Why are people who game so damn hard to make conversation with? Today at my school some guys were going to town on Super Smash Bro Melee, thinking it to be a perfect opportunity to go ahead and make some decent conversation about modding systems or perhaps gaming in general, I instead got empty stares and awkwardness that made me feel rather stupid for even attempting to stir something. This hasn't been the only occurrence of the matter either. I mean honestly, is there something about gaming that says for a person to leave me alone or that you aren't to have any people skills or personality. To those guys playing in the student center tonight, I say save the games, systems, and introversion for home and start learning how to interact with the world around you. Sorry if my rant seems over the top here but I am just frustrated that this always seems to happen to me when I encounter people from the gaming community. I want to be apart of this what seems like wonderful community that everyone talks about but it's seems so isolated and closed off from the real world. I'm not trying to put anyone down here either so if you are this way I don't mean to offend you in anyway. Maybe it's just me but has anyone else ever felt this way or experienced this?

Awkwardly stares at post....

That sucks man. Maybe since you brought up modding and they had no idea about modding that was the reason?
I have sort of a similar problem, it seems as if every gamer I meet has no idea how to use the internet so they have no clue about video games that are out or are coming out. If it isn't advertised on TV or someone they know doesn't have a game it may as well not exist.

we all have our places to talk.

And as much as we are passionate about games, many others dont care about that, or give me strange faces.

But thankfully thats what racketboy is for. Here we can talk about just about anything game related. With no real problems.

I'll bet you that some of the people you talked to did know about your topic, but in an effort to "look cool amonst your peers", they kept their mouth shut.

They dont want to be labeled. Or they are a closet________(insert hobby here)

But dont worry it is possible to find people with your interests in real life. At my job theres lots of coworkers my age that are also into classic gaming.

Its kinda sad, but its not too much to worry about.

Some people who game aren't actually what you would call "gamers." They may play games, even old classic ones, but it's just not their main hobby.

TBH, if you started talking to me about modding I wouldn't have much to say either. Except for defeating region-locking, I have no use for modding.

Yah, maybe that question made me come off too strongly or something.

It is true that interaction has diminished at the personal level, there are so many distractions of games, cell phones and forum sites. In the situation you described it seems they just wanted to play the games and were not interested in modding or analyzing a game. Maybe the world is closer because of the Internet, but at the same time we are more isolated individuals?

Throw your ideas here, I'm curious about the modding you are writing about!

I think that your issue was walking in thinking "Oh, I'll talk about modding and my hobbies!" You need to enter every conversation blind. If you walk in with a pre-determined path in mind and just start dumping the things you want to say, you'll freak people out and they'll react pretty much like they did. When you approach someone new, you should start off by letting their interests guide the conversation, rather than your own. Contrast saying "Hey, I thought I was the only one who liked Gamecube anymore!" (playing off their interests) with "Excuse me, but have any of you guys attempted to mod a NTSC-U Gamecube to play imports?" (I have no idea what you said, but that's bound to elicit some blank stares.)

@ Sabrage, I think you right about this one. It was probably my reasoning behind my wanting to converse with these guys. I'll try to be more casual about it next time and see what comes out from it.

It so much easier to lurk on the internet than in real life. When you lurk irl, people just think you're strange.

Maybe this is a good example of why I don't socialize in real life.