Joe Rogan Called Video Games “A Real Problem” On His Show And Gamers Are All Sorts Of Mad About His Take

Joe Rogan is one of the most influential voices online with the immense reach of his podcast and YouTube channel. It’s the main reason why Spotify was willing to broker a $100 million+ deal to make him a lead voice of their video podcast-infused rebrand.

But part of why Joe Rogan is so successful is he’s willing to think outside the box and present some takes that maybe don’t align with mainstream views. And this clip in which he called

Gaming and eSports’ most mainstream star Ninja was one voice who immediately chimed in:

It kinda seems more like Ninja playing both sides to try to get himself a Joe Rogan appearance, which is the kind of savvy move for someone all about the brand like Ninja.


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But overall Joe Rogan’s video games quotes seem like they could raise some issues for him with a fan community that likely had a bunch of overlap. You know who loves video games? Very online dudes. You know who also loves watching countless hours of content from Joe Rogan and others? Very online dudes. And as situations like GamerGate have showed us, a large percentage of gamers will not waste any time making it heard that they’re unhappy with someone.

For me, it largely comes down to one key understanding: We all waste away our lives in different ways. Sure, it’d be great if every moment in a day was productive. But for some of us, we may spend hours watching sports, playing video games or binge watching a TV show. Joe Rogan, very relatably for some of us, also enjoys spending hours trying drugs and experiencing their effects. On the pure ledger of life, there are likely better ways to use all of that time. You could write a concerto or learn a new skill or do something that makes you healthier.

At the end of the day, though, it’s all about what makes you happy. You may never reach the apex of being a professional gamer or even someone who can turn a profit on a Twitch stream. But if it brings you joy, and maybe teaches you some correlated positive skills like how to be personable or multitask or increase your hand-eye coordination, then how could it possibly be wrong? Especially in 2020 of all years which is desperately lacking for safe and pandemic-conscious ways to pass the time. Joe Rogan may not be “wrong,” but he’s also not right for specifically going after gamers with an argument that could just as easily apply to MMA fans or people who cook but aren’t professionals or any similar analogy you could drum up. He picked on the easy target and, hopefully, will now learn from his audience why that may not have been the right take to have.

And really if any tweet sums the situation the best, I’d say it’s this one:

Video games are a type of art meant to be consumed, much like anything else. Is it a waste of time to enjoy art? That’s a personal question to answer, whether you’re spending hours at the Louvre or bleary eyed days pretending to be a cowboy in Red Dead Redemption.


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