Gamers Living In "The Dark Ages"

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You know, we gamers are starting to pine for the good ol' days when we were only geeks. Now, we're entirely responsible for breaking up the nuclear family and the recent phenomenon where men don't wish to grow up and accept the responsibilities of adulthood. And even worse, we're being accused of these atrocities by individuals who know as much about the subject as I know about gardening.

In a recent editorial at the TimesOnline, UK professor Kate Muir relates the story of how she overhears "two intelligent, thirtysomething suited guys talking about their new Xbox 360s and what transcendent joy was to be had from them." Then, she found out the two men were "childless," which apparently prompted a flood of thought from Ms. Muir, all of which fueled by archaic stereotypes that have no place in 2008. She was "worried" when she learned of the statistics, and went on to say that she "assumed that, after adolescence, young men would put away childish things" and you know, move on and have babies. She then says it's "worse than grown men building Hornby 00-gauge train sets in their attics, or constructing battles with painted toy soldiers." My favorite part of the whole piece is as follows-

"Who knew that the generation who first became addicted to Pac-Man and Super Mario would turn out to be boys who never grew up? Man-teens sitting before their kiddy consoles like huge manatees. But the games addiction is only a symptom of the extended childhood of the 21st-century hominid. Marriage, families and children are being delayed for as long as possible, replaced by conspiratorial flatmates and microwaved gastropub ready meals."

Now look what we went and did. We've destroyed the family and stopped women from - evidently - fulfilling their lifelong dreams of having children. We did. The gamers. It's all our fault. Because, after all, those "kiddy" consoles have always been, and will just continue to be, for kids. ...you'll have to excuse me, but my eyes are rolling so very far up into my head, and I may be risking an aneurysm if I continue.

2/6/2008 Ben Dutka

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