I visited family down south this past weekend. Hung out with my niece and nephew. Even went to their grade school to have lunch with them (their request!). I also chatted with some of my wife’s friends. As always, I got some intel about what regular people think about video games.
First-graders? Well, first of all, lots of them wear Angry Birds shirts. I’ve now seen this with my own eyes. My nephew doesn’t, but he loves playing Minecraft — on an Android tablet where it’s cheap and easy. He also is back to being interested in my 3DS after a couple of years of losing interest in the DS or PSP I’d bring with me for a visit. For a while, he’d just cared about free games on hand-me-down iPhones. My 3DS XL has grabbed his and his sister’s attention. For him, there’s just something about Lego City Undercover…
Third-graders? One of them was telling me about her brother’s PS2 and how she played a Simpsons game on it as well as a game where you get to climb giants. Yes, third-graders are playing Shadow of the Colossus. This is a wonderful thing. My niece, however, is more into using the camera on my 3DS to pretend she’s making videos on YouTube.
And the game-loving father of two who I was chatting with at a party on Saturday? He’s loving Arkham City on his Xbox 360. He’s going for every Riddler trophy. He had no idea about the upcoming Arkham Origins.
The other thing he’d never heard of? The Wii U.
But he’s curious about those new Xboxes and PlayStations.
As a games reporter I speak to a disproportionate number of people who are very, very familiar with video games. It’s easy to lose touch with what regular people think and know about games. It’s certainly just as bad to mistake the gaming tastes of one nephew or one friend as the New Truth About The State of Video Games. But I see no reason not to think that the regular people I talk to about games are perfectly normal and average in their gaming IQ.
Over the last several years, through friends and family, I’ve seen many of the trends of modern gaming. I’ve seen the appearance of phone gaming as a relevant distraction and an increasingly-valued (if not perfect) delight. I’ve seen Wii systems played with enthusiasm and then neglected. I’ve seen series like Mario Kart or Pokemon grab hold. I’ve seen Minecraft pop up everywhere.
When you talk to regular people about gaming, what do you hear?
Comments
21 responses to “What Regular People Say About Video Games”
What the hell is a regular person?
So much this.
A ‘regular person’ in the context of gamers. As in, someone who doesn’t religiously follow games and keep up with every piece of game culture. Like the aforementioned casual gaming father-of-two.
Don’t bother with that tiresome “there’s no such thing as normal” crap.
People are generally more accepting of playing games to pass the time now than they were when I was a kid. I remember a friend’s dad playing flight simulators, and overhearing other parents making disparaging comments about it. I think that today people wouldn’t be quite so judgemental.
That’s because the majority of the population can’t seem to judge something on its merits, but more on whether it’s socially accepted. And like all things, video games are now finally being accepted.
Spot on!
Video games are becoming more accepted generally because the children who grew up in arcades and playing NES/Sega are now the parents and has a certain understanding of what video game are in todays society
I knew a guy like that. Everyone made fun of him at the time. He got the last laugh though, he’s an actual pilot now.
I’m not a regular person?…aaaaagghhh!!
Have you tried getting more fibre in your diet?
True.. a faster internet connection has cheered me up before!
I’m so sorry that you had to find out this way…
One of them was telling me about her brother’s PS2 and how she played a Simpsons game on it as well as a game where you get to climb giants. Yes, third-graders are playing Shadow of the Colossus.
Day. Made. There is hope.
Talking to regular people sucks! They just don’t get it.
I get you, bro.
I get.. both of you.
Statistics fail, Stephen. Gamers ARE regular people now. We’re the majority. What we say about games is, “When are they coming out?” and “Is that available on Android?”
What do I hear? How ridiculous the “Words with Friends” dictionary is. That’s pretty much all I hear. So-called normal people may be more accepting of gaming to pass the time, but I’ve yet to meet someone that accepts it as more than just a time waster.
That said, I’ve no problem considering myself abnormal; being normal would be terribly boring. Everyone’s a little mad, in their own way. :3
Everybody in my family and friends, and everyone I talk to, has absolutely no freaking clue what the wiiU is. I think, if not critically, Nintendo has failed in their marketing and their penetration into society.
Most of my friends think I’m off my rocker when I speak about video games that they don’t really care about. Maybe I should find some new “non-regular” friends.
i was hanging with some guys i know this article and the comments made me think of it i was just sitting there while they talked about cars i had no idea what they were talking about i stopped them a few times cause some funny words came up like hotdog (which has something to do with the exaust i was told) i sat there while the whole conversation went way over my head .it was strange being the one looking in usually im the one looking in not out when me and my friends i always hang with talk about video games and computers i remember telling a friend how she could play her sims when she had a broken disc drive on her laptop and how it went over her head we ended up going on about pentium 4 procesors cause for some reason we think there funny the bottom line to this is weve all got our interest and its good to share them with people with the same interests
i read this aloud without once taking a breath.
Firstly, this article is pointless. Secondly, gamers are normal people. Are you an educated person, Stephen? Please do tell me how you couldn’t just type “gamers as opposed to non-gamers”?
Finally, why would I care about what others think? My self view is defined by ME, not the ignorant opinions & views of others.