The midnight release party is somewhat of a staple of shame in the gaming community. After all, how many other hobbies lead to droves of people hanging out in front of a store at midnight on a Monday?

I can still count how many midnight releases I’ve attended, so I suppose I haven’t crossed over in to the deep end of gaming. However, I always feel a little awkward while waiting in line at the events. I wonder what my junior high classmates would have come up with to harass me if I attended one of these releases back then.

A lot of my fellow gamers dress up like their favorite videogame characters—often unrelated to the game we’re all there to pickup. I think the habit just perpetuates the myth that serious gamers are completely out of touch with normal society; but many relatively normal people dress up to go to movie premiers and similar events. So it could very well be a misunderstanding by those of us who don’t enjoy playing “dress up” in our early 20s.

However, the majority of the people in the line are just there to get their hands on the game.

Are midnight game releases any different than lining up in front of a department store on black Friday or lining up in front of a cell phone dealer for the release of a new smart phone? Minus the cosplay, I really don’t think so.

On one hand, the midnight release demonstrates how many people are very serious about gaming. On the other hand, the midnight release demonstrates that gaming is now so much in tune with the mainstream that it is perfectly reasonable for a store to stay open past midnight on a Monday to sell a videogame.