Here’s the great thing about gamers:

On a certain level, we all understand each other.

How else do you explain this awesome little thing we call Destructoid? A website where we can talk about everything from Mario to gay marriage. A place where in one blog we can discuss our extreme differences in our political views, but then in the next blog talk about how sweet Ikaruga is. A sanctuary where the sometimes extreme writing styles of the Destructoid editors would never fly in mainstream media, but all of us gamers totally get it and actually love it.

There’s something special about the gaming community that no other community centered around a hobby that I’ve seen has:

Despite coming from a variety of backgrounds and having a range of political and social views, we still all seem to understand each other.

That’s a unique trait.

I mean, how sweet is it that one moment we’re debating a sensitive subject and the next we’re nerd raging over the new Team Fortress 2 update? One minute we think some guy is an idiot and the next we’re playing Battlefield 1943 with him?

That’s the beauty of gaming.

There’s a lot of crap that goes on in this world. This world is crazy. Sometimes it’s good to discuss some of the crazy crap that goes on all around us and then see where each other stands on different issues. But hell…isn’t it nice to sometimes forget all of that crazy crap and then get lost in whatever gaming world you and your buddy of opposing views are playing?

Maybe that’s what gaming is? – Social Escapism

There are other forms of escapism – reading, music, exercising – but none, to me at least, is as social of a form of escapism as gaming is. Social escapism seems to be an oxymoron, but I think it fits perfectly for the hobby we love so much.

That’s why I love gaming.