Loot at this picture. Now, can you
point out the people at are gamers?
Hmm...really? Well, what if I told you that
they all were gamers? Is your mind blown?
It should be.

We all know the generic, self-assessing question that makes the rounds every other month (every six weeks on the blogs): "Will/Has gaming become an accepted entertainment medium?"And if it isn't this question, it's probably another dealing with some form of problem or shortcoming of the gaming industry in comparison to other entertainment endeavors.

I'm not here to attempt to talk any deep-meaning, soul-piercing words on the issue. Save it for the forums -- it ain't going anywhere! No, I want to look at an event that occurred before my very presence. It's a small, short-lived, seemingly inconsequential event, yet so powerful that it's mere existence leaves me dumbfounded!

It was a typical day. Wake up, check off another day of my senior year, eat breakfast, and head off to school. Wait in the school commons, talk to friends, then pace off to Youth and Law. Rinse, wash, repeat. Though, something must have been in the air today, for well into class I heard the sweet phrase, "so, you play games?" Immediately, as if I had just been caught in hiding, my eyes begin to dart around the room, looking for the origin of this teasing remark. Quickly, I find my target. A group of normal, perfectly average looking girls. Teenage girls none the less! The conversation continued..

Girl 1: "Yeah, I do."

Girl 2: "What systems?"

Girl 1: "Xbox, PS3, Wii."

Girl 2: "Do you have live?"

Girl 1: "Not really."

Girl 2: "You need live! It's so awesome playing online!"

*another girl throws an injunction*

Girl 3: "Any of you play WaW?"

Girl 2: "World at War?"

Girl 3: "Yeah!"

Girl 2: "Oh yeah, I love CoD!"

*conversation becomes indistinct over crowd chatter*

It was a short conversation, for my ears at least, but hell if it wasn't one of the most enjoyable I've heard in my near 4 year high school career! Now, this sort of talk around the school is not anything strange around here. I can easily hear chatter from guys gawking about Modern Warfare 2 or World of Warcraft, if not on a daily basis. Though, to hear a group of normal girls, the terms "social outcast" and "otaku" no where to be found, wank off to games as if was just talk as usual was amazing. To think that gaming is A) just a sausage fest or B) still a hermit's hobby, then to hear these girls talk was just a watershed moment for me. This moment showed that, for what ever short comings or hurtles that we feel gaming still has, the cold fact is that we are making significant progress. Now, does this mean I can casually name drop Tim Schafer and expect accolades of "I love that guy" or "Brutal Legend is going to ROOOOCK"? No, but damn if it doesn't give my heart hope that, just maybe, what the next day holds will just blow the doors off everything!