"Gamers"- Are we a culture, or aren't we?

[Thr33X]

So this topic stems from my watching the latest video by Allosaurus Rex. In it he touches upon reasons why he believe that "gaming culture" as it's called is not necessarily so, and he makes some decent points in it.

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There are a lot of outlets (of which include this one, truth be told), that use the term "culture" sometimes in a context that paints negative connotations to those who play video games. There's also a legitimate question as to whether or not we can even call this hobby of ours a culture at all in comparison to other, more notable ones.

Like say, Punk or Metal, or Car culture. Those are actual lifestyles centered around something...be it a music, an ideal or an affinity for something. So, gaming is something of an affinity, but what makes it a culture? It can't be simply the fact that a large group of people do it and enjoy it...there's a large group of people who listen to Justin Bieber, but would you call "Beliebers" a culture? Maybe more of a cult...but that's another discussion.

So yeah, it's easy to classify gamers or game enthusiasts as a COMMUNITY, but do you consider it a CULTURE? Let's discuss.

 

[Strazdas]

Gamers are a culture as much as tv watchers, music listeners, theater goers are a cultre. as in - not very. yes, games are part of our culture, but they arent a seperate group you can easily segregate. we got hardcores, you got melomaniacs. Car culture would mean everyone with a car, which is bascailly, well, everyone.

Now if we were going to stuff like metal or punk, we may as well consider the fighter games community, starcraft community. you could put them as seperate cultures, but such segregation would not bring much to the table.

like all groups, gamers have their extremists. beliebers paint Justins name on your door (i kid you not, that was their revenge for saying i dont like his music), gamers.... erm play games?

For something to be considered a seperate cultre, it would need to mean that all of these people have things in common beside just being a gamer. and since we define gamers as anyone that has every played a game, thats nto gonig to stand.

And no its not easy to classify gamers as community. well, its easy but wrong. gamers are not a community. escapists are a community, gamers on the other hand are just that - gamers.

 

[aozgolo]

Just as with anything you can associate a specific affinity that people adopt as a primary part of their life as a "culture". Music Cultures are lifestyles that are centered around the affinity of that particular medium. Though just like music you can't associate everyone who plays games as being a part of a "gamer culture". To be honest calling gamers a "culture" is a disservice because it ignores the fact that multiple cultures exist within it. Some focused around certain genres, and some around specific games or franchises. Identifying avid movie watchers as a "Movie Culture" does little to segregate or identify them in any meaningful way, where-as you could say there is a "Big Lebowski Subculture" and that immediately paints in your head a picture of what a culture's fundamentals and potential practices involve.

 

[briankoontz]

There are multiple gaming cultures. There's the "beers/bros/couch" culture, the "facebook farmville" culture, the "competitive-gaming to boost my self-esteem" culture, the "whatever the latest basic new app is for my tablet" culture, and many more. I agree with Shaun Kennedy that Music listening is the best analogy for gaming culture, since there's the "listen to random radio in my car" culture, the "heavy metal rock concert" culture, the "hyper-tailored-to-my-preference Ipod" culture, etc.

There is also a lot of variation within the aesthetics and game design of games with respect to game culture. So older gamers who like to "feel the warm comfort of nostalgia for my youth" play Mario and Zelda games, young teen insecure boys like to dominate others through Call of Duty, etc.

We live in an era of atomization, where cultures are splintered and individual preferences are catered to to a ridiculous degree. So we can choose which precise cultural form in which to experience our gaming.

The overarching culture of entertainment in general is largely a distraction from the real world, although all entertainment mediums are artistic and relate to the real world.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Like almost anything there are sub-genres of the base "Gamer" culture. Not every "gamer" will like what another randomly sampled "gamer" would like. Same with music and the genre/sub-genre cultures therein...
Its kinda hard to pin down as a singular thing because no one type of "gamer" is superior, just different.

 

[Mortons4ck]

Any sociologists or anthropologists care to weigh in?

 

[2xDouble]

Short answer: no. Gaming is not a culture, gaming is an aspect of culture.

Capthca: Get your Credit Score. No, Captcha. Credit and finance, for all its pervasiveness, is not a culture either.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I don't think game culture is a culture, but I think internet culture is and gaming as a hobby is closely intertwined with it.
Edit:

Same with music

But not all music is a culture. Something like Punk or Hip-hop is a culture as there is music linked with clothing and lifestyle choices and location and all that stuff. Something like Brit-pop or Classical is not a culture as there is nothing linked socially save the time period.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

There are many different sub cultures in gaming. Mainstream media will refer to all of them as "gaming culture" because mainstream media still has little to no idea WTF is going on with games and views them as mysterious objects to fear or scorn depending on the needs of their particular story.

The gaming press will also occasionally refer to a monolithic "gaming culture", because the gaming press is, for the most part, completely inept.

 

[Candidus]

snip

I disagree with you. Average car owners aren't part of a culture, but enthusiasts, collectors and petrol-heads definitely have a culture. They have their own history, heritage and nomenclature that is pretty opaque from the perspective of the casual car owner.

Gamers, just like tabletop gamers, have a culture for all the same reasons. We have our own history, heritage and nomenclature that is pretty inaccessible if you're only casually involved, especially bearing in mind that like many other cultures, ours is fractured by specific genres and systems.

Yes, gamers belong to their own culture. And because there is such a thing as our culture, there must necessarily be those who are a part of it (gamers) and those who aren't (people who play games, but don't have any part of the culture in common, or, casuals). Simple as that.

 

[thiosk]

Apply this very principle to gamers.
Its an eye opener.

 

[Robert Marrs]

I would like to say no. Anytime you designate something a culture things go sour. Political correctness, games with a "message", pretty soon you have manifesto's and rules on development. I already saw this with atheism and I would hate to see it happen again with video games. I play video games alot. It is really my primary hobby and almost all of my free time is dedicated to playing games. That being said video games do not define me as a person. Playing video games is not who I am its just something I do. When you brand it as a culture you ostracize everyone who just wants to enjoy their hobby without having to conform to some sort of culture people expect you to be a part of.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

We're actually just a loose coalition that happens to have 1 thing in common: We like Video Games. That's as common as we get, though.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Not particularly no.

The only criteria for being a gamer is to "play games". And the fact of the matter is that there are too many different types of games to establish a general pattern of behaviour.

 

[Tuxedoman]

I'd say yes, but it depends what your definition of a gamer is.

If its just as Phrozenflame says, and is just someone who plays games, then no. Its no different to someone who reads books every so often.

But I personally don't see someone who plays games occasional as a gamer. Gamers go out of there way to research games, talk about them, and really see games as part of their lifestyle.
In that sense, there are also a lot of subcultures within gaming culture (as also said earlier in the thread). The Fifa community is huge, however I doubt it would want to associate its self with the WoW community.

Its kind of like the stereotypical US highschool social structure I think. There's a lot of different groups who all have their own relations with eachother, and a small group who sort of just jump between everything. I mean I personally enjoy Fifa, Guild Wars, Don't Starve, Planetside, Ftl... The list goes on to include most games.

 

[OpticalJunction]

as much as "tv watchers" are a culture.

 

[rbstewart7263]

So this topic stems from my watching the latest video by Allosaurus Rex. In it he touches upon reasons why he believe that "gaming culture" as it's called is not necessarily so, and he makes some decent points in it.

There are a lot of outlets (of which include this one, truth be told), that use the term "culture" sometimes in a context that paints negative connotations to those who play video games. There's also a legitimate question as to whether or not we can even call this hobby of ours a culture at all in comparison to other, more notable ones.

Like say, Punk or Metal, or Car culture. Those are actual lifestyles centered around something...be it a music, an ideal or an affinity for something. So, gaming is something of an affinity, but what makes it a culture? It can't be simply the fact that a large group of people do it and enjoy it...there's a large group of people who listen to Justin Bieber, but would you call "Beliebers" a culture? Maybe more of a cult...but that's another discussion.

So yeah, it's easy to classify gamers or game enthusiasts as a COMMUNITY, but do you consider it a CULTURE? Let's discuss.

I dont. for one when one part of the culture does bad.(cod gamers for example) all of us hipsters who only play this or that rpg are somehow responsible for the douche baggery and that is just silly to me.

say could you link that vid?