Hello my fellow gamers. Being one of the "nerdcore" (as I like to call us) in highschool is pretty bloody hard, especially when you're trying to fit into a new school as a 16 year old "intellectual".

Now, it's not that I don't like being a gamer, I just don't enjoy connecting it with my life (Synonym: School). \

Take this for example:

Teacher: "Um, what are you listening to?"
Me: "Oh it's just a podcast."
Teacher: "Oh really, I listen to them too!"
Me: "Oh, right, that's er... cool."
Teacher: "What's it called, may I listen to it for a second?"
Me (as she takes the earplug and inserts it into our ear): "Uh wait a second!"
Jim Sterling: "I aplogise for misrepresenting you, you're a right fucking cunt!"
Teacher (mouth agape, eyes wide): "That is quite possibly the most crude, juvenille 5 seconds I've ever wasted me time listening to."
Me: "That's why I like it."

And you can probably guess the rest.

This conversation works perfectly as a metaphor for my situation, people don't understand why I and many others love videogames. It's not that we love sitting in a sweaty chair, crisps (chips) on our chests, whilst sucking every pixel into our corneas as we stare at a screen. The reason I like videogames, is because they let me escape the boredom of day to day life. I'm not defending my classrooms for terrorists on Mondays, or leading massive historic armies on Tuesdays, or trying to scrape a living in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland on Thursdays. Videogames make life a little less real, and for me that's a good thing.

I spend most of my waking hours either worrying about schoolwork, or doing it, the rest of my time is spent doing Judo (2 hours at least 3 times a week) and playing videogames.
Sounds sad? Admittedly, it is, but to be honest, I couldn't care less.
Does it affect my social experiences? If I'm stupid enough to bring it up.
Why the hell am I writing this? Because this is a place where I can put all of the crap that I don't want to talk about with anyone else.

And that brings me to the conclusion of this post, which is game related, so you don't get to flame me.

Games and "mainstream" social lives cannot mix. That is the truth for the majority of gamers. I don't go to parties, most people don't get my jokes, and I still haven't had a girlfriend (although that's a different story all together). Of course, I could rationalize these problems with common sense, such as "I don't like alcohol" or "Americans don't understand my sense of humor". But instead, I'm going to blame videogames for influencing my actions, because to an extent, they do. If I didn't play videogames I'd probably be out drinking on Fridays with friends, instead of playing Left 4 Dead with random buggers. And if I hadn't discovered hilarious videogame podcasts such as "The Podcastle", "Podtoid", and some machinima, my sense of humor would make a lot more sense to the average person. And perhaps I'd have a job, and my driver's license, and the patience to get to know a girl before asking her out. (I'll get into that some other time.)

So when you try to balance gaming with a socially accepted life, please remember my new slogan.

G.R.O.P.E

Game Responsibly Or Pretend with Expertise.

Good luck.