February 12, 2011
Differences In What The World Is
People at work keep pestering me as to why I, as a gamer, do not own a copy of CODBLOPS. It was suggested the other day that I “invest” in a copy. I feel like this is a valid suggestion, of course. I’m sure CODBLOPS is a great game, and I do look forward to playing it at some point.
But man, the couple of hours I just invested into You Don’t Know Jack multiplayer were probably more fun than 3 times the amount of time spent in the CODBLOPS multiplayer, and maybe more.
Enjoy what you enjoy, you know? I’m not saying they’re doing it wrong, and I know they’re not saying I’m doing it wrong either. They just want to include me in their gaming sessions, which I appreciate. But it’s just one of those things, you know? It just reminds me of how out of the mainstream I am. There’s no way I could describe how excited I am about this trivia video game, and how it will get my full attention. They just don’t share that particular joy, and I think they would be a little unable to understand why I enjoyed it so much. This is the case for so many things. We often clash in opinions on what movies, shows, and whatnot are awesome as well. They’re all great people I love working with, but their tastes are so, so far away from mine. So far!
It just really shows me how ridiculously broad a concept like “gamer” is. There are key “gamer” experiences that my friends at work will never know. There’s no way they’d ever play a Persona 3, for instance, and I consider that one of the major gaming experiences of last generation. Most “gamers” I actually discuss things with on a regular basis would understand what Persona 3 is and how it mixed things up in a significant way, even if they didn’t play it much or even enjoy it. The people at work, though, who probably play games somewhere close to as often as I do, have no clue. They probably know nothing about it.
I don’t know, it just fascinates me, because, again, neither of us are wrong. We’re both doing it right. Yet, there’s this big game between us, when we have what ought to be similar interests. It just shows me how different people’s worlds really can be, even on this small level. That’s kind of cool, don’t you think?
It took me awhile to even figure out what CODBLOPS was! Gaming is big enough for everyone. My longstanding hope is that people who only play Madden or COD will eventually find games that are a little more interesting/demanding and get deeper into the hobby.
Comment by Jonathon Howard — February 12, 2011 @ 4:08 pm