Watching other people play video games seems like a weird thing if you didn't grow up playing and understanding games. There's a lot about that activity that lends itself to humor.

You can say there's little difference between watching other people play video games and watching other people play professional sports, but that's kind of the thing. People make fun of people who watch sports all the time.

Here's the original video that made certain people so upset:

So Jimmy Kimmel made some jokes about people who watch others play video games on services like YouTube and there was some negativity in the reaction from the gaming community. By that I mean a few people lost their minds when something they enjoy was criticized during a late night talk show that makes fun of just about everything.

Why is this an issue?

The problem isn't that people got mad and wanted to fight back, the issue is that they provided Kimmel with a much better punchline than anything he could have written himself.

The video is enlightening because it's a good look at how the outside world sees gaming's reaction to even the lightest criticism. The ugly personal attack, the sense of identity that's being threatened ... it's not a good look, and it makes people who play video games look worse than any joke at our expense from a sometimes funny comedian.

Most players in this hobby are mature enough to handle a bit of ribbing about their pastime, but just realize that if you're ever moved to send someone a comment this nasty and aggressive the end result is much worse in terms of perception than the original joke or criticism. If you really want to fight back? Change the channel and enjoy your hobby.

Besides, there are way more of us watching games than people watching late night television.

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