A Word About Gamer Maturity

Let's face it when it comes to the movers and shakers of the world, I don't know that gamers are viewed with much respect. Between nut jobs like Jack Thompson and equally inept gamers like this MENSA candidate
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2789073.ece the world of gaming probably strikes outsiders as completely helter skelter. Not only has the 'guy living in the basement' gotten more fiscal clout but he's no longer afraid to be adamant about ssatiating his addiction (Take the case of the boy who decked his own mother while playing Halo 3). I don't propose to tell you all that I'm any smarter, but it seems as though the more mainstream gaming has become the worse the overall community has become.

Part of me wonders what the root cause is. Is it the increasingly competitive nature of gaming? Is it the bragging rights that go along with things like Xbox (All rights reserved, Microsoft Corporation) Live's Achievements? Could it be the simple need for escapism which people are drawn to? As I've gotten older (much older it feels) I've realized that the fun of online gaming often doesn't match up the tangible fun I can have with my more 'analog' hobbies (photography, movies, anime, hiking). Sure a lot of my hobbies eventually cross paths with my digital age components but it's good to just get the heck away from the PC or my consoles and detach.

Part of me worries that as we've become more and more a digital community we're going to find the dregs of society creeping up the interaction ladder. Hopefully I missed that degree of addiction by a hairs breath, but who knows...