Nerds? What nerds? (The Face of Gamers)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	The Face of Gamers
Date:	03/07/01 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun

Disadvantages: Costs money, Time wasted?

When I first got into computers, it was for purely educational reasons (or so I told my Dad at the time) and I wouldn’t be playing games on it. Obviously, two hours after unwrapping my state-of-the-art Commodore VIC20, I was happily playing games, and not, as my father would have liked, learning stuff. This was 1983, at a time when home computers like the Sinclair ZX81, Sinclair Spectrum and Commodore VIC20 were bringing computing to the masses and I was only 12 years old. In fact, my dad was dead set against me playing games. I have no idea why this is, because this was years before any of that rubbish from America about games turning kids into homicidal maniacs, recluses or obese, fast food guzzling dimwits.

Obviously, I learnt a bit about programming (although the Microsoft BASIC that came with Commodore machines was atrocious, and certainly not as good as BBC Basic that came with the Acorn machines) and set about creating simple little programs. Then, like most of my friends, I eventually forgot about the learning bit and went straight into gaming.

I upgraded my computer a few years later to a Commodore 64, and around this time companies like Mastertronic were selling games at £1.99 from outlets such as filling stations and corner shops. As you may expect, some of these were really poor, but there was the odd gem hidden in the catalogue – you simply had to rely on a computer magazine (which, if I remember correctly were basically games review magazines in those days) like Zzap!64 or Crash!.

This is my first point – in those days, games were programmed, and marketed at young people (early/mid teens). The games, while fairly simple (due to both the computing power available, and the target market of young people) were fun. They were the people who were using these new fangled home computers, and with some games costing £1.99 (and at most about £15), even the pricing was aimed at young people.

For these young pe
ople, computer games have always been a viable pastime. The older generation who had never known computers were obviously wary of their little Johnnies or Jennifers (although it was largely a male thing) spending hours in front of the telly guiding brightly coloured things around, and not spending time with their friends in the park.

Now, jump forward fifteen, or twenty years to today. Who are the gamers? Well, looking at the clientele of my local Game store here in Belfast, the people seem to be largely male, and around my age. This is not really surprising, as these are the people who have been gaming since the first home computers came out. They enjoyed themselves in those days, and while their taste in games has probably changed, their enjoyment of gaming is still there. Of course, there are younger gamers, and older ones too, but the main market these days is still the same people who were playing Manic Miner and Chuckie Egg 20 years ago.

Now look at the games that are being offered today. With the computing power being so much more powerful that it was 20 years ago (I’m not even going to try and guess how much more powerful!) the games, by and large, are more complicated. But, a lot of them seem to be aimed at the slightly older person (I’m including myself in this category). Take a look at the pricing structure of games now – a new release is priced at around £30 or more (RRP, not online prices), which is beyond most young peoples finances, unless some serious saving has gone on. Games like Half-Life, Deus Ex, Gangsters or Carmageddon are all aimed specifically at adults with adult content contained within. Playstation games are expensive too, and I think (and I’m guessing as I don’t actually own a PS2) that they’re around £40 a go, with budget versions available at £20.

It’s not just the games, either. The Playstation 2 went on sale, through pre-order at £299, which is not cheap. Kids had t
o either save up for it, or hope that Santa had enough common sense to get them one for Christmas. A decent PC these days will start at around £700, and the associated peripherals like top of the range graphics card, or a decent sound card will set you back a fair amount of money (£300 or £70).

So, is there a stereotypical gamer? You know the one – spotty, glasses (with tape, naturally) who has no friends and spends hours per day playing “Death Monster 5”. Well, in my mind, the answer is “No”. I think that there’s a game out there that everyone would like, and the main reasons that more people aren’t interested in gaming is because they think there’s a certain stigma attached to it, or they simply haven’t found one they enjoy yet. An ex-girlfriend of mine wasn’t really interested in computer games until I introduced her to Civilisation 2 and Creatures. My sister is not really a games fan, but once she gets started on that shareware version of Tetris on her computer, there’s no shifting her. Her boyfriend owns a compilation of EA Sports games, which he indulges in from time to time. It’s more socially acceptable these days to play computer games, although I do still see some resistance at how many hours some people put into playing these games. My dad has even indulged in some football management games, although he wouldn’t be interested in Counterstrike, or even FIFA as it’s simply too fast for him to comprehend.

Another point worth considering is that as PC’s and consoles have become easier to use, more people can confidently sit and use them to their hearts contcnt. The idea that you need to be some sort of nerd to use a computer is long gone, and with lots of uses of computers these days, people are more willing to try games, just for a laugh, or to kill 5 minutes while waiting for something to print out.

With the advent of Internet gaming, as well
as the number of PC’s or consoles in each house and with the scale of the whole thing, it’s only a matter of time before the idea that computer gaming is somehow “bad” is forgotten. Then the number of gamers will rise dramatically and there will definitely be no stereotype!

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