From my own personal experience and from what I hear, read, observe around me 'Gaming' as in 'Videogaming' is not perceived as a respectable hobby. It is perceived as a childish and useless activity, regardless of the fact that it can be just as entertaining - of not more so - as reading a book or watching a movie or play.
Of course 'Videogaming' has turned into a multi-faceted industry with hardcore/grinding MMORPGs on one end of the spectrum and the casual DSLite/DSi/Flash Web games on the other. This very fact makes it even harder to 'simply be perceived as a respectable hobby'. I must conclude that the video game industry still has a long way to go before it is as respectable as let's say the movie, film or other entertainment industry.
Perhaps the 'throw away'-aspects of it let it down. Video-games are often released for a specific category of machines/platforms that are closed and proprietary formats are key. There's no universal compatible format which gamers can use to play on 'their gaming device'. Some efforts have been made by the industry to make it so - look back the the MSX Standard, the jabs Microsoft has at creating a PC gaming platform - but somehow these do not catch on and we are left with a multitude of formats, region lock-outs and what have you.
Oh I wish gaming would be perceived as a respectable hobby, but alas we still have a long way to go. Perhaps sites like this one, where people write about their hobby in a different way - not just 'this game rocks!' - can change the way gaming is perceived. And perhaps the industry can improve the durability of their games by introducing 100% software based backwards compatibility and even perhaps some degree of cross platform compatibility so that the 'video game format' becomes just as accessible to all as would a Videotape, Pocketbook, CD or DVD.
From my own personal experience and from what I hear, read, observe around me 'Gaming' as in 'Videogaming' is not perceived as a respectable hobby. It is perceived as a childish and useless activity, regardless of the fact that it can be just as entertaining - of not more so - as reading a book or watching a movie or play.
Of course 'Videogaming' has turned into a multi-faceted industry with hardcore/grinding MMORPGs on one end of the spectrum and the casual DSLite/DSi/Flash Web games on the other. This very fact makes it even harder to 'simply be perceived as a respectable hobby'. I must conclude that the video game industry still has a long way to go before it is as respectable as let's say the movie, film or other entertainment industry.
Perhaps the 'throw away'-aspects of it let it down. Video-games are often released for a specific category of machines/platforms that are closed and proprietary formats are key. There's no universal compatible format which gamers can use to play on 'their gaming device'. Some efforts have been made by the industry to make it so - look back the the MSX Standard, the jabs Microsoft has at creating a PC gaming platform - but somehow these do not catch on and we are left with a multitude of formats, region lock-outs and what have you.
Oh I wish gaming would be perceived as a respectable hobby, but alas we still have a long way to go. Perhaps sites like this one, where people write about their hobby in a different way - not just 'this game rocks!' - can change the way gaming is perceived. And perhaps the industry can improve the durability of their games by introducing 100% software based backwards compatibility and even perhaps some degree of cross platform compatibility so that the 'video game format' becomes just as accessible to all as would a Videotape, Pocketbook, CD or DVD.
My two cents!
PS3: MarkVergeer | Xbox 360: Lactobacillus P | Wii: 8151 3435 8469 3138
Armchair arcade Editor | Pixellator | www.markvergeer.nl
Armchair Arcade Editor