Gaming - Should it become more mainstream?

You hear about games all over the place. The news bitches about games, G4 talks about games, there are numerous podcasts devoted to gaming. Although we still have people who call every game system a Nintendo, I think it’s a fair assumption to say games are pretty mainstream. Anyone who doesn’t live under a rock has played one and even knows a little bit about them.

Games appeal to everyone today. The old people play Wii Fit or Wii Sports, the kids play Pokemon and Zelda, while the mature audience and older players play Metal Gear Solid, Halo, God of War, and Final Fantasy. With everyone playing games, its no wonder that everyone knows about them. But is this a good thing?

Lets look at the Cons. Part of the reason games are special to many people (including myself) is because it’s an underground thing (or at least, it was). Like anime and comic books, games only appeal to certain people, and those people are all drawn together and create a community, almost like special little club. However, with gaming appealing to a broader range of people, it becomes mainstream, and you start to see the little ‘clubs’ dissolve. This isn’t all bad; on one hand you’re able to ask just about anyone what games they play, but on the other hand, you feel a sort of connection when talking to other gamers within that special ‘club’.

I compare mainstream gaming to TV. Everyone watches shows on TV, so anyone can walk up to practically anybody and ask what they watched last night in a normal conversation. Watching TV is regarded as average and typical to us, not special in any way. I guess my fear with mainstream gaming is just that all those niches and ‘clubs’ will disappear.

Now lets look at the Pros. Like I mentioned before, once something becomes mainstream anyone can talk about it with others. There aren’t any exclusive clubs only for people in the know, it because a norm, almost like a standard of living. Stereotypes will faze out like they have in the past. As gaming becomes more accepted, people stop poking fun at it and the people who game.
So as you can see, gaming becoming mainstream is a good and bad thing. It all depends on how you what games to be viewed.

-Solid Snake-