Gamers: Unsung Heroes of Sex Appeal

Since the inception of early home consoles, video games have become a veritable media and marketing powerhouse within the entertainment industry. The once fledgling trade "is expected to double in sales from 2005's $32.6 billion to $65.9 billion in 2011." One analyst notes: "'Gaming has become a mass-market entertainment industry on par with TV, movies and music.'" Recently, Infinity Ward's "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" affirmed this notion by "smash[ing] records, generating $310 million in 24 hours in North America and the U.K. to become the 'the biggest launch in history across all forms of entertainment.'" A far cry from the early days of the pixilated Pong and Tetris, modern games offer near-photorealistic graphics, managing to create lush game worlds for players to explore and unique characters to interact with. Needless to say, video games now hold a dominant spot at the forefront of public attention and consumer spending.Despite their rampant popularity, games have faced a plethora of criticism and contempt from patrons and opponents alike. Gamers are often ostracized, stereotyped and mocked with little regard to reality, or for the feelings of the players themselves. Like white trash, gamers seem to be a group no one pretends to defend.

Now, I have a personal gaming history that I am very proud of. I have won numerous tournaments in "Guitar Hero" and "Dance Dance Revolution" (DDR) and was even part of a company-sponsored "Halo" team for a short time. If the previous sentence made you giggle slightly at my "nerdiness," replace every game with the name of some socially acceptable sport and read again. What makes the latter more reasonable? Because they require some physical movement? If you've ever played DDR, you know it undoubtedly eclipses the exertion required by something like bowling or poker, yet both are considered sports (and given plenty of airtime on ESPN), while video games barely seem to count as a hobby.

In the last few years, however, companies have begun to take notice of the revenue-generating possibilities within the gaming community. Major League Gaming, the world's first professional video game league, currently awards $1 million contracts to the best four-man teams in a number of different games. Company co-founder Sundance Giovanni remarks: "From day one, MLG has been committed to finding the best players in the world and helping them grow and develop careers as professional gamers.these contracts are an important step in advancing the careers of these particular gamers, but they also help establish pro gaming and open doors for more players who aspire to this level of success in gaming." For the first time in its relatively short history, video games and gamers alike are beginning to receive widespread acceptance and even monetary compensation for their skills. Some professional gamers like Dave Walsh (whom I had the distinct pleasure of both meeting and competing against) even have their own clothing lines, and have been featured on such programs as MTV's "Cribs." Another prominent figure, known as Tsquared, earns nearly $150,000 every year in prize money and endorsements, owns a company through which he teaches gaming technique and strategy, and has been featured on the MTV documentary series "True Life: I'm a Professional Gamer." He has also made appearances in The Wall Street Journal and was included in Stuff magazine's top 20 most influential people under 30 in August 2006.

Despite these successes, stigmas remain a seemingly insurmountable component of any gamer's life. Perhaps you just think gamers are antisocial. Greasy and covered in acne, they begrudgingly crawl from their mom's basement three times a year to line up, barely conscious, for whatever new game hits the shelves. But, if you know anything about movie or book premieres, you've certainly seen such behavior elsewhere (nudge nudge: Harry Potter fans). These stereotypes, like those applied to many other groups of people, sometimes ring true. But they are not the majority, nor even a just interpretation of the current landscape of the interactive market. Nearly every best-selling game in the last six to eight years has been applauded for its multiplayer, not solely single-player, aspect. With online gaming services such as Xbox Live connecting gamers from around the world, gaming experiences have taken a far leap from the "friendless vacuum" it once might have been. In fact, most of the happiest memories with my closest friends involve us tackling some new game together as teammates. Games create opportunities for bonding, teamwork and emotional connection on par and many times exceeding any other activity guys participate in. Like any enjoyable activity, video games can be one aspect of any healthy social life, not the soul-sucking lonely endeavor some seem to think they are.

But the latent issue here doesn't seem to be a question of popularity or revenue but one of validity. It's as if video games on the whole simply haven't earned the respect of many in the culture in general, which is, in this author's opinion, simply ludicrous. The most frustrating part of being a gamer occurs when people refuse to see the products we enjoy as anything but mindless toys for children, a waste of time, etc. What they fail to realize lies in the limitless possibilities for philosophical and artistic exploration the medium affords both creators and participants. The capacity to learn so much about another's life exists in the digital universe as much as it does in other (more culturally prevalent) media, such as books and film. Video games are the most technologically advanced canvas for the production of creative, meaningful works of art. Drawing on its predecessors (novels, film, photography, etc.), video games offer the ability to interact with both story and character on a level unprecedented in history. This interaction marks a distinct shift from previous forms of art, wherein the narrative or image simply presented itself to the audience. This element changed the face of entertainment and artistic enterprise forever, permitting unparalleled immersion and emotional connection to both characters and narrative as a whole.