Gaming is no longer what you think it is…

Gaming. There are many stigmas associated with this past-time. For instance, if you game, you’re a “no-life who lives in their mother’s basement,” or you’re a “nerd, incapable of proper social interaction.”

However, what if I told you that gaming is just as cool as going to the movies, that it is more than a credible art form, and that people who game are more than capable of properly communicating?

The emotions that gaming can illicit from people, the unique storytelling aspects that cannot be experienced anywhere else- gaming is more than just a nerdy past-time; for some it is a lifestyle.

Gaming attracts people from all over the world, and all walks of life. People get paid for gaming, it packs arenas (esports), and allows people to have an escape.

However, not all is sunshine and rainbows with gaming. Gaming gives way to unpleasant human communication, can be very addictive, and provides another digital platform for people to be socially irresponsible.

Dr. Michael Humphrey, Assistant Professor in Journalism and Media Communication at Colorado State University, concentrates in digital storytelling and audience engagement.

At Forbes.com, he was one of the first journalists to cover YouTube celebrities as entrepreneurs and entertainment distributors.

He has many published works in which he discusses his research and findings about persona in digital life, stories and narratives across social media platforms, studies in communications & culture, and much more.

In a recent interview with Dr. Humphrey, he dispelled many gaming stigmas and also discussed the positive and negative connections with gaming.

“In cinema, you’re expected to sit back and watch the story unfold in a particular direction,” Dr. Humphrey said. “In games, you get to decide how to impact the narrative.”

Games are just as artistic and impactful as movies and Dr. Humphrey does not agree with those who think that gaming is for “losers.”

“People who watch movies- no one thinks they are a complete loser,” Dr. Humphrey said. “ They [movies] are considered an art form, so why can’t games be an art form?

“They have the best composers-the budgets they have for these games are larger than most movies- they have great storytellers, directors, producers, actors, and many other components that make up a movie.”

Dr. Humphrey also argues that games are a unique entertainment platform and should be appreciated for how interactive they are.

“Games have these coders that make up the interactivity and there is no other art form that involves the audience as much as a game does,” Dr. Humphrey said.

“The emotional investment in games can sometimes be much higher [than in movies] which is why your palms will sweat even when you are doing something that literally has no chance of harming you at all,” Dr. Humphrey said.

Many understand the alluring qualities that gaming provides; however, it is understandable as to why some think that gaming is for “losers.”

This thought that gaming is a “loser” hobby perhaps derives from gaming’s innate nature of addictive qualities that bring people back for more.

The World Health Organization recently announced that they officially voted to include “gaming disorder” as a behavioral addiction in May of 2019.

“Gaming is addictive,” Dr. Humphrey said. “Adrenaline, endorphins, and dopamine are created in the brain from gaming. People can fall down that rabbit hole. It’s not any different from beer or marijuana or anything else that causes this kind of chemical reaction in your brain.”

Gaming has many addictive properties, but many debate whether or not gaming causes immersion within one’s brain, or if Transportation theory has anything to do with the ability to be lost in a game’s story.

“Either way, you are out of the world in which you are living and in a world which has been fabricated,” Dr. Humphrey said.

Dr. Humphrey believes that Flow theory is a possible contribution to gaming addiction and he describes it as, “When something is hard enough to push you, but not so hard that it’s impossible, you can enter a state of flow. It creates a brain effect where you lose track of time and have complete concentration.”

Online gaming allows for many players to connect and creates a digital social atmosphere. It is a platform for digital communication- just like any digital communication platform it has various, negative social dynamics.

Perhaps the biggest social communication issue that is shared amongst all digital communication platforms, not just gaming, is the problem of anonymity.

People will say unsavory things when their identity is concealed.

Dr. Humphrey believes that the internet “trolls” are only prevalent because of their anonymity and that their sentiment changes when they are outed.

“When a troll is exposed, a lot of the times they are just like, ‘I was just doing this for laughs, I didn’t mean any of the things I was saying,’” Humphrey said.

Many gamers and digital communicators agree that if the people communicating were face-to-face, they would not be saying anything near as close to the hurtful things they are casting out toward each other.

“If we were face-to-face, we would notice all of the cues of what our words are doing to each other,” Humphrey said.

People will say things they normally would not when their identity is a mystery. The behind-screen interaction also distances people from each other’s feelings, and to a certain extent, allows people to not pick up on emotional cues.

It comes down to an individual’s disposition. That can either make or break the atmosphere of any community; not just the digital and gaming communities.

Not all social interaction is negative and much of the communication revolves around teamwork, camaraderie, and laughter.

It is easy to lose sight of the unique and engaging art form that gaming has come to be through the stigmas, negative social interactions, and realizations of its addictive qualities.

However, to fully appreciate gaming from an outsider’s perspective, one must dispel the stigmas around gaming, and appreciate it as an art form.

“I still think we’re all juveniles when it comes to learning to be a digital citizen,” Humphrey said. “Being a poor character online is just like being a poor character offline- it’s just going to take time for more people to realize that.

“The more we actually see beings, you’re gonna have to start thinking like a citizen.”

The positives of gaming greatly outweigh the negatives. Its emergence from fun, nerdy past-time to engaging, cool and entertaining art form is starting to be realized by many who had not considered it as such before.

If you’re one who considers gaming a thing for “losers,” think again. Consider how it is a multi-billion dollar industry annually and consider the artistic qualities that can draw people in. Consider the emotions one can feel while playing a game, and how you can interact with other people while gaming.

Consider that- gaming is no longer what you think.