I read the e-mail you guys send me, and I always get a kick out of the footers. We have aerospace engineers. People with PHD at the end of their names. We have kids, we have adults, we have teachers, and we have one guy who really wants the world to know he plays drums. I love hearing from readers, just because I suck out all the information I can from your e-mails to try to figure out who the hell is reading these ramblings.

The good news is that the people who are passionate about games are my neighbors, my friends, and people with way more eduction than me. Many of you out there wear ties. You guys are important people with important jobs. Except for the students, and they should of course say no to drugs and stay in school.

Why do I bring this up?

Hal Halpin, the President of the Entertainment Consumer's Association, has written an interesting article about combating negative stereotypes that's worth a read. "Negative stereotypes are perpetuated by inaction to counter them," he writes. "And oftentimes, the folks that propagate those defamatory impressions don’t realize that they’re doing as much harm as they do. That doesn’t mean however, that those on the receiving end are off the hook or doomed to martyrdom. They have a voice. And they can choose to take a stand. By doing nothing they have also made a choice; they have chosen to permit it, and as such are at least as guilty as the offenders."

I see that as a call to arms, but when it comes to gaming that doesn't have to be a tricky or hard thing. Just live out in the open. You can vote on issues, or join the ECA, and those things are great, but in my mind the most important thing you can do around the office or with your neighbors or even at family functions is to simply say you play games when the conversation about this news report or that study comes up.

You don't have to march in the streets to send the message that gaming is a perfectly valid way to pass your time, you need only be a good person who games, and you can't be afraid to say you do so. The best way to fight stereotypes is to not be one, to be a public face for gaming. It doesn't matter if you play Call of Duty or Halo or LittleBigPlanet or Left 4 Dead, just say that you play games regularly and they haven't warped you yet if someone talks about the evils of gaming. Be the counter-example that so many people claim doesn't exist.

It may not seem like much, but if everyone did it? It would be so hard to paint the industry with those nice, broad brushes the media often employs.