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The New York Times goes to BlizzCon
It's rare to see the mainstream media cover anything related to World of Warcraft with a generally approving tone, but no less prestigious an outlet than The New York Times reported on this year's BlizzCon quite favorably indeed. Seth Schiesel, in covering the convention, bypasses the media's usual narrative and notes that the big draw of an event like BlizzCon isn't what you'd expect. It's not the StarCraft 2 tournament with the big purse, the company's annual announcements, or even the closing concert. It's simply the chance to meet and enjoy your fellow gamers, whether you're a developer or a player. I think Schiesel nails it here: ... the most powerful and important games are the persistent online dimensions like World of Warcraft and Eve Online. That is because they're not really about the games; they are about the relationships players form within them. I'm surprised but gratified to see a reporter in a major media outlet who really gets it. Of note is also a comment by Rob Pardo (Blizzard's executive vice president for game design), who observes that Blizzard could easily fill larger venues than the Anaheim Convention Center (my suggestion: rent Wyoming) but prefers to keep the con local for the benefit of Blizzard employees who want to come. I think it's safe to say that gamers are still working toward mainstream acceptance (possibly because people often don't consider things like Angry Birds and Farmville to be "true" gaming), and it's really nice not to see the usual caricature of the angry, antisocial nerd rearing its head.
The Daily Grind: We don't all live in our parents' basements. Really.
"Moooooooom! Hot Pockets!" Let's face it. We gamers, as a group, like to make fun of ourselves; to blunt things with humor. In our cases, it helps to soften the blow when our respective famililies ask if we've gotten real jobs yet or if we're still writing about video games. But no matter where you go or what most do for a living, we do it time and time again. While we like to laugh with the best of them, sometimes the stereotypes are just too stupid to be believed; especially when the sensationalist news media gets a hold of gaming in combination with the raving nutter of the day. In that spirit, our question this morning is this -- has gamer stereotyping ever bitten you before? Do you just dismiss the ignorant people, or do you try to educate your non-gamer friends and acquaintances? (On the flip side, are you one of the lucky few who has pretty well purely geek circles and never have to deal with it?) Do you think the media goes too far in attempting to portray gamers as something they're not -- or it it just a matter of time before the Jack Thompsons of the world get smacked with the reality-hammer and gamers get a fair break?
