Lunch with a non-gamer

Had a very interesting lunch today.  It was with someone I rarely eat with because he rarely works in the office.  We don't know each other very well, but we are in the same department, and much of our department is on vacay, so I invited him to grab a bite.

I don't exactly recall how it came up that I am a gamer, but, once it did, he was full of questions about things that I obviously take for granted.  He said he quit gaming around the age of 15 (22 years ago) and has not kept up with it at all.  He had heard of the PS3, but didn't realize there were two "kinds of XBOX."  He had no idea about the Wii, but was pretty sure he'd heard of a gamecube.  He definitely knew gameboy because he had bought games for it for his nephew before.

We discussed PC games as well, and I had to explain terms like "persistent world", MMORPG, avatar and Friend's Lists.  he was astonished to learn that people make money by selling in-game items, power leveling other players, and buying and selling virtual real estate in games like Second Life.

He asked how expensive it was to "keep up," and I said it depended on how much you were addicted, what you could afford, and what you most enjoyed.  He was absolutely floored that anyone would play a game on a $3000 TV, since "those games burn images into the screen, don't they?"  He understood product placement right away from movies, but was astonished to hear that games were often buggy.  His quote was,"Wait a minute, you mean you pay for the game, you have to see advertising IN the game, you sometimes pay a monthly fee just to PLAY the game, and it still might be buggy?"  He was surprised to hear how wide-spread cheating was and how competitive gaming was and he had never heard of there being a pro circuit for gaming.

But, perhaps the biggest surprise for him was hearing about timmies and their behavior.  he wanted to know why parents weren't all over their kids (he only has a 3 year old), and swore that HIS son would never be allowed to behave like that and continue to own the game.

Now, this guy is otherwise pretty hip.  He surfs the web on his Nokia 62, drives an Escape hybrid, and has WiFi in his home (apparently just for web surfing and e-mail).  He just doesn't game or know anything about gaming.  Or care, really.   He is a big golfer though, so we were finally able to come to some understanding when I told him that gaming is my golfing.  THAT he understood.  I may have even convinced him to pick up a PS2 or XBOX and give Tiger Woods a spin this winter.  I think I just became a pusher........