by Ashley Shankle

Created on: January 24, 2009   Last Updated: May 22, 2010

It seems the older you get, the more raised eyebrows you get from people along with "What, you still play those?"Video games started off as a cool new form of entertainment for everyone, hower, they have become  somewhat taboo for adults to openly admit they enjoy. That is not to say the industry itself has shrunk, quite the opposite. More people play video games today than ever before.

The younger generations are growing up with at least one console in their household as a staple of entertainment. Seemingly, kids are born with controllers in their hands and new levels on their brain. However, once they hit 18 it's suddenly not all right for them to enjoy indulging in video gaming.

I got my first console, the original Nintendo, in 1989. Since then I have grown into what some would consider a "hardcore gamer." I love and  live to game. Besides a few others who share my interests, there are others who just don't seem to understand why I do it.

They question "Why would you waste your time like that?" gets thrown at me pretty often. My response is always the same: "Why would you waste your time staring at the TV?" The two are not even comparible to me, but many somehow see them as interchangeable. It's ridiculous, when I'm asked why would I be playing a video game instead of watching TV" to me my time is not worth wasting by watching something for hours on end.

Video games are interactive forms of entertainment. You control the characters, you move the story, and for the duration you play you are one with the game. For me, that is more entertaining than staring at a screen with absolutely no interactivety besides changing the channel or raising the volume.

As a woman, it is especially difficult to form any sort of friendships with many other women because some see me as some sort of sub-human, never an adult. While they are picking out their outfits and putting on their makeup, I am pushing towards my next in-game goal. And in the other spectrum, most men see talking to me as talking to just another guy. It would be an understatement to say that gaming has had an adverse effect on my social life.

Despite being looked on as a giant child, I am happy with myself and with my gaming lifestyle. I am sure twenty or thirty years down the line I will be doing the same things I'm doing now, althought I might be significantly closer to being blind from playing late at night without the lights on.

Video games have been there through the good and the bad in my life as a comfort and a sort-of-but-not-really friend. I have met many other kids-adults (kidults) on my journeys, and most of them are great people. A number of them are accomplished people. So my real question is: Why does playing video games into adulthood mean you are childish if you are living life the way you want to? That is something I'll never understand.

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