WHAT DOES GAMING MEAN TO YOU?
Inspired by my recent post in the Destiny thread I decided to create a collection of our feelings. It's a simple question, what does gaming truly mean to each one of you?
Gaming, like many things, can be anything in the eye of the Gamer. To some it can be an art, to others a sport. This is really a vital part of many kids lives. Lets think about this, the average human watches ~40 hours of TV a week. Not many people in the world question this. That's a full time job sitting away in front of a Television. Now if I told the average human that I, as a 22 year old man, play ~40 hours a week of video games, people seem to have a problem. What the world isn't understanding, like tech, is that younger consumers are beginning to take gaming more seriously and invest longer periods of time into it.
It's not uncommon since TV and Sporting events were seen the same way quite some time ago. It's also not uncommon to hear "Gaming is my escape" anymore either. If you just think about it for a second it makes sense why we should relate video games to other forms of media. Most games present a fantasy environment that puts you in control of the Hero. It makes the outside world drown out, and draws you into something you never thought possible. It provides you with robust environments, compelling characters, and a sense of just pure epicness. Yes, I said it, EPICNESS. These are commonly found in TV and movie's as well. However one things that sets video games apart is they're interactive, keeping your motor skills in tune since hand-eye coordination is key element. In my opinion, I also feel more like a badass saving a galaxy with a controller vs watching someone else do it, but maybe it's just me.
So I walk into a bar and a man wearing an Patriots jersey watching the TV ask me what's my team as I'm aimlessly staring into the Twitch app on my phone. My reply "Final Boss 06 of course". Let me tell you that too the average person, they don't handle that well. Why is it that we're so blind? A Sport is a Sport. They both have rules and regulations, players, coaches, sponsors, money, training, free agents, brackets, seasons, and fans. Most importantly is the last one. You watch a sport, and so do I. It doesn't matter if I'm sitting behind a screen watching a person sitting in front of one, he's competing an extraordinary level for a lot of money. Yeah he's not making NFL money, but he's bringing in some high roller cash. A lot of people reply with "Gaming is to easy" and to my reply, play me then. If most of the players I played against can't handle me, then there's a chance you'll never even make it to the venue to compete. Gaming also has coaches with years of experience. Some of these mentors have been in the sport longer than I've been born. Sponsors also regularly sign deals with people to use an exclusive product, which gets the player a lot of money on top of that winning cash stack. Every year multiple leagues have seasons which makes it a continuous sport playing live all year round. I don't understand how someone in a Cyber day and age can honestly say they don't consider gaming a sport.
TO ANSWER THE QUESTION
Gaming to me is my passion. My love for gaming goes beyond what most have for it. It's my hobby, my escape, my sport and my love. I don't honestly know what I would do without it. I've spent years building online friendships as well as spending thousands of hours with neighbors across all Xbox generations. I wake up, go to work, come home and hop on the Xbox. It's just something that come naturally. I don't follow any physical sports teams, but I can throw out Halo Statistics of almost any Top 32 player. I've figuratively travelled the country for this passion as you may just look at the screen and see a normal video game, but I see something that's much more.
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We actually try and keep things in a good balance.
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