On the maturty of "Video Games", Culture, Industry, and... "babes"?

The fact is, there's a double standard in gaming journalism that really frustrates me: there's constant editorial materials suggesting that "we"--loosely defined, would like to be taken more seriously as an art form. The comparison made is usually television, movies, music and various forms of literature. In those very same venues you'll see pieces... See More touting the hilarity of harassment, the amusing aspects of chauvinism and enough referential and inside humor to make the average person gag when they so much as glance at a "video games" magazine or blog. I"m not saying this is fair or unfair--problematic, just sad and indicative of lack of progress and complacency. Want to be taken seriously by the critics of old? Want your girlfriend to become involved with games? Well then why the hell do we relish in the rubbish that consists of the majority of the coverage. Why do we put up with what most consider objectification of women? (I'm not here to debate that), or the dismissing of violence (video games are, yes, often needlessly violent with little to no narrative!). So until the demand for intelligent games and the subsequent and transitive journalism arrives, "gaming" culture will remain under the veil of being "low-brow". It's frustrating as hell, it undermines a lot of hard working people, and it's about time we moved on.

In reality, I'm beginning to sincerely doubt (hell, I've all but moved on from) the idea that video game culture will ever be seen as artistic, high brow or even serious at all. When things to finally snap into place--much like "motion pictures" and television before it, we'll call it something else and the audience will be entirely different. The diversification elements are already beginning to take hold: more often than not those that own Wiis do not relate to, or even know much about game development or that some people consider 360 and PS3 competitors. This is because common, everyday people think "video games"--as defined by it's journalists, are in the same place it was three decades ago in terms of dignity as an art form--and I'm inclined to agree.

Sure, games have moved on, developers too. We've appreciated games with more and more engrossing and well-told narratives, explored controversial issues, seen beautiful pictures and listened to epic scores, but video games are still largely poorly re-told stories with hopefully an above average interactive component to save the day. In my opinion, exceptions are, and have, occurred--but there's a reason for every groupthink public mentality. So we're a niche, then, let's recognize that and start argument from a realistic viewpoint. Not only is gaming journalism and it's participants a tiny, tiny cultural niche--we're in constant disagreement and often fall back on unintelligent and easy solutions to debates which we could very well participate and succeed in. So in this journalism student's opinion, yes, booth babes diminish and degrade the industry and art form (read: NOT the women, it's a lucrative job and these sorts of employment opportunities are great, and are in many cases empowering, etc). But Video Games are important to me, I'll shamelessly say that, and many will not, and there's a reason why people are publicly ostracized in public for it when saying your a movie buff is met with fist bumps and shoulder pats. I'm not on some mission to save the day--I know things won't change all at once.

But these are important issues to me, and I'm not apologetic about that. interactive entertainment is markedly important to me, I was raised with it's stories, and it's communities have taught me so, so much. So it's not some moral crusade. Like quite a few of you I'm offended--not because I find booth babes morally capricious and tainted or unfair to women, but because I'm tired of having to be a closet gamer. I'm tired of unintelligent games, unintelligent gaming press, unintelligent and face level argument and most of all--I'm tired of seeing brilliance turned into dust over nothing because of simple perceptions, poorly thought out behavior and perhaps most importantly lack of forethought. I'm now 21 and look at "gaming" and see a child, whereas I've grown into a man. That's a problem.