Don't Use the Word "Gamer"

[Guffe]

I wonder how he came to have this topic in the XP, I mean it usually has something to do with last weeks review... Ah never mind, I enjoyed the read.
Have a nice holiday!

 

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

My wife still kicks my ass in Ultimate Mortal Kombat, but she is as gamer as Michael Atkinson, she rejects videogames, except for that one and tetris; so I don't think she fits for what he said a "gamer girl" was. It's a matter of perspective I suppose, so that validates what most people said, that gamer is a mere word, that lacks of degrading meaning unless its used in such context, so no need to erase the word, but that specific term.

 

[MissAshley]

The irony is I didn't think a girl playing video games was anything special until people on the internet even said anything about it.

It's not something special until boys start feeling a little something special "down there" upon meeting girls who play video games.

*smiles and ducks*

 

[tehroc]

Anyone who calls themselves a girl gamer is basically wearing a sandwich board saying "LOOK AT ME." Then, in smaller letters underneath, "POSSIBLE DADDY ISSUES." Then a semi-colon, then "WAAA" in brackets.

I understand the humorous intent, but it does point to a very real issue. Why do people assume emotionally troubled and/or attention-seeking females have "daddy issues"?

Probably based off personal experience.

 

[2fish]

It's my general policy to assume the worst of people until they prove other wise.

Must be tough making friends. :-/

Not really, it is much more like making friends and not fully trusting them until they prove they are not complete asses or that they have a tendency to screw over all their friends when their newest girlfriend/boyfriend says they don't like us (the other friends).

One can have the best of both worlds, the only downside (if you can call it a downside) is having a fewer friends that you can really trust and then rim friends who are working their way to being core friends. So maybe a few less friends, but as life is not facebook I don't need to count them .

I, for one, welcome our robot overlords.

Traitor! The robots screwed over Saren what makes you think they will be nice to you?

 

[WanderingFool]

If you really want to be classified as "gamer", I have a handy dandy little chart so you can see what kind of gamer you are.

Spoiler

However thats only if you consider yourself a gamer, instead of simply "someone who play games".

I'm the PCfag,Steam is a good friend of mine and a cool story bro.

I do think im a "One guy who actually likes videogames".

 

[SlothfulCobra]

This has been bugging me for some time. Thank you Yahtzee.

People who talk about "gamer culture" just weird me out.

 

[MissAshley]

I totally agree. Whenever you hear the word "Gamer" you think of a socially inept loser in a basement. On cracked.com David Wong actually wrote a pretty good article about this same sort of situation. I guess great minds think alike then? Anyway, enjoy "oppressing some brown people" and have fun on vacation Yahtzee

Honestly when I hear the word "gamer" these days I think of the kind of people who both play video games and wanted to see that Gerard Butler movie. And when months ago my college adviser brought up the existence of a gaming club on campus as a means of acclimating to the place, I winced inside as I imagined a bunch of blokes playing nothing but shooting and fighting titles.

I may not think of the negative stereotypes mentioned in the article, but I do think of some negative stereotypes nonetheless.

 

[Last Bullet]

I actually had a conversation about this with a friend of mine. He said that gamer, as all labels, are bad because it stereotypes and separates people. Stereotypes are a completely different argument, but I don't fall under the gamer stereotype anyway, so I don't care. I don't particularly mind being separated from people who think of a word and then massively generalize all included. Plus, I've become attached to it.

So... I'll keep "gamer." Sorry, Mr. Croshaw. Thanks for the laughs, though.

 

[Captain Pancake]

I have acne. And just before reading this article I was drinking milk D:

 

[Shycte]

You know, I've put up with the self-important, narcissistic bullshit of a one Benjamin "Yahtzee" Croshaw for quite some time now. And though that is hardly a stretch for me, as I have been absorbing the anger and prejudice of the world's asshole population for a good three decades, I can no longer stand to have Yahtzee's own brand of verbal diarrhea being funneled into my ear canal any longer.

I put up with a lot of shit from people like Yahtzee over the years. But when you call Aerith Gainsborough a "flaky bint", you have stepped over the proverbial line. I have no more patience for you, Croshaw. Take your crybaby rants that you poorly disguise as legitimate reviews and stick them up your pasty, white tuchus. You really wanna know what the definition of the stereotypical asshole gamer that gives us all a bad name? Every morning you look at one in the mirror when you wake up. It's people like you that ruin this hobby for the rest of us.

And before you accuse me of the following. No, I do not own a body pillow or any other perverted anime crap. Though I'm sure you'll claim otherwise in next week's article.

Either you're trolling or.. shit I don't know?

Don't like don't watch I guess.

Anyway, I never use the term gamer.

 

[AMMO Kid]

You know, I've put up with the self-important, narcissistic bullshit of a one Benjamin "Yahtzee" Croshaw for quite some time now. And though that is hardly a stretch for me, as I have been absorbing the anger and prejudice of the world's asshole population for a good three decades, I can no longer stand to have Yahtzee's own brand of verbal diarrhea being funneled into my ear canal any longer.

I put up with a lot of shit from people like Yahtzee over the years. But when you call Aerith Gainsborough a "flaky bint", you have stepped over the proverbial line. I have no more patience for you, Croshaw. Take your crybaby rants that you poorly disguise as legitimate reviews and stick them up your pasty, white tuchus. You really wanna know what the definition of the stereotypical asshole gamer that gives us all a bad name? Every morning you look at one in the mirror when you wake up. It's people like you that ruin this hobby for the rest of us.

And before you accuse me of the following. No, I do not own a body pillow or any other perverted anime crap. Though I'm sure you'll claim otherwise in next week's article.

He's on vacation next week, it says so in the article...

You did read the article didn't you?

 

[Atmos Duality]

You know, I've put up with the self-important, narcissistic bullshit of a one Benjamin "Yahtzee" Croshaw for quite some time now. And though that is hardly a stretch for me, as I have been absorbing the anger and prejudice of the world's asshole population for a good three decades, I can no longer stand to have Yahtzee's own brand of verbal diarrhea being funneled into my ear canal any longer.

I put up with a lot of shit from people like Yahtzee over the years. But when you call Aerith Gainsborough a "flaky bint", you have stepped over the proverbial line. I have no more patience for you, Croshaw. Take your crybaby rants that you poorly disguise as legitimate reviews and stick them up your pasty, white tuchus. You really wanna know what the definition of the stereotypical asshole gamer that gives us all a bad name? Every morning you look at one in the mirror when you wake up. It's people like you that ruin this hobby for the rest of us.

And before you accuse me of the following. No, I do not own a body pillow or any other perverted anime crap. Though I'm sure you'll claim otherwise in next week's article.

Either you're trolling or.. shit I don't know?

Don't like don't watch I guess.

Anyway, I never use the term gamer.

Everyone needs to vent at some point.
Though I resent being called "gutter trash from Gamefaqs". "Refugee" is closer to the truth.

 

[Sheinen]

You somehow reached in to my brain, burrowed past the cobwebs, soft porn and repressed memories of my father urinating on a hammock and manhandled your way out with my idea for a Gaming Bar! Except I wasn't going to call it Mana, I was going to call it 'Matt's Shiny Happy Fun Place Where You Can Get Drunk And Play Games.' Mana is probably a little catchier...

I was gonna have it in an old gothic church with hot waitresses and live music on a Friday and Saturday night. I hadn't figured out how to stop people walking out with the wireless controllers though...

Any-who, how dare you steal my obviously lucrative brain child? I demand a 5 way split and you're lucky I'm offering that! I've seen inception! Actually no I haven't, but I've seen the trailers and got the jist of it from movie bob and I shan't be played!

 

[The Bandit]

You know, I've put up with the self-important, narcissistic bullshit of a one Benjamin "Yahtzee" Croshaw for quite some time now. And though that is hardly a stretch for me, as I have been absorbing the anger and prejudice of the world's asshole population for a good three decades, I can no longer stand to have Yahtzee's own brand of verbal diarrhea being funneled into my ear canal any longer.

I put up with a lot of shit from people like Yahtzee over the years. But when you call Aerith Gainsborough a "flaky bint", you have stepped over the proverbial line. I have no more patience for you, Croshaw. Take your crybaby rants that you poorly disguise as legitimate reviews and stick them up your pasty, white tuchus. You really wanna know what the definition of the stereotypical asshole gamer that gives us all a bad name? Every morning you look at one in the mirror when you wake up. It's people like you that ruin this hobby for the rest of us.

And before you accuse me of the following. No, I do not own a body pillow or any other perverted anime crap. Though I'm sure you'll claim otherwise in next week's article.

If you want an example of the kind of person I'm talking about, click on the comments link down below, and there'll probably be a few who fell for the bait in the last paragraph and are now arguing over the correct spelling of whatever that flaky bint's name was.

I honestly thought this post was satirical and you were just being funny (and I lol'd pretty hard), but then I read the rest of your comments and it made my stomach hurt a little.

I dunno. Maybe I did get trolled and you just took your trolling to new heights. When I troll I usually just make one post saying Canada is a frozen tundra or something.

I guess my point is maybe you should just chill the fuck out and not get so offended over other people's opinions. My favorite game is KOTOR II for Christ's sake, and I constantly get to hear how it was a shitty unfinished game.

Also, I play Halo. So, yeah. There's that too.

Anyways, I've always hated the gamer term. I've never referred to myself as a gamer and I don't think I ever will. But, Yahtzee's being a dick. If people really enjoy having "gaming pride" (like that one dude that typed up several paragraphs distinguishing between "gamer" and "casual gamer who doesn't play casual games," which is the most mind-blowing argument imaginable) then fuck it. I know that Yathzee's underlying argument is that removing the term is good for the, um, group of people who play video games in the long run... but I just don't think it matters. Comic book fans are still thought of as nerds (because they are) and that's been around for like a century. Video games are just destined to be a subculture of nerd, and the only way to get out of it is to embrace casual gaming.

Then again, Yahtzee's article ideas are probably pretty low (hence the vacation), so he just shit this out. Yeah. That's probably it.

 

[ProtoChimp]

...FUCK How is yahtzee able to sway my mind with just a 2 page article FUCK! kidding. But most people on this site don't act like this

If you want an example of the kind of person I'm talking about, click on the comments link down below, and there'll probably be a few who fell for the bait in the last paragraph and are now arguing over the correct spelling of whatever that flaky bint's name was. These are the people who hurl abuse at film critics who question the artistic potential of games and send death threats to Jack Thompson - which only proved his point.

People on this site are intelligent and avoid dickheads like that.

 

[Chevy235]

I think your "Extra Punctuation" is better than your "Zero Punctuation" now. Good editorial, and I once again agree.

 

[WanderingFool]

You somehow reached in to my brain, burrowed past the cobwebs, soft porn and repressed memories of my father urinating on a hammock and manhandled your way out with my idea for a Gaming Bar! Except I wasn't going to call it Mana, I was going to call it 'Matt's Shiny Happy Fun Place Where You Can Get Drunk And Play Games.' Mana is probably a little catchier...

I was gonna have it in an old gothic church with hot waitresses and live music on a Friday and Saturday night. I hadn't figured out how to stop people walking out with the wireless controllers though...

Any-who, how dare you steal my obviously lucrative brain child? I demand a 5 way split and you're lucky I'm offering that! I've seen inception! Actually no I haven't, but I've seen the trailers and got the jist of it from movie bob and I shan't be played!

Know what? I havent heard of a place like that anywhere in America (there probably is, but still), I think im going to start my own. Thanks Yahtzee... also noticed all my comments on this thread were about the Aeris arguement, and not on the topic of the article (Yahtzee, you sly dog you), so I perfer not to be called a gamer, unlike other people, I want to be known for more than that, but gamer seems like it would drown out everything else about me...

 

[Doom972]

I really don't understand his issue.
Gamers are people whose main hobby is gaming, like bookworms are people whose main hobby is reading books.
There's nothing wrong with defining oneself as I see it.

 

[Uber Waddles]

If your in a band or play an instrument, it is fine for someone to call you a musician. If your good a Poker you can be identified by that trait: A Poker player. If you golf your a golfer. I had a list of about 9 more of these but you get the idea.

The point is, theres an excess of people who play instruments (chums like me can play 3 for fucks sake). Plenty of people are good at Poker, and plenty of people (for unknown reasons to me) enjoy Golf.

So why the attitude with the word Gamer? Yahtzee, are you seriously so whiney that you expect other people to agree that they should stop having labels based off of hobbys? Seriously. Enough.

That is something people do. You associate people by their attributes, skills, abilities, hobbies, etc. I was the tallest person in my graduating class in high school, people refered to me as "Big Man". By your logic, I should condem people who refer to tall people as "Big Men" because it perpetuates a mindset of a certain set of stereotypes. I can play 3 Instruments, but should condem people who call me a musician because it perpetuates a mindset of a certain set of stereotypes. Our high school band made shirts that said "Band Geek" on them, SHAME ON ALL OF US FOR PERPETUATING...

Seriously, I get the points. Being a gamer isn't like being a surgeon; when you game your not doing anything but relaxing. And to be proud and "show off" about being a gamer is pretty useless to do, kind of.

Gaming Culture though is a very odd one though. While what were doing might not be important, it takes a degree of competitive skill to play some of the games. Not only that, but some people want to be associated by them being a gamer; it shows like minded people they have something in common and gives them good talking points.

Musicians will talk about Music, Gamers will talk about games. Yahtzee, point = moot.