Gaming is (not) something bad.

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Hello. Gaming isn't just a hobby to me. It's a passion. BUT...

unfortunately, I have to deal with people who think gaming is something deviant people and people who don't know what to do with their lives do. They think it's stupid and useless. Yes, I can't produce something by playing games, but if I like it, why do you think it's bad?

Gaming has been around for more than 30 years, yet society despise it. Don't worry, I don't waste energy thinking about the norms I can't change, but it bothers me that family members, who knows me the best, think that way.

I was talking with my father about a gaming laptop I want to buy (I know someone will comment on this, but I can't buy a desktop pc, because currently I'm not permanently situated) and when we finished, my mother asked: "What's wrong with this one (laptop I currently use)?". I replied: "This one is not powerful enough to run games" and she said "You don't need a gaming laptop, because you have to think about studying, not games" (a gaming laptop can also be very useful for running AutoCAD, a software I often use for projects at the college). I'm a college student and, yes, I know, I have to focus on studying which I do. I don't spend eight hours on games every day. I spend an hour on games usually during weekends.

But that's not all.

My mother read a news article about a guy who murdered his girlfriend, because a character in GTA V "told him to" and she asked me : "Will you stop playing video games? You are going to kill someone." This really hit me. Three years ago me and my family visited my grandma and the cousins, aunt and uncle were there too. My cousin also plays pc games and reads magazines about computers which he brought there. My dad picked one and started commenting something like: "Look at all those zeros, ones, beasts..." and I said how I would like to have a beast of a pc to play games without worrying about lags. My uncle said: " I know a game that doesn't require a powerful pc. It's called chess. You don't need even a mouse. You can choose between a plastic or a wooden board." and my aunt said: "It also makes you smarter."

Have you ever been in situations like these? I hope you had enough attention to read the whole thing. I had to rant.

I started playing tabletop RPGs back around 1980, right after the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III. My relative were already concerned that I was going to become a computer hacker and start WWIII, but then they thought I was getting into Drugs & Demonology because I started playing D&D.

I remember watching this one episode of the tv show " Forensic Files" and the narrator tried to blame these murder on kids playing D&D lol.

My son and I talk about video games a lot and I was sharing the emotional experience of playing certain games for the first time with him, especially 3D games like Ocarina or Time when my brother and I got an N64.

Video games can be really special and can generate great family memories (or solo memories ).

Nothing wrong with gaming as long as you don't let it interfere with your responsibilities. I game a lot but I also work a 40 hour a week job because I am the bread winner and I have to provide for my family.

I love gaming too and have found myself in not so different situations. It forced me to take matters into my own hands and I had to find ways around the system. The "system" in my experience was family against games (or other technology like computers, tablets etc) and it just made me start sneaking around to get what I wanted. Now because of that I did have to settle maybe for something not as good. Recently I wanted to get a new Android tablet to do some gaming on as my other devices are outdated and can't run the games at playable framerates. If I was to openly present the idea to family, they would have shot down the proposal and say I already had too many devices. Those older devices aren't cutting it anymore as technology is changing. They don't understand that. So I had to sneak and buy (which sounds crazy coming from a 36 year old) a new Samsung tablet and hope I didn't get caught. That was over a month ago and still they haven't found out, they might never find out, I don't know. Of course I got the cheapest 10 inch Samsung but for an entry level tablet, it is phenomenal in its ability to play games in my opinion.

I have bought a couple old systems and never mentioned it to them because of the backlash that would've occurred. Now in all reality, the consequences of getting caught sneaking around aren't life or death but it might knock the trust factor down a peg or two.

How many of the people that preach about games being bad will sit and watch TV shows for hours on end? Honestly.........flip through some channels and there's a good chance you will see more violence on TV than in many games.......unless you consider Pac-Man violent lol