"Gamer" is fine.
What would be your alternative? "Person who plays games"?
If it ain't broke don't fix it.
What would be your alternative? "Person who plays games"?
If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Yeah, I agree with this, and it's why those studies claiming that the majority of gamers are middle-aged females, etc. always devolve into arguing. I personally hate the term "gamer" because everyone uses it differently, and I wish that another term was used to describe those who are passionate about games in the same vein as a "movie buff" or "cinephile" is about film. I hate "hardcore gamer" because it sounds fucking retarded. "Core gamer" isn't too bad, but the industry uses it to describe pretty much only those who play FPSes, sports games, other yearly release games, etc., and "core gamer" still sounds kinda silly. I'd prefer to just borrow a page from film's book and refer to the group as "gaming buffs". It'd probably take a while for that term (or any other term for that matter) to catch on though.Sleekit said:i agree with this and have used the "gamer" = "film buff" line many times.
the problem is that there is no actually no distinct wider term that encompasses the wider audience...so they use "gamers" as well.
the term "gamers" is applied to both when in the case of "film buff" there is a known and understood difference between a "film buff" and say "movie goers" when used as an understood wider term.
we have a legitimate language problem here imo...and its probably due, like so many things, to the fact this actually still a fairly young medium.
(and no "hardcore gamers" doesn't cut it because to be frank its a fucking stupid phrase no one can agree on and i don't think taking seemingly taking porn as a linguistic cue is particularity inspired)
Possibly. Someone mentioned "hardcore" and "casual" above but I think that sometimes "gamer" itself is used as the new delineating term between "hardcore" and "casual". That is, everybody can play games but not everyone is a "gamer". In this case, the term connotes a certain level of enthusiasm and behavior which may or may not be disconcerting.DoPo said:Did it ever?
It's almost as if something happened and a bunch of folks began robbing the term of a positive meaning.LostGryphon said:It's pretty amazing how those folks, as well as others, have come up with the exact same idea at the same time and are now pushing that particular narrative as though it were true and something that was actually happening...isn't it?
To me "Gamer" has always simply meant someone who's main hobby is playing computer games, that they spend a significant chunk of their spare time playing games - that's it, full stop, I don't recognise any of the cultural baggage that others are happy to saddle the word with.Alex Mac said:So, people. I want to know: What does the term "gamer" mean to you? Is it sufficient in this day and age? What connotations does it carry for you? Is the term dead?
"Gamer" also refers to people who play tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer 40K, or even boardgames. And the tabletop scene, thanks to crowd funding, has been growing over the last few years as newer and more diverse games come out.Atmos Duality said:No skin off my back.
"Gamer" was a largely ambiguous, worthless term to describe "person that plays games".
I mean, before video games the term "gaming" referred to "organized gambling".
As a matter of commentary on the articles, well, the stereotypical "gaming community" is pretty much collapsing.
What does that mean?
Nothing.
For most of us, it means absolutely nothing.
There is no "new beginning". This isn't marking the end of the CIS straight white male gamer at the hands of the feminazi agenda or whatever. Nothing is really changing here.
People are still going to buy and play games to varying effect.
Some people will cover their experiences for fun and profit.
Not so arbitrarily, if you ask me. I haven't heard a tough question, asked by a gaming "journalist" in a long, LONG time. All they do as of late is PR for the publishers/devs.Frission said:...Well good luck to them, because I can declare just as arbitrarily that game journalism is dead.