Mcoffey said:
This is so goddamned stupid I don't even have words. This reminds me of those dumbasses who kept demanding Obama show his birth certificate. Where's your nerd cred Anita?!
And they did it well before this. They went so far as to claim her photo of her playing a game as a kid wasn't her/was faked. Maybe even done by the same people who faked Obama's certificate of Human Birth (he's a Martian, doncha know).
It's interesting, though. At what point does one start/stop being a gamer? I had several years where I was wrapped up in school and work and not failing at either where I stopped playing video games, but I've been a gamer since before most of the people on here were born. Hell, my first console pre-dates my birth and was given to me when I was four. I gave my Uncle and his wife my old SNES/Genesis and a couple other consoles to continue that "tradition." Paying it forward, as it were.
Now, strictly speaking, it could be argued that I wasn't "always a gamer," but most of us understand this context thing and probably would let me slide.
shrekfan246 said:
OT: I'm not a "gamer" either. You know why? Because the gaming community is full of the exact type of people that we constantly ***** about being stereotyped as by the general public. Because people are currently losing their shit over the fact that Grand Theft Auto V isn't getting absolutely perfect reviews from every reviewing outlet. Because people will swear off companies forever after that company offered them free games, but "they weren't the free games I wanted". Because people throw fits over the smallest promotional material up to a year before a game is actually released, based on nothing more than supposition.
Because every time I see another thread about Anita Sarkeesian, more than half of the comments in it amount to little more than grown men throwing temper tantrums over somebody trying to talk about a subject relevant to their hobbies. Somebody who, I would like to point out, had no sway on the industry in the first place and is only becoming more relevant the more everyone complains and whines about her.
*sigh* It is embarassing. And worse, I think it might be getting more childish. I mean, you consider that when I first got into, I was a child. I continue using the term gamer, but I take your point. I have the same reaction to "audiophile," because to me it means "douchebag." I don't care about the warmth of vinyl and I won't spend 200 dollars on a pair of headphones that will be drowned out by the noise of the streets I usually use them on. I'm a huuuuuge music freak, but I don't like being associated with the subculture. It's also pretty childish.
with "gamer," I mostly just don't care. I was a gamer at 12, when nobody was sending rape threats to people for suggesting more female protagonists. I was a gamer at 8, where none of the boys seemed to be bothered by playing as the Princess in Doki Dok...I mean, Super Mario Bros 2. And none of the girls were precluded just because they would eventually have boobs.
I sort of wonder when this happened. There was no definitive tipping point in gamer culture that I can see, but it went from a hobby to something everyone had to RAAAAAAEG about and it mystifies me. I mean, it's not like I've never been upset or angry (I'm not perfect), but man, the vitriol that goes out from the community to just about everyone: devs/pubs, other gamers, non-gamers, the media....
Going briefly back OT: This is the same sort of crack "journalism" that gamers hate when Fox News or the rest of the lamestream media[footnote]I love that phrase. Makes me chuckle[/footnote] does it. Please, people, for the love of Mario (Or, if you're younger, Master Chief): don't be that guy.
