You wake up and shower.  You start the coffee and browse the day’s headlines on your computer.  You start running through the day’s necessary movements: errands, letting out the dog, checking to see if you drunk texted anybody last night.  You are now ready to go to work.  Except instead of hopping in the car or waiting for the train, you log on to World of Warcraft and accept the invite into the raid.

What is a mature gamer?  The phrase is tossed around between rating committees and the adult crowd.  Is it just someone older who plays video games, or does it stem deeper than that?

According to Mature Gamer, 25 years of age is the sole requirement.  But there is something to be said about the teenager who ranks higher than all the thirty-somethings on his Halo server.

Age definitely has something to do with it.  The young buck doesn’t just step in stride with the veterans and expect to produce and fit right in.  What is more important than age, however, is purpose.

Can you still be considered a mature gamer if you like to release stress by loading up Call of Duty: World at War and just obliterating Nazi zombies?  I hope so.  Or fuck, I’m out of that category.  Maybe I like to kill them not because they are trying to kill me first (like a little kid would do), but because I’m still thinking about how bad my last ex-girlfriend fucked up my universe.  Head shot?  Er…shot of jack?  It’s not even 2 pm yet; I better stick with the head shot.

So I guess this begs the question: can video games be considered anything more than escapism?  The answer to this question lies in where you draw the line between activity and achievement.  If you play a video game to keep yourself occupied in an activity, then I think it’s reasonable to say gaming for you is escapism.  If you play a video game as a means to problem solve and interact with the game in its own right, then you’re gaming with purpose, or achievement.

The late John Wooden is quoted as saying, “Do not mistake activity for achievement.” Don’t.  It’s ok to do both though.  Why not crunch a minute or two of Snood or Bejeweled why you wait for your CoD MW2 screen to load.

It’s just that here is where gamers get into trouble.  One of the reasons why us gamers can’t get past the stereotype of the antisocial asshat that spikes controllers and brags about leaderboards is because, deep down, a lot of gamers can’t shake the stigma within themselves.  It’s not that you don’t feel accomplished, it’s that you’re afraid the accomplishment won’t lead to conversations about sexual positions.  And let’s be real.  Those conversations don’t really happen on first times even if you can even reach that point.  Ok, but only sometimes.  I really miss college all of a sudden.

Are you a mature gamer?  Who the fuck cares.  You like to play Dr. Mario on your hacked Sega Dreamcast at 3 am while downing the rest of a Keystone Light 30 pack?  Rock the fuck on.  Or would you rather attempt to capture, ten times over again, every single mob in Final Fantasy X?  Club that shit like a baby seal.  I say, if there’s no clear definition for what a mature gamer is, my bet is that it’s that way for a reason.  And I would probably not want to have a beer with the guy that does feel worthy enough to label an entire race of people who game on a minute-ly basis.  That’s my piece.  I’m going to punch myself in the dick right now for trying.  Not really, but it did cross my mind.