I remember having this discussion with the DJ a while ago and realized that gaming is no longer the off-kilter passtime that we hard-core gamers have assumed it to be. It's becoming a world wide phenomena. The old gamers are growing up and their kids are following in their foot steps. I already know of 2 or three family units (TheColumnist and his pop) attending the next TANGO.

But that I can handle. What better than to have your own son or daughter kick your butt in your own favorite game. Now THAT'S a feeling of good parenting. But it's the new breed of "gamer" that scares me.

I was sitting in class the other day and I heard a group of the "preps" yamering on about their latest CS game. (which by the way is the main reason I don't like this game) This discussion shortly morphed into them talking about the systems they game on.

"I've got a 1.2 MegaHertz with a 30 Meg hard drive."

"Oh Yeah, well I've got a Geforce 3 and 60 Megs of PC-500 RAM"

I was utterly horrified upon hearing these 2 short phrases. Those of you that know what your computer is made of should be completely appalled at them. I personally could barely contain myself from giving them an hour long lecture on how phucking stupid they were and also what was REALLY inside their machines.

I personally resorted to the gaming community when I realized that dickheads like this really did exist in the world. I hoped that fellow gamers like myself wouldn't be so stupid. They would be the social outcasts, like myself, who gamed because it was fun and because everyone else hated it. But when I find myself catching PC gamer phrases like "frag" and "frames" and "camper" from the people I hate most I truly question if my life of gaming has been all that worth it. Could it be that the preps are taking over my last bastion of social interaction and turning it into a fragfest of jocks and cheerleaders.

Please, someone say it ain't so!!!