...and not a scourge of society as many of the legislation pushing pin-heads believe. In a violence prone world, with violent and even sometimes downright gruesome videogames (read:Manhunt), it is hard for our kind not to be labeled with the stigma that goes along with being a gamer.
We are a culture that should be respected just like any other. It is time we show the world just how responsible and mature we are. We aren't burnouts, we aren't drug addicts, we aren't rage and angst inflected teenagers (well most of us at least). The gaming industry has been around for several decades now, and as have a good portion of its players.
Apathy is for losers. Fine, you don't have time to start a charity or fight Jack [Thompson], then let your work do the talking. Your collective creative output is the real ambassador that touches millions on a global basis. Games have the ability to transform the world. Don’t lose sight of that. You create culture. We ARE culture.
Like it or not, you are all already ambassadors for games. So, better make the most of that responsibility! Award or not, I can’t ever do that for you.
These words were spoken by Jason Della Rocca as he won the Ambassador Award at the Game Developers Conference this year. Della Rocca has done wonderful work for the International Game Developers Association, but his speech was inspiring: it's everyone's job to put a better face on gaming, because whether you're a hardcore shooter fan or you simply enjoy a few rounds of Peggle, you're taking part in an industry that many don't understand, and some would like to control. We've recently had the pleasure of speaking to some of the best minds currently working to help the gaming industry grow up, and to some very giving people who seek to put a human face on the suffering of many and alleviate some of that pain. Their instruments? Video games?
The video industry is growing up. Luckily for us, many gamers are growing up with it, and we have many capable hands guiding the art form and protecting it from the misinformation about what gaming is, and the type of people who enjoy it.
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Bandito - the article has nothing to do with professional gaming, the article is referring to the gaming culture, and the bad rep that it has been getting in the past decade or so. Specifically what we can do to overcome that stigma.
You didn't even read the description did you? Let alone the article.
To bad a LOT of ignorant people out there seem to think us gamers are raving lunatics simply because we choose to play violent video games.
Where's the innovation? Where's the imagination? I want to be able to just have a good time doing cooperative things like LBP does. Not constantly checking my back in fear that someone will be shooting lethal bullets at me.
Same reason why not everyone went to go see WallE.
I like to do other things outside of constant headshooting once in a while.