Monday, December 10, 2012

Video Game Fandom

Post #7

We've talked a little bit about video game fandom in class and on the blog. For example, we looked at video game character Halloween costumes, and fan art. There have also been examples of video game fan websites, videos, and even video game food on the blog. Fans of video games have expos and special events. Fans may dress up, and wait in line for premiers. My question is, do you think video game fandom, or video game fans in general act in similar ways within society as fans of television, music and movies? Are video game fans thought of in the same way as other media fans, or are they looked down upon more than fans of television, for example? If so, why are they treated differently? What do you think?

3 comments:

  1. The book I read for the essay made a really good point about video game fans. Rather than being spectators as people are for movies, music, or sports, they're immersed into the culture. Fans of gaming are always gamers, whereas fans of singers just have to have an appreciation for their talent, not necessarily be a singer themselves. The gamer community maintains itself, so the people putting on these gaming events usually aren't much different than the people attending.

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  2. If you think about it yes. There are geeky fans for movies and television shows. For example, there are a lot of Star Wars geeks out there (I'm one of them). Also in terms of television there are always Star Trek fans.

    In fact, most of these fans are probably gamer fans as well. If you like the term "synergy" I guess that makes sense since media tends to converge. Star Wars is not only a movie, but a brand consisting of video games, clothing, cookbooks, etc.

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  3. #3 I think video game fans are simply more enthusiastic, maybe because they feel their niche is underrated. Movies have had a huge fan base for a long time, and even more so for books. But in reality, anybody enthusiastic enough about anything will be willing to publicly declare their allegiance to what they love.

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