GamePride: A New Momentum in Gaming – Part 1
July 21, 2009 by Robert
Filed under Board Game Articles
You don’t know this yet, but a lot of amazing people play games.
In my time, I’ve seen one prevalent attitude among gamers. We cower a little. We hide our incredible lights under the most baskety of bushels. We seek solace in shady corners of the internet, to discuss games with people like ourselves. We are insecure. We project our insecurities, expecting other people to think we are, at best, “eccentric.” At worst, “a sad sack.”
Despite our hobbies being very social things, we equate our interests with an antisocial lifestyle. We make jokes about not “getting a girlfriend” despite most of us having one, and many of us being female or gay. Or both.
We perpetuate a stereotype. We do it. No-one else does. One glance at a google image search and I can find a photo of a gamer:
He loves Agricola, Dominion and plays Xbox 360
But this guy isn’t a gamer. I’ve just found someone who fits into our collective perverse idea of what a gamer looks like. This guy is an innocent pawn in our terrible game.
It ends now.
It is time for something that speaks to all gamers, be they board gamers, card gamers, pen and paper RPGamers or video gamers.
GamePride is here.
SO WHAT IS GAMEPRIDE?
Good question, although there’s no need to shout.
GamePride is a concept. It’s the idea that people who play games should be proud of their hobby orientation. It’s the notion that we should let nothing change our interests, and that we should no longer ghettoise ourselves in the pursuit of our pastime.
In practical terms, what does this mean?
It means that each of us commit to taking three vital steps:
1. We no longer self-deprecate as a defence mechanism.
2. We actively promote our interests with pride.
and vitally
3. If we aren’t out, we come out. And we out others.
Now, I understand that point three may cause some debate. Let’s imagine you are, for example, the recording artist Usher.
The recording artist and muscleman Usher
The common belief right now is that it would be bad business for Usher to come out and say that he is a gamer. We would imagine that Usher would not benefit greatly from stopping during one of his R&B ballads to tell the front row that the worker placement in Round 13 of Agricola is very stressful, or that the launch of Battlefield 1943 on Xbox Live Arcade was fraught with bugs and annoyances. But we are wrong. Usher’s audience would not care that he enjoys slipping collectable cards into protective sleeves. Indeed, Usher’s audience would likely want to assist with the sleeving, while undressed.
Becoming one with the new momentum, in our new reality Usher “comes out” as a gamer, and all is well.
Now, onto the outing of others. It is perhaps the most controversial aspect of the GamePride movement, but it is essential. Some people will have been brainwashed into thinking there is an element of embarassment in admitting what they are. Left to their own devices, these people will never come to the realisation that ourselves and Usher came to. These people will need a push. So, inform on anyone you know to be gamer, and all will be well.
The Role of Celebrity
As crass as it may seem, the realist accepts that celebrities can normalise activities simply by openly participating in them. The knowledge that a known or notable person participates in the same things you hold dear warms the heart. Let’s look at a few examples.
On the website BoardGameGeek, it is heartening to see Star Trek:TNG star Wil Wheaton exhibiting his GamePride by openly registering his interest in board games. We know from his profile that even this young man below–
Wesley Crusher - never the same since The Game
–has wanted to kick the shit out of his friends during a game of Junta.
Another example – the internet hurrah caused by the beautiful Mila Kunis’ bold exhibition of her GamePride during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel.
Now, we can pretend that celebrities have no bearing on our lives if we wish. But let’s be honest – celebrities have a huge part to play in any movement. They have a voice, and people want to listen. If you or I were to advise someone to try a game of Scotland Yard, we’d maybe have a struggle on our hands. If the lady below–
–suggested that someone sit down with her and take her on in a sealed booster draft game of Magic: The Gathering, she’d probably have no shortage of opponents.
One of our first goals, then, is to encourage gamers who are in positions of celebrity and influence to come out in support of GamePride. We will use all means at our disposal to do this. Ideally, these people will come here and profess their pride. In the comments section below. But any statement of GamePride will do. This will start the ball rolling in a big way.
And we need big balls right now.
It is time to make a stand for GamePride. There is a comments section below that will allow further discussion on the GamePride movement, and more articles will follow detailing further steps in this radical campaign.
If you’re reading this, you’re a gamer who has been fortunate enough to get in at the very start of something historic. You are a pioneer in the GamePride movement. A new momentum in gaming.
And here is our mark. Our flag. Wear it well.
The Red and Green OXO of GamePride
Are we going to have parades and fashionable Game Bars? That would be great.
‘Say It Loud — I Play Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms and I’m Proud!’
I like video games and Magic The Gathering! Will GamePride eventually make me cool?
That Mila Kunis video is cracking. I better not show it to Richard. lol
But David, you’re already cool!
[or if you're not, it's not because you love Settlers Of Catan]
I totally agree. I just started a wee website/blog thing, and while deciding what sections to have on the site, like film reviews, music, things like that, I was almost nervous about reviewing or chatting about games that I’ve played. I assumed it would be a total turn-off for people visiting the site.
I got over that fear, and I take as much pride in my videogames section as I do with my movie and music articles.
More power to your arm.
Scott of http://www.scogblog.co.uk
1GOTP1NK8CIDBOOTSON and I’m very game proud
I settled in Cataan, but had a Ticket to Ride so took the Eurorails and went to Carcasonne to become a Hunter and Gatherer. My Chess is all checkered and my back is gammoned. S’way I grew up. I don’t have a Monopoly on the experience by any means. It’s a Smallword after all. But then one day in Puerto Rico, I heard a Space Alert. I’m a Galaxy Trucker in a Race for the Galaxy. Saw the Space Hulk (those dudes have Brass, know what I mean?) turn the Twilight Struggle back to the Stone Age. I should be in the Loony Bin but I’m headed back to Terra Nova. Perhaps I’ll write my Memoirs in ‘44. There’s no Dominion over me. I’m off the Power Grid and under my own Steam. Who’s got wood for a sheep? Anyone?…wait…don’t answer that!
I AM A GAMER AND I AM PROUD! BRING IT ON DTT!!!!
My name’s Tony and I am Proud. Game Proud!
Will coming out of the arcade cabinet make my acne go away?
On the back of discovering Downtime Town I went out to get a board game – something fun and not too daunting. After your glowing review I thought Citadels would be a good place to start.
So I went to visit a games shop, the one near Mono in Glasgow and I was very, very excited.
Inside I tried to make sense of it – ended up looking at lots of books that were (I think) role playing supplements and rule books. Very daunting, very like trying to read another language.
The empty shop starts filling up and this is when my first heart sank. Safe to say that the worst Gamer stereotypes were all there. Terrible, terrible metal t-shirts with names that sound like a list of previous convictions. An encyclopedic knowledge that reduces the games down to complex maths and if I’m being honest questionable hygiene. One guy was glistening with sweat.
I thought – this is exactly what I hoped it wouldn’t be like.
Then a mum comes in with a group of kids – who are all really excited and beaming and that was really lovely to see and what it should all be about. But I saw her eying the adult gamers and you could see her thinking ‘I hope to God my boys don’t end up like that’.
The shop was sold out of Citadels, so I bought a Magic starter set and took it home and mate a couple of games with a friend. It was great, very fun, very enjoyable – and I was really glad I visited the shop. I went a few days later and gazed at booster packs.
I went online to find out more about Magic and came across forum after forum after forum of that awful gamer stereotype – abstracting the game down into numbers, lots of ruthless decks and tactics designed solely to beat inexperienced players in a single turn or less. Ensuring that these sorts of things remain a strange and frightening place from the outside looking in.
It’s a shame that the very people who are so passionate about gaming are often the same people who perpetuate the negative myths behind being a gamer.
I am not saying this is a hard and fast rule – but it seems that with my first tentative peak from the closet i’ve been left more confused than ever.
@ElectronoVisions
Don’t be scared. Just buy your games on the internet, and make sure you only invite (relatively) sane people to your games nights. Lure them in with alcohol, and as Rob mentions in another article DEMONSTRATE the gameplay rather than talk them through the rules.
One of the biggest mistakes that gameshop owners do it let the great unwashed hang around putting off new customers. Seen it time and again. If you are a shopowner, kick them out until they i) wash) ii) get a proper haircut iii) wear something that would not get you beaten up in a pub.
If you are a gamer, think like a genestealer cultist….the more ‘normal’ you look, the quicker you can spread the word…