Share this article:
 Digg.com Facebook Google Bookmarks N4G Gamerblips del.icio.us Reddit Slashdot.org StumbleUpon are video games really represented that negatively? I don't really know. I did just read that RE5 has produced more revenue than the top 5 Hollywood releases in the UK this week. Games may be frowned upon by some, but the figures don't lie. We're all mad for it.. There is an entire subculture of the "Anti Gaming Brigade" who will blame EVERYTHING for gaming, and even make up ridicolous propaganda for their cause (a few weeks ago, 'games make the skin melt off your hands' remember?)
Altough I feel in the real world I have never encountered anti gaming rubbish, it seems to be only the domain of tabloids and rabid internet users. You can't look at it by the figures when a game costs more than a movie ticket, DVD, CD. aka Daily Mail readers.
There was a Scottish MSP on the BBC the other night looking for the government to invest in Scottish games developers. He mention the revenue they generate and the numbers of people employed by the games industry in Scotland. It's one of the few growth industries in the UK and it never gets the credit it deserves. For once I actually agree with the comments of a high ranking Sony executive. That said, touting revenues generated - which I do understand is often seen as a positive thing - needn't always be a clear indicator of a business being a positive force for a society. Example: The Latin American drug cartels. Recently a Colombian or Mexican druglord made it in to the top 50 or 100 billionaires in the world. Some of those cartels have enough funding to conquer a small country yet since their product is declared illegal (and rightfully so in my opinion,) the income is not taxed and even though it is responsible for large swathes of the local economy in various regions (Afghanistan is another example that comes to mind with its opium poppies,) it is not seen as a positive thing - quite the contrary. Perhaps slightly off topic, yet still related I feel, and as I already stated I agree with this fellow's point of view. A very good point. Its entertainment just like film, andmusic blah blah blah
they all bring their negative sides to their story so just get on with it and enjoy it while you can. My mum still sees gaming as a waste of time.
Unlike Coronation Street, Eastenders, etc etc... :roll: :lol: Yep! Almost every time I go to visit, she'll ask my lady if I'm still playing "those games".
And they laugh, oh how they laugh... :( The negative image will disappear over time. As the industry gets older, so do the people who play the games. In a few years politicians/Daily Mail readers will be replaced by people who actually played/still plays games.
And even if politicians/Daily Mail still run with these anti-gaming stories they're just going to make themselves look like idiots because the general public would have grown up with games and know it's a load of BS. Agreed, although it does bear mentioning that not everyone will have played games even 10-20 years from now (especially in poor countries,). Also, there may be individuals who were gamers whom might genuinely feel that they "have seen the light" and denounced their gaming habits. *shrugs* Still, as you pointed out, gaming will probably be far more widespread and thus accepted as time goes by. The industry still gets a really bad rep and it's entirely unrelated to the revenue it brings in. Kotaku has a good article about it that covers a lot of good stuff that basically says it's simply because it's so young.
Theatres have had hundreds of years, movies have had several decades for people to get used to the idea for whatever content they want to put across. Gaming has only been around for a little while and it's been used as a mainstream media for even less time. As Marty said (I'm agreeing with him again!), people still think it's a waste of time. It needs to break away from the image of just a cartoony plumber jumping on bad guys heads and break into the image of tackling more serious issues.
It'll happen. It's starting to happen already. It just takes time. You're just freaking me out now man :) Comic books and music videos went through the same thing. After a while people will realize they're not the root of all evil in the world. Not to mention various genres of music (ex. rock 'n roll). i cant believe i share my surname with this lamer If any company would know anything about battling against a negative image this generation it's Sony.
Even the Red Ring fiasco couldn't top Sony of the top spot on that one. As long as shallow 10 hour gameplay games come out for $60, with little in the way of customer service before during or after the sale, and with the games industry having the ONLY media that comes from the industry point of view rather than the consumer - hence those 90% reviews of 10 hour games like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge, that still didn't sell because gamers weren't convinced they were value for money.
When you have a situation where Creative Assembly can glibly say they will not fix a bug found in Medieval Total War and Shogun with regards 8000 series Nvidia cards because 'this card series came out after the titles concerned and hence were not able to be tested therefore we have no responsibility'. This was over a year ago, and yet what happened this past week with Empire Total War? Yes, that's right, Nvidia came out with a new driver and straight away Empire TW had massive problems! Creative Assembly had to put out a press release advising gamers to roll back to the previous drivers while they produced a patch! But what happens when Nvidia release the next driver - and the next?! What happens when you or I go out next year and buy a new card that came out this Christmas and Empire TW doesn't work. Are they going to come out with the same statement as they did for MTW and Shogun?!
In other words, it's a lot more than bloody advertising, it's about the gaming industry being the most distrusted of all the entertainment industries. It's about a gaming industry that has never put real effort in finding out what gamers think, as opposed to other entertainment industries. It has developed a system that goes against most of what gamers want, which is good value decent entertaining gameplay with fair replayability at a fair price.
As said above,don't underestimate the level gaming media play in this. By letting the industry walk all over them are providing a disservice to their readers, to themselves and to the industry. When I see a hard hitting interview asking tough questions of a gaming company/manager, then I will believe something has changed.
With PC gaming sales in the toilet and 360/PS3 hardcore game sales levelling off we are seeing more and more gamers walking away from the highly profitable AAA Titles and moving to the retro, casual and indie markets, where a lot less money can be made. This will change and shrink the whole gaming industry.
Hardcore gamers need to be more vocal. The media need to be less supine, and the gaming industry needs to listen to it's customers - gamers - more. If not, hardcore gaming will slowly disappear and the profits will go with it. All this will happen much quicker than the memory of Resident Evil posters of a decade ago! | 
