Were you ever picked on in school for being a gamer?

[DigitalSpace]

I'm guessing this is a small margin, but someone mentioned that they were picked on in another thread, and I thought this would make an interesting thread.

Feel free to respond, whether or not this happened to you. Also, whether or not you were, be specific - what systems were big around the time you were in school? How big was the city/town you lived in? Was gaming considered "nerdy?"

As for me, it never happened. For the first few years of elementary school, it was the heyday of the NES. Whenever I told other kids I had a Nintendo, they would ask me what games I had.

[odysseyzine]

I was the first kid in my class to get a Nintendo, and it did a lot for my popularity at the time. I had kids over after school almost every day until more and more kids had them. Then I went back to being a geek, but a mostly liked geek. I remember there was a kid in my class who skipped school quite a bit, claiming to be sick, and he had tons of Nintendo games and played almost all the time. He would get teased for being sick with "Nintendo-itus".

[Half Japanese]

I've never really been picked on for playing games. My Game Boy was a constant companion on field trips, and in high school I brought my NGPC to school a few times (when I was a teacher's aid). Most folks didn't know what the hell it was. If anything, school and borrowing other people's games is probably the reason so many carts are tainted with Sharpie these days. There were only people that ever picked on me were this guy named Jack (who is probably occupying a jail cell/coffin) who used to pick on everybody, who quickly stopped when I went to knock his hand away and accidentally (but most righteously) hit him in the face. Oh, and this fat, annoying bastard named Jared (prounounced "Jay-Red") who took offense to the previous description of him.

[MegaDrive20XX]

of course, when I was a kid, you know how many stupid ass comments like

1st "Oh great, you sit in front of a TV all day and get fat playing games" I got daily?

or

2nd "I dont get it, why do you like those THINGS?"

or something like this 3rd one....

"God I cannot stand a guy who plays video games, that shit is so gay, my last boyfriend did that all the time"

1st comment: Found out his dad was fat as hell and he had a problem dealing with it because he was skinny....three words for that kid..."30 YEARS LATER"

2nd comment: "Because it's better then listing to stupid ass questions like yours"

3rd comment: Because you're a stupid miserable bitch who finds nothing better to do then to ruin entertainment and try to act like the certain of attention, when you don't wanna face the truth that PEOPLE HAVE OTHER LIVES THAT DO NOT REVOLVE AROUND YOURS.

I was raised in many states, because I was in a military home. when I was growing up in Massachusetts 1984 till 1989, Nintendo was always the bomb

Spent 3 years in Louisiana 1990 till 1992...regular Nintendo was still hot...and i was the first kid on my street with a SNES at that time.

spent 2 more years back to Massachusetts 1993 till 1995, GameGear, Genesis, Gameboy, SNES and PC DOOM was it back then..Mortal Kombat 2/Primal Rage craze was storming the arcades

When i was in Alaska from 95-98, Playstation, N64 and Saturn were hot...but it was hellish, because the kids are so damn nosey and I was asked stupid questions alot...but thank god I had a shitload of friends then, all we did was play Goldeneye


Spent 2 years in a small Texas HS to finish up from 1998 to 2000...it was pretty good, everyone played games, but never teased about it.

College 3 years <--- who doesn't play games during college? shit I had long conversations about it for long ass times.

all and all, Alaska and Massachusetts were the worst times I had with video games and being picked on about it

[Nesmaster]

oddly enough, i dont think many people i grew up with played video games much, outside of a few people. the rest of them never really cared, they were busy doing other things :roll: . as for the question at hand, i have never been picked on for playing games, outside of one kid who "wasnt all there" who would always ask me how my xbox was going (asking it in a way where i can tell he's trying to make fun of me). funny thing is, i dont own an xbox, and never have. kind of like the people who refer to every gaming machine as just "the nintendo"

[ubersaurus]

No, I was picked on more for not being an idiot more then anything.

[Dr. Morbis]

I was in Junior high from 89 to 91, and the NES was huge in my town. Every single boy my age loved it (except one weird kid down the street who had an SMS). I didn't get picked on because there were no non-gamers to pick on me.

In late August of 1989, the Canadian division of NOA sent out issue #7 of NP free to all Nintendo Power Flash members (that's the Canadian equivelant of Fun Club News). That first week of grade 7, I brought my free issue to school, and so did 3 other kids. For a week, there were 4 raggedy issues of NP #7 getting passed around by all the guys all day long, in every class. That's how big NES was for my age range back in the day.

[JasonMewes2001]

Not really, to be honest. Especially in this day and age where it's 'chic' to be a nerd. 8-)

I mean, I saw at least 4 people in school with zelda shirts on. I eventually asked one of them if they'd even PLAYED zelda (pre-64/cube), and much to my surprise (not) he hadnt.

[Iron Draggon]

Well let's see, I was quite the oddball in high school, because I had a 5200 while everybody else had a Colecovision. But we only picked on kids who had computers back then, any console system was cool. Everybody had a 2600 and still had it unless they had sold it to trade up for a Colecovision or a 5200 like I did. But the NES didn't come out until after graduation, so I missed out on what that was like for kids in school. I always had a bunch of kids wanting to come over to my house to check out my 5200 though, because it was so different to have that instead of having a Colecovision like everybody else. I didn't even get to play a Colecovision for the first time until a few years after I got out of school, because there was always such a big after school crowd at my house for one of my famous 5200 marathons. So it's kinda surprising that I never got a pair of extra controllers for some 4 player Super Breakout. But I was never picked on for it. Quite the contrary, it made me alot more popular. So much so that my mom shut down my little after school arcade once, and insisted that everybody should be paying her to play, because we were using her electricity. I guess we really ran the bill up that month! HEHE

[atomicthumbs]

Never. Fortunately, when the NES came out (I was 9) everyone was playing it. And when the Playstation came out I was in High School, and everyone was playing that. So, nope. Never came up.

[Ed Oscuro]

Nope...too busy scaring the $#Tuffing out of everybody, or something LOL

Really though, like Ubersaurus said...I was the butt of a few jokes 'cuz of being silly/wierd at times, but I roll with the punches pretty well. So nope, haven't really felt 'picked on,' especially not over gaming.

[Promophile]

No, I was picked on more for not being an idiot more then anything.

Ain't that the story of my life. Nope I never got picked on for gaming. A group of 3 black kids sure loved picking on me in High school for other reasons though. I have minor skuliosis(sp)? For those that don't know, thats curviture of the spine. It puts me in a VERY slight slouching position while I walk. The 3 guys used to call me hunchback and Mozart (I think this was because I let my hair grow kinda thick and longish back then). I also got picked on during softball in PE class. In fact the coach called me and my friends pussies because we would rather walk around the track then play baseball (getting picked on by a teacher, what a great school systemw we have :roll:). On a side note I remeber one time in 4th grade we had to stand up and give a speech. I forgot about it, and while other people were speaking I came up with my speech. It was for Harvest Moon for the SNES (my favorite game at the time). I was living in Italy at the time, and had to order it from Chips n Bits (anyone remeber that company?). It took 6 MONTHS before I got it. Back then I LIVED for games, and every day was agony. I got an A+ on the speech. LOL

[Push Upstairs]

I wasn't picked on for playing Nintendo...but i was considered the oddball because I still liked Nintendo in 6th grade while everyone else moved on to "cool" stuff like watching 90210.

Oh the irony!






I also got picked on during softball in PE class. In fact the coach called me and my friends pussies because we would rather walk around the track then play baseball (getting picked on by a teacher, what a great school systemw we have :roll:).

Oh yes, walking around the track instead of running. The jocks would pick on my friend and i because we wouldnt put any effort into PE...but we did our own thing. You took your freebie "sickday" and you didnt put in any effort except for hockey...because PE hockey ruled.

Once, and only once did the PE teacher call the guys "ladies" in the class. Of cource the teacher was a joke and his "motovational remark" had zero effect.

People kept on walking LOL 8-)

[motley6]

Pretty much anyone born passed 1973 has grown up with video games. I can't recall anyone being made fun off for playing video games or being a gamer per se. With that being said one can go overboard on anything. General rule of thumb is not to discuss how many 3do games you scored on ebay on a first date.

[Cryomancer]

Of course not, we'd get messed with for having dice with more or less than 6 sides. ;)

[Pedro Lambrini]

I was picked on for everything but that! I moved to a small town just outside Edinburgh and the shithole was full of middle-class biggots (especially the kids). I am from a poor working-class single-parent background and they really didn't like me very much - mainly 'cos I couldn't afford all the labels they had on their clothes...arseholes!

Before that I was never really picked on although I did get a bit of grief now and again because I only had a Vic-20 (which I loved and was grateful for!) and everyone else had either a Speccy or C64 (consoles weren't big in my country back then in the mid to late 80's). I still prefer Vics to Speccys though! Proper colour over monochrome shiteness every time :)

Hey, maybe I should start picking on people who had Speccys.... "What you tried how many times to load your game!?!" "How many colours can it produce?!) "Your keys fell off again!??" "Where'd you plug in the joystick?!"LOL LOL LOL

[Graham Mitchell]

I thnk I might have been the guy that made the comment inspiring this thread.

Yes, I was picked on horrendously. I grew up in Bellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. It's 20 minutes away from Redmond, home to Nintendo, Microsoft, Squaresoft, and Irem and BPS back in the day. It was a pretty large town, and was very bourgousie. Most residents were middle- to upper-middle class.

I started getting picked on when I got a NES in 3rd grade. I was always kind of an odd kid (I'm still eccentric), so that may have had something to do with it. (However, I blend in with the normal population enough to get into medical school and be engaged to a lovely woman, so what the hell?) Once people found out how much I dug video games, it was a daily occurrence that I was verbally assaulted or phsyically attacked. The crap peaked out in middle school. Somebody stole my Gameboy out of my bag in the middle of class. I later caught them with it. Some other kids made a comment at lunch about me wishing Nintendo had a hole in it so that I could fuck it and I told them to fuck off. They cornered me basically beat me up. It led to the police being called and a court case where I LOST because of "lack of evidence". Needless to say, this only made my situation worse. There was no certain "type" of person who did this to me; the jocks, the quiet kids, hell, even the CHEERLEADERS had a go at me one time (that was in 9th grade; the little anorexic puke actually was so aggressive about it she made me cry).

I had been a pretty good drummer since I was about 10 years old, and my interest in music got me a better reputation by the time I was 17, and all this stuff magically stopped. Being in a band changed everything, which proves how stupid these little rich shits were. They'd known me all my life. Being in a band and making records was the only positive thing people could mention about me.

So screw 'em. I left that town, I got a good education, and I still love games, and nobody criticizes me for it anymore, thanks to the popularization of Playstation.

[tritium]

Nope seems like videogames grew with us here in Miami. By the time I hit middle school the kids were talking about Genesis (which I didn't learn about until much later), and the high school kids wouldn't talk about it in school, but the guys were all into it.

-Tritium

[Raedon]

Not video games no, my group of "nerd" friends were picked on by some jocks constantly because we talked AD&D at school and collected comics.

Last laugh to the geeks though, we are all doing great! Except Trey who has passed but he had the largest DVD collection on the PLANET!!

[Push Upstairs]

I was picked on for everything but that! I moved to a small town just outside Edinburgh and the shithole was full of middle-class biggots (especially the kids). I am from a poor working-class single-parent background and they really didn't like me very much - mainly 'cos I couldn't afford all the labels they had on their clothes...arseholes!

Ya know, this is very similar to what happened when i was in 6th grade.

But the fact that the school i was at was now a mix of poor, middle class, and rich kids...where before there was two seperate schools (take a guess why).

But i can remember that the rich kids had all the "label" stuff and some of the middle class kids were trying to be "cool" by wearing the same "label" clothes. :roll:

Reminds me of a conversation i had with a kid who i used to be friends with (but not really good friends). When 6th grade hit i asked him if the reason he didnt want to be a friend anymore was because i didnt wear the expensive name brand shoes...he looked at me and said "Yes".

Shallow, shallow people.

[Melf]

Of course not, we'd get messed with for having dice with more or less than 6 sides. ;)

Lol! Ain't that the truth!

[captain nintendo]

I think you are going to find that people who grew up in the 80's really didnt have the problem of being harassed for playing games. Nintendo was hot and everybody had one. (or so it seemed)

Plus I never had that problem because I was the tallest,biggest kid on campus. :P

[Trixie]

Back then, everyone had an Atari or Colecovision or Odyssey, so there wasn't any finger-pointing that I saw. Besides, we had several Dungeons-and-Dragons clubs in my high school. Those were the people who were ridiculed. :eek 2:

I admit that I get some funny looks when I tell my coworkers about my game collection. But these are the same people with mint-in-the-box Barbies and Beanie Babies! x_x :hmm: LOL

[XxMe2NiKxX]

I was never picked on in my entire life. I was a cool kid, I could do whatever the fuck I wanted to, and it would be a trend. I could start something by saying it was cool. Everyone knew what I was into, and they were into it too.

[RockyRaccoon]

I was fat. I was short, i was white, I played D&D, and I played nintendo.

Yeah. I was picked on for ALL Those.

But now I'm Fat, 7 FEET TALL, and play D&D and Games still...whose afraid of who now? :>

ROAR!

[Pedro Lambrini]

I was never picked on in my entire life. I was a cool kid, I could do whatever the fuck I wanted to, and it would be a trend. I could start something by saying it was cool. Everyone knew what I was into, and they were into it too.

Fuck off wierdo-geeky-ratfink weaselboy! LOL




(Just kidding!)

[Doonzmore]

I normally get compliments because i'm one of the few major gamers at my school but then again that's not saying all that much. From time to time i hear bullshit insults about my petition. Most often the woman claim its retarded but its mostly just the ignorant ones with no lives. I hate it when people bash in your passions.

I also hear alot of people tell me to get a haircut. Doesn't anyone have respect for the 70's and 80's? Assholes.

[Flack]

I was never picked on in my entire life. I was a cool kid, I could do whatever the fuck I wanted to, and it would be a trend. I could start something by saying it was cool. Everyone knew what I was into, and they were into it too.

Roofus! Anyway ...

I was born in 1973. I think growing up with game systems made me more popular, not less. I can remember lots of times people wanting to come over to my house to play Atari or to copy Apple II or Commodore 64 games.

My group of friends were the "do whatever you want to do" guys. We played games, drove older cars, had long hair and listened to heavy metal. In retrospect, I'm glad I wasn't stuck in a mold and wasn't allowed to be and do what I wanted to.

[Fuyukaze]

I was never picked on in school for playing games. Thats not to say I wasnt picked on, just that games were rarely if ever a strong focus of the insults. Being overweight, comic book colector, toon watching, who colected transformers, gi joes, and anything robotech publicly till HS was enough to do that.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

Picked on? Yeah right! I am constantly praised. I suppose gaming now is cooler then it used to be, right? I am actually staying after hours today, doing work, goofing off, and then more work. Someone brought DDR on PS2 and they are all amazed how good I am (even WITH the shiaty 'Madcatz; pad). So, if gaming has done anything, it has helped me. Yay!
Hell, a teacher here wants to buy an Atari 2600 through me, so that helps as well.

[Duncan]

Don't remember having any problems, no. Like many here, I had an NES during the 1980s-early-1990s glory years and so did everyone else I hung out with (except for the occasional friend with an SMS or 2600). There was a bit of a split when my family got a Genesis and the other two next-door neighbors had SNES instead, but it was cool -- we just spent more time at each other's houses to keep on top of things.

I kinda slowed down on gaming during my high school stay, though I did treat myself to a used PlayStation in my senior year. That probably was responsible for getting me back into the hobby, especially once Gran Turismo 2 came out.

Any social failures I had in high school had to do mostly with my own personality rather than anything material. But I don't care; I've always been a bit of a rebel. :rocker:

[YoshiM]

Of course not, we'd get messed with for having dice with more or less than 6 sides. ;)

Same here. D&D was definiitely "nerdy" in my middle school in the late 80's. Even the more "cooler" guys I'd game with wouldn't discuss their geekly guilty pleasure outside the gaming table. Of course, I wasn't "cool" and I didn't refrain from discussing with others like me. For a writing project for English I wrote a mini RPG and "choose your own adventure" story and taped tiny 6-siders to it. Got a "B" because the teacher didn't want to figure it out. Got grief from kids as I was testing out my rules in class.

Video games *were* kinda geeky where I lived but you knew many people secretly played it. The general populace at school didn't talk about video games as a common topic. If there were any game discussions, it was in small groups and with low voices and usually dismissed if asked what the conversation was about. The geeks did talk about gaming, though also not too openly as we were already being teased about playing D&D. After school and summer was when the truth was known as popular kids would track ME down to find out if I knew how to get past a particular level in Zelda or something.

Small town High school thankfully was a LOT different than city middle school. I could bring my Dragon magazines and VG&CE's into school without being picked on. Usually people would borrow the video game mags during study hall.

[Aboliax]

Nope I never had problems in high school.

Tons of Friends

Girlfriend for 2 years (we're still together so now its about 2 1/2)

Was head of special effects for the drama department

Was the Drum Major in band

Didn't play any sports (I have hemophilia :()

Graduated Valedictorian

Gamed for at least 3 hours a day

Oh and the most important thing: 6'4" 280lbs, linebacker build

Let's just say no one messed with me much ;)

[Raedon]

I was born in 1973.


Same.. June 20th 1973.. we are so old lol!


On a different note:

I think everyone's idea of being "bullied" is different. I was friends with school bully from 6th to 12th grade and we caused a lot of hell.. Put people called us and our firends weird and other names because we played AD&D, smoked weed and generally had real, "f$%k you" additudes to the rich kids.

That was more in Jr. High. I got a Trans Am and he got a El Camino and became hotor/metal heads in highschool and sort of drifted in and out of the tribes because my friend supplied the LSD and cannabis to the high school..

It was a different time..

anyway, no one ever stepped to me or stole my lunch money lol

plus NES was HUGE and everyone wanted it.

[Emily]

Ive always been "the odd one out". I have social anxiety dissorder, and going to high school was a nightmare.I couldnt even fit in at CGE, i felt freakish :/
Seemingly, people should have talked smack about my gaming obsession, but never did, they just fucked with me because I was alone and quiet! It sucks not having any friends :(

Fuck all you popular people :evil:

[J2games]

was I picked on in school....

UNMERCIFULLY!

but those same people were GLUED to the games when they came by the house....

sometimes it pays to be the video game geek!

[tholly]

no...not really....i never really played that many video games back then...and i didnt collect...i just had the normal amount that all the kids had...and i only had the new, popular system hooked up, with everything else boxed up or put to the side


6th and 7th grade me and a bunch of ppl played magic the gathering....now that is something that will get you made fun of really quick
thank god i got outta that phase

[Lemmy Kilmister]

No, becuase most people didn't even know how hardcore i was into games. I don't actually look the part of your typical gamer, thats if their is one.

[VinnyT]

I was morely made fun of for having a Genesis instead of the SNES. Now I talk to some of them, and find out they had Genesis's too.

@_@

[Saabmeister]

I still get picked on.

But I have gotten some of my best deals from kids in school who were trading up :D

[Graham Mitchell]

I was fat. I was short, i was white, I played D&D, and I played nintendo.

Yeah. I was picked on for ALL Those.

But now I'm Fat, 7 FEET TALL, and play D&D and Games still...whose afraid of who now? :>

ROAR!

LOL That's awesome!

[charitycasegreg]

Nope, cause Im the biggest hardass in the school. :D

[PentiumMMX]

I got picked on for having an N64 @_@, some people said quote:

"Nintendo sucks!"

"Why don't you sell that peace of crap and buy a PlayStation?"

I hated PlayStation ever since then (Now I like it, since I have left my Fanboy ways behind and actuly tried it)


I'm glad no one makes fun of my "Old-Skool" ways! :)

[DigitalSpace]

For some reason or another, this thread came to mind the other day, so I figured I'd give it a bump.

[mailman187666]

I never really got made fun of for anything that has to do with videogames when I was in school. The only crap I've gotten was with my collection from my friends and stuff. Its more just them busting my balls though because we all do it to each other all the time. I had one girl stay over the house one time and she saw my Saturn collection and she said "you really are a tool huh?" well she must not have really cared because she gave it up hours later (with there being stacks of videogames along the walls in my bedroom lol)

[Drixxel]

Back in yonder kindergarten, there was this kid I wanted to be friends with, so I'd invited him over to my house to hang out after school. School was done and we were getting ready to leave, and he then asks me which video games I had. At the time, my family only owned a 2600 (this would have been around 1991). He responds by saying that he only plays NES or Genesis, and as a result, doesn't want to hang out. Not having the "right" console made me uncool to this chap.

Beyond that, though, smooth sailing. Through the remainder of school, I've always had friends who I shared an interest in gaming with, and frankly I didn't care if people were critical of me for my hobby.

[Trevelyan]

No. Most kids I grew up with had a console of some sort & they never became a major issue in feuds.

The debate raged about SNES/SEGA & PS1. Most people agreed they all were good fun.

[Sothy]

only because I had an odyssey 2 when everyone else had a nes.

I was poor.

[RadiantSvgun]

I'm still getting crap now at 24 for playing games. I don't get much crap anymore because I'm 6'1 239 lbs, but I get the most crap from my parents.

[Rogmeister]

I don't think video games had been invented yet when I was in high school...

[Rob2600]

i was considered the oddball because I still liked Nintendo in 6th grade while everyone else moved on to "cool" stuff like watching 90210.

Oh the irony!

Ugh, 90210. I can't remember any boys in my class liking that show. If they did, then they never admitted it.

I grew up in northern NJ. In 5th and 6th grade (late 1980s), video gmes were considered cool, especially the NES (only two of our classmates has a Sega Master System and nobody had an Atari 7800 or XEGS). My friends and I talked about NES games, drew video game characters, collected Nintendo cards, wore Nintendo shirts, read Nintendo Power, Sega Visions, EGM, Video Games & Computer Entertainment, and any other video game magazines we could get our hands on, watched Video Power before school, watched the Super Mario Bros. Super Show after school, watched Captain N: The Game Master on weekends, and played Game Boy on class trips.

In middle school (early 1990s), playing video games was still somewhat okay. Many people had recently gotten a Genesis and several had an SNES, including me. (I remember only four classmates having a TurboGrafx-16 and a couple of us had an Atari Lynx.)

In high school (early-mid 1990s), playing video games was no longer considered cool overall, but certain games were cooler than others. In general, the Genesis was cooler than the SNES, but that was because more people had a Genesis and they were jealous of us SNES owners.

Playing sports games on the Genesis was considered fairly cool, but playing RPGs on the SNES was extremely geeky. Playing Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat was fairly cool on either console. Sonic the Hedgehog was pretty cool too, but Mario was considered lame. "Mario doesn't have blast processing. That's a dumb, slow, baby game."

I disagreed with this mentality, which is why I was a dork in 9th and 10th grade...although the "cool" jock Genesis owners couldn't get enough of my copy of NCAA Basketball for the SNES. After school, they loved it. "This is so realistic! Look at the 3D graphics! Can we play it again?" In school, they were back to normal. "You have a Super Nintendo? That's for babies."


my interest in music got me a better reputation by the time I was 17, and all this stuff magically stopped. Being in a band changed everything, which proves how stupid these little rich shits were. They'd known me all my life.

Same here. In 11th and 12th grade, I put most video games on hold and started playing in bands. I went from being a geeky goof who nobody cared about to being pretty cool and popular.

I remember in algebra II class in 11th grade, the teacher asked what we wanted for Christmas. One of my classmates said Donkey Kong Country and most of the other people laughed at him. Some of the boys in the class (who I knew still played video games) made snide remarks like, "Wow, you still play video games?? Loser."

I didn't make fun of him, but I didn't defend him, either. I was secretly excited about Donkey Kong Country, but I kept my cool.

After graduation, I went back to playing my SNES and caught up on a bunch of great games I had missed out on (Donkey Kong Country 2, EarthBound, Super Metroid, Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, etc.).


I still love games, and nobody criticizes me for it anymore, thanks to the popularization of Playstation.

Yeah, my friends and I would laugh at all the jocks who lined up to buy Final Fantasy VII for the PlayStation. "Aren't these the same idiots who thought RPGs on the SNES were totally lame and geeky three years ago?"


Oh yes, walking around the track instead of running. The jocks would pick on my friend and i because we wouldnt put any effort into PE.

Most of my friends and I put minimal effort into kickball and dodgeball. The jocks would get annoyed and yell, but we thought it was funny. :)

[CosmicMonkey]

Nope. At my school it seemed like everyone had a Gameboy for at least the first 4 years we were all there. Trading GB games was common place and they even became a 'currency' of sorts between us all. Our group got on with people/had brothers and sisters in the 2 years above us, and some of these guys had GBs too.

Myself and a couple of the older guys were well known for our importing. We had Super Famicoms and, later on, import N64s.

I remember the Megadrive being really popular during my second year, but everyone always wanted to come over to play Mario World.

[Sudo]

No, pretty much everyone I knew played videogames.

[Harkunan]

When I was younger I was practically the class proffessional artist back then. I made stuff that people was amazed by they would let me make the school bathroom pass, a team I was on I designed the logo, in coloring I made flowers that looked like flowers, and when we had to draw a famous figure face my teacher reccomended me to a art school for scholorship.

Short story when I had my science project in somebody was like " I bet he made a big mural of Sonic. Otherwise everybody in the entire school was a user of videogame products even some teachers.

Videogames was all the rage in my area and it was nice. However it was kinda self destructing also.



No, pretty much everyone I knew played videogames.

This sentence sums up what I said.

[MachineGex]

I think if you didnt act like video games were your entire life, you were OK. The few people who took the hobby to the extreme got alittle bit of teasing. Back when the Atari and Pong hit the scene, everybody had a blast going over to each others house and playing everyones different games. I had a friend with a Intellivion, another had a OD. 2, and a few of us had the 2600. We all use to go to each others house and play games all night. Fun times indeed!

If was so much fun because all the games were mostly 2 players. No one ever thought to make fun of each other because everyone loved playing games.

[Ed Oscuro]

This thread is pretty pathetic now that I look at it again...almost everybody had video games by the mid-90s, so I doubt it was other people blaming the hobby for a lack of social skills.

And yeah, I was something of a loner as a kid, but nobody got over on me.

[Flack]

The only thing I would add to my previous response from 4 years ago is, I'd love to track down everyone in mid-high/high school who made fun of me for being a "computer nerd" and compare salaries with them. Turns out, being a computer nerd pays a lot more in the real world than being a football jock.

[Overbite]

I wasn't picked on for being a gamer, I grew up in the time when the NES was super popular.

I was picked on because I had a Master System :( I was the only one. Then I got an NES and no one picked on me, they came to me for cheats and hints because I had subscriptions to game magazines and I knew them.

In high school I still played games but I wasn't picked on because my class was cool, the popular people weren't jerks. They were actually nice people and they played games too!

[rbudrick]

No, never got made fun of. In fact, kids from school and strangers randomly called me for tips! It was very strange.

-Rob

[Poofta!]

i was *always* the bully... so no. no i wasnt.

[diskoboy]

I grew up during the first golden age, so at first, no. But after the crash, when everyone else was over gaming, but me..... You'd better believe it.

Then the hormones hit, I shot up like a rocket, and girls became a little more important than gaming, for about a decade.

Now, I get made fun of again, because I'm 33 and still game. But then I always retort with, "my generation was the first to grow up with video games. They are to me, what movies were to your generation. So bite me.."

[cyberfluxor]

All of my friends from grade school up to today are gamers to some degree, whether it be modern, classic, or both. Few of us are PC gamers so it's rough picking out LAN party games since most are unfamiliar with so many and don't want to spend all night learning a new game.

As for casual school peers, not really. Almost everyone played games in some way or another, maybe it's the area I have grown up in. You could say Super Nintendo and most would know what you were talking about and share stories of their favorite titles. It's kind of wierd looking back at it, how accepted video games are around here. I think my grandparents have said something once about how I should sell my games to assist in a down payment for a house but then what would I do in my spare time? I can't cut games out, they're just too enjoyable, but cutting back some day is quite possible.

[Harkunan]

golden age

There was no Videogame Golden Age. The so called Golden Age was the Game & Watch period with the Nintendo looking like a VHS.

After that the SNES and soon Saturn rolled in to what I call the absolute highest of videogames and then the commercials kept on rolling in.



my generation was the first to grow up with video games.

33 years old is kinda young to be honest since most 33 year olds I know was playing Nintendo for the most part. In terms of Atari and arcades that was like the western years of videogames when everybody was like what is a videogame.

I say western in tort your Golden Age comment reflects the 1920's comic books, and more importantly pornography. These Golden Years in anything was the time where you could produce almost anything and never get slamed by saftey officials in todays times.

I mean they even have a warning screen that you have to click off.

[Fuzzball24]

Not really. Later on in school, as I became more popular, chicks tried to talk to me about games because they knew that was my favorite thing. It's kinda cute and funny to see a girl try to start a conversation with video games, ahaha.

[8bitgamer]

During my junior high and high school years, I would never have told anyone outside of my closest friends that I read comic books. However, video games were actually seen as being pretty cool, from the Atari 2600 to the Intellivision, up through the 5200 and ColecoVision--everyone either had a system or wanted one.

[Dire 51]

For the longest time, I thought that videogames were the reason I was picked on in school. After thinking about it for a while, I realized it was because I was quiet, overweight, didn't cause trouble and paid no attention to trends. However, the people that did pick on me usually would try to get to me by targeting one of my interests, and videogames was the big target. I made the mistake of wearing a Nintendo Power t-shirt that I'd gotten as a gift to school one day. Needless to say, I never wore that shirt again.

I do recall once when I was starting to get into anime ('91-'92), and we had to interview other students in journalism class. I ended up being paired off with a snooty, popular cheerleader. When she asked me about my interests, I remember thinking "don't say videogames, you'll never hear the end of it." So I picked the next thing I thought of - anime - because I figured if no one had heard about anime (which at the time, they hadn't), they wouldn't be able to use it against me.

Of course, she asked what anime was. I said Japanese cartoons.

That was a mistake. I didn't hear the end of it until I brought in a copy of Guyver: Out of Control and showed some of it in that journalism class (I forget why I was allowed to do so). The cheerleader and her pals didn't even want to look at me after that (they thought it was disgusting), but most of the guys in class hammered me with questions about it afterwards. LOL

On the plus side, I got an A on my senior term paper, which was all about anime. It would have been a B because my English teacher didn't recognize some of the terms I used (mecha, anime, etc), but he said he'd raise my grade to an A if I proved that I didn't make any of those up. I brought in the anime mags I'd used for sources (Protoculture Addicts and Newtype, I think), pointed them out and got the A.

So yeah, videogames and anime were just targeted to get to me since I was interested in them. The teasing finally died off a bit when I stood up to one of the toughest kids at school. I forgot what the incident was about (this was about 16-17 years ago), but I stood up to him and he was impressed. I think he said to me when it was over "You're brave. Dumb, but brave." He never bothered me again, nor did many of the other kids. I guess word got around.

Of course, there were still a few who didn't let up, but I haven't seen any of them since graduation, and I doubt I ever will again.

[diskoboy]

There was no Videogame Golden Age. The so called Golden Age was the Game & Watch period with the Nintendo looking like a VHS.

After that the SNES and soon Saturn rolled in to what I call the absolute highest of videogames and then the commercials kept on rolling in.

.

33 years old is kinda young to be honest since most 33 year olds I know was playing Nintendo for the most part. In terms of Atari and arcades that was like the western years of videogames when everybody was like what is a videogame.

I say western in tort your Golden Age comment reflects the 1920's comic books, and more importantly pornography. These Golden Years in anything was the time where you could produce almost anything and never get slamed by saftey officials in todays times.

I mean they even have a warning screen that you have to click off.

The sizz strikes again.

[Push Upstairs]

This is the 2nd golden age of immortal posts!

I still stand by what I said, but around 7th-8th grade I really kept my VG love to myself and only my closest friends. Then my console gaming morphed in PC gaming and I had to keep that to myself because none of my friends were into computers or computer gaming.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Nope

When I was a kid -grade school third grade we brought in electronic handhelds games like BattleStar Galactica and MATTEL ELECTRONICS AUTO RACE HAND HELD GAME</IMG>
I remember bringing in a lil King Pin hadheld pinball machine..it was the thing to do .
...that and hotwheel cars

7th grade I and one other kid had the most Atari 2600 games in the school..The other kid had the most before I traded him a bike for his Atari stuff(dad would not buy him a bike so he traded me the Atari for one of my bikes.
He later told his dad that someone stole the Atari and would sneak the bike out from behind a shed and go ride with us..He was happy and I was happy

I then got an Atari for Christmas..:angel:
Then i had the most games and the other kids thought that was cool,.I was obsessed with Atari 2600..I spend every bit of money I got on games...that was one thing that started me off in collecting a lot of games..I just liked having lots of games and my friends liked it too..we'd play and play and not have to play the same thing over and over.

The kids next door to me had a Vectrex(not sure how old I was) but it then was the coolest thing known to "me"..I wanted one so bad....No one knew they had it nor really anything about it..We all focused on the Atari 2600 until the Coleco came along..

Years late, High school.I still never got any riff for haveing games.

29 years old ..I met a Girl who HATED games that she ragged me for playing an collecting games..,
I was so into her that I just stopped playing She wanted me to get rid of it all...I'd find myself playing 007 Goldeneye when not with her..

let just say that didn't last.....and my wife is a Gamer.

[The 1 2 P]

You know, I have 360 games, controllers and an HDMI cable. I was all ready to get one with my tax rebate but then I lost my job. So in transitioning to my new job and paying bills I was unable to get my xbox 360 elite. But I will get one eventually.

[pato]

I thnk I might have been the guy that made the comment inspiring this thread.

Yes, I was picked on horrendously. I grew up in Bellevue, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. It's 20 minutes away from Redmond, home to Nintendo, Microsoft, Squaresoft, and Irem and BPS back in the day. It was a pretty large town, and was very bourgousie. Most residents were middle- to upper-middle class.

I started getting picked on when I got a NES in 3rd grade. I was always kind of an odd kid (I'm still eccentric), so that may have had something to do with it. (However, I blend in with the normal population enough to get into medical school and be engaged to a lovely woman, so what the hell?) Once people found out how much I dug video games, it was a daily occurrence that I was verbally assaulted or phsyically attacked. The crap peaked out in middle school. Somebody stole my Gameboy out of my bag in the middle of class. I later caught them with it. Some other kids made a comment at lunch about me wishing Nintendo had a hole in it so that I could fuck it and I told them to fuck off. They cornered me basically beat me up. It led to the police being called and a court case where I LOST because of "lack of evidence". Needless to say, this only made my situation worse. There was no certain "type" of person who did this to me; the jocks, the quiet kids, hell, even the CHEERLEADERS had a go at me one time (that was in 9th grade; the little anorexic puke actually was so aggressive about it she made me cry).

I had been a pretty good drummer since I was about 10 years old, and my interest in music got me a better reputation by the time I was 17, and all this stuff magically stopped. Being in a band changed everything, which proves how stupid these little rich shits were. They'd known me all my life. Being in a band and making records was the only positive thing people could mention about me.

So screw 'em. I left that town, I got a good education, and I still love games, and nobody criticizes me for it anymore, thanks to the popularization of Playstation.

It's been a while since I posted on DP, but I am on these forums reading posts etc all the time. This story really hit home with me. I am happy to hear that your have empowered yourself and have become successful. That is awesome!

I went through something very similar. Not always about video games, but certainly for being a little different. I happened to move to Portugal when I was 9 years old and that is where everything started for me. Being the "American kid" (Even though I was Canadian lol) didn't help matters. Having to constantly watch my back for fear of getting jumped etc. I was even beat up by adults (All 30 of them. No joke) They ganged up on me and beat the living sh*t out of me (Although I KOed the first one that came at me lol). I was even abused by my teachers in school. In Portugal, it was okay for teachers to beat students back then. It's funny that my only refuge from that world were my video games. So that is where I got made fun of for playing. I was an anti-social I guess lol. In reality, playing video games in the comfort of my home was my little sanctuary. I still love video games to this day (especially retro games of course) because I get nostalgic and remember how comforting it is to play video games.
That being said, all of these experiences turned me into the man I am today. I now live in Japan and am doing what I love to do and am pretty successful at it.

Here are two interviews someone posted of me on youtube. Plus a a ton of other videos of me too. Some good stuff, some bad stuff I guess lol:

In this first one, I briefly mention what we are discussing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBn-Cz5SHIM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obYWJLSAiao

Thank you all for sharing your stories. Cheers!

[Tron 2.0]

Pretty much anyone born passed 1973 has grown up with video games. I can't recall anyone being made fun off for playing video games or being a gamer per se. With that being said one can go overboard on anything. General rule of thumb is not to discuss how many 3do games you scored on ebay on a first date.
Agreed i've never run into that problem when i was younger.

Given,that video games are so mainstream now i say that's pretty rare these days.

[The 1 2 P]

I never ran into this but I'm going to guess that the bullies were probably gamers.

[glorfindel]

well i was never picked on by teachers much. a few in middle school kinda joked around with me about turning me into the office (i liked to hack the school computers :king:) thats kinda nerdy i guess.
in high school i was never made fun of cause well the teachers needed my help on all there technical needs. im only 17 so im still in school...but me and a buddy are almost honored in the IT area cause we know the programs and how to make all the systems work better than the stupid tech guy or any of the teachers that went to a training session for 6 weeks to learn how to do stuff. its the coolest feeling when a teacher aproches you in the hall and has you skip class to help him with some graphics program

[Greg2600]

I played sports, video games, and watched Star Trek....quite the conundrum. I don't recall ever being teased for playing video games. Even when I only had the 2600, and other friends had gotten the NES already. They'd put down the Atari as old and boring, but not me.

I would have to say, by high school, mid-90's, there was that really weird lull period where the SNES and Genesis had kind of run their course of "cool and new," and the Playstation was not out yet. It happened, as my friend Rob2600 says, to coincide exactly with us being about 16 or 17 years old. Even so, if you played sports games and fighting games, well, those were still "cool." Everybody was still playing those, unless they were a juvenile gangster. I know because several of the "jocks" I knew would spend almost every Saturday in my baseball card store playing Genesis sports games with me on the 4-way play. However, a Mario or Donkey Kong or Sonic game, no dice.

When I got to college '96-'97, the guys in the dorm usually were either playing Playstation, or smoking weed, with both being equally cool I guess.