Overcoming The Stigma Of Gaming

The Age has an interesting interview with one Jeffrey Brand, a professor of new media:

Dr Brand says the change is occurring amid old fears, myths and stereotypes from some members of the community, but results from the study, including the rapidly increasing numbers of adult and female players, suggest that lingering negative stereotypes will not last.

"There is an emerging realisation that computer games contribute to literacy and numeracy, social skills, interest and drive for arts, sport and competition, logic, planning and self-control," says Dr Brand.

-- It's academic [The Age Blogs: Screen Play]

It's an interesting interview. Game advocates have said for some time that much of the anti-gaming hysteria (*cough* BatJack *cough*) isn't unlike what other forms of media - from television to comics - have faced in the past in a fight for legitimacy. Most Cathode readers will be familiar, actually, with his words - that media perception isn't entirely in line with the reality (as in numbers of adult gamers, behavior of younger gamers, etc). Still, it's a positive message that slowly things could be getting better.


tagged: game, gaming