Identity

[Canadamus Prime]

I had an epiphany last night that I'd like to share. For the longest time I never understood the whole hardcore vs casual gamer thing. Hell it wasn't till the Internet came along that I found out that gaming was supposed to be this separate subculture-type thing. Hell when I was growing up all my friends had Nintendos so as far as I knew it was what everybody was doing.
So anyway, last night I caught a brief segment of this program on Space (Canadian equivalent of the Sci Fi channel) and they were talking about sci fi and nerd culture and stuff while touring around a Toronto Comic Con. One of the things mentioned was how nerd culture had become so much more mainstream and therefore more generally accepted and popular.
Long story short, I realized that since gaming has become so mainstream and generally accepted by society, gamers have lost their sense of identity. Now that virtually everyone is gaming, those you've been gaming for many years and fought through the old stigmas now don't have a clear identity to call their own. So that's why we get people saying nonsensical things like "Only real gamers play ________" or "Real gamers ____________" It's an attempt to reacquire an identity.
Thoughts? Oh and please don't leave any smartass remarks.

 

[ultrachicken]

I've never taken the whole hardcore vs casual gamer battle seriously. Why do you want to be called a hardcore gamer? Whoop-dee-doo, you sit in front of your computer a lot.

 

[Maya Valentine]

a gamer's a gamer... some are more hardcore than others, but at the end of the day, we're all united by a love of all things game, naturally the more obsessive fans of specific games are going to gravitate towards eachother and feed eachother's obsessions.. there's no need for gamer snobbery xD

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Since it's mainstream now there's people that think because they tried it once they are now the ruler's of the culture and can make the standards.

 

[AkJay]

Everyone wants to feel as though they belong. in the "before-time" you had gamers, and then "others".
Now the "others" are infiltrating out society, taking away out very sense of being. Now we feel lost as a culture and need to find something to cling onto. We have Purists, or as some would call "Hard-core" gamers, and we have the "Casuals" which is another word for the "others".

 

[Icecoldcynic]

I'm not sure how people are supposed to respond to this really. All you did was state something and then say "Thoughts?" which doesn't make for good discussion. Personally, I've never even noticed this whole 'identity crisis' thing you mentioned. I have played games since I was young, because I enjoy it and it allows me to escape from life. I've never looked down on anyone for playing certain games, unless of course they say something like "I'm a gamer! I play farmville on facebook ALL the time!".

 

[Maya Valentine]

I'm not sure how people are supposed to respond to this really. All you did was state something and then say "Thoughts?" which doesn't make for good discussion. Personally, I've never even noticed this whole 'identity crisis' thing you mentioned. I have played games since I was young, because I enjoy it and it allows me to escape from life. I've never looked down on anyone for playing certain games, unless of course they say something like "I'm a gamer! I play farmville on facebook ALL the time!".

win xD

 

[Edward123454321]

I don't think claiming to be hardcore or a real gamer for doing certain things is due to an identity crisis, I think it's more of a competetive, slightly lame desire to be Alpha.

I don't really take gaming that serious, although I'd probably be seen as a 'hardcore' gamer none the less, I'd consider what attire a person wears and what social circles they stick with to be more of an area worth exploring, if your interested in this idea of 'identity'.

Gaming is a hobby, hobby's are personal and fairly irrelevant to how others see you, which is what an identity is. =D

 

[Acidwell]

I don't agree, after all sports games are as mainstream as it gets and nobody calls them casual.(fifa, madden,etc)

I think it comes from the fact that the majority of "casual" games:
1 have no plot
2 have quite simple game mechanics.

They are also easy to play in short sessions on basic computers and don't fall into any of the traditional game categories.

 

[rryan5375]

a gamer's a gamer... some are more hardcore than others, but at the end of the day, we're all united by a love of all things game, naturally the more obsessive fans of specific games are going to gravitate towards eachother and feed eachother's obsessions.. there's no need for gamer snobbery xD

I agree with maya here, hardcore gamers come in different vareities, like a hardcore rpg gamer or a hardcore mario gamer, all in all there the same no matter what no matter what game they play.

 

[NotAPie]

I can't stand people who call themselves "REAL GAMERS"
I stopped caring though, some people just can't see that you're a gamer if you play games.

 

[Edward123454321]

Everyone wants to feel as though they belong. in the "before-time" you had gamers, and then "others".
Now the "others" are infiltrating out society, taking away out very sense of being.

I really wouldn't consider us to be a society, and I find it concerning that you believe casual gamers take away your "very sense of being", you can't take a hobby so seriously.

Now we feel lost as a culture and need to find something to cling onto. We have Purists, or as some would call "Hard-core" gamers, and we have the "Casuals" which is another word for the "others".

At a pinch, you can call gaming 'Art', and you can then make the link that that is "a culture" as you put it, but here's the thing that I find bizarre about that, musuems hold paintings by great talented artists, musuems that are open to the public. Now as a generalisation, let's just say there's two groups of people who come to the musuem, one group adoringly gazes at all the pictures, they can name all the styles, when they were painted, the inspiration, who painted it, and they generally know their shit, and they spend a lot of time at this musuem. Now another group just come once in a while, they glance at the paintings, appreciate the beauty, and they leave.

Now here's where I'm confused, how on earth do the people who spend a lot more time at the musuem, feel like the core beauty of these paintings are now lost, just because someone else couldn't appreciate them?

 

[Akalistos]

I had an epiphany last night that I'd like to share. For the longest time I never understood the whole hardcore vs casual gamer thing. Hell it wasn't till the Internet came along that I found out that gaming was supposed to be this separate subculture-type thing. Hell when I was growing up all my friends had Nintendos so as far as I knew it was what everybody was doing.
So anyway, last night I caught a brief segment of this program on Space (Canadian equivalent of the Sci Fi channel) and they were talking about sci fi and nerd culture and stuff while touring around a Toronto Comic Con. One of the things mentioned was how nerd culture had become so much more mainstream and therefore more generally accepted and popular.
Long story short, I realized that since gaming has become so mainstream and generally accepted by society, gamers have lost their sense of identity. Now that virtually everyone is gaming, those you've been gaming for many years and fought through the old stigmas now don't have a clear identity to call their own. So that's why we get people saying nonsensical things like "Only real gamers play ________" or "Real gamers ____________" It's an attempt to reacquire an identity.
Thoughts? Oh and please don't leave any smartass remarks.

Yes, the need to be unique is a big driving force. I recall the first hair i got on my chin. I decided that day to have a beard that was me and that nobody had before. My Pinch (that what we call it here) was the biggest thing around in college. It was big enough to swallow my full chin. I was call on it. People said that i look dirty, it didn't suit me, i looked like a hobo. Some chick where even gross out by it. It wasn't mainstream. A years ago, I was shock that the pinch i had invented was sported by a lots of peoples, including my step-brother who was the one that call me a hobo. I took the razor a few month after that, ready to destroy my old friend. It was time to say Sayonara.... I couldn't. I discovered that day that i lived like that because that who i am, and that never changed. So what if people what to be more like me, that doesn't need to force me to change. It still sit on my chin, proud like ever before. I still stroke it when I'm in lost of answers and full of problem. And like war, i never change.

=)

 

[likalaruku]

Yeah, I guess it's like that with anime fans too. Veteran Otaku will says stuff like "Only a noob would watch dubs" & "Naruto is a noob-magnet" & "You're not a real otaku until you've seen the classics" or "fansubs are hardcore."

With gamers, I've been exposed to 3 generations of console wars, with my sect in the almost-neutral teritory of forgotten PC gamers. Incidently, I grew up knowing relatively few gamers at all until about 2005. Having gone that long with little nerd-to-nerd communication is probably the chief reason I won't talk to anyone in MMOs & why I don't give a shit about Co-Op & multiplayer.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I'm not sure how people are supposed to respond to this really. All you did was state something and then say "Thoughts?" which doesn't make for good discussion. Personally, I've never even noticed this whole 'identity crisis' thing you mentioned. I have played games since I was young, because I enjoy it and it allows me to escape from life. I've never looked down on anyone for playing certain games, unless of course they say something like "I'm a gamer! I play farmville on facebook ALL the time!".

Yes "thoughts", as in what are your thoughts regarding why I just said.
Anyway, I don't really understand where this whole "identity crisis" comes from. As I said, when I was growing up all my friends were into gaming so as far as I knew it was what everyone was doing. I didn't know gaming was supposed to be some special sect or culture or anything. So then I get on the Internet and hear people talk about how gamers have struggled for acceptance for so long and whatever and I'm thinking "we did?"

 

[AkJay]

Everyone wants to feel as though they belong. in the "before-time" you had gamers, and then "others".
Now the "others" are infiltrating out society, taking away out very sense of being.

I really wouldn't consider us to be a society, and I find it concerning that you believe casual gamers take away your "very sense of being", you can't take a hobby so seriously.

Now we feel lost as a culture and need to find something to cling onto. We have Purists, or as some would call "Hard-core" gamers, and we have the "Casuals" which is another word for the "others".

At a pinch, you can call gaming 'Art', and you can then make the link that that is "a culture" as you put it, but here's the thing that I find bizarre about that, musuems hold paintings by great talented artists, musuems that are open to the public. Now as a generalisation, let's just say there's two groups of people who come to the musuem, one group adoringly gazes at all the pictures, they can name all the styles, when they were painted, the inspiration, who painted it, and they generally know their shit, and they spend a lot of time at this musuem. Now another group just come once in a while, they glance at the paintings, appreciate the beauty, and they leave.

Now here's where I'm confused, how on earth do the people who spend a lot more time at the musuem, feel like the core beauty of these paintings are now lost, just because someone else couldn't appreciate them?

I'd like to point out now to everyone that my comment wasn't meant to be taken seriously in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Xiorell]

I dunno about identity crysis... But this has made me think of something else along the lines of the whole "real gamers play/like/do" thing...
I hate when people tell you you should play some random load of bollocks nobody has ever heard of... or telling you how good said random bollocks is and how they are really a huuuuge fan
Seriously I know this one guy who's just like that... he'll pick up the name of some obscure game from I dunno where (I think he pulls it out of his arse) then goes on about it as if it's THE BEST game ever made. I just think ..."to be honest mate you don't even like the game yourself, do you, wanker". I KNOW he doesn't play half this shit that he mentions and can't figure out why he wants to come across as even more of a greasy soap dodging litle prick than he already is. Why would any aspire to that kinda of geeky? FFS get a job.

I'd just like to state, that all made perfect sense to me at least.

 

[Edward123454321]

Everyone wants to feel as though they belong. in the "before-time" you had gamers, and then "others".
Now the "others" are infiltrating out society, taking away out very sense of being.

I really wouldn't consider us to be a society, and I find it concerning that you believe casual gamers take away your "very sense of being", you can't take a hobby so seriously.

Now we feel lost as a culture and need to find something to cling onto. We have Purists, or as some would call "Hard-core" gamers, and we have the "Casuals" which is another word for the "others".

At a pinch, you can call gaming 'Art', and you can then make the link that that is "a culture" as you put it, but here's the thing that I find bizarre about that, musuems hold paintings by great talented artists, musuems that are open to the public. Now as a generalisation, let's just say there's two groups of people who come to the musuem, one group adoringly gazes at all the pictures, they can name all the styles, when they were painted, the inspiration, who painted it, and they generally know their shit, and they spend a lot of time at this musuem. Now another group just come once in a while, they glance at the paintings, appreciate the beauty, and they leave.

Now here's where I'm confused, how on earth do the people who spend a lot more time at the musuem, feel like the core beauty of these paintings are now lost, just because someone else couldn't appreciate them?

I'd like to point out now to everyone that my comment wasn't meant to be taken seriously in any way, shape, or form.

It's a lot less fun that way; for trolls like me. :'(

 

[Trivun]

Am I the only person who thought, clicking on this thread from the homepage feed, that the topic would be the uberly awsome thriller film, Identity?

Anyway, I'm a hardcore gamer. I play a wide variety of stuff, retro and new, own an Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PS2 and a laptop that I use for gaming (though it's not great for graphics). I count some more obscure titles like The Longest Journey or Myst as some of my favourites alongside things like Halo and Gears of War and Oblivion.

Despite that, I have a few casual games, like Mario Kart and Professor Layton. My mother owns a Wii (ironically, while we're talking about labels, although she's the definition of 'casual gamer', if you don't count Facebook 'gamers', she's the one who first got me into gaming through Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon when I was little). I play that Wii sometimes, when I'm home from university, and though she doesn't have an extensive collection the Wii Sports series are brilliant games. I absolutely loathe anyone who claims that the Wii is just for 'casual' gamers and that it's a crap console, especially when they try and compare it to the other consoles. Seriously, though they're all current-gen leading consoles, comparing the Xbox 360 and PS3 to the Wii is like comparing cheese to cake. Cheese is really good, especially Cheddar, and cake is also really good, but they don't taste the same and you use them for and in different things.

The first person to say anything along the lines of 'cheesecake' will be slapped silly with a wet fish, then given cake and a cookie for the observation, then beaten to death with a large block of stale hard cheese...

 

[DustyDrB]

I might play a two or three religiously for a few weeks and then not play any games for months (or years). This usually coincides with major Nintendo franchise releases or Bioware releases. I don't know what that makes me, and I don't really care.

All I know is that my favorite flavor of ice cream is Ben and Jerry's CHEESECAKE Brownie.