First of all, let me say that i am absolutely amazed at the response yesterday and today to my post wanting friend codes for “Animal Crossing: City Folk”. I got a lot of comments (still getting them) and loads of emails (and posts on the Y! Answers Board). Anyone who knows me knows that I am a hardcore gamer, and that’s one of the main reasons that I haven’t made the switch from a PC to a Mac; PC’s just do great when it comes to gaming, and Mac’s just don’t cut it (and yes, I know there are Xboxes and Wii’s, but I love sitting down to a good first person shooter, and a mouse is the way to go).
What I’ve seen in the last few days is something that I’ve noticed, but that people in the mainstream media are just starting to figure out. Gamers are changing. We aren’t the closet dwelling, acne-infested nerds that society used to think we are. In the early 90s, if you mentioned a person who was good at video games, it was almost always followed by a snide or demeaning comment (never amount to anything, lazy, doesn’t contribute to society, won’t get a girlfriend; the list goes on). Well, gamers grew up. We got jobs and cars and houses and wives and had kids. And those people who said we wouldn’t amount to anything, well… some of them won’t ever learn, but others did.
Gamers have taken their hobbies out of the closet and into the mainstream. Games like Guitar Hero, Halo, and Gears of War have brought gamers out of their closets and into the living rooms with other gamers. Games like Little Big Planet, Spore, and Animal Crossing have brought gamers living rooms even further and connected them. We all crave this social interaction, and games are letting us get that in more ways than ever.
Don’t get me wrong, we still do other stuff. We still exercise, work, party, go hiking, skiing, and hang out with our families. We have kids (sometimes more than one). Will our kids play video games? Absolutely. And we will be there playing with them. Where in the 90s families gathered around the TV to watch their favorite shows, now we gather to play video games. And we know which games our kids should and shouldn’t watch. Or play.
Gaming has finally advanced to that social level that other (dare I say?) sports have risen to. We get together to watch others play, even if we don’t play ourselves. We enjoy it. We actually look foward to it. There’s no tournaments yet… well, not in the US. Korea and Japan have leagues and everything. They taking gaming to a whole new level, and it’s accepted.
But wen’re not there yet. We will be, I think, and games can only get better and better as we do.
So don’t critcize the gamer… we’re just like you. In fact, we are you. We just enjoy games 
(last non-design post – but it’s social media / marketing related, so I guess it counts, right?)
Hey, I has a comment!
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by: Robin Smith
I prefer Mac than PC too. I found it good not only for editing movies but also for games. Noticed that the new version of Window 7 (Beta) looks similar to Mac OS. I guess, they are following Mac style.