Grow up, Child-Men: Editorial Blasts Adult Gamers
by Andrew Podolsky on February 1, 2008 at 8:16 pm
It’s a commonly known fact that gamers are getting older, and just about every week another new M-rated game hits the store shelves for those with plenty of disposable income, free time, and a love of sex and violence. So why does Dallas Morning News editorial contributor Kay Hymowitz feel the need to bash this growing demographic?
Lumping together entertainment geared towards males 30 years old and younger, like Maxim, Xbox 360, and Judd Apatow films, Ms. Hymowitz dredges up the worst stereotypes about adult gamers as immature, irresponsible, and ridiculous. Longing for a time when the average 26-year-old male was married with a factory job, Hymowitz has nothing but disdain for today’s tech-savvy consumers of electronic media and popular culture.
Granted, there is a media message out there that says: Don’t grow up. Don’t take responsibility. Enjoy these sophomoric pursuits, instead of attaining a loftier goal. This message can be found everywhere from Comedy Central to the Superbowl. But the marketers and advertisers that rely on that critical male demographic will never stop selling youth and freedom to adults. That message is far too compelling for the marketers to ignore.
Ultimately, the choice of when to adopt personal responsibility can only be made by the individual. Perhaps Ms. Hymowitz would like to see more cultural programming, like Leave it to Beaver or Father Knows Best, which indoctrinated their audience into accepting a fantasy family life. Perhaps games like Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3, with their jingoistic, pro-war messages, are more damaging in other ways besides encouraging emotional stagnation.
Many of us are privileged enough to have the luxury of electronic gaming available to us. We shouldn’t feel guilty about this, however, because cultural pursuits like watching a movie or reading a book (although Hymowitz insists that us young males don’t like to read) are just as evanescent.
These fleeting pursuits of culture are richly rewarding, and speak to our shared humanity. She would never ask adults to put down their books, films, and music, because they threaten the perceived values of family and hard work… or would she? As an argument against excessive advertising, I would agree with aspects of Hymowitz’s editorial. However, for speaking completely in terms of stereotypes and straw men, Hymowitz’s article is a screed against our open-market culture in a free society.
Source: Dallas Morning News
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9 Comments » |
on February 2, 2008 3:07 am
I’m a 27-year-old man with a wife and kids, but I spend most of my free time playing videogames. Have I earned the right to do that since I “grew up” already and got married, or am I still a man-child just for the simple fact that I play videogames?
Is her problem with the videogames themselves or that men of my age still play them? And what about women? Are they allowed to play videogames?
My thoughts are that this bitch probably got in a fight with her boyfriend over World of Warcraft, and he chose the game over her.
on February 2, 2008 5:31 am
Dan, you’re a man-child for different reasons entirely.
on February 2, 2008 5:35 am
Hey! I thought we agreed we wouldn’t talk about my uh-oh place.
on February 2, 2008 5:56 am
If it makes you feel any better, I’m like a man-infant.
on February 2, 2008 6:03 am
Aww, don’t be so hard on yourself, Dylan. You’ve gotta be at least at toddler level.
on February 2, 2008 9:03 am
I just read the entire article, I want the last 10 mins of my life back now. That woman just seems to lump every single guy on the planet into one!
on February 3, 2008 10:35 am
Good article Andrew. I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Seems like there will always be people who look down on gamers as being ‘immature.’ Pssh. whatever.
Anyway, I’m gonna go look at some boobies for a while then maybe kill a few hundred people over the internet.
on February 4, 2008 8:32 am
I’ve never heard so much nonsense in all my life. I’ve been playing video games since the ZX Spectrum; I’m now 38 years old and still love video game play.
I have a wife, children, mortgage and hold down a very good job, I would call myself responsible and during my free time I still love to sit down and PLAY GAMES!! still just a kid at heart but maybe I should grow up and start watch Eastender instead……… NOOOOOOOO!!!!
on February 4, 2008 8:42 am
Hmm, a few points I think. For a start, good article, you managed to keep my head from exploding in a way that the BBC (if they reported on this) most definitely wouldn’t, probably cos they have the same middle (wannabe upper) class feminist bitches working for them.
Tried to read the start of it and some annoying popup ad appears, appealing to me to watch some show or other with a dancing Asian woman that “May contain nudity”! Hypocrisy rears it’s ugly head early on.
So, we want to be like the 60’s (I think she means 50’s) man do we? She missed out the part about the alcohol problem and regular beating of said wife! But of course those things didn’t happen cos women didn’t have the freedom to mouth off in those days did they? (sic).
As for myself, it’s all too late, I’m 37 and spend most of my spare time playing games, when I’m not at my steady job that is, or reading (books AND comics, she wouldn’t like that would she?). Never got married so of course I’m an outcast of society for not generating more consumers. I know a lot of people who got married in their 20’s and guess what? Most are now divorced! I just cut out the middle man (the lawyer?) and ended up where a lot of others are.
So basically, I’m happy with my life. Got a good job (not in a factory), my own house, spare money to waste on games and basically live how I like. But that’s just me. Of course young men are in a bit of limbo. You expect them to just change overnight with some inexplicable feminine style mood swing? People don’t want to grow up cos they see people like Hymen-whatever as an example of adulthood!
As Jello Biafra said “I’d rather stay a child, and keep my self respect, if being an adult, means being like YOU!”