So I just got back from a free screening of The King of Kong. Let me just say, the movie is slathered with awesome sauce. If I were to say anything bad about it, it would be the fact that Steve Wiebe's home Donkey Kong machine is in a Donkey Kong Jr. cabinet. What can I say, shit like that bugs me. So, if I loved the movie, then why does it really grind my gears? Well, it doesn't... it's the people watching it who do.
As you may or may not have guessed from my having an account on Destructoid and being one of the Community regulars, I'm a gamer. Gaming is my lifelong hobby, and it's an important part of my life. I take the art of gaming very seriously (note to my friend Gio: I still want that SSBM rematch). The people sitting behind me, and in front of me - basically everyone sitting near me except for my friend Elliott who I went to the movie with - went into the movie under the impression that gaming was a silly, juvenile activity and that grown men should not be playing games. Every time the movie showed how seriously people take gaming, they laughed their asses off. At the point in the movie when Steve Wiebe is crying because of how Twin Galaxies had treated him, the man sitting 2 seats to my right laughed. One of the most emotional points in the movie, that portrays the true passion that Steve Wiebe has, and some guy with a bag of popcorn thought it was hilarious.
The worst part about it all was, after the movie ended, one of the people sitting behind me said, "Who would think to make a movie about this?" Hearing that fucking crushed me. If that woman is reading this (which she isn't), I'd like to answer her question. The answer is simple: Anybody who has the capability to identify passion. Gamers, like Steve Wiebe, or basically anybody reading this, are passionate about gaming. It's people like that woman who see people cosplaying and think "those people are freaks." When I see people who cosplay, I think: "Those people have passion." I'm sorry that some people can't recognize that.
Work is for people who don't know how to play video games
Oh, and Steve Wiebe, if you're reading this... you're a cool dude, and I will gladly buy you a bucket of fried chicken shall the chance arrive
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I agree that though the movie was awesome, it did set the tone for gamers to be seen as losers, especially in the beginning before Wiebe is introduced. And the fact that they focused so much on how Wiebe used to be "normal", playing sports and what not, but then fell on hard times and started playing video games as a crutch...that could have been better.
Still, I loved the movie and by the end, it's message is clear. We all want to be recognized and accepted, we all want to do something great, and the meaning of achievement is in the eye of the beholder.
Glad you liked the movie.
Coulda taken me and we would have went on a date.
But yeah, "normal" people really dislike video games. I think they all lost when they were kids but. Everyone has their forte.