The following article is an Editorial by Liam Belcher, his views do not necessarily reflect the views of the Birmingham Salvo or any of it's parent companies.There comes a time in our lives when we all have to grow out of something. I’m sure everyone will remember a period where they were told by their parents or peers to “grow up”. It’s common place throughout life to be told such things, whether it be your girlfriend saying that cartoons are for 5 year olds or your mum and dad trying to get you to stop playing with pokémon cards. The thing that fascinates me is that it’s society that decides such things. Can you think of a time where someone has said “hey, I think you should really stop doing that. After all it’s so childish” and you thought to yourself “no, it’s not childish, and even if society thinks such a thing i’m not going to change my ways cos damn it I LOVE WATCHING BARNEY!”.
So maybe it’s not as extreme as Barney but what do we catagorise as being childish these days? To me, it’s all to do with the people you hang out with. For example; say you’re sitting there with your girlfriend and you suddenly get the urge to play FIFA or "BOOM HEADSHOT" some people on CS, it would probably be a better idea to control your urge and instead opt for wanting to spend time with your girl thus you would not run the risk of losing her for constantly mimicking FPS Doug. Let’s be honest, she may love you to pieces but I’m quite sure she’s not really attracted to seeing you getting excited because you clutched a round. This is in no way a sexist remark as I am fully aware of the female gaming communities that are rather large, it’s just generally speaking girls don’t find guys playing games to be too attractive. If your girlfriend is the exception to the rule, then you’re either the luckiest man alive or “she” is in fact a he. When I look at the CGS teams I ask myself “Why aren’t there more girls in the squad?” and to be honest I think it’s because generally women aren’t as into games professionally as boys. Remember, I didn’t say they’re not into games PERIOD, rather there’s a much smaller margin of females who are trying to compete at the highest level.
In todays society it’s seen as a sign of great laziness to our previous generations to be playing computer games but with professional gaming taking off at a rate of knots over the last 5-6 years it’s something that our folks are still blissfully unaware of. I’m not exactly going to go on campaign across the UK by going to schools and starting a programme called “Gaming Awareness: Important to your child, and important to you!” (although now that I think about it...) but I will state that a lot of parents these days really don’t know how big gaming has become and how big it could be to the people who apply themselves to it correctly. If there’s one thing that bugs me more than anything it’s gamers being told that “gaming is for kids”. Oh really? Then how come these so-called “kids” are able to turn up to an event with a team or by themselves, play games and potentially walk away with thousands in prize money? Ah yes that’s why, because it’s just like any other discipline in life; it takes time to get good at and is never without it’s risks. You don’t exactly see people walking up to a professional dancer and going “hey there, don’t you think it’s a little bit silly to get paid to flail your arms and legs around like that?”. It’s just another example of how much society still has to learn when coming to grips with how different things are these days. On the other hand I will be the first person to put my hand up to my own ignorance. If you said the following words in a sentence; trance, tracksuits and bling, then I would most likely come up with some sort of stereotype and it’s not really fair. Just as it wouldn’t be fair to lump gamers into a category of “childs play”. I personally believe that it’s going to take another 10 years or so for society to adapt to gaming as something more than just a hobby or a thing that kids do to annoy their parents.
Honestly ask yourself this question; are you going to let someone tell you that gaming is not for you because you’re not young enough anymore? My answer to such a thing is that you’re never too old for anything, whether it be finding your inner child and playing on those swings again or telling someone that you’d rather pick up a controller than “get a life and grow up”. It takes a lot to tell yourself that gaming is something big now and something you’re proud to be involved in but take away the age limit in your mind and you can do whatever your heart desires. Live forever young and grow old happy because you’re never too old for gaming...
