As an adult player, why did you not "grow out of gaming"?

[isiolia]

Sports is a whole other ball of wax. Apparently it's socially acceptable for a grown adult man to walk into the office where he works dressed in a jersey on game day. He can spend his whole life obsessing over a sport he played from the time he was eleven 'till seventeen.

Eh, I think for the majority, Key-Glyph is on point for that too. Sports are usually something for people to bond over. They can create a social group to belong to. For a lot of fans, it's probably not much more than that. What marketing group, at this point, doesn't try to make fandom acceptable, if not desirable? Spending our whole lives obsessing over an 8-bit plumber isn't exactly better.

I know for me, part of what made it easy to not "grow out" of gaming is that I consistently connected with friends over it. I met people the first day of college via Quake II network play. My apartment living room hosted hours upon hours of fighting games, we had LAN parties... most of my friends still have an interest in gaming to some degree. Maybe if we'd connected via football we'd be making a point to go to a game together.

Sports fandom - and tolerance of extreme examples - is probably just situational. As normal as it can be around here (school pride and all), I've also seen people with gaming posters and all up. Albeit in our networking center, but still...

[Xeogred]

Sports are the Illuminati.

[samsonlonghair]

Sports are the Illuminati.

You know too much. A van will be coming to your home shortly to escort you to the re-education center.

[MrPopo]

Sports are the Illuminati.

[Sarge]

I think that the primary difference in sports is that the players are "real", and they showcase amazing feats of physical dexterity. You could make an argument that e-sports could eventually hit those levels, but I would view it as a step below something like NASCAR; it certainly requires a lot of skill, but not much demand on the physical side at all. And of course, there's a comparison to chess tournaments and the like, as well, although there's a more significant dexterity component as opposed to mental, not that gaming is completely devoid of it.

It's just... not a great comparison, I suppose.

For the record, I'm a huge fan of the San Antonio Spurs. And the reason I still love basketball is that it's the sport that I used to play a good bit of, and really need to play again. I have a significant appreciation for the game and what it takes to be that good at it.

[stickem]

I meant to tie this all back to the different mentions of fishing and hunting and watching sports that a lot of you have brought up. Those activities serve the same purpose -- bringing people together, creating common conversational topics and share experiences -- and I'd wager that plenty of adults pursue those activities more for the camaraderie they facilitate than out of some deep love for those hobbies themselves (which is not to say that diehards don't exist, but you get what I mean).

Fishing is something I can relate to here. I don't exactly enjoy fishing, and I never seem to catch anything, but it's a good time for male bonding. Whether I go fishing or not, it's never a huge financial investment unless some darn fool gets the notion that he wants to buy a boat.

Sports is a whole other ball of wax. Apparently it's socially acceptable for a grown adult man to walk into the office where he works dressed in a jersey on game day. He can spend his whole life obsessing over a sport he played from the time he was eleven 'till seventeen. I think there's big financial incentive here from the sports franchises to ensure that it's socially acceptable for this behavior to persist into adulthood. No child can afford a hundred and twenty-five dollar jersey, but a grown man can. Major league tickets are also awfully expensive, but farm league tickets can still be bought relatively cheaply. Whenever there's a big basketball game, the cameraman makes sure to get a shot of the celebrities making business deals at courtside. I guess that's to give us all the impression that sports is something for successful professionals. Sports companies are geniuses of marketing.

just pointing out, it's not acceptable for grown men to where jerseys. tshirt or polo with logo is acceptable. the only time it is acceptable is if you are a kid or play for that team, carry on now lol.

[MrPopo]

Clearly you've never worked in an office. Game day or Friday when the game is on a weekend and you'll see jerseys all over the place.

[Ack]

Clearly you've never worked in an office. Game day or Friday when the game is on a weekend and you'll see jerseys all over the place.

I work on the same floor as the folks who handle NBA TV. Believe me, they wear jerseys.

[stickem]

i listen to alot of sports radio and that topic has come up alot. the consensus was that adults look silly in jerseys. i mean don't get me wrong, i could care less. it's just funny to listen to folks rant about it.

[samsonlonghair]

Sports is a whole other ball of wax. Apparently it's socially acceptable for a grown adult man to walk into the office where he works dressed in a jersey on game day. He can spend his whole life obsessing over a sport he played from the time he was eleven 'till seventeen.

Eh, I think for the majority, Key-Glyph is on point for that too. Sports are usually something for people to bond over. They can create a social group to belong to. For a lot of fans, it's probably not much more than that. What marketing group, at this point, doesn't try to make fandom acceptable, if not desirable? Spending our whole lives obsessing over an 8-bit plumber isn't exactly better.

Truth. I may joke around with sports fans, but to be honest, it doesn't bother me if they enjoy sports at all. To each his own, right?

Hey, what part of Virginia are you in, Isiola? Somewhere near central VA maybe?