Friday, September 16, 2011

Books and Games: The Fatmakers

I'll admit it, I resent reading a little bit. Now, I do read constantly, but not as many actual books as I should, I suppose.

While shooting interviews for my upcoming libraries and gaming segment, something got me a little annoyed. Nobody complains about books making you fat. If you just sat down and read books all day and did nothing else, how is that any different (physically) from playing games all day? Unfortunately, your imagination doesn't burn calories. Even if you imagine that you are.

But come on! Reading is such a sacred cow. You can't say anything bad about it otherwise you look like an ignoramus. Clearly, reading is awesome. But the fact that I even need to qualify everything with that statement shows what I mean. I'm so nervous about saying anything bad about reading that I have to spell it out like that.

I suppose reading had to fight this battle at some point. It was one of the points of conversation with the people I talked to at the library. Even writing had to deal with the same kind of condescension that gaming is dealing with right now. I just hope that one day, gaming will be treated with the same respect reading has. But then, watching movies doesn't really. But I can dream.