I am Korean American and I came to the States after graduated from my middle school in South Korea(Trust me. You have no idea how many people have asked me "which Korea?"). I do speak fluent Korean and English but I have just enough subtle accents to give off the "foreign" vibe, as my friends would say. I have and love PlayStations. I enjoy playing JRPG but not exclusively. But I did pick PS3 over 360 because the games I enjoy are PS3 exclusives, which is a natural thing since I have been a long time Sony fan. Take that as you will. Unlike other Koreans, however, I do not like Star Craft. Never got into it, never enjoyed it. Some people found that very strange. I am not crazy good at video games but I get by. I am not overweight, do not have long hairs, but do wear thick black glasses. I do care about fashion and how I look. I enjoy playing tennis and, sadly, that is pretty much the only sport I play. Some might even call me a hipster but I have yet to discover what defines "hipster." I do have high GPA and I am an overachiever as many would associate with Asian Americans.

Base on what people have told me, the stereotypes of "Asian gamer" are;

Overweight, crazy good at games(especially fighting games or Star Craft if you're Korean), Japanese for the most of the times, has high GPA(but that is Asian stereotype in general), do not really go outside, do not take showers, wear one shirt and one pair of pants only(again, that is a stereotype for overachieving Asian), broken English and, this one always makes me laugh, have every JRPG in the world.

I do not know how much of them are universal but these are the stereotypes that I have heard, experienced or collected over the 9 years of my life in the States. More or less, I fit into 50 percent of stereotypes. But it makes me sad that how people love to categorize others base on something that is not really a fact. Comments like "of course you like Street Fighters" or something like "What? You don't play Star Craft? What kind of Korean are you?"

Every time when I get such responses, I say "so you must be Halo crazy and drink Mountain Dew every 5 seconds, huh?" and they do not say anything.

I know it is hard to believe we still have these kinds of stereotypes in 21st century, especially if you are from big cities like LA, New York, San Francisco, etc. But the truth is, there is still a good number of people who believe I should be controlling marines with glowing keyboards because I am Korean. Sad, but true.

So my question is this; How much is it true? What do you think about them? Do they bother you? What are the expectations that people have when you say you play video games?

Obviously enough, the biggest one I get is "you must be good at Star Craft." What about you? Please discuss!

@nohthink said:

Some might even call me a hipster but I have yet to discover what defines "hipster."

Would the phrase "pretentious counter-culture douche" count as a definition :P?

@Video_Game_King: lol My friends call me hipster because I wear skinny pants... Does that count as counter culture?

No, but it may be a step. I think you also need a pencil mustache, a certain hat (like a derby hat, but not), and cassettes full of obscure underground indie music.

I don't care much.
 
Usually when I tell people I'm into games they'll laugh and go: "Aww what level is your Blood Elf Paladin?" or "I hear the latest Kirby is pretty hardcore?" (little do they know!).
 
I just smile and ignore them, they can think whatever they want of me and my hobbies because it doesn't influence my enjoyment of games even a little bit.
And if they want to I'll happily smack them around in a friendly match of Super Smash Brothers, with Kirby or Jigglypuff).

@TaliciaDragonsong: Anyone asking those levels of questions clearly know more than they are letting on and secretly it is their Blood Elf Paladin they are talking about, and they have finished the new Kirby game at least twice.

@TaliciaDragonsong: Anyone asking those levels of questions clearly know more than they are letting on and secretly it is their Blood Elf Paladin they are talking about, and they have finished the new Kirby game at least twice.

 I keep my gaming habit on the down-lo because I don't want strangers thinking I'm obsessed with Call of Duty and/or FIFA.
 
Edit: I say habit, I barely even play games lately. I'll finish Mass Effect 3 fast and then probably go back to playing maybe 5-10 hours a week. (even that seems a lot to me)

@TaliciaDragonsong: And then they ask if you've played the new Madden and CoD, so they sound like manbrodudes!

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

I don't care much. Usually when I tell people I'm into games they'll laugh and go: "Aww what level is your Blood Elf Paladin?" or "I hear the latest Kirby is pretty hardcore?" (little do they know!). I just smile and ignore them, they can think whatever they want of me and my hobbies because it doesn't influence my enjoyment of games even a little bit. And if they want to I'll happily smack them around in a friendly match of Super Smash Brothers, with Kirby or Jigglypuff).

I'll take your challenge Ms. BE Paladin and I'll even play Jigglypuff!

@Video_Game_King said:

@nohthink said:

Some might even call me a hipster but I have yet to discover what defines "hipster."

Would the phrase "pretentious counter-culture douche" count as a definition :P?

Will Smith from Tested.Com. Just Kidding. Not really though.

Honestly I learned not to care. I love playing games. It's my favorite form of entertainment behind books. I always say so what should I do instead? TV has lost it's appeal to me, movies are meh to me most of the time, I already run in the morning and I can only read so many books.

The stereotypes are fairly untrue in my case, some of the gamers I have seen at Gamestop make me cringe with embarrassment that they are what represents us and I know now where the stereotypes come from. I don't mind the stereotypes though.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

@Canteu: Hopefully they'll be so busy smack talking about their leet skillz that I'm able to slip away! I have no time for such things! ^^

@ccampb89: I'd take you up on the challenge but the EU <-> USA connection for Smash Brothers is beyond terrible! I once played against a friend in the states and I believe the Matrix had faster slowmo scenes than the madness I experienced.

Aw, oh well. Stupid Nintendork.

Actually, I always thought of Korean (and Asian) gamers as overachieving, skinny, and with glasses, but never as fat or smelly. I know this might sound crazy, but there isn't a damn thing wrong with being overachievers or having glasses. Skinniness can have problems if it's excessive, though.

Anyway, stereotypes are just something humans automatically do. The only way to really counter it is to ignore them.

Meanwhile, I do have one little question about Korea and Starcraft. Is it something like football is here, where tons of people watch it and if you don't watch it, you know something about it? Something that everyone and their mother plays? I'd just like to know if our assumptions there are way overblown or not far from the truth.

I was born in South Korea.....but that's where are similarities end.

@nohthink: Interesting talk of Asian stereotypes, as that's been a topic of discussion during the whole Jeremy Lin phenomenon. Cut by two teams, doesn't fit the usual mold of a successful NBA player, and you damn well know he's run in to people all his life who thought he couldn't ball just b/c he's Asian..Us gamers have plenty of stereotypes of each other, i.e. CoD players are dickhead dudebros, while RPGers are virginal, basement-dwelling nerds. And so on and so forth...

On topic, OP, are you getting these comments from other gamers or just other folks you meet? (I don't see many non-gamers knowing how big StarCraft is in Korea) As a rule, the average age of a gamer is 28, male and female, and come from all walks of life.

I could probably fit into a nerdy stereotype. I don't have glasses though. I need to get a pair of glasses.

Can't say I really have much encounters with other people's stereotypes; I never introduce myself as someone who plays games (why would I?) so I don't really talk to strangers about it much. Damn near everyone in my high school played something - never underestimate pokemon - so there was never an anti-video game attitude. I think any real negative views aren't so much against people who play games these days, as people who willingly define themselves as 'gamers' - that is, someone who obsesses over games to the point that they're not fun to be around/ talk to.

Do they even allow JRPGs into Korea?

I dunno, I work out quite a lot so I am in pretty decent shape, back in high school I played football a lot so I guess I could be classified as a jock.

I am fairly anti social though, and prefer if possible to hang back and relax by myself instead of having to interact with people, so I guess I do fit that stereotype.

@believer258:

It is kinda like soccer in the States but it's on 24/7. There are two or three TV channels that cover video games but they cover mostly Star Craft. You can turn on that channel in any given day, they will be showing Star Craft. It is mind bogging. I'm Korean and I found that strange. The general public is aware of Star Craft, some people watch it, and some people are really into it. So I would say(and this is just me randomly making the number off top of my head) about 90 percent of the general public know/heard/played Star Craft at one point of their lives but about 30 percent of them are really into it. Usually, its core audiences are high schoolers and college students(mostly male).

@stryker1121:

You would be surprised how many people associate Koreans with Star Craft. Whether they're gamers or not, they know two things about Korea; Star Craft and kimchi. Kinda funny, really.

@nohthink said:

@believer258:

It is kinda like soccer in the States but it's on 24/7. There are two or three TV channels that cover video games but they cover mostly Star Craft. You can turn on that channel in any given day, they will be showing Star Craft. It is mind bogging. I'm Korean and I found that strange. The general public is aware of Star Craft, some people watch it, and some people are really into it. So I would say(and this is just me randomly making the number off top of my head) about 90 percent of the general public know/heard/played Star Craft at one point of their lives but about 30 percent of them are really into it. Usually, its core audiences are high schoolers and college students(mostly male).

Thanks for answering. It sounds a lot like American football. Soccer, however, isn't anywhere near that popular here. Certainly people know about it and play it some, but it's not *that* popular.

To confuse you more, what Americans call "soccer" is what everyone else calls "football" and what we call "football" is something that I have never heard of being widely played anywhere else.

@believer258: Oh God... I'm confused... lol

But yeah, it is definitely something that I found it interesting too. I feel like Americans more interested in Korean Star Craft culture than any other people. I don't know if you have seen it or not but Brad actually visited Korea and had "Star Craft tour" where he visited the players' training camp, and watched the actual league as an audience. I was fascinated by Brad being fascinated because I have personally never actually been to the actual league and someone who is not even a Korean visiting Korea just to witness the "Star Craft phenomenon" amazed me. Sometimes, I hope people realize that Korea is more than Star Craft lol

I really dont fit into many stereotypes even though I consider myself kind of a nerd. I love video games, movies, books, technology, and even anime but I am extremely physically fit, not socially awkward in any way, like looking good and wearing generally preppy/professional clothes but not to crazy with the prep, I really like sports and have played a few, and I have like a 3.8 in college. In high school I played lacrosse and probably could have been called a douche bag and it would have been true, but at the end of high school I decided life was about to start in full and I decided to grow up, unlike basically everyone else I've ever met.

@nohthink: First off, you handle it the best way possible. Love the Mountain Dew comeback.

As to the truth of stereotypes, while there are always going to be people who display the stereotypes (See Aris over on that SFxT article Patrick put up), the problem is that people with limited exposure are going to see the loudest, most obvious people and assume that's what all people in a group are like. This is especially true of insular communities, where there aren't enough non-stereotypical folks out in the public light to balance shit out.

In other words, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Unless they wanna be dickish, then kick 'em where it counts. ;)

Do they even allow JRPGs into Korea?

He-y, a fellow Korean-American.

My advice is just to ignore those comments. If you can't, don't lash back at them on how Asians (or the world) stereotype Americans. Tell them that what they said is kinda racist and that Koreans are as diverse as Americans can be. That's an overstatement, considering how HUGE America is and how SMALL South Korea is, but that's besides the point.

My two-cents -- hope it helps.

I'd say that, like most stereotypes, the majority of stereotypes about gamers are rather presumptuous observations made by various misconceptions. I mean, sure, there are a lot of gamers who do fit into the mold of the stereotype, but I'd say that, for the most part, the belief that we're all fat, ugly, socially-awkward, foreveralone, dungeon-dwelling nerds is entirely incorrect.

All stereotypes are based in some truth. They wouldn't have been developed into a stereotype otherwise. I know I'm a walking stereotype.

@Video_Game_King said:

@nohthink said:

Some might even call me a hipster but I have yet to discover what defines "hipster."

Would the phrase "pretentious counter-culture douche" count as a definition :P?

That also defines most of the people who bash hipsters, especially on this site.

@Jimbo said:

Do they even allow JRPGs into Korea?

You're thinking North Korea, not South.

(full stop after 'it')

I like comics, like LEGO, like games and spend a lot of my time playing them or on the internet.

I also have mad glasses.

@crusader8463 said:

All stereotypes are based in some truth. They wouldn't have been developed into a stereotype otherwise. I know I'm a walking stereotype.

Wrong, most modern stereotypes are unfounded and created by the media or similar groups for certain purposes.

People assume I own a computer.

This is true.

@Skald Your comment alongside your avatar made me laugh for some reason :).

If you want a degrading stereotypical image of a 'gamer' watch the movie Gamer. 
 
Not only does it put every gamer in the movie in an extremely negative way but it's also fucking horrible. Very little is worth watching it for.

I wouldn't want people to presume things about me, so I don't presume things about others.

@Turambar

@Jimbo said:

Do they even allow JRPGs into Korea?

You're thinking North Korea, not South.

I meant all of it As a rule, Koreans hate the Japanese with the fury of a thousand (rising) suns.

@Sooty said:

I keep my gaming habit on the down-lo because I don't want strangers thinking I'm obsessed with Call of Duty and/or FIFA. Edit: I say habit, I barely even play games lately. I'll finish Mass Effect 3 fast and then probably go back to playing maybe 5-10 hours a week. (even that seems a lot to me)

Is not that much I only play fridays and weekends for about 3- 5 hours, it seems a lot to me but other people play for longer

@sickVisionz said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@nohthink said:

Some might even call me a hipster but I have yet to discover what defines "hipster."

Would the phrase "pretentious counter-culture douche" count as a definition :P?

That also defines most of the people who bash hipsters, especially on this site.

Then how would you describe a hipster? I know that the counter-culture part is pretty damn important to the hipster.

@Video_Game_King: Your description is accurate. I'm saying that I tend to notice that the people who throw it around the most are ones who are hipsters in their own right. Usually the only difference I notice is that the people saying it don't dress as nice as the people they call a hipster. Both are pretentious counter-culture douches though. As far as the "especially on this site" comment, make a thread called "Call of Duty vs Limbo" and you'll see 100s of examples of pretentious counter-culture douchery in mere minutes.