‘Gaymer’ Survey

Jason Rockwood, a recent graduate and non-gamer (his last video game played was Duck Hunt for the NES), has created a rather odd survey. It seems like the survey is comparing two completely different things. Its main idea is to see how relationships (specifically homosexual ones) and gaming tie in together.

“People had talked about being gay and being a gamer, but nobody had asked them to unify those two elements and people were excited about that,” Rockwood said in an interview with In Newsweekly, New England’s largest homosexual-oriented newspaper’s website. It seems to me that you could replace gay with apples and gamer with oranges.

Rockwood felt that creating a 91-question survey would best fulfill his desire for knowledge on the subject. What exactly is he try to prove, though?

“First we need to prove that homosexual gamers even exist. Yeah it sounds ridiculous, but that’s where you have to start on something like this. This survey is an attempt to quantify the existence of an invisible minority,” says Rockwood. It seems as if he is trying to uncover a group of people that really shouldn’t be of concern.

It shouldn’t matter if gay people play video games. Straight people, black people, men, women, and all different kinds of social groups play them. Why waist energy singling out a specific one?

Rockwood explains, “Gay gamers experience a double edged sword of prejudice. The mainstream gay culture and media is not supportive of video games. Then you have the video game culture that is not supportive of gay culture. So you have these people stuck in the middle who have this double edged prejudice. I’m hoping this survey would shed some light on how or why people go through such a process.”

His facts seem to have their faults. Stereotyping the gay community and the video game community of not supporting one another is a ridiculous claim. It is like saying all white people are rich or that all black people are good at rapping. It simply isn’t the case.

Surveys like these contribute to the ‘high school effect.’ As a worldwide community, our continual labeling of social groups just makes society more like a high school. Remember the criminals, princesses, athletes, basket cases, and nerds during those painful years of public education? Well, in the real world we have gays, men, women, blacks, whites, Asians, and more.

Although social status can never be abolished, tacking on ‘gay gamers’ to the list doesn’t help.

Via In Newsweekly

Jason Rockwood, a recent graduate and non-gamer (his last video game played was Duck Hunt for the NES), has created a rather odd survey. It seems like the survey is comparing two completely different things. Its main idea is to see how relationships (specifically homosexual ones) and gaming tie in together.

“People had talked about being gay and being a gamer, but nobody had asked them to unify those two elements and people were excited about that,” Rockwood said in an interview with In Newsweekly, New England’s largest homosexual-oriented newspaper’s website. It seems to me that you could replace gay with apples and gamer with oranges.

Rockwood felt that creating a 91-question survey would best fulfill his desire for knowledge on the subject. What exactly is he try to prove, though?

“First we need to prove that homosexual gamers even exist. Yeah it sounds ridiculous, but that’s where you have to start on something like this. This survey is an attempt to quantify the existence of an invisible minority,” says Rockwood. It seems as if he is trying to uncover a group of people that really shouldn’t be of concern.

It shouldn’t matter if gay people play video games. Straight people, black people, men, women, and all different kinds of social groups play them. Why waist energy singling out a specific one?

Rockwood explains, “Gay gamers experience a double edged sword of prejudice. The mainstream gay culture and media is not supportive of video games. Then you have the video game culture that is not supportive of gay culture. So you have these people stuck in the middle who have this double edged prejudice. I’m hoping this survey would shed some light on how or why people go through such a process.”

His facts seem to have their faults. Stereotyping the gay community and the video game community of not supporting one another is a ridiculous claim. It is like saying all white people are rich or that all black people are good at rapping. It simply isn’t the case.

Surveys like these contribute to the ‘high school effect.’ As a worldwide community, our continual labeling of social groups just makes society more like a high school. Remember the criminals, princesses, athletes, basket cases, and nerds during those painful years of public education? Well, in the real world we have gays, men, women, blacks, whites, Asians, and more.

Although social status can never be abolished, tacking on ‘gay gamers’ to the list doesn’t help.

Via In Newsweekly