Games are like Porn?

Newsweek’s excellent level up blog ran this insightful column today which likens the cultural status of video games to that of porn. It’s a comparison I’m hesitant to admit I’ve considered from time to time.

The first thing he points out is that it’s quite possible for most people to completely avoid contact with videogames. Unless you watch a very specific set of channels and programming, sports, star trek etc. you’lll never see an ad for games, if you don’t read a similar spectrum of magazines you’ll seldom see an ad for games in print.

The author argues that you’d be no more likely to tell a woman about your game library than you would your Porn library–and probably less likely. He then places blame on the gaming community at large for defining ourselves in terms of other media. You never hear an indisputably mainstream medium like films or novels brag about themselves as they related to other media.

He also pointed out that while huge numbers of people participate in these two media, even their creators aren’t especially proud of them. One sotry he tells is of the games’ industry’s chief lobbyist being unwilling to take Lara Croft to the hill because he couldn’t show her to congress.