Don't Use the Word "Gamer"
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
- Start date
I used the term a while back, and then I realized the fallacy of it somewhere in the back of my mind. Yahtzee just put that tiny feeling into words quite well. To follow suit:
I've got a steady career in an automotive dealership repair shop. Some nights, I watch some tv, some nights I'm on here posting. Other nights I go about having some fun outside the house.
Some nights, I game for a few hours.
Most of the people I associate with rarely touch a game, if they do so at all. You would never be able to pick me out of the crowd.
I am normal.
I've got a steady career in an automotive dealership repair shop. Some nights, I watch some tv, some nights I'm on here posting. Other nights I go about having some fun outside the house.
Some nights, I game for a few hours.
Most of the people I associate with rarely touch a game, if they do so at all. You would never be able to pick me out of the crowd.
I am normal.
You know, I said pretty much exactly this on a different thread a long time ago. It was weird, seeing Yahtzee use some of the exact same phrases I did. Needless to say, I agree completely.
"I am normal"... okay... define "normal"...
Well... all right... I don't use the word "gamer" that much anyway (though my mother does... usually after a few curses). Sure, as a hobby and a medium with a lot of artistic and creative potential, I love gaming and playing games. But I tend to identify more with the various ideologies/ perspectives that I at least partially agree with. Which would kinda make me a "Cynical, Nihilistic, Romantic, Objectivist".
Well... all right... I don't use the word "gamer" that much anyway (though my mother does... usually after a few curses). Sure, as a hobby and a medium with a lot of artistic and creative potential, I love gaming and playing games. But I tend to identify more with the various ideologies/ perspectives that I at least partially agree with. Which would kinda make me a "Cynical, Nihilistic, Romantic, Objectivist".
I do not know what to say except that I agree heartily. Although you'll likely be crucified for this. But not to worry. I shall collect the blood that drips from your wounds into a bowl and then feed it to my many goats. And when they are good and strong, WE SHALL RULE THE WORLD!
Baaaaah!
Baaaaah!
interesting topic indeed Yahtzee, although i don't really agree that much.
i understand your reasoning that the outside world and media use "gamer" as a negative stereotype, but the labels "nerd" and "geek" were words that negatively stereotyped people as well in the past. Now i have no shame in expressing my nerd-iness about games/movies/tv shows/ etc. give it time and people will stop negatively stereotyping gamers the same way they stopped saying nerds were satanists that worshiped the devil and committed group suicides because they liked to play D&D
also i think this John Funk article from last month relates well to this topic...http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/view-from-the-road/7865-View-From-the-Road-Its-Time-to-Grow-Up
i understand your reasoning that the outside world and media use "gamer" as a negative stereotype, but the labels "nerd" and "geek" were words that negatively stereotyped people as well in the past. Now i have no shame in expressing my nerd-iness about games/movies/tv shows/ etc. give it time and people will stop negatively stereotyping gamers the same way they stopped saying nerds were satanists that worshiped the devil and committed group suicides because they liked to play D&D
also i think this John Funk article from last month relates well to this topic...http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/view-from-the-road/7865-View-From-the-Road-Its-Time-to-Grow-Up
Neither do I...Doom972 said:
I mean there are movie buffs, and people who call themselves that, so why can't there be people who play games and call themselves gamers?
OR maybe I missed the whole point of this article...
While I can see his point of view, I have no problem calling myself a gamer. I don't scream it from the roof tops or ALL CAP IT ON MY PROFILE but I do like to think of myself as a moderate gamer. I do feel a little bothered by the extreme 1337, basement dwellers who have convinced everyone that they are what a gamer should be.
No ZP? Whatever, we love you too Yahtzee.
No ZP? Whatever, we love you too Yahtzee.
Ok first of all a big "aww ghey!" to there being no ZP this week.
Secondly I'm gonna have to disagree with the almighty Yahtzee on this one. "BLASPHEMY" you say?
Nah. Just the fact that there are some people, me being one, who do nothing BUT play games. Well not "nothing but" what I suppose I mean the people who spend almost all of their time on games, or talking about games, or on forums where people talk about games. Or listening to a man in a stylish hat talk very fast, angrily and swearily about games.
To get back to the point I wanted to make; some people are just "Gamers" and thats all they are. I'm obsessed with games. Maybe not 105% but it's definately up there. I'm a proud Trophy Whore and yes I refer to myself as a Gamer. I don't see anything wrong with it. I like the idea of Yahtzee's "Mana Bar" and can honstly say if it existed over here I'd be in there a lot. Point is nothing is wrong with using the phrase "Gamer".
Secondly I'm gonna have to disagree with the almighty Yahtzee on this one. "BLASPHEMY" you say?
Nah. Just the fact that there are some people, me being one, who do nothing BUT play games. Well not "nothing but" what I suppose I mean the people who spend almost all of their time on games, or talking about games, or on forums where people talk about games. Or listening to a man in a stylish hat talk very fast, angrily and swearily about games.
To get back to the point I wanted to make; some people are just "Gamers" and thats all they are. I'm obsessed with games. Maybe not 105% but it's definately up there. I'm a proud Trophy Whore and yes I refer to myself as a Gamer. I don't see anything wrong with it. I like the idea of Yahtzee's "Mana Bar" and can honstly say if it existed over here I'd be in there a lot. Point is nothing is wrong with using the phrase "Gamer".
An anecdote:
I once recorded and analyzed the vent conversation during a WoW raid for a folklore paper (don't ask, I cleared it with the prof and explaining it here would take too long).
The important part is that when I expressed difficulty with another paper, the prof said something along the lines of, "yeah, I understand that most of your experience is virtual."
...
Yup.
I once recorded and analyzed the vent conversation during a WoW raid for a folklore paper (don't ask, I cleared it with the prof and explaining it here would take too long).
The important part is that when I expressed difficulty with another paper, the prof said something along the lines of, "yeah, I understand that most of your experience is virtual."
...
Yup.
But Yahtzee, what should I describe myself as then? If not a gamer, then as a normal video game player? Cor blimey, that actually works! Still, as far as labels go on, we all label ourselves to make us sound more humane, or omnipotent, or whatever we paint ourselves, than we actually are. Each of us are indeed different and that eventually leaks us out to several distinct video game player classes on the video game player hierarchy tree, from an uninterested casual video game player who only bought an early video game console to see what the heck the video game phenomenon was about to the hardcore video game fanatic who has all the video game consoles and memorabilia dating from the first console was sold in stores (or bribed those console creators to send the first console to him/her first). My point is that I think many of us want to save face and blend in with the video game fan culture, and yes it is a culture, popular or not, because we are not normal and are far from it, and are doing our best to become normal or whatever suits our fancy.
