend playing video games?’
Admit it. Just reading that question and speaking it out loud in your head - it has a negative connotation to it, doesn’t it? You just know there will be judgment at the end of it, depending on the answer.
Now, if the question were ‘How much time do you spend reading’ - the hours I answer could not be high enough. But, I wrote about books being overrated before...
- READ MORE: Books are overrated
… so I’m not gonna go down that road again, but rather steer off the path here into the understanding & explanatory role:
When people that don’t game hear the term ‘gamer’, their mind immediately goes to the World of Warcraft no-lifer with permanently orange-tinted Cheetos fingers. Or the FIFA / COD rager that has been in more mothers than a gynecologist. Now, there is nothing wrong with that type of gamer except… well, stay of the Cheetos, get a life and stop messing with people’s moms. Please.
Of course, a potential love interest is worried about getting into it with any of these stereotypes. Thus, the question ‘how much time you spend playing video games’ is perfectly valid. It’s born out of a lack of knowledge rather than ignorance.
Luckily I am here to enlighten, for which I shall go visual with these gifs of Ghost of Tsushima, Red Dead Redemption and Uncharted:
These games are novels come to life. Those Wild West novels? It never got more realized than Red Dead Redemption 2. Take your spaghetti Westerns, I’m living the cowboy life. Ghost of Tsushima has me playing the flute and quoting Japanese philosophy while riding through a Japanese painting and Uncharted is more blockbuster than any blockbuster movie.
READ MORE:
Most importantly: Playing these games is about as rage-inducing as a book or a movie - that is to say, it is a quiet experience. No mothers are harmed in the process.
Thus let me end this with a public service announcement:
Gamers are more than cringy ragers. The thing is, the gaming scene has long been divided into competitive gamers (which further developed into esports) and those gaming for the experience. The latter, experience-gamers, are not loud and angry. No. We’re enjoying our games the same way you would a book: Nice & quiet.
In fact, we’re the perfect partner - just sit there and watch us play your new favorite cowboy or samurai TV show.
Game & chill.