Gamers get a bum deal when it comes to their rep. Sports are really popular and athletes that play them get super famous and super rich because they can throw a ball harder, swing a bat faster or block a 90 mph puck in the blink of an eye. Gamers with super-skills get gypped. It doesn't matter if nobody can touch you at NHL 2001 or if you're a master strategist at Starcraft 64. Parents don't take it seriously and it sucks.
If your parents catch you playing on your Playstation 2 until way past your bedtime or for hours before school you'll get in trouble. But if your jock brother has hockey practice at 5 am or a game that lasts until midnight he doesn't get in trouble at all. That's cuz parents think that computer and video games turn you into slack-jawed TV addicts and rot your brain when you could be out playing baseball and exercising.
Not true!
Video games aren't a waste of time and they don't rot your brain. Video games are almost like going to computer school but way more fun. They're how lots of people learn about computers - by playing games on them. People learn how to install them, tweak them, fix them and do all kinds of cool stuff to their computer to get their games working. Playing games will let you learn a ton of computer skills. The same goes for consoles - you learn lots of stuff.
Back in the stone age, when your parents were kidz, there wasn't much point to sitting in front of the TV. But times have changed and being good at computer stuff can lead to great paying jobs.
