Vocabulary Preview
Match each word or phrase with the correct definition.
1. antisocial
a. highly developed; complicated
2. activity
b. a picture; an idea of how something looks
3. image
c. an action to hurt or kill others
4. recognize
d. disliking other people; not fitting in with others
5. sophisticated
e. an action; a way to enjoy free time
6. violence
f. to see and understand
Pre-Reading Questions
Think about the following questions.
1. What are the most popular computer games today?
2. Do you know any people who play a lot of games on the computer?
What are these people like?
3. What do you think most gamers have in common?
Gamers:
Image and Reality
C o m p u t e r s & Te c h n o l o g y 2
U N
I
T
2
24
Gamers: Image and Reality
5
10
15
20
25
V
ideo games have become very popular. There are
numerous games for the personal computer.
Additionally,
game systems, like the Sony
Playstation and the Xbox, can be found in many
homes. As video games have become more popular
and sophisticated, they
have influenced popular
culture. The
character of Lara Croft from the
game,
Tomb Raider, is well known even to people
who have never played the game. There have been
several movies
based on video games,
Tomb
Raider included. Obviously, the video game industry is highly
profitable, and
the designers of a successful game can become very rich. Of course, what this
means is that there are many people buying and playing video games. What
kinds of people are they?
There are many stereotypes about gamers. The first one is that most gamers
are males. Another stereotype about gamers is that
they are not interesting or
attractive people. According to this view, gamers are mostly fat because they
always play games instead of exercising. Even if they are not fat, they are still
unhealthy because they
rarely go outside or do anything active.
Another part of
this image is that gamers are ugly. They play games because it is impossible for
them to find girlfriends. Not only are they ugly, but they are also boring. Gamers
have no interests outside games, so games are all that they can talk about,
besides computers. Further,
this image of gamers implies they are antisocial.
They do not know how to communicate with other people. This is the main
reason that they play games. Gamers spend all of their time alone with their
computers, and they only connect with other people through the Internet, where
2
numerous --- many
7
character
--- a person in a story
10
based on --- originating from; taken from
11
profitable --- able to earn money for a company
19
rarely --- seldom; not often
23
imply --- to suggest; to seems to mean
