Game addiction more embarrassing than porn addiction?
INTERVIEWER: Describe the people who walk into your office. What does a computer compulsion look like?
BLOCK: Some people come in for trouble with Internet porn. But the computer gamers tend to be harder to treat. People feel a lot of shame around computer games. Whereas, it’s socially acceptable to have a porn problem.
INTERVIEWER: You can’t be serious. You mean your clients are more ashamed of …
BLOCK: …playing World of Warcraft than looking at porn. Yes.
INTERVIEWER: Why?
BLOCK: As a society we understand that porn is something people do, and you can see a psychiatrist and get treated for it. But gaming is hard to describe to anyone else. So these people can’t explain their situation to friends. In fact, it’s hard to give you an example of what my clients talk about, because gaming is enormously complicated.
So, of course, I did the most logical thing I could think of, which was immediately stop looking at internet pornography for a moment to collect my thoughts.
We live in an interesting landscape, as far as recreational gaming goes. To say more people are playing games than even before somewhat downplays countries like Japan, where videogaming has long been a socially acceptable hobby by nearly the entire populace… but even for all its growth and abated social stigma, gaming is still viewed by many as the ultimate indulgent time-waster of modern society. Yes, even more than watching Maury Povich reveal who is and isn’t a baby-daddy. Think about that for a moment and feel free to weep your eyes out.
I believe there still remains a negative public perception of adults that engage in youthful pursuits like video games, but those attitudes may finally be shifting as gamers slowly become parents. This isn’t to say those attitudes will change rapidly — there is still very much a “living in your mom’s basement” perception of arrested development that persists among hardcore gamers — but we’re seeing the stigma begin to evolve. Socially-dependent gaming structures like World of Warcraft and Age of Conan are allowing working professionals to network outside the confines of the office water-cooler, and online resources like Facebook and MySpace are working hard to integrate official gaming platforms into their existing infrastructure. What’s more, the advent of so-called “casual gaming” is bringing in gamers that wouldn’t otherwise be playing at all — and as I said in my previous rant, that kind of new blood is exactly what will help overturn some of those social stigmas.
This isn’t to say the stereotype of the dirty, unwashed gamer won’t persist — it will. However, it will be harder and harder to feel its relevance once the “gamer” isn’t just a mid 30s balding nebbish typing away in a dank basement. When your grandfather is playing Mario Kart, that’s when the social awkwardness of admitting your hobby will officially cease to mean anything.
My point in all this, gamers, is simple:
Own it.
Own your hobby. Embrace what you are. The fact is, nobody can make you feel inferior if they don’t have your permission. In many ways, video game enthusiasts need to own what makes them unique in the same way the gay community has owned their uniqueness. If they want to call you a nerd, screw ‘em — put it on your t-shirt. If they want to call you anti-social geeks, screw ‘em — put it on your business cards. Jerks and slapjags feed on your shame. Cut off their food supply and they go someplace else to eat.
Society will change, but it’s a gradual change that takes awhile. If you want to stop being ashamed of playing games… then stop being ashamed. But own up to what you are and what you enjoy. Nobody can take that away from you but you, and the sooner you embrace what you are, the happier you’ll be.
Play on, players! I’ll see you next week.