Top 3 Most Annoying Things Every Gamer Is Tired of Hearing
The video games industry has come a long way since the arcades and early consoles of the 1970s. It is now the 3rd largest business sector in the US, generating more than $74 billion per year worldwide, and attracting millions of people from around the world.
Even though gaming has been prevalent in our culture for decades, there are some who refuse to let go of their outdated ideas (I’m pointing my finger at you, Hollywood). And even if people are somewhat familiar with gaming, that won’t stop them from making the most irritating statements or asking the dumbest questions possible. Like these ones!
1. Are you fat, ugly and weird?
Why, yes I am, thank you for noticing. But that has nothing to do with playing video games.
TV shows like to depict gamers as these weird looking, socially awkward outcasts, who are either overweight or too scrawny. They don't depict hackers in a more favorable manner either. The thing is that TV shows, movies, and Hollywood in general has a warped view of things.
Hollywood just doesn't get technology. Not only does it believe computers have super powers, which is annoying for anyone with half a brain, it literally fails to understand the most basic things about technology. Like the fact that two people can’t use the same keyboard at the same time.
If you were to believe everything that Hollywood tells you, you would think that everyone who plays video games is a weirdo – and a guy. Hollywood believes that playing video games is an exclusively male activity. Girls are too busy having pillow fights while dressed in skimpy outfits to have time for games, right?
Gaming isn’t for awkward teenage boys anymore. The average gamer is 30 years old according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and women are now the largest video game-playing demographic, according to Think with Google.
Have you heard about Shirley Curry? She is a 79 year old grandmother from Virginia who loves to play Skyrim and has her own YouTube channel where she posts 'lets play' videos.
2. You’re going to ruin your eyesight!
Sure, and you binge-watching Netflix all night long is great for your eyes.
Growing up, you probably heard your mom saying that if you watch too much TV, you’re going to ruin your eyesight. And now that you’re older, you believe that staring at a screen or monitor for a prolonged period of time is bad for your eyesight. Turns out that your mom was wrong and so are you.
According to a study conducted by Canada’s McMaster University, playing video games actually improves your eyesight. The researchers took a group of people with lifetime cataract disorders and asked them to play Medal of Honor for a month. When the month was over, they found that 83% of the subjects displayed a marked increase in their visual abilities.
Video games tend to get a lot of hate, getting unfairly blamed for a lot of things. You might be familiar with the old saying that violent video games will desensitize you and make you violent, right? That simply isn’t true. Over the years, numerous studies have debunked this myth. And a 2014 study from the University of Buffalo showed that behaving badly in video games has the exact opposite effect you might expect. The study found that gamers who were forced to behave badly in video games showed increased feelings of guilt and an increased sensitivity towards positive moral concepts.
Playing video games can have a lot of beneficial effects: increased multitasking capabilities and rapid decision-making, helping you deal with trauma or depression, and even slowing the aging process.
3. Why don’t you pre-order the game?
Because it’s better to wait. Let me explain some things to you.
Back in the day when you purchased a physical copy of the game, it made sense to pre-order it. It was similar to making a reservation for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner at a fancy restaurant. It meant that you could get your hands on the game on the very day it was released to the public.
Nowadays, when we get our games from digital online platforms such as Steam, it makes no sense to pre-order. If Batman: Arkham Knight for PC taught us anything, it’s that you might end up pre-ordering something that doesn’t work. And, as Star Wars Battlefront taught us, you might pre-order something that is so disappointing you don’t want to play it.
There are a couple more reasons why you would want to wait:
To get you to pre-order, game developers and publishers will lure you with all sorts of bonuses. Sometimes, these pre-order bonuses are downright cringe worthy.
More annoying statements and questions
There are, of course, plenty of other annoying things gamers are tired of hearing. Such as...
The game’s release date has been pushed back for [enter amount of time].
Sure, the developer might be right to delay the game. It may need more time to polish the game or it may need more time to fix various bugs. This doesn’t make it any less annoying though.
The game will require an internet connection, you can’t play offline.
What if I have a bad internet connection? Or worse still, what if your servers can’t handle the load and I won’t be able to play the game I paid for? Have you learned nothing from the SimCity fiasco?
We already have multiple DLCs planned, go get your Season Pass.
You haven’t even released the game but you already have multiple DLCs planned? This wouldn’t be a scheme to try and squeeze as much money as possible from your customers, would it?
You have too many games.
And you have too many opinions.
Don’t you have anything better to do?
I came home from work a couple of hours ago, had dinner, washed the dishes, walked the dog, and now I’m going to unwind by playing a game. Don’t you have something better to do than ask me stupid questions?
And let me stop if right here if the next question out of your month is going to be “aren’t you bored of playing that game?” No, I am not.
Even though gaming has been prevalent in our culture for decades, there are some who refuse to let go of their outdated ideas (I’m pointing my finger at you, Hollywood). And even if people are somewhat familiar with gaming, that won’t stop them from making the most irritating statements or asking the dumbest questions possible. Like these ones!
1. Are you fat, ugly and weird?
Why, yes I am, thank you for noticing. But that has nothing to do with playing video games.
TV shows like to depict gamers as these weird looking, socially awkward outcasts, who are either overweight or too scrawny. They don't depict hackers in a more favorable manner either. The thing is that TV shows, movies, and Hollywood in general has a warped view of things.
Hollywood just doesn't get technology. Not only does it believe computers have super powers, which is annoying for anyone with half a brain, it literally fails to understand the most basic things about technology. Like the fact that two people can’t use the same keyboard at the same time.
If you were to believe everything that Hollywood tells you, you would think that everyone who plays video games is a weirdo – and a guy. Hollywood believes that playing video games is an exclusively male activity. Girls are too busy having pillow fights while dressed in skimpy outfits to have time for games, right?
Gaming isn’t for awkward teenage boys anymore. The average gamer is 30 years old according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and women are now the largest video game-playing demographic, according to Think with Google.
Have you heard about Shirley Curry? She is a 79 year old grandmother from Virginia who loves to play Skyrim and has her own YouTube channel where she posts 'lets play' videos.
2. You’re going to ruin your eyesight!
Sure, and you binge-watching Netflix all night long is great for your eyes.
Growing up, you probably heard your mom saying that if you watch too much TV, you’re going to ruin your eyesight. And now that you’re older, you believe that staring at a screen or monitor for a prolonged period of time is bad for your eyesight. Turns out that your mom was wrong and so are you.
According to a study conducted by Canada’s McMaster University, playing video games actually improves your eyesight. The researchers took a group of people with lifetime cataract disorders and asked them to play Medal of Honor for a month. When the month was over, they found that 83% of the subjects displayed a marked increase in their visual abilities.
Video games tend to get a lot of hate, getting unfairly blamed for a lot of things. You might be familiar with the old saying that violent video games will desensitize you and make you violent, right? That simply isn’t true. Over the years, numerous studies have debunked this myth. And a 2014 study from the University of Buffalo showed that behaving badly in video games has the exact opposite effect you might expect. The study found that gamers who were forced to behave badly in video games showed increased feelings of guilt and an increased sensitivity towards positive moral concepts.
Playing video games can have a lot of beneficial effects: increased multitasking capabilities and rapid decision-making, helping you deal with trauma or depression, and even slowing the aging process.
3. Why don’t you pre-order the game?
Because it’s better to wait. Let me explain some things to you.
Back in the day when you purchased a physical copy of the game, it made sense to pre-order it. It was similar to making a reservation for a romantic Valentine's Day dinner at a fancy restaurant. It meant that you could get your hands on the game on the very day it was released to the public.
Nowadays, when we get our games from digital online platforms such as Steam, it makes no sense to pre-order. If Batman: Arkham Knight for PC taught us anything, it’s that you might end up pre-ordering something that doesn’t work. And, as Star Wars Battlefront taught us, you might pre-order something that is so disappointing you don’t want to play it.
There are a couple more reasons why you would want to wait:
- Bugs – the developer will have time to issue updates and patches that fix various bugs and other problems.
- Sales – wait until the game goes on sale and get it for a significant discount.
To get you to pre-order, game developers and publishers will lure you with all sorts of bonuses. Sometimes, these pre-order bonuses are downright cringe worthy.
More annoying statements and questions
There are, of course, plenty of other annoying things gamers are tired of hearing. Such as...
The game’s release date has been pushed back for [enter amount of time].
Sure, the developer might be right to delay the game. It may need more time to polish the game or it may need more time to fix various bugs. This doesn’t make it any less annoying though.
The game will require an internet connection, you can’t play offline.
What if I have a bad internet connection? Or worse still, what if your servers can’t handle the load and I won’t be able to play the game I paid for? Have you learned nothing from the SimCity fiasco?
We already have multiple DLCs planned, go get your Season Pass.
You haven’t even released the game but you already have multiple DLCs planned? This wouldn’t be a scheme to try and squeeze as much money as possible from your customers, would it?
You have too many games.
And you have too many opinions.
Don’t you have anything better to do?
I came home from work a couple of hours ago, had dinner, washed the dishes, walked the dog, and now I’m going to unwind by playing a game. Don’t you have something better to do than ask me stupid questions?
And let me stop if right here if the next question out of your month is going to be “aren’t you bored of playing that game?” No, I am not.
