As a gamer, what is something that non gamers say/do that gets under your skin?

A friends Facebook post a couple days ago:

"I volunteer at my son's school on Wednesdays and read through each student's written weekend reports. It blows my mind how many of these kids write about nothing except video games. I always feel better about how [wife's name] and I are doing as parents after I leave."

This is a person who usually talks about NOTHING else except sports. I wanted to drive to his house and smack him.
I don't think "What are you doing, shifting responsibility into inanimate pieces of interactive media instead of assuming it yourselves as parents?" will make your friend feel happy, despite it being the truth :P
 
None of this really gets under my skin, I just think it's stupid.

''Games are for kids''
''Mario is for kids''(mostly hear this from casual gamers)
''Games rot your brains''... yeah, I learnt English at a very young age thanks to video games, my English teacher even told me not to attend English class in the last year of high school and only come in when there's an exam.

When the media blames a game for some despicable stupid shit someone did.

When parents buy their 8 year old CoD/GTA and to top it off, they let them play online.
 
My wife literally will not even sit in the same room as me if I'm playing a game on the TV, "too distracting" she'll say. As if it's any different than me having a hockey game or movie or TV show on and sitting there while she's reading her phone. I don't get it.

I've gotten "Oh you are into playing video games? What games do you play?" from people when the topic somehow comes up and I just want to say, "Well, whatever looks interesting to me. Do you watch the same movies over and over?"
 
Is this annoyance at being called a gamer new? I don't recall it being so prevalent but now I see it all the time on GAF. I don't see it any different than calling yourself a reader or a listener (in the case of music or radio or whatever).

Pertaining to the thread, my dad about a year ago (I'm just about 28):

"Don't you think you're a little old for Mario?" You know, because age has anything to do with enjoying a well designed game or any other type of medium.

I'm not sure, though I think certain people hate labels (I do) as they don't want to be represented by some limiting term on a personal level. It's not a religion or a profession (for most).
My wife literally will not even sit in the same room as me if I'm playing a game on the TV, "too distracting" she'll say. As if it's any different than me having a hockey game or movie or TV show on and sitting there while she's reading her phone. I don't get it.

I've gotten "Oh you are into playing video games? What games do you play?" from people when the topic somehow comes up and I just want to say, "Well, whatever looks interesting to me. Do you watch the same movies over and over?"

Wife isn't as bad since she plays Kingdom Hearts, Minecraft, and Bioshock, but she doesn't like me spending more than maybe an hour on a game when she's home.

Don't blame her though since I used to be fairly critical before our marriage of her being on her phone playing candy crush constantly.
 
unfortunately, our society is conditioned to believe that games are for kids, or more recently, "the magical cause for people that commit murder".

As "gamers", i think it is an absolute blessing that we can embrace our hobbies fully despite the stigma that surrounds it. The funny thing is, most ppl that have an issue with me playing games spend most of their time on facebook, watching TV, or non stop drinking (socially accepted hobbies). My response to them is how is that any different to what im doing? You're doing what you enjoy, and so am I.

At the end of the day people need to be more educated and realise that games are not just for children, and are not exclusive for killers. Why can't we live in a world where people respect one anothers hobbies?
 
I've gotten "Oh you are into playing video games? What games do you play?" from people when the topic somehow comes up and I just want to say, "Well, whatever looks interesting to me. Do you watch the same movies over and over?"

That seems to be an attitude problem on your behalf.

Person: "Hey, i am showing slight interest in your hobby"

You: "YOU ARE NOT MY SUPERVISOR!"

Person: "Oh, ok, just pout then."
 
Calling me a "gamer".

This. In college, my roommate brought a friend over and told his friend "Oh, they're gamers"
Then he proceeds to play COD..... . .. .
Like, wtf?


I normally don't have a problem being called a gamer, but to label people as gamers to differentiate themselves to others who do game, like what my roommate did, really gets under my skin.
 
This. In college, my roommate brought a friend over and told his friend "Oh, they're gamers"
Then he proceeds to play COD..... . .. .
Like, wtf?


I normally don't have a problem being called a gamer, but to label people as gamers to differentiate themselves to others who do game, like what my roommate did, really gets under my skin.

I could never see how someone who plays COD, Halo, and EA Sports titles religiously doesn't consider themselves that way.

Then again, I've seen multitudes of people here do the same towards them, so I suppose it balances out in a head shaking fashion.
 
That seems to be an attitude problem on your behalf.

Person: "Hey, i am showing slight interest in your hobby"

You: "YOU ARE NOT MY SUPERVISOR!"

Person: "Oh, ok, just pout then."

That's not my intent, I mean I'll gladly tell them "Oh yeah I'm playing Trials Fusion and OctoDad right now" and get a blank stare, it's just the question is usually so generic and all-encompassing. If it was posed as "Oh yeah? What are you playing lately?" then it just seems more genuine.

That said, I've only had people say this to me like 2 or 3 times in my life, so it's not like it's a common thing.
 
That's not my intent, I mean I'll gladly tell them "Oh yeah I'm playing Trials Fusion and OctoDad right now" and get a blank stare, it's just the question is usually so generic and all-encompassing. If it was posed as "Oh yeah? What are you playing lately?" then it just seems more genuine.

That said, I've only had people say this to me like 2 or 3 times in my life, so it's not like it's a common thing.

I just wanted to make an Archer joke anyway, so it's all good :P
 
"Why do you waste your money on that stuff?"

That pisses me off to no end. It's my money and my hobby, why do you give a shit what I do with it.
 
Hearing someone give false information to someone else used to really bother me but I got over it. Eventually you realize that when you hear anyone else talk about a subject you actually know a lot about, people get stuff wrong all the time, about everything. The only time misinformation bugs me now is when I see it in a review or the news something, for obvious reasons. The Fox News Animal Crossing report from a few years ago was really bad, I seriously believe Nintendo should have demanded an apology or even sued because of that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xAK-X0RA5o

On them "rotting your brain", I grew up with video games but I totally understand why a parent wouldn't want their child playing games until a certain age. Although I would consider that slightly lazy - letting them game in moderation and paying attention to what you buy them seems far more sensible. Probably the most annoying thing is seeing parents buy mature games for their children. Stuff like GTA is just wrong for a kid to be playing, and a lot the parents who buy their kids these games are the same ones who complain about the hyperviolence. You don't give a shit what you buy them until you pay attention to what your child is doing for one second and suddenly you can shift the blame and act horrified, as if the giant red "18" on the front of the cover didn't give you any hints.
 
At lunch a few weeks ago.

Me: "I'm glad I finally get some time to play some games this weekend."
Other person: "Oh do you play like the Call of Duty?"
Me: "Uh, no. I'm going to be playing something else."
Other person: "Oh like what?"
Me: "It's called the Witcher 2 and Wonderful 101..."
Other person: Blank stares...
 
"Who play games for stories anyway?"

Growing up with OoT and Half Life as my first couple of titles, this statement infuriates me. I believe gaming can be the perfect medium for storytelling, simply because the player is put in the protagonist's shoes and gets to immerse himself into the story, not to mention that in last-gen the player's involvement with the story was more promintent than ever in games like Mass Effect or The Witcher. I'd much rather play a game with a great written story than any book or movie TBH. All mediums have their strength, But I think gaming is the one with the most potential.
 
"I wish I had time for video games"

Seriously, its so insulting. There's a final bosman on it. So condescending to my hobby.

I am a gamer and find myself saying I wish I had time for video games. you have to manage your priorities. That said , I have heard non gamers say it in a tone that really gets under my skin so if that's what you mean then yes it is insulting.

As others have said, "video games turn people into killers" is probably the one that bothers me the most. I use video games for anger management all the time. Maybe they should think about how many more killers we would have if video games didn't exist.
Seriously though, if someone is unstable there is not much you can do about it. Just about any medium out there, or really anything in their surroundings could cause them to act on their violent tendencies. From books to their crazy neighbors.
 
Ugh, it pisses me off to no end when non-gamers makes fun of adult gamers. My mother and I stayed at my grandparents' house for a week during the holidays. My grandparents (and my mom, too) would sit in front of the TV for hours watching intellectually stimulating programming such as Maury, The Wendy Williams Show, The Steve Wilkos Show, and the myriad court TV shows that air throughout the day. At some point, the subject of adult gamers comes up (because two of my uncles are men in their 30s who still play games), and they immediately start making fun of them and claiming they're wasting their lives and going on about how pathetic the hobby is (and just for the record, my gamer-uncles are two successful, socially well-adjusted guys). Don't get me wrong, I'm not gonna sit here and say that video games are inherently more valuable and meaningful than the trash TV that they spend hours watching (let's be honest - most are just mindless entertainment), and I hate to be so judgmental towards the way my family members use their free time, but the sheer hypocrisy is just so infuriating.
yo man something I've discovered is that if you call people out on watching that idiot shit they're usually too lazy or too genuinely brainless to field a valid response so next time just do that

I mean seriously you don't get to watch Maury and Steve Wilkos and act like there's a dumber way to pass one's time that doesn't involve lingering at a gas station for an hour buying scratchers
 
At lunch a few weeks ago.

Me: "I'm glad I finally get some time to play some games this weekend."
Other person: "Oh do you play like the Call of Duty?"
Me: "Uh, no. I'm going to be playing something else."
Other person: "Oh like what?"
Me: "It's called the Witcher 2 and Wonderful 101..."
Other person: Blank stares...

Not really seeing the issue. Couldn't you just have said something like, "It's a role-playing game where you play a character in a fantasy setting. Kinda like Skyrim, if you've heard of that?"

They'd probably have some idea what you were talking about.
 
At lunch a few weeks ago.

Me: "I'm glad I finally get some time to play some games this weekend."
Other person: "Oh do you play like the Call of Duty?"
Me: "Uh, no. I'm going to be playing something else."
Other person: "Oh like what?"
Me: "It's called the Witcher 2 and Wonderful 101..."
Other person: Blank stares...
I get that CoD as the go-to "you play games, you must like that" example is off-putting, but if you're upset they didn't recognize any of the stuff you threw out, that's really dumb.

You'd give someone a blank stare if the conversation was about books and they mentioned they're reading Frog Music and Cauldron of Ghosts, and those are current bestsellers, less relatively obscure to the medium at large than your examples.
 
It bugs me when people who do nothing but watch TV for 4 hours every night imply that I'm wasting my life by spending a lesser amount of time playing games.

Isn't it great?

This is rotting your brain:

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This is totally acceptable:

 
I get that CoD as the go-to "you play games, you must like that" example is off-putting, but if you're upset they didn't recognize any of the stuff you threw out, that's really dumb.

You'd give someone a blank stare if the conversation was about books and they mentioned they're reading Frog Music and Cauldron of Ghosts, and those are current bestsellers, less relatively obscure to the medium at large than your examples.

To this person, Call of Duty and Flappy Bird are the only games that exist.
 
Here was the big whopper that I got hit with a lot by my dad when I was growing up, in middle/high school.

"You know if you put even a tenth of the effort you put into videogames into studying, you'd be on the honor roll!"

Thanks Dad. Thanks for that.

I used to get this all the time from both of my parents. Ugh.
 
"I wish I had time for video games"

Seriously, its so insulting. There's a final bosman on it. So condescending to my hobby.

I guess I would agree with this one. I'll then ask them what they did last night and they'll rattle off 6 hours worth of tv shows they watched.
 
My wife says "rotting your brain" all the damn time. To her credit, she's a very intelligent woman, whom I respect very much, but that just makes it more painful.
 
"My friends uncle's dad works for the Grand Theft Auto Makers, he gave me a copy of GTA6!"

People who called themselves Gamers and only play Call of Duty, Madden and Farmville.

"Video Games are a waste of time and energy" (watches TV everyday for houss)
 
Games are for kids

its like saying books are only represented by Harry Potter (and not by Nineteen Eighty-Four for example) and Movies only by Mickey Mouse (and not by Pulp Fiction)
 
Any assumptions that games are for kids, that gaming is a sign of immaturity etc. All the "I have no time for games, therefore I'm more mature/better than you, loser" crap. I heard lots of it and it always pisses me off.
 
To this person, Call of Duty and Flappy Bird are the only games that exist.
Well, throwing out names and then sighing that they don't recognize them and immediately dropping the subject will definitely clear up that misunderstanding for them.
 
Whenever the news talks about a game causing a shooting or something, they say every gamer is trying to get a high score and get points for killing people.
 
"I wish I had time for video games"

Seriously, its so insulting. There's a final bosman on it. So condescending to my hobby.

If I heard this from someone < 25, single, and a student, I would agree.

As someone who is married and has a kid, I legitimately wish I had more time for video games.

Also, yes the term "gamer" aggravates me so much. 20 years ago when it was less prevalent it might make sense to have a name for it, but today it's like asking people "are you a tv-watcher?" or "are you a music-listener?"
 
This one customer at my job learned that I played games and said "Id never take you as someone who finds pushing buttons to be intellectually stimulating."

I didn't even know what to respond to that

Your response is, "Figuratively, you seem to also,"
 
Save your game and let's go, (playing online, lol)

"Violent Video games cause murder, while there are equally or more violent TV shows and movies!"
 
Here was the big whopper that I got hit with a lot by my dad when I was growing up, in middle/high school.

"You know if you put even a tenth of the effort you put into videogames into studying, you'd be on the honor roll!"

Thanks Dad. Thanks for that.

similar&#12288;&#65364;&#65352;&#65353;&#65358;&#65351;&#12288;&#65352;&#65349;&#65362;&#65349;&#12288;&#65345;&#65358;&#65348;&#12288;&#65369;&#65359;&#65365;&#12288;&#65355;&#65358;&#65359;&#65367;&#65292;&#12288;&#65321;&#12288;actually agree with my parents to a degree. I didn't do bad with academics, but I definitely sometimes think back and realise I spent more time trying to beat bosses (repetition) where I probably could've mastered a new maths proof in the same time. But you could sub games with sports and I'd still say the same.
 
lol all too true

another one is "didn't you already play this game?" or "this is the same game" when referring to a sequel.

Even still, what if you wanted to replay a classic? :P

"The Vita is better then the 3DS because it's for adults"

I even argued to him multiple times that the 3DS library (and sales) were beating the Vita. I know game taste can be subjective but how do you not play a game because it's not for "adults"? What does that even mean? Like Obviously there are the kiddy tv/movie tie-ins and learning games, but how can you write off stuff like fire emblem, SMT4, Resident Evil, etc. as kiddy? Whatever lol.
 
I once had a conversation with someone who, after finding out that I play video games, went on and on about how they play Farmville all the time. Maybe it's "elitest" of me, but it was a "shoot me now" moment.
 
yo man something I've discovered is that if you call people out on watching that idiot shit they're usually too lazy or too genuinely brainless to field a valid response so next time just do that

I mean seriously you don't get to watch Maury and Steve Wilkos and act like there's a dumber way to pass one's time that doesn't involve lingering at a gas station for an hour buying scratchers

I neglected to mention this in my post, but I actually did call them out that time. Unfortunately, the responses were still pretty disheartening. My mother completely refused to acknowledge my point and claimed that I was just bitter and wanted to attack other peoples' hobbies (OH, THE IRONY). My grandmother condescendingly stated that watching people "communicate and share ideas" was superior to watching people punch and kick each other for hours while the words "FINISH HIM" are yelled in the background (yep, in her mind, old-school Mortal Kombat is representative of the entire video game industry). Needless to say, I gave up arguing pretty quickly. I'm not a quick enough thinker to dispel that kind of ignorance over the course of one conversation.
 
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