Personally, I got sick of feeling cornered whenever an authority figure and/or girl asked me what I do for fun. I never really stopped enjoying video games, I just saw one too many pairs of glazed-over eyes and almost-imperceptibly curled lips and decided it wasn't worth the stigma or the opportunity cost (lost 42 pounds since I quit!).
I think most of the stigma has gone away now. Admittedly I run in tech heavy social circles, but many of the people I know either still play video games or stopped due solely to lack of time and envy those who do still play.
Of course, you can have more than one hobby. I still play video games when I have time and the mood strikes me, but I also play Go and that is what I bring up when asked. (Not due to concerns about social stigma, I am just hoping they will also play Go and we can arrange a game.)
I mean, male peers were never a problem. It just so happens that male peers are the group of people in whose opinion I am least invested.
Both older (read: more powerful) men and women of all ages seem to respond much better when I mention "cycling", "hiking", or "boxing" than when I all I had was "playing video games", "watching downloaded television", or even "reading". It's kind of hard to untangle the effects of 42 pounds weight loss from any of these experiments, though.
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Personally, I got sick of feeling cornered whenever an authority figure and/or girl asked me what I do for fun. I never really stopped enjoying video games, I just saw one too many pairs of glazed-over eyes and almost-imperceptibly curled lips and decided it wasn't worth the stigma or the opportunity cost (lost 42 pounds since I quit!).
I think most of the stigma has gone away now. Admittedly I run in tech heavy social circles, but many of the people I know either still play video games or stopped due solely to lack of time and envy those who do still play.
Of course, you can have more than one hobby. I still play video games when I have time and the mood strikes me, but I also play Go and that is what I bring up when asked. (Not due to concerns about social stigma, I am just hoping they will also play Go and we can arrange a game.)
I mean, male peers were never a problem. It just so happens that male peers are the group of people in whose opinion I am least invested.
Both older (read: more powerful) men and women of all ages seem to respond much better when I mention "cycling", "hiking", or "boxing" than when I all I had was "playing video games", "watching downloaded television", or even "reading". It's kind of hard to untangle the effects of 42 pounds weight loss from any of these experiments, though.
When somebody thinks your a idiot because you do "reading", they can go to hell anyways.
I play Go too - we should play a few games =)