Complete and Utter Validation

So this visual has been floating around the office lately, I think it is from the June or July issued of Wired.  I've got two things to say to this.  First, LIAR-LIAR-PANTS-ON-FIRE!   There is no way that these men are only spending 1 hour gaming if there is any kind of gaming system within 100 miles of them.  Second, Hello?  Where are the women?  According to the Entertainment Software Association over 40% of gamers are female and the 40+ group of women is the fastest growing group of MMO gamers in the US if not the world.  

Yeah, we are not talking passive word games here, but rather games like "World of Warcraft", "Everquest", "Halo" and more.  You can read study after study and there is a lot to be said about the communal aspect of these games, the strategic problem solving and such that attract women, and the fact that there are a lot of fashion/cooking/gardening titles out there which helped grow the over-40 segment by 43% last year (Pew). 

But here's the thing, I think we like kicking some hard-core butt wearing skimpy, curve hugging clothes that in real life wouldn't last crossing the street, much less if we threw a left cross-shovelhook-haymaker with a twisting chin kick combination.  I think we like the fact that in Mortal Kombat when your opponent is bleeding on the ground, your makeup is still perfect.  And I think we definately like unloading a clip into the obviously evil (but still totally hot) guy who is standing between us and the prize.

Or maybe it's just me.  I'll cop to it.  It feels really frickin' great.  It also feels good to say that it's not just the violence.  When I beat the clock on WordRoundup, HOOYAH!  When I get a smoothly impossible ride on LineRider2 or when I hit all of the beats on Rhythm Heaven I'm happy to admit that I get a little Austin Powers-thing going...'yeah, baby!' And on the Xbox, when I was rockin' the old school pinball games, The Who was urging me on with, what else, 'Pinball Wizard'.  Heck, I'm a little pumped right now.

So when my kids ask why I like to play these games, I have no shame in telling them "...because it makes me feel good".  And then I put down the oh-so-obsessive Bejeweled2 and get on with play/read/clean/cook/etc life.

Right after the deep Bejeweled voice tells me, "You are Amazing", "Incredible". 

Yes.  Yes I Am.