Yes, I am a gamer. The question I get a lot of the time, from non-gamers, is: why? Or sometimes: isn’t that really bad for you?! Actually, there’s significant research, mostly stemming from folks like James Paul Gee, that video games actually improve your critical thinking skills and your ability to navigate non-gaming worlds.
For me, gaming serves a lot of functions: stress-relief, being immersed in a story, solving problems creatively, inspiring me to do better in my ‘real’ life, etc. My favorite gaming experience (by FAR) is a franchise called Mass Effect (even despite the recent controversy over the ending, which enraged me as much as it did a majority of other fans). Like all good video games, Mass Effect is a world unto itself, a world I spend part of my time in, but which I return from a better person. It has its own rules, its own citizens (who just happen to be artificially intelligent beings), and its own sense of morality. Is gaming escapism? Of course, but so is getting lost in a good book, hearing a song that brings you to tears, and witnessing the beauty of a natural setting that makes you feel whole again.
