Or are gamers just too darn sensitive?<\/p>\n
TV channel Vuzu’s gaming show, The Verge, recently uploaded their coverage of South African gaming expo – rAge 2011 – to their YouTube channel.<\/p>\n
If the comments and feedback to the video are anything to go by – the local gaming community is not happy.<\/p>\n
The video depicts host, Lalla, as she wanders through what the show has dubbed “Mordor”: over 2,000 gamers that have set up their PCs at rAge’s LAN, and are enjoying what they love – gaming.<\/p>\n
“This is where kids come; they bring their PCs their hard-drives and alles. They camp out for the whole weekend, and they play…games,” Lalla says, with a tone of veiled scorn.<\/p>\n
She ends off her astute observation with “Jah neh, no comment…no comment.”<\/p>\n
The video proceeds to elaborate on its loaded Lord of the Rings analogy by likening the gamers to Orcs and Uruk-hai, before settling on one gamer whom the host dubs as “The Dark Lord of Mordor.”<\/p>\n
Lalla asks gamers loaded questions like “Do you have a girlfriend?”, blindly pushes their keyboard button asking “what happens if I press this button?” and acts flirtatiously and suggestively around the predominantly male gamers.<\/p>\n
She also implicitly questions a couple of gamers’ sexual orientation and general personal hygiene, amongst other things.<\/p>\n
Comments on the YouTube channel where the video was posted are generally negative, with users calling it “offensive” and “insulting.”<\/p>\n
MyGaming’s own community of gamers were quick to slam the video<\/a> and The Verge for its clumsy, stereotypical depiction of gamers, with users saying: “I don’t get how you can insult the same audience your show is marketed at.”<\/p>\n Other members were also quick to dismiss the video, saying The Verge missed the point – but also that the video should rather be ignored: “Who cares, don’t take offence, rather just point and laugh, that’s what we all generally do,” posted one forum member.<\/p>\n Even though the backlash has thus far been from a small selection of the gaming community, none of the attention the video has received has been at all positive.<\/p>\n Whatever The Verge’s intent with the video – it would seem they’ve missed the mark.<\/p>\n Check out the video below and make up your own mind.<\/p>\n Download the video here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n