Am I a Gamer?

Olas

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Dec 24, 2011
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Isn't this all just a matter of semantics? Who cares whether you label yourself a gamer or not? It's becoming an increasingly meaningless term as the hobby becomes more mainstream.

I suppose for the sake of clarity we ought to come up with more detailed descriptors of people who play different types of games, and to different degrees. I'm sure many already exist, but they aren't commonly used.
 

List

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Sep 29, 2013
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bartholen said:
If everyone who plays games is a gamer, then I have the following questions:

Is everyone who plays the piano a pianist?
Is everyone who trains boxing a boxer?
Is everyone who swims on a regular basis a swimmer?
Is everyone who writes reviews on the internet a reviewer?
Gamer is a very broad word for me. And I'll probably answer yes to all those questions, though i'll probably also say thay suck at it. XD

For me even the most filthy of filthy casuals are gamers.

OP is more hardcore than half my friends.
 

communist gamer

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Jul 9, 2014
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if you play not only flash games/phone games/facebook games you are a gamer, if you play only flash games/phone games/facebook games you are not a gamer, simple as that
 

Raikas

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Nieroshai said:
You're letting people who hate the hobby you associate with define the hobby you associate with bad people. Being a gamer isn't bad, nor is it what Tumblr, Fox, or MSNBC think it is. Love what you love, and be proud of it.
Eh, I don't think that's the only issue. There's the whole hobby-as-identifier piece as well, especially when that hobby amounts to pure pop culture consumption. If you're writing your autobiography, it's one thing to list gaming as a major hobby, it's another to call yourself a gamer as a major facet of your identity, y'know?
 

VoidOfOne

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Aug 14, 2013
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Yeah... If you want to be a gamer, that's fine. If you don't, that's also fine.

If people want to put labels on you, that's their problem.

If you play something, and others think that doesn't make you a gamer, that's their problem.
 

gamer_parent

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Jul 7, 2010
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why do you care what your label is? It shouldn't matter at all. The label "gamer" is becoming increasingly useless as an identifier anyway.
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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Nieroshai said:
You're letting people who hate the hobby you associate with define the hobby you associate with bad people. Being a gamer isn't bad, nor is it what Tumblr, Fox, or MSNBC think it is. Love what you love, and be proud of it.
Honestly, that's not necessarily the case. What gives me pause isn't Fox or MSNBC or even necessarily Tumblr. It's the self-identified gamers who have decided to act like they're portrayed on those media sites and the ones who stand constant watch, defending the concept from those they have deemed fakes, imposters, usurpers, and so on. To that end, several of the examples from the OP aren't an issue with the media, they're an issue with the shit you see on sites like this one, where casuals don't count, and browser games don't count, and sports games don't count, and so on.

It's not just people who "hate the hobby," unless you expand that to hardcore, true, whatever other term for the people who routinely discredit other gamers for not being legit.
 

Ikajo

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Oct 31, 2013
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This is a very interesting topic, especially when facing the fact that people are lashing out against people who criticize games based on whatever or not they identify as a gamer. If they are going to identify as a gamer they have to have spent the last 20 years playing every "big" game otherwise they lose their right to voice any kind of concern.

Maybe the label should be used only about professionals? And treating gaming like any other hobby? Like reading, watching movies and such.

Another pretty important point is, what kind of games do you have to play to be considered a gamer? Some claim that people who play on phones and tablets can't be consider gamers because they are to casual. Which then begs the question, how much do you need to spend on a game before you lose the label "casual". Even people who play, say, The Sims every day of the week gets the label "casual". Because The Sims is the king/queen of casual games... for some reason...
 

gamer_parent

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Ikajo said:
This is a very interesting topic, especially when facing the fact that people are lashing out against people who criticize games based on whatever or not they identify as a gamer. If they are going to identify as a gamer they have to have spent the last 20 years playing every "big" game otherwise they lose their right to voice any kind of concern.

Maybe the label should be used only about professionals? And treating gaming like any other hobby? Like reading, watching movies and such.

Another pretty important point is, what kind of games do you have to play to be considered a gamer? Some claim that people who play on phones and tablets can't be consider gamers because they are to casual. Which then begs the question, how much do you need to spend on a game before you lose the label "casual". Even people who play, say, The Sims every day of the week gets the label "casual". Because The Sims is the king/queen of casual games... for some reason...
If you ask me, I think this label is utterly meaningless because it's definition is so amorphous that it either becomes an arbitrary way for certain people to exclude others in a bit for a sense of elitism, or it encapsulate a group so large that it renders any real discussion about the group as effectively pointless.
 

Jadedvet

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If you care enough about video games (the games, not the politics of) that you wonder what people like yourself are called then yes, you are a gamer.

Someone who plays the occasional facebook game but seldom looks beyond, shouldn't be called a gamer and probably wouldn't care either way.

A label is needed only when a person identifies with a thing. Catching the occasional football game with my family doesn't make me a sports fan. Owning a car or changing its oil doesn't make me a gearhead. I know a bit about sports and can do some basic car maintenance but I don't identify with sports or cars.
 

michael87cn

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Jan 12, 2011
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I have played video games for 22 years now. I started with The Legend of Zelda and Mario Bros on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

I'll never call myself a gamer, because that doesn't matter. I read books, I'm not a booker, a readee, a page-turner, a bookworm, whatever. I don't need a title, derogatory or not. Is it important, to you, to be called something like this? You should really reconsider why it is. You don't need it. It doesn't matter.

There is more to life than this kind of stuff.
 

Nieroshai

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Raikas said:
Nieroshai said:
You're letting people who hate the hobby you associate with define the hobby you associate with bad people. Being a gamer isn't bad, nor is it what Tumblr, Fox, or MSNBC think it is. Love what you love, and be proud of it.
Eh, I don't think that's the only issue. There's the whole hobby-as-identifier piece as well, especially when that hobby amounts to pure pop culture consumption. If you're writing your autobiography, it's one thing to list gaming as a major hobby, it's another to call yourself a gamer as a major facet of your identity, y'know?
So it won't be long before people can't be stamp collectors, audiophiles, or foodies without being treated like that's all they do, and that any mysogynist asshole who happens to like music more than most or has eclectic tastes in food gets to ruin those things for everyone? No... If I have to take flak for being a furry, or supporting a religion or a political movement, being called a gamer is chump change because just like those other things, I AM one, whether I say "just because I identify with anthropomorphic animals better than humans, believe in X religion, and support Y candidate's platform, doesn't mean I'm a furry X-ian Lipubricrat or anything. How dare you call me that thing that clearly describes me?" The only way for me, or anyone else, to stop being a gamer is to stop being passionate about games. I'm fed up with our treatment of words.
 

MerlinCross

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Apr 22, 2011
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bartholen said:
If everyone who plays games is a gamer, then I have the following questions:

Is everyone who plays the piano a pianist?
Is everyone who trains boxing a boxer?
Is everyone who swims on a regular basis a swimmer?
Is everyone who writes reviews on the internet a reviewer?
I'd say so...., if they do it long enough or say they are. I mean if someone plays piano like 3 times a week or for long periods of time, I'd call them a pianist. Reveiwer I'd say like a handful of current reviews. I mean I have 3-4 reviews from 2-3 years ago but I don't think of myself as a reviewer. Boxer and Swimmer..., I thought that was just the standard term for anyone that stepped into the ring/pool. That or 'athlete'.

OT: 'Gamer' is as narrow as you want and as board as you want. Know a little girl down the street that calls herself a gamer even though she plays shovelware and facebook games. Who am I to deny her that tile, or the 'gamer' title an older gentleman up the street gave himself(He's oddly good at turn base. Chess must have taught him a lot).

I think that's one reason we've had trouble with the term 'gamer'. Everyone has their own idea of what the term means.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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Mareon said:
Two days ago I finished a 100 hour long playthrough of ?The Last of Us? Grounded-difficulty, and I have never felt greater satisfaction from hearing that ding of a gained trophy.
Am I a Gamer?
Last night I started a normal difficulty playthrough of Dragon Age: Origin, planning to finish it for the first time ever before Inquisition is released. I am playing as a mage, and I printed out a build for the most efficient mage the internet could give me, and I did it with no shame, since I have played the first 4 hours of Origin like twelve times since I regretted a choice.
Am I a Gamer?
I bought Heavy Rain on release day, went home and played through it in one 10 hour sitting, never been more engrossed in a game. I haven?t touched it since.
Am I a Gamer?
I bought Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on PSN, a game that I have a perfect twenty year old memory of running through in one sitting for like every afternoon during a summer. That didn?t stop me from getting my ass handed to me when I played it now.
Am I a Gamer?
I have replayed Mass Effect 2+3 over a dozen times, always with the same Shepard: Paragorn FemShep, Infiltrator. I started a Renegade playthrough with a male Shepard just to see the difference, but I stopped in disgust about 4 hours in.
Am I a Gamer?
I bought the Orange box like five year after everyone else, and I played through Portal in one sitting, cackling all the way. I have yet to touch Half-Life 2.
Am I a Gamer?
I have somewhere on my PS3 a Skyrim playthrough where I am sixty hours in and where I haven?t visited the Greybeards yet, only because too see how much game I can go through without actually doing the storyline. Answer: Quite a lot.
Am I a Gamer?
The most fun I have ever had in front of a console was last night when I, as a kind of victory lap, started a new game+ of The Last of Us on easy mode and am just murdering my way through the game with childish glee.
Am I a Gamer?
Because whenever I read the word ?Gamer? these days I never recognize myself.
I'd put it this way, how much of your life is actually dedicated to games? If games are pretty much your primary interest and focus in life then you are a gamer. If gaming for you is not something you've turned into what amounts to a lifestyle choice, then your not a gamer. That's the pure definition of it. There are very few real gamers out there by definition which is why those that are out there vehemently defend the title. If gaming is something you just happen to do quite a bit, and your proud and quite vocal about having a life and a bunch of things your into besides video games, then your not really a gamer and fall more into the "Casual" label which includes most of the mainstream.

It's not popular, but it should be understood Gamer can be both an elitist term and an insult based on perspective. When it comes to the arena of games in particular Gamers tend to be defensive because their choices have made them the elite, and arguably the knowledge based authority in that medium. On the other hand gaming doesn't actually represent a very valuable skill unless your involved in very specific games that are played professionally enough to routinely have cash prizes. Indeed it could be argued to be useless in society, as it pretty much comes down to gluttonous consumption of entertainment goods. A society having dedicated video games is also probably one of the most decadent things the world has ever conceived of (just that people can live like that). What's more dedication to gaming tends to also involve a lot of physical degeneration since it pretty much means leading a very sedimentary lifestyle which shows, making the negative aspects of the label (the bad stereotype) appropriate.

Speaking for myself, I guess you could say I am currently a "gamer" due to the way my life wound up since it takes up most of what time I spend, I am also pretty much a complete piece of waste at the moment, I've turned into a huge mess probably representative of the worse aspects of the stereotype. That said for most of my life I've generally considered myself a "hardcore geek" more than a gamer, as I came into gaming originally as a wide array of other interests related to escapism (Sci-fi, fantasy, comics) all things which helped me get through some truly terrible times in my life. So basically while I was doing other things, work, school, etc.. my peer group was all people who were into things like collectible card games, comics, and of course PnP RPGs which I did frequently and probably represented the people I was closest to. If you had asked me say 10 to 15 years ago, I would have told you I'm a casual gamer and full time nerd. Now, when I can actually motivate myself to do something I'm either on geeky sites, posting in a PBEM RPG (I'm still in one that has gone on for years despite only 3 players and a GM), or deeply involved in some video game, usually an MMO. Of course as certain problems are getting worse (like pain in my hands) I'm not actually very good at gaming anymore, and it might eventually get to the point where I have to give it up.

Do I consider being a gamer some kind of elite thing because I stick by the label this way? Well, yes and no, I can see why it has certain kinds of prestige. I mean back when I was hardcore into WoW and I was actually on some sites that tracked such things as one of the best mages on the server (and actually ranked nationally), and even if my guild lost it was cool to be competitive enough to race for server's first Illidan kill (which we barely lost as I mentioned). I also had things like a Lt. Commander title which was hard to maintain (and few people had once they changed PVP) because while only part time into PVP I was a key element of several Grand Marshal grinds alliance side... and really all this was pretty awesome for a while and it was kind of fun to look down at lesser players from my lofty pedestal of uberness. Of course I can't play like that anymore (my fingers and tendons won't let me). Overall I suppose even looking at the highs it's not something I would have chosen given the option. Even looking at the highs it can wind up at, it's not worth maintaining if you have other options. What's more I tend to think that the serious gamers who tend to be most relatable are those who wind up there for reasons other than a drive for specifically that, sort of like me. Increasingly I am just passing time on the way to nowhere.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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MerlinCross said:
bartholen said:
If everyone who plays games is a gamer, then I have the following questions:

Is everyone who plays the piano a pianist?
Is everyone who trains boxing a boxer?
Is everyone who swims on a regular basis a swimmer?
Is everyone who writes reviews on the internet a reviewer?
I'd say so...., if they do it long enough or say they are. I mean if someone plays piano like 3 times a week or for long periods of time, I'd call them a pianist. Reveiwer I'd say like a handful of current reviews. I mean I have 3-4 reviews from 2-3 years ago but I don't think of myself as a reviewer. Boxer and Swimmer..., I thought that was just the standard term for anyone that stepped into the ring/pool. That or 'athlete'.

OT: 'Gamer' is as narrow as you want and as board as you want. Know a little girl down the street that calls herself a gamer even though she plays shovelware and facebook games. Who am I to deny her that tile, or the 'gamer' title an older gentleman up the street gave himself(He's oddly good at turn base. Chess must have taught him a lot).

I think that's one reason we've had trouble with the term 'gamer'. Everyone has their own idea of what the term means.

I wrote a big thing about this which I figure a lot of people won't like just now, but as a general rule I feel that labels matter as they allow things to be differentiated. The problem of course being when certain labels wind up carrying prestige, or conditional prestige, with them, and thus become both valued and exclusionary. The thing is that as nice as it is to say "labels don't matter" being able to categorize things and people and point them out helps with communication and setting things up. If you let anyone freely use a label because they want to, it loses all meaning. It's sort of like how a "Doctor" is a title/label that implies a specific thing, a level of educational achievement. If you actually start letting everyone call themselves Doctor it removes the entire point of the designation. With Gamer it's similar because it represents a certain level of extreme commitment, as a label it's pretty much specifying people for whom games are their life, as opposed to something they merely do. The more you dilute that, the less reason there is to call anyone a gamer at all. If every man is a king, no man is, so to speak.
 

Methoda

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Nov 1, 2014
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You are not a gamer dude... you are an addicted gamer !!! Just kidding, gratz on having so much free time, i wish i had that much aswell :(
 

Raikas

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Nieroshai said:
Raikas said:
Eh, I don't think that's the only issue. There's the whole hobby-as-identifier piece as well, especially when that hobby amounts to pure pop culture consumption. If you're writing your autobiography, it's one thing to list gaming as a major hobby, it's another to call yourself a gamer as a major facet of your identity, y'know?
So it won't be long before people can't be stamp collectors, audiophiles, or foodies without being treated like that's all they do, and that any mysogynist asshole who happens to like music more than most or has eclectic tastes in food gets to ruin those things for everyone? No... If I have to take flak for being a furry, or supporting a religion or a political movement, being called a gamer is chump change because just like those other things, I AM one, whether I say "just because I identify with anthropomorphic animals better than humans, believe in X religion, and support Y candidate's platform, doesn't mean I'm a furry X-ian Lipubricrat or anything. How dare you call me that thing that clearly describes me?" The only way for me, or anyone else, to stop being a gamer is to stop being passionate about games. I'm fed up with our treatment of words.
Dude, you can identify yourself however you want.

My point was that some people are uncomfortable calling themselves gamers not because of associated shame from whatever recent drama has been cooked up, but because of the implications specifically related to pop culture consumption (so that includes cinephiles and whatever TV lovers want to call themselves, but not stamp collecting or restaurant lovers and the like). If you're not one of those people, fair enough - but plenty of people are, and I'm just pointing out that they exist as a separate group of gamers who don't feel any attachment to "Gamer" as a label that's distinct from the group who want to reject the label due to gg and the like.
 

squid5580

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Feb 20, 2008
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GamingBlaze said:
Zachary Amaranth said:
Teoes said:
Whilst the evidence provided would point to 'yes', all that could be undone by the simple admission that you also dabble in Farmville.
Crap. I played Castleville for a month or two. Am I doomed?

[sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub]Do I need to state that I'm joking?[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]
Not only do you need to state it, you probably have to do so in the biggest font possible.
I've never heard of Castleville,what's it about?
It's a town building Zynga game. Was on Facebook not sure if it even still exists with Zynga's great fall
 

TheArcaneThinker

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Jul 19, 2014
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madwarper said:
Question #1) Do you play games?
Question #2) Do you self-identify as a "Gamer"?
Question #3) Ummm... What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

If you answer yes to the first two questions, then Congratulations, you're a Gamer.
If not, then you can self-identify as something else.
If i may jump in...
Which swallow are we talking about here ? A European one or a African one?