Don't Use the Word "Gamer"

[Hawgh]

I tend to agree, it's annoying to be put in a box. Especially when the box is sorta smelly and a little cramped.
What's odd is that the remark on the game bar has locked me into thinking how strange it is that a internet cafe actually doesn't offer any cafe-related services. It is now the only thing I have carried away from the article.

 

[djpsykotiko]

Perhaps a different, similar, and shorter alternative is "Gaming Enthusiast". It sounds more sophisticated and a lot nicer. If someone called me that, or described themselves as that, I would not imagine neck-beards. lol

 

[ishist]

Well....
I don't call myself a gamer. Mostly because on average I spend more time with my hands in my PC case, than on the keyboard. I call myself a Geek (note the capitalization) which used to be associated with the same fat neckbearded folk that game-players are today. Lately Geek has seemed to lose all of it's derogatory associations and people will call themselves a geek just because they own an iphone (note the lack of capitalization). I must be getting old or something.

 

[ben m g]

I have no desire to back read, but i'd give it a go trying to put my posibly redundant point across.

there are gamers and there are people who play games
there are couch potatoes and there are people who watch TV.
there are movie buffs and there are people that like to watch movies.

sometime what we belive and enjoy defines us, even if only a little.
i would call myself a gamer, because thats my first choise of breaking the stress and that i enjoy it.
when it is who you are, you should embrace it.

yes there is a sterotype but that will diminish by itself and by the actions of it group.

not whatever you call yourself.

i'm not making a grand point, i have no real dog in this fight.
this artical seemed in itself so redundant, aimed more at improving the patronage of a certain establishment than of making any real point.

 

[lead sharp]

Every hobby has a name for the person that takes part in it, 'gamer' is no more derogatory than philatelist.

Words only have the power you give them, judging by the response to this XP Yahtzee is one powerful ************.

 

[InvisibleMan]

On the topic of the Mana Bar:
Open one on the US east coast...please? Pretty please?

No, no! If you are going to open a Mana Bar on the U.S., the best place is in Chicago! Seriously...

 

[geizr]

For crying out loud, if you play games, you are a gamer. It doesn't matter if you are male, female, young, old, gay, straight, black, white, blue, green, or plaid. Suddenly deciding you don't want to be called a certain word doesn't change what you do or think.

Also, this constant effort by gamers to be given importance and respect for their hobby requires gamers to first be willing to respect the rest of humanity. As long as gamers are rude, crude, disrespectful, irreverent, homophobic, chauvinistic, racist, whiny, self-centered, elitist, condescending, insular, immature, entitlement-minded, negative-thinking, cry-baby asshole brats to the rest of the human race, the denotation of being a gamer will carry a negative meaning. It's not the word that is the problem; it's your behavior and attitude. You want to be treated better and thought of better by others, then you need to first extend that treatment and courtesy to others. Rather than build a positive image of themselves, gamers have made a concerted(either conscious or unconscious) effort to project the most negative possible image to the rest of the world. Naturally, the rest of the world has responded by giving the word "gamer" a negative connotation. Even changing to calling ourselves by a different word will not get rid of the basic problem; it'll just become a new word with the same negative connotation because the people to whom the word is attached have not changed.

EDIT: Added "condescending" in my characterization list.

 

[Furrama]

I have this theory that people who are oppressed (or at least FEEL oppressed) adopt and hold fast to labels, or use labels for others to make themselves feel better.

So 'gamers' and 'girl gamers' especially would fall into this theory. Because who wants to be a sweaty nerd in a basement? What girl likes being in a situation where a bunch of guys tell her that she can't be a girl, there aren't any on the internet? Even worse, who wants to be ALONE?

We don't need any labels for anything really. But it's easy to see why they've popped up.

 

[CRoone]

Wow. That...was an impressive arguement on the subject. I think I'll be printing that out now and stapling it up on the board in my campus game lounge...

 

[wellhiddenmark]

You can't play Doodle Jump on the bus. The stop-start jerking motion means you will die frustrated.

 

[Alon Shechter]

Being a guy who has acne, I find this very insulting.

 

[Exile714]

If I'm ever in Brisbane I'll look that place up. But sadly I live near DC, and was caught completely unaware when Yahtzee whipped in and out of my city (and subsequently posted a video) and walked right by not knowing who he was. I would have bought that bloke (hope I said it right) a beer.

 

[Kingjackl]

The Mana Bar opened in late March. Incidentally, that's about the same time Michael Atkinson retired. It's been a good year for Australian gamers...sorry, for people who enjoy games that live in Australia.

I would consider myself the stereotypical 'gamer', except the only console I own is the dreaded Wii, so I don't know if I count. That said, I agree completely with Yahtzee about the use of the word gamer. Considering how many people use that word, god knows when it will stop.

 

[Danz D Man]

I have to say I disagree with you Yahtzee. When I say I'm a gamer, I don't say it as if that's the only thing that defines me. If I play a musical instrument, can I not say I'm a musician? Can a painter not say he's an artist? All these have negative connotations as well, but people don't stop using them. It also doesn't mean they can't be proud of being a painter or a musician. Playing video games long enough to actually be good at them is something I think you can be proud of.

This rant reminds me of those feminists who are campaigning for calling firemen "fire-persons," as "firemen" implies the person is male. It's ridiculous and it's not going to end in anything worthwhile.

Long story short, I'll still use the term gamer.

 

[Jim15]

I think what I dislike more than being called a "gamer" is being labeled as "hardcore" or the "core audience". In the case of the former, it's like the other person thinks you have a problem just for playing games. In the case of the latter,it's painfully obvious that the companies call game players by that to make them feel better about the fact that they're releasing more casual games than ever.

There doesn't really need to be categories for people who play games.

 

[cyzrane]

This is an excellent article that reflects a line of thought that I've been pursuing myself lately. I think, perhaps, that to combat the stigma of being called a "gamer" (with all of the antisocial, awkward tendencies that that term is taken to imply), many gamers have opted to wear the term as a badge of honour; they take being branded as "different" as "superior". Hence haughty, disdainful nerds are born, toting the banner of "gamer pride". That's not everyone, of course, but damn if it isn't the case for some people.

The most important point raised in all this, though, is the idea of whether or not a person is defined by what they do. To an extent, what defines a person is chosen by that person; if I want to be defined as someone who reads books, I will create that image of myself. Ditto video games. If anyone wishes to be defined as a gamer, then it is largely by choice and not by force. Such definitions are, in this respect, merely self-imposed limits that attempt to categorize a person better (perhaps, as the article says, to make a stab at identification with like-minded others). In the end, the activities and work we do should not define us in and of themselves. If you wish to be seen as an engineer/doctor/lawyer/reader/gamer/jogger/footballer then that's your own business, but it's putting a very over-simplified label on yourself. That might well be a facet of you, but you should be a far more diverse and complicated entity than that.

It's great that this message, or something like it anyway, is being preached from a platform as elevated and far-reaching as Extra Punctuation. Ultimately, if gaming is to progress more and more as a medium, terms like "gamer" will have to be dispelled, since there really shouldn't be any need for them.

 

[SimGrave]

I am a gamer. I also have kids, wife, social life and other passions. I don't like WOW nor D&D. I don't mind being called a gamer. That's what I am. It's like stopping using the word gay to describe homosexuals, simply because stereotype images come to mind. It's an even more scary society where we can't use the right words to describe what people are. I decided to not feel like a victim and don't care what image comes to everyones mind. I played games for over 25 years and I worked in the game industry for over 10 years. So how are people going to call me "person with a definitive passion for games"? Come On!!! It's not politically correct to say handicap, we have to say disable. Can't say deaf, no no... ear deficit or something. We can't say big, but chubby. Can't say a lot of things. And it became normal for certain words to sound offensive when they shouldn't... of course I'm not talking about extremes, like you know the n-word, which has a real history. But I refuse that you let the word GAMER become a negative stereotype. It'll only become one if you decide to be a victim of it. I don't look for acceptation whenever I say gamer to someone I don't care if their reactions.

 

[Da Ork]

I agree about the girl gamer bit...but I am a gamer...hear me rawr?
Seriously though I'm a book reader and a movie watcher as well...but almost all people in there lives at some point have done both of those. Yes more and more people are playing games but I'm happy being a gamer myself.

cyzrane but if I say to someone I'm a gamer they have a fair idea of what I'm talking about (well except maybe some of the oldies). However if I say I'm someone who works doing [job], I have a large family, I watch tv, read books, go to movies and play games they'll just look at me funny. If someone is actually a friend they will know all this. If not I'm happy for them to know me as a gamer.

 

[the_Sue]

Most women I've met have this constant need to show the world that every human female is a special little flower who somehow is better than any male that she shares any common interests with just because she happens to be a woman. it's like the women's lib movement hit the mark that they wanted and then just kept going. It's like, yeah I play video games, and yeah I can successfully change me car's oil as well as being able to fix some other things on it...that doesn't make me special...its just a common sense thing to learn. Women seem to wear stuff like that as a badge of honor like it makes them better than any man who can do the same thing. Nope, sorry, you aren't...you're pretty much equal and apparently also kind of shallow for thinking that this makes you better than someone else.
So all you "girl gamers"...go choke on something and do us all a favor.

But anyway...Yahtzee's right, as usual. (thats gonna get me some flames) I think that playing video games of one kind of another has really risen in popularity to the point that even the muscleheaded jocks who used to push you into lockers as a teenager (provided that you were an unpopular nerd like me in highschool) are now buying game consoles and entering into this world also...it's no longer a niche thing anymore.

 

[the_Sue]

Eh, every so often Yahtzee will go on a "Waaah, I'm NOT a nerd!" rants.

What is it this week? Ah, sweaty manchildren with neckbeards. Huzzah for unoriginality!

Look at yerself, Yahtzee. You have a scratty unattractive beard, a hat that REALLY doesn't suit you, appalling taste in clothing - it's bad enough when hipsters dress as badly as you, but you seem to think it ACTUALLY LOOKS GOOD. Yer a nerd, and ya always will be. You can accept it, or you can keep crying about other people acting in a way that SOMEHOW conspires to make you end up looking nerdy.

to be fair now, he's actually quite handsome in my opinion...and I think he's funny also, but then again I tend to find well-done sarcasm funnier than most people.