Social Status of Gamers

Over the years, video games have gotten a bad reputation. Many believe that some games have gotten to violent and addicting. There are styreotypes that people who regularly play video games are “not cool” or “losers.” Heather Mcintyre, an Accounting major at Frostburg State University believes that it depends on the person’s age whether or not he or she falls into these catagories. She stated, “if your out of college, like over thirty, yeah, I think you’re a dork.”

The “dorky” aspect often comes from the expectation that regularly playing video games forces a person to have less social interaction than most people. David Rands, a Professor of History at Frostburg, says that you are “not neccessarly “not cool” or a “loser” but it leads to a lack of social skills.” He attributes this to the interaction with a computer not a real person; therefore, players are lacking social interaction. However, many would controdict this statement. Louis Mozzano, a junior International Business major at Frostburg from Middletown, Maryland, commented that “video games are now social networks because of the online gameplay.” He says that although it is not face to face, there is still that interaction.

Opinions of video game players will always be different. A person’s perspective on players and video games will determine the impression they have on a player’s social status’.