Gaming now mainstream? The numbers aren't everything

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has a report out on US gaming demographics. According to the report, "53% of American adults age 18 and older play video games," that "97% of teens play video games," and even "23% of respondents 65 years old and older report playing games."

At first pass, that would appear to make gaming comparatively mainstream, and indeed it confirms the results of many other studies. A lot of us play games, and in many demographics, most of us are gamers in recent years, even though only 9% of those gamers report playing MMOGs and just 2% for assorted virtual worlds.

Unfortunately, sheer numerical superiority doesn't make gaming (or anything else) necessarily mainstream. Mainstreamness (if that's even a word) isn't purely a function of numbers.

There are multiple overlapping or conflicting definitions for the term 'mainstream' in actual use. Some of us think that when a numerical majority participate in an activity, or subscribe to a particular school of thought, that it is then mainstream.

Others hold that overwhelming superiority in numbers forms the basic criteria.

Another viewpoint is that something that is mainstream has broad appeal across multiple demographic groups of age, gender and means.

However, patently mainstream phenomena such as (for example) Mattel's Barbie, clearly doesn't fit any of these. It's a niche market, appealing primarily to young girls in certain age groups.

Yet gaming appeals to both genders, a wide variety of age-groups and a near-numerical majority.

So, why is Barbie mainstream and gaming not mainstream, when the latter has a much larger group of adherents?

Because we think of gaming as deviant. Odd. Unusual. Whether you love or loathe the Barbie brand, she's just accepted and hardly anyone gives it a second thought. When your daughter plays with a Barbie doll she isn't embarrassed by it at all, and nobody thinks that it is peculiar.

Gaming, on the other hand, is not so well perceived (especially among adults). Partly the stigma is something we create ourselves. It's something that we're frequently embarrassed to admit to and our own lack of openness about it breeds stigma and misunderstanding. Our very reticence leads others to think that there is something, somehow wrong with it. We'd often rather say we vegged out in front of the television than admit to spending our time on a coordinated raid with friends.

Even if 90% of us were gamers, gaming still wouldn't make the mainstream cut until we could stop being shy about it. Gaming is involvement, entertainment and a hobby that can be enjoyed alone or with others. It's not masturbation, and we should stop acting like it occupies the same social plateau.