[S-99]

How do you explain that one does not need to be a violent person to like Duke Nukem 3D?

There are reasons people like Jack Thomson exist, and one of them is that these things cannot be adequately explained to an outsider. And when someone you care about suddenly shows up and wants to know, and you try your best to explain but know deep down that everything you say is going way over their heads, that's not really comfortable. If makes you feel bad, and makes them feel old, stupid, and perhaps a bit worried if they managed to catch you with Doom 3 running. I now make it a point to never be playing a video game whenever anyone from the more senior generations happen to stop by.

This part angers me. My own mother catches me playing alien versus predator back 2000 and thought that the game was such an evil incarnation of the devil that she wanted to pass it through a fire to cleanse it. She's christian, and personally i think she over reacted to it, and thought a little to highly of herself at the same time. As much as she yelled at me i played that game for 2 months, and had it another three. I only got to beating the alien profile. I just didn't find the game very entertaining from day one. Then when i was going to get rid of the game, i told my mom i was going to sell it to my friend, and she over reacted like i predicted, and i said well i hardly used it my friend wants to buy it from me, i'm not going to give it to you to burn. So i made her buy it off of me, i mean ****, she's not going to burn my stuff for free of that of which i was going to sell. After playing the game my mom feared for me Of course my dad didn't care, he watched play unreal tournament in 2000 at max volume shouting obscenities at the computer as i was kicking ass. He knew that the game was deathmatch, he knew i wouldn't go psycho either.
Just some people these days.
And yes i make it a point to play games doom3 and fear, and so on around older generations of people. Hell my grandpa doesn't care, he just doesn't know how my hands work with the control schemes.

[jr2]

I almost died laughing,

In all fairness, you were in second grade. That's like seven years old. I'm surprised you knew that at that age, and understood the steps.

Eh?  It's right on the instructions that come with most CDs.  Completely foolproof... err, well, not completely...

[Sarafan]

Me too. A...15 years old girl told me "You still play with your videogames? You're too old "

About MGS...I had some discussions about the themes of the game. Sometimes it goes beyond the reality, but there are some...real or possible things in that series you can talk about.

 

[CP5670]

I can't recall anyone questioning my gaming habits in the last several years. As Mustang said, gaming is a fairly common pastime these days anyway. My dad (who is not into games at all) occasionally asks what game I'm playing when he sees me doing so, but that is about as far as it goes. People think I am weird because I'm a mathematician, not because I'm a gamer.

[Wobble73]

I think people think I'm weird because I play "PC" games and not console (although I do play those as well). They just don't like playing with a keyboard and mouse (for FPS's which is far easier than using a gamepad for such games). I'm trying to interest a friend into the wonders of FreeSpace Open. I have my desktop computer and my laptop networked so we could have a small LAN game, but he's just not interested in it, he's more of a console gamer and his favourite game is GTA San Andreas 

[karajorma]

I think people think I'm weird because I lay "PC" games

Laying PC games is weird. I suggest seeing a psychiatrist.

[Wobble73]

I think people think I'm weird because I lay "PC" games

Laying PC games is weird. I suggest seeing a psychiatrist.

Whooops, fixed! 

Freud would have a lot to say about that, I mean I love my games, but that's a bit much! 

[Colonol Dekker]

PC Gamings cool now, i blame/thank i-pods.

Without those, people with no PC inclination wouldn't have got literate.

[Flaser]

I remember when I was in second grade, two people I knew had borrowed each other's games, and one of them said  "Dude, how do I install this? That thing doesn't come up when I put the CD in." So I interjected "click on the icon "my computer", then click on your CD drive, then look for a file named SETUP." Then he shouted at me "How am I supposed to remember that? I'm not a computer geek like you!"



I almost died laughing,

In all fairness, you were in second grade. That's like seven years old. I'm surprised you knew that at that age, and understood the steps.

At that age I was loading programs into the memory of my Commodore 64 from the command prompt. (Then again, I'm something of an old 'geezer' as I still tend to play 'OLD' stuff.)

The thing that really disturbs me actually is not that 'old people' don't get it, but the fact that CP gamers are treated like 'products' to be sold, used and later discarded like a dirty whore.
....I mean I grew up with this stuff. Some of it is silly, some of it is brutish, but underneath it all, there was soul.

[Colonol Dekker]

Elite 2, one of my most faveourite games needs a revamp, I don't want any "go play X3 answers" part of its appeal was its simplistic nature.

[Unknown Target]

On the whole topic of playing PC games vs. consoles, you know how many arguments I've gotten into with console gamers about the merits of a gamepad vs. a mouse/keyboard combo, and they refuse to believe that the mouse is better (even though it obviously is). To prove my point, I need only mention how one console gamer came up to me while I was playing STALKER with the standard dot crosshair for the PC, and he mentioned how tiny that was compared to what he's used to (playing Halo 2 with that massive circle).

[Roanoke]

I can't recall anyone questioning my gaming habits in the last several years. As Mustang said, gaming is a fairly common pastime these days anyway. My dad (who is not into games at all) occasionally asks what game I'm playing when he sees me doing so, but that is about as far as it goes. People think I am weird because I'm a mathematician, not because I'm a gamer.

what does a mathematician actually do to earn a living (seriously) ?

not being funny, I'm just curious what work a mathematician would do. 

[S-99]

I think people think I'm weird because I lay "PC" games

That's one small hole to fit through on the middle of the cd or dvd. Something says my wenie's stuck in a bottle by wierd al yancovich, but in a much more painful way.

[Dark RevenantX]

You should use the CD's at our place.  They are roughly 1¢ per CD and will never shatter.  I can smash it with a large hammer on the edge when it's standing up, and it will just bend!

[Mars]

For me, it is when they say that gamers "do not socialize". I mean, really. What are we doing on this forum right here and now? I'd call this socializing. And most if not all of us have real-world lives alongside the time we spend on games and the internet.

"You're a gamer? And here I thought you had a life..." and comments of that nature. 

When did gamers get a reputation for being people who lock themselves in a room all day and not speak to anyone? I've not heard of even one person who does that (although, at the same time, I don't doubt that there is some nut out there who does), and that seems to be in the non-gamer's mental image of us...

I hate people's reaction when they find out I game on a regular basis... people who have known me for years will act completely shocked... it's like I have to come out of a closet for being a geek or something.

[CP5670]

what does a mathematician actually do to earn a living (seriously) ?

not being funny, I'm just curious what work a mathematician would do. 

It depends on whether you're in pure or applied math, roughly speaking. There is actually no clear distinction between the two but they have somewhat different tracks in most Ph.D. programs these days. Almost everyone in pure math is a university professor who does a combination of teaching and research (publishing papers), although the latter is basically what they are hired and promoted for. Applied mathematicians have more options available with government organizations (both research institutes and military agencies), various types of engineering firms (particularly aerospace/defense contractors) and more recently also investment banks and hedge funds. The work in these places generally centers around developing numerical simulations to model some situation in real life, like the aerodynamics of a particular plane or the behavior of some bond market, and doing research related to these things.

[Ghostavo]

For one I hate certain gamers who play just FPS's and sport's game and act all high and mighty when I tell them I play mainly RTS's and RPG's.

But (un)fortunatly people think I'm weird not because I'm a gamer, but because I'm a chess player.

[Flipside]

Its like me, I'm terrible at stuff like FPS games online etc, and usually get bored with them pretty quick on single player, but strategy or city-builders can keep me going for hours. It's a pity very few companies seem to be prepared to put as much effort into a city-builder as they'd put into an FPS. About the only game lately I've found that's even able to give a hint of what more 'modern' city builders could do is City Life Deluxe.

[Roanoke]

Its like me, I'm terrible at stuff like FPS games online etc, and usually get bored with them pretty quick on single player, but strategy or city-builders can keep me going for hours. It's a pity very few companies seem to be prepared to put as much effort into a city-builder as they'd put into an FPS. About the only game lately I've found that's even able to give a hint of what more 'modern' city builders could do is City Life Deluxe.

I still play Civ2 on occasion. I find it kinda relaxing. Plus I get to nuke the French.

[jr2]

I still play Civ2 on occasion. I find it kinda relaxing. Plus I get to nuke the French.

...FTW!