#i2amru (I, Too, Am Reinhardt) Volume 1 Number 1 | Page 38

(Photos courtesy of Jacob Howard)

Once students get past
elementary school, picking up their old Gameboy
Color suddenly becomes a
lightning rod for bullying in
their minds, and so it’s left
to gather dust in the closet for years. Some people
eventually escape this phase
entirely--or at least mostly-once they get to high school,
but some retain this mindset throughout their college
careers regardless of whether
they want to or not.

Whether it’s in the form of
a Legend of Zelda T-Shirt,
or seeing two students trading Pokémon in the Lawson/Tarpley lobbies, seeing
others sharing their love
of video games in a public
setting might just be the
confidence booster a closet
gamer needs. These gamers
may not feel they’re alone
anymore, and, perhaps
best of all, they could form
friendships that will last a
lifetime.

If they decide to get back
into playing video games
casually, they might hide it
away in their dorms at best,
or at worst become the very
bullies they once feared.

Who knows? They might
even find themselves someone to share the rest of their
life with as well. These are
some lofty possibilities, mind
you, but judging from the
number of Nintendo backpacks and merchandise that
can regularly be seen on
campus already, this very
well could have already
happened.

In the spirit of I, Too, Am
Reinhardt, this shouldn’t be
happening. Instead, these
people should feel encouraged to be who they really
are on the outside as well as
on the inside.
While this may not seem to
be related to issues of racial
and ethnic acceptance, or
acceptance of various sexual
orientations, on campus, it
is still important to let these
student--or even faculty—
gamers know that it’s perfectly fine to let their hobby
be known to the world, or at
least to the campus.
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Now that the problem has been addressed, how
can we find the solution? Is it even possible to
undo years of feeling ashamed for loving virtual
entertainment?
To put it briefly, it is--but how, exactly, is a potentially complicated process that no one can
regulate: Let them see others share in this hobby
publicly.

While Reinhardt’s gamers
may not exactly fall under
the typical definition of a
community, it is a thriving
one without a doubt. Bonds
are forged, friendships
formed, and well-thoughtout discussions are made
daily due to the great influence of video games.

Though it is arguably one of the biggest communities on
campus, it is also undoubtedly one of the most invisible. Despite this, one can find an almost surprising number of XBoxes, 3DS’s, or even mobile games on cell phones being played
daily across campus by people you might not expect to enjoy
such forms of entertainment.
Where does the future lie for a group with no official membership or well-known local clubs? Luckily, the answer is
looking nowhere but up for the gamer community for as long
as a single video game is played on these grounds.

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