Why Gaming STILL Isn't Respected

nowadays the video game industry is bigger than Hollywood it's bigger than the music industry and it still gets no respect my first issue with video games is that I believe that as a rule it is a massive waste of your time I think video games are for children I don't know if that game expands your understanding or your ability to contribute to the larger conversation go outside get some fresh air beating Tetris is not a life goal I'm going to be honest with you I thought I would find a lot more instances of people giving video games the middle finger but what you just saw is just about all I could find and initially I thought this meant that making this video would just be an overreaction and that people today truly didn't feel this way about video games and it turns out most people don't but just because the majority of people don't have extreme opinions on video games doesn't mean they aren't disrespecting them and making Gamers feel like Outsiders in fact I think the current popularity and success of video video games has almost made Gamers feel like we're not allowed to feel like social outcast and while I'm very grateful for all the great games we have I can't just ignore that something's still off gaming is not a normalized hobby let me show you what I [Music] mean I want you to imagine you bust up into a stranger's house because you want to make some new friends but upon entering their house you don't immediately notice anything that gives off those gamer vibes we all know and love with that in mind would the first question you ask them be what video games do you play no because they'd most likely just say I don't play video games then the conversation would become awkward which would make your social anxiety kick in prompting you to run away in order to compose yourself before coming back to apologize and ask what their favorite movie or song is because everybody watches movies and listens to music they probably aren't watching the game awards though because it's targeted towards Gamers and yet despite that fact if it almost feels like the game awards doesn't want to be associated with the stigma around video games it feels like the people who make the video games don't matter enough or are not cool enough or are not Hollywood enough to present the awards I along with Alana don't think the game awards are all bad but as she alluded to some priorities definitely need to shift if we are to believe this is truly a show meant to celebrate video games in their devs I'm sorry I'm going to wrap it up apparently and not just one giant ad where traditional celebrities can just Goof Off pew pew pew I mean why did these traditional celebrities get to be in gaming ads when to my knowledge gaming influencers don't advertise anything outside of gaming why can't a good game speak for itself like some movies often do since those movies are why the actors are famous in the first place probably for the same reason the very platform that hosts these gaming influencers treats them differently than regular influencers in fact Matt Pat creator of the theorist channels actually interviewed former Youtube CEO Susan with jisy about this very issue at the 2019 gaming creators Summit there's all sorts of stuff out there that feels like gaming is kind of a second thought we're relegated to our own platform with YouTube gaming our own app our own social media handle our own trending tab it feels like we're being segregated off from the rest of YouTube even though we're delivering a huge value to this platform not only does a fat chunk of YouTube's views come from Gamers but so does the largest chunk of Revenue in the entertainment industry so what's the deal why does gaming seem to have the same social stigma attach to it that it's had ever since its early days and more importantly can we even do anything about it well just like trying to convince yourself you should cook dinner at home instead of going to Taco Bell it's complicated what you need to understand first though is that it all started with a little thing called generational myopia in his article about why the mainstream media struggles to cover video games Ben Lindberg States largely because of what former times writer Seth Chelle calls generational myopia the keepers of the cultural sections aren't convinced that that gaming merits a spot on the Mast head alongside longer lived entertainment cornerstones later in the article Brian crente mentions that a lot of these Publications are run by people who probably didn't grow up playing video games this of course implies that they don't seem to understand them I think actor and comedian Brian Kalen puts it best for older people it's subversive it's we don't trust it we don't like it we don't understand it and it scares us a little bit because it's also reminds us of our own mortality we're also brainwashed to thinking the video games are for losers all of that what's interesting about Brian here not to be confused with Brian crente is that he actually did come from the first generation to grow up with video games so the only logical conclusion is that Brian probably didn't get to play video games as a kid because his parents likely had a negative perspective on them which then influenced Kalen just like the media does with the rest of the US the only problem is this line of thinking is flawed by that logic all Millennials gen Z and even J Alpha would think this way about video games too this mindset would just get passed down to each subsequent generation in case it wasn't clear I obviously have no idea what Brian's dad thinks of video games but my dad is from Gen X just like Callen yet he doesn't think the same way about video games as Ken does you also have Millennials like Mandy B who you saw in a clip earlier in the video and when discussing who she would or wouldn't date on her podcast she said I would rather you have a hobby that's not video games something that grows you enlightens you and I'd be willing to bet some geners also think this way too so while this mindset started with the older generation thanks to the infamous video game Crash of 1983 we actually have video game Publishers to thank for providing the perfect place for this social stigma around video games to take Center Stage you see one of the biggest reasons the crash happened in the first place was because of the oversaturation of the market and thus a loss of consumer confidence and garbage like this because of this video games were seen as a fad and lost any momentum they might have had to make it as a normalized hobby among the likes of TV and music and Nintendo put the nail in the coffin when they pulled the Trojan Horse maneuver to get their console onto store shelves in America as a toy for children sure adults were playing video games alongside children during this time just like they were in the arcade days of Space Invaders but when the novelty of video games began to wear off once again the main audience left playing video games were the ones it was continually being marketed toward thus cementing video games as a child's play thing a waste of time and this cycle almost seemed doomed to repeat itself from the start it seems like everyone including major news outlets wanton a piece of the action when a hit new console or game arrives but as soon as the novelty wears off everyone except the Gaming Community stops talking about it but if video games being treated as just a toy was the only issue here they would have already bounced back from this negative social status just like TVs did shortly after after they first became affordable that's right even owning a TV had a stigma attached to it and for perspective it took less than 20 years for it to be dropped whereas the video game Crash happened 1 2 3 40 years ago and it still hasn't been dropped so yeah there's something else going on here because in addition to this if you haven't noticed there's this little thing called the internet that you're using right now where billions of people interact with each other on a day-to-day basis If people really wanted to they could find a way to inform themselves about gaming news but they don't sure we're creatures of habit so we tend to get comfortable doing or watching a lot of the same things but there are also a lot of people who really like change I would know because my wife is one of those people she's dabbled in games here and there and while she's not an avid gamer who's obsessed with it like I am she still has a lot of fun playing games and even recognizes them as a form of art yet I hardly ever tell her the latest gaming news because I know she's not super interested in it for the most part except that one time she got mad at me for not updating dating her on the latest Nintendo Direct because they announced switch Sports I mean how the hell was I supposed to know she was interested in in case it wasn't clear my wife is the most supporting person in the world and is 100% on board with my passion for video games and she'll even tolerate my fangirling while watching a Nintendo Direct with me from time to time but my point is her interests for the most part lie elsewhere just like many others she's at a point in her life where she knows what she likes and what she doesn't she couldn't care less about playing Super Smash Bros for example probably cuz she sucks at it but that's similar to how my dumbass sucks at sports which is why I don't really like playing them but this is because it's natural to not want to do things you're no good at because it's not fun video games are very hard to get good at and they carry a very big intimidation Factor not only do you have way too many sweats frothing at the mouth to rise to the top of the leaderboards on OverWatch but you also have incredibly complex games that some people just get overwhelmed at the idea of and never give it a shot not to mention there are those who are simply fearful Of The Addictive nature of games there are are also way too many games to choose from these days that range from something as simple as jumping on enemies to figuring out the perfect combination of items weapons abilities and even strategies needed to bring down the ultimate gigachad of a boss even the games that we longtime Gamers consider casual may not be as easy for some people to get into as we think the way we engage with a game is very different from the way we engage with other forms of media you made your first me look as much like you as possible because you are that me it becomes an extension of yourself to live through in a digital world in his book games agency as art philosopher CT win claims that the motivation behind gameplay is an inversion of how motivation for most other things operate you don't do your taxes because it's fun you do your taxes so you don't end up like Scott on the other hand you don't play Delta Rune or Hollow Knight to check them off a list you do it for the journey okay maybe we kind of do play them to check them off a list compare all of that to something like movies which are by Nature very linear experiences mini games not only take far more time than movies to play through but have expanded far beyond linear experiences movies only require you to stare at a screen and literally nothing else you can even just have it on in the background video games often require many components such as your reflexes hand eye coordination strategy skill experience patience and in most cases your undivided attention and I haven't even touched on the fact that music a whole other industry is merely an ingredient albeit an absolutely essential one in both movies and video games I can just listen to my favorite song on the way to work whereas sometimes I have to contemplate whether it's worth it to boot up my safe file on tears of the Kingdom or whether I should just wait until I have a larger chunk of time to play playing a video game for someone not familiar with them can quite literally be a lot of work because as Professor W puts it those who play games play them for the struggle the reason I couldn't find many videos of people bashing video games for the the opening of this video is partially because people who say things like that on the internet will be harassed and no one wants that but also because a lot of people actually don't feel that way they simply don't play video games for a multitude of reasons and that's okay I'm willing to bet that the reason Gamers seem to be segregated off from the rest of YouTube is because gaming is so different and not as widely appealing to a general audience the reason game companies can't let games speak for themselves is because unlike movies you have to play a game to know whether it's good or not that and traditional celebrities bring a wider audience so while I initially considered the possibility of older Generations being the culprit here I don't think they deserve as much of the blame as we give them this sentiment spans generations and it's why simply covering video games and mainstream news won't suddenly make games a social Norm so long as there are people of all ages who simply don't have a desire to play them in fact I might go as far as to say that I think it's kind of too late for video games to be covered in mainstream media anyway because the Gap in knowledge about games between Gamers and non-gamers has gotten too big so even if a mainstream news publication hired a gaming expert to report on games at least a little less than half the American population just wouldn't get it and that's not even considering the countless people who play video games casually while not caring about video game coverage such as my wife wait wait wait hold up am I saying that everyone in the US has to be playing video games for it to be considered a normalized hobby that's exactly what I'm saying seriously can you think of anyone you know who doesn't watch things on a screen whether that be movies TV or even YouTube or Tik Tok video is literally ingrained in our society video games not so much this applies to music even more so music is something that's not only ingrained in American society but in the human race itself it is quite literally Universal so how do we get everyone to play video games well we kind of can't sure we can show people the value of games all we want and we could even let them try out a game or two they might like but the reality is there will always be people who don't want to play games for whatever reason and frankly some people especially those who have an addictive personality might benefit from never playing video games and that's okay I don't know about you but I want games to stay out of the mainstream news and out of the hands of those corporate fools who just want to exploit our Nostalgia to make a quick Buck I mean they're already doing that without it being a social Norm I think I agree with Lindberg and that maybe there's a benefit to gaming being overlooked look I've come to terms with the idea of gaming being something that not everybody understands the appeal of I want to help spread that awareness sure but I'm okay with where games are at at least in terms of social status I think it would be better to let the actual Gamers on YouTube like Scott the was spawn wave or even Daryl talks games continue to handle the game coverage because here's the thing gamers are all already socially accepted among other Gamers who cares if the rest of the world understands games look maybe I'm wrong and one day we wake up and everyone is playing games but other than our insecurities what would that really change would it positively affect anything in the video game industry other than profits or would it lead to more corporate greed only time will tell so what do we make of all this I just spent the last 14 or so minutes telling you how big of an issue all of this is yet the conclusion I came to is that it's no big deal because in reality it's not does that change the way I or even you might feel about it probably not but I think the way we tend to approach situations like this is usually bass Awards you see what started out as a simple question blossomed into something that caused me to do a little self-searching and while I quite frankly obsessed over it a little too much I think I came to a conclusion that gave me some closure on the matter instead of focusing on how we can get others to like playing or even respecting video games I think we should instead take a good look in the mirror and ask ourselves how we would feel if we were on the other side of this at the end of the day what we do is our choice so let's be more understanding of the fact that video games are simply not for everyone no matter how many games they may try let's stop gatekeeping and instead embrace the fact that different sections of the Gaming Community are more alike than not instead of dividing ourselves over stupid console Wars because the only people we're hurting by doing those things are ourselves it just shows those Outside The Gaming Community that the only thing they're missing out on are fanboys and fan girls fighting amongst each other over corporations who only care about our money in the first place but I think the most important thing we can do is impact the Next Generation by showing them the value not only in the game but in the gamer too then who knows in time maybe Gamers can be cool thanks for watching

Channel: DerajjParallax

Views: 509,856

Keywords: Derajj, DerajjParallax, Parallax, Gaming

Id: pvoAWvE0wUM

Length: 15min 57sec (957 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 20 2024