While at the Kindergarten meet-and-greet for my daughter’s upcoming indoctrination into our public schools system, I noticed that not many (in fact really none) of the other parents there seemed to be a “gamer.” Well, really, even a true “nerd” or “geek” or “dork.” They were all…normal. I imagine they’d buy games for their kids, or even play games with their kids, but none of them struck me as the type who buy and play games on their own, at least those beyond the Madden/Haloz crowd.
And yes, I know I’m just looking at stereotypes when I look out at a crowd of “normals.” Maybe there was a PC gaming enthusiast. Maybe that balding Dad over there in the boring dockers and the plain coat is really into RTS or likes ranked CoD servers. It’s entirely possible that Mom not only enjoys Cooking Mama but is actually in a TF2 clan. But really, I doubt it. They’d only discuss playdates for their kids or getting their hair done at the salon (not joking here) or shopping. The guys all mostly just smiled and looked like they’d rather be at home.
I was wondering what they felt about our world, about our games. What would they say if you asked them about this lifestyle we’ve crafted for ourselves? I imagine you’d have to start by getting them to actually play some of the games with you first.
As it turns out, a gamer at LavaLevel already asked his girlfriend to play some of his games and comment on them in real time, and recorded them for posterity. What follows is one of the most charmingly delightful outsider views into our universe I’ve ever seen. She even brings up some great points, such as “How can a wrench run out of things. There’s no bullets in a wrench.”
Watch them all, especially the TF2 and the CounterStrike ones.
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6 responses so far ↓
1 Angus Wilson // Mar 23, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Lavalevel is amazing. She has a brilliant voice aswell
2 Simon Ferrari // Mar 23, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Two thoughts:
One, she’s played 3D games before. When I try to get my girlfriend on an FPS, she runs into a corner and looks at her feet until she throws a grenade at herself on accident and dies.
Two, how many times does the same thing have to happen to her before she stops saying and doing the same silly things? She’s taking the piss out of us.
3 Juan // Mar 25, 2009 at 11:49 am
she´s totally acting.
4 העולם על פי אינטל » ארכיון הבלוג » תסתכלו איך אתם נראים // Mar 25, 2009 at 6:06 pm
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5 Starburn // Mar 28, 2009 at 7:06 am
“Maybe there was a PC gaming enthusiast. Maybe that balding Dad over there in the boring dockers and the plain coat is really into RTS or likes ranked CoD servers. It’s entirely possible that Mom not only enjoys Cooking Mama but is actually in a TF2 clan. But really, I doubt it. They’d only discuss playdates for their kids or getting their hair done at the salon (not joking here) or shopping. The guys all mostly just smiled and looked like they’d rather be at home.”
Looks can be deceiving – I absolutely wouldn’t mention gaming in those types of scenarios, for fear of the puzzled reaction (which is a bit strange in itself), despite the fact that I have two MMO subs, play TF2 regularly. etc. And I look ‘normal’ enough that you’d be unlikely to tag me as a gamer.
So I’m stuck in a bubble of my one making I guess…
6 DK // Apr 1, 2009 at 4:42 pm
I agree that there are quite a few gamers that don’t really look or act the part out there, but I never really thought there was much of a stereotype mold out there for an industry that targets random age and intrest groups at a whim.
I recently found out that one of my own teachers was an rpg fan, but I think it’s important to remember that there’s no such thing as a stereotypical gamer.
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