How gamers are viewed.

I know video games have come a really long way in public acceptance. In fact a recent California Supreme Court ruling found that video games fall under protected speech. However, that does not mean that a majority of people still understand what gaming is and what it means to the average player. This is no more evident than in something I saw in the Today Show the other day (which according the current figures puts their viewership around 5 million).

The idea to any man playing video games past the age of 30 seems ludicrous to these people. And again the idea that video games are only for children (the hosts say it is only OK to play games with your kids) shows that they have no real grasp of what a video game can be. Video games grew out of the "toy" market back in the 90s and is now a legitimate medium akin to film, TV, and literature. Sadly, it isn't just the Today Show that has no idea what gaming is, the media's lack of knowledge is evident in many ways.

In this NCIS clip, the writers show that not only do they have no idea what a computer is but basic knowledge of MMORPGs. In RPGs there is really no such thing as a "high score" and it shows that the people responsible for this scene still think of video games are like the Atari 2600 or the Arcade's in the early 90s.

The gamer stereotype is perpetuated again. The only person who is knows how to play is the man who "lives in his parents' basement and owns a Captain Kirk outfit." As if people who play video games are all introverts who will never know a woman's touch.

Hopefully things like this will change. The more people over 30 that are playing games, the more people will start understand, or at the very least accept it.