Game and social life
 

I was just wondering do you guys (those of you who are gamers) talk abotu games and gaming in public or do you keep it on the side like a dirty little secret. I know I never talk about games in public, I mean let's face it gamers have a bad reputation and are known to be geeks and what not. So if you wanna keep your name clean (specially whit the girls) i dont think that talking about WOW or how you made a 99hit sick combo whit Mario in SSBM is such a good idea.
''so what are you guys talking about''
''world of warcraft''
''......ho....''
do you guys feel the way i feel.

Honestly: bull.
If the people you're concerned about expect you to accept them and their interests, then it's only fair they accept you and yours. If they can't, they're not worth dealing with.

Obviously you're not going to try to discuss gaming related topics with people who you know have zero interest in the subject, but that tends to go for any topic really. I will gladly talk games with someone who knows a little about them and is genuinely interested in discussing them, but I am aware enough to not go and try to talk about my Gears of War multiplayer strategies with someone who doesn't even know the difference between an Xbox 360 and a PS2.

Also, it is very apparent to me that the general perception of gaming has softened quite a bit in the past 7 or 8 years. The increase of mature themed games and the increase in realism, at least graphically, probably have a lot to do with gaming's shift into the mainstream. Thanks Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Resident Evil, etc. And let's not forget about everyone's best friend, John Earl Madden. His games certainly helped as well.

Everything goes in public. If the topic of games suddenly gets to the surface, I'll talk. If not, I can handle conversations well.

And oh, girls will often start conversations regarding games. I've seen couple.

If the topic of games ever comes up during a discussion with someone I may not know quite well, I don't mind talking about games casually. The few male classmates I spoke with in the past who managed to find out about some of the games I had played found it hard to believe though. But in general, not many people I know openly discuss video games in public.

Hell, I talk to my fellow coworkers who are probably twice my age about my gaming life - how I'm looking forward to the new consoles, how I'm planning on getting a new TV, and having no life. I don't keep it pent up like some dirty secret. Seriously that's pretty sad. They just say cool, and talk about how they spent the weekends doing green thumb work and cleaning their house.

Off topic: Rydia, why did you change your hot avatar? ;___;

thing i hate about talking about games is that once you start talking about it, it's hard to get off the subject (much like sex really). and when some people her you talking about games you attract some weird croud of weird people. I remember one guy who heard me talking about Naruto Gejkitou Ninja Taisen 4 in class one day and then he kept coming back and talking to me about it and anime and shit. and it was getting hella annoying since it was the only thing he talked about + I didn't really liek him.

What's wrong? The avatar is hotter now. :D

Anyway, I don't mind talking games if it comes up. I can't carry a conversation just on that though since I'm not as knowledgeable about video games that some people assume me to be, though I guess I know the most among my peers.

"Gaming" conversations comes more out of gaming experiences, such as an epic battle of Starcraft or some rounds of Unreal Tournament or a few NBA games or something multiplayer like that. There's only a few people I can talk about other video game genres with.

That's usually all I talk about with people. Video games. Most of the people I know don't like video games.. well as much as I do anyways. But, I still talk about it.

I'm the same as Yama in the respect that I can go on about games if it comes up from the other person. Of course, I gauge the person's reaction because it usually comes up after "what are you into?", to which I reply "oh, I'm a big video game nerd." No one has ever made fun of me about it whether they like/love games or have no clue about them.

Of course, video games rarely have a chance to meaningfully come into any discussions I make unless they're with friends I already know are into videgames as well. Point being, it's not a taboo subject with me, but I don't go out of my way to talk to others about it unless they're like me.

I talk about video games pretty sparingly. I only talk when I'm with my friends and we're on the same game topic. If one of us happens to talk about a game that none of us have played, that tends to lead to some pretty long, awkward silences. However, if we do happen to share some common ground, the conversations tend to last for hours.

I won't talk about video games to the general public unless someone initiates the conversation first. Some people might not play the same games as I do, and it would be confusing to listen to me if I brought up random gaming topics spontaneously.

The last person I spoke to about proper gaming said component and composite are identical.

I avoid discussing games irl. Mother doesn't care and people lose interest when I go off rambling about games.

If I start talking to people out there about Simple 2000 games they'll lower their eyebrows and shake their heads. And the story of how I played the game and unlocked the level 2 orange bikini nitro gun will be ruined. On the internet I can talk about this and people just click the back button on their browsers, there's no threat of the face morph.

That and most of my mates aren't really gamers aside from Halo deathmatch and so forth. But it's not the 80's anymore, gaming isn't some mega geeky eight inch thick bulletproof glasses covered in greasy pimples thing anymore. You only have to watch out with WoW and other really :nerd: games nobody else on the planet knows/cares about. Then hey, that head shakin' comin' along booooyeeee.

Meh, i talk about games enough, but there's actually only one person i can think of at the current time who will actually carry on a decent gaming related conversation. All my other friends basically do the whole smile and nod thing.

I'll talk about gaming if it comes up, or people ask me my hobbies, i tell them i'm into video games, and they ask to hear more. On the whole though, the people i usually hang out with/can be seen with want nothing to do with video games.

I'm cheating, here, but since I work in the video game section of Toys R Us I kind of get paid to do it in public. It's a different kind of discussion, though, since most of the time you're talking to people who barely know the difference between a PlayStation and a Game Boy, so you have to learn how to show you know what you're talking about without going so far over their heads that they have no clue what you're saying to them.

A lot of it actually involves readin reviews, because that avoids you having to play every single game that is ever made to be able to give an impression of the game. You can just kind of parlay the reviewer's experience into your own, and say "Yeah, Hannah Montana isn't a TERRIBLE game, but it's good for kids who like the TV show."

Yeah I talk about video games in public though generally when the conversation is shifted into that point. Though most of my conversations are with my coworkers and since we're testing games, it's a given that we're all gamers. It's certainly not the only topic I talk about though and that's what's important.

I don't really talk about games in public much. Because of this thread, I was emailing a work colleague about how to find the intranet URL and I said "you know, the secret warp pipe bonus level." He new that was from SMB, but then he's my age so...

some of my friend are gamer like me with almost same taste like mine and sure i talk about video games with them in public, I don't see what's the problem, it's just one subject of conversation like any other. Sure I have some friends that are really not into gaming so, I'm not talking about games with them. when it's get complicated is when both my gamers and non-gamer friends are all together XD

I'll talk about it in public as long as I'm talking to someone who shares the intrest. I don't care what strangers within earshot think about games.

I generally don't talk about games in public. Only a few of my mates are into games, and there is only one or two at work that play games. If it comes up in conversation, then I'm all for talking about it, but if it doesn't come up then I still contribute to the conversations at work, even if they do revolve around crappy TV.

I talk about games in public all the time. Most of my friends are gamers and the ones that aren't know that Im a big gamer so they don't mind it. Plus I worked at Gamestop. Im used to talking about games and gaming. But I talked about them in public before working at Gamestop so.

Since we get new people at work all the time I suppose gaming is a decent icebreaker, usually they come to me first (but since I play mostly Bemani, they dont know what the hell I'm talking about, though I was suprised that my 40-something boss plays shit like Harvest Moon and RE4).

Mostly its all about WoW, God of war, Halo, and Starcraft.

Well, i wouldn't call myself a 'gamer' but i do like to try out most MMO's i like the look of from screenshots and video's.

I dont keep it a secret either, i tend to tell my friend that is always up for a new RPG or MMO as long as he see's me play it first or watchs videos.

If i tell my other friends about new games a bought or downloaded, they tend to only say the word, "cool". If it has a cool and different name to all others they tend to hear, they wanna know a little about the gameplay and see some screenshots.. which is cool.

I try discussing it, but no one cares to listen unless I the phrase "Smash Bros." is somewhere in there. So, I typically keep quiet about video games.