Author's Note:This is a direct response to subrosian's article, Playing Video Games Makes You Cool, and I highly recommend you read it, lest you miss my point entirely.

I find subrosian's points are valid, albeit a little ahead of the times.

I agree that gaming as an industry and as a culture is growing and evolving, becoming a much more prominent component of everyday life; that particular games can offer insight into subcultures - geographic, musical, etc.; that as more people choose to try video games and choose to *continue playing* them, more people will understand them as a valid form of entertainment and - to an extent – education and art.

However, I believe he has grossly overestimate the national and/or global presence of video games. I understand that, each year, more games are bought, a higher level of quality is reached in development, and the general public's understanding of the industry increases. I in no way disbelieve that video games are becoming more mainstream. Yet, I think we can both agree that the general conception of video games is still distorted.

He/she states in the article, that "[gaming] has come a long way from the days of reading Nintendo power in your parent's basement," and that "the tweens, the teens, the twenties, the thirties, and now even the baby-boomers are targeted audiences for the gaming craze," and I agree. The problem is, while the types of games being produced and played and the ages of people playing them have changed, the image of video games as a children's toy has not.

Games and movies are made for people of all ages. The difference, is that while adults feel totally normal going to see a movie, they feel childish and immature trying out a video game. Whereas movies have been accepted as a genuine form of expression with different genres and ratings – ranging from g-rated Disney cartoons to x-rated adult films – games are still believed to be children's toys. In Australia games like Manhunt, Mark Ecko's Getting Up, even Carmageddon, are banned because a rating for ages 17+ doesn't exist. In the US, politicians harangue the industry and the ESRB regularly because the people who elect them, the general population, doesn't understand video games or the fact that some include mature themes. The three major console manufacturers - Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony– refuse to allow AO rated games on their consoles because they're afraid it would hurt their image.

Until video games become accepted as a valid form of adult expression, until, "video games are part of our culture, being ignorant of them - like Jack Thompson, most of the US congress… [is] behind the times," they will never be as mainstream as, say, movies. They're moving in the right direction and when they finally are, yes, playing them *will* make you cool8).

-Hayes