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Gaming Culture

Ever since I was young many of my friends have played video games, I have been near them, played a few times, but they never seemed to intrigue me the way they did others. My friends were and many still are a part of the phenomena subculture – the gaming culture. I had never even realized the extent to which video and computer games consume some people lives until I came to college. Before looking into the gaming culture I thought that the games would have many addictive qualities that would make people unable to stop playing and cause people to go insane without them. As I researched I realized that although the latter may be a small portion of what is going on, there are other reasons as to why gaming is taking over the lives of many people around the world.
Since I am not a member of this gaming culture I had to get my information from outside sources: specifically observations of people playing video games and interviews with people. Although I interviewed a number of people there are two main interviews of people who are deeply involved in the gaming culture which gave me great insight. One of these people is my roommate Mike and the other is my friend Bob (whose real names I will not share for purposes of anonymity.) Both of them play a plethora of games, Mike plays World of War Craft, Halo, Call of Duty, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero; Bob plays mainly Halo (which consumes most of his life), Guitar Hero, and Rock Band. Although my better understanding of the gaming culture came from interviews I was also able to gain a base understanding from observing people play video games. To observe I watched my friends intensively on a few occasions and also went to the arcade at the ESPN Zone in Baltimore. While observing I noticed the body language of gamers, their games of choice, what they said, as well as the general feeling and atmosphere.
My most in depth understanding of the Gaming Culture came from the...